I’m a creature of habit. I like things organized. I like routine. Yet, my life has little of this.  So, with Kaia starting the first grade and homeschooling part time, I thought it might be nice to create a basic rhythm that we can count on. Even if things get adjusted here and there, we know we can jump back in the next day.
In the morning, I tend to get up before the rest of the crew. This is a time that I like to read through my emails, catch up on blogs, and get breakfast started. Once the kids get up, we have our breakfast and take care of feeding the animals (cats, dog, and chickens). If Kaia is able to get up a little earlier, I’d love to make time before breakfast to read to her. If she has the choice, though, she is a late sleeper.
After breakfast, we will take a few hours for our more ‘formal’ schooling….. working on math (she has a math book from school that we work with), language arts (I’m looking into curriculum that might stimulate her to try reading on her own more, we’ll see… I want it to be self-directed as much as possible. She does much better with learning if I’m not too encouraging. She likes it to be her own decision.)
We’ll make lunch, do some clean up in the kitchen and then clean one room in the house (we rotate like this so that cleaning never seems to overwhelming. The whole house is cleaned by weeks end).
After clean up, if we have errands to run, we will head out. If not, we may do some baking, gardening, laundry, play with friends. This time is left more open and flexible.
Then it’s time to make dinner, harvest the eggs, feed the animals again.
After dinner, the kids may have a bath. We try to read everynight, but sometimes the days get away from us and it’s time to get the kids to bed.
Kaia, Toby, and I also all take Tae Kwon Do. So, often one of us is out doing that in the evenings.
I think this will be nice for all of us to have a basic schedule that we can rely on. When Kaia is in her formal school (3 days a week) I will try to stick to the schedule and get some of my own schooling or work done in the mornings, and errands in the afternoons.
The weekends are kind of crazy. We have had so many projects to finish up since we started building on our land. Every weekend seems to be filled up well in advance. Toby and I have made a pact not to start any new projects (after the new chicken coop is built) so that we can try to relax on the weekends this winter! That would be very nice.
I would love to hear what your homeschool rhythms are like. How do you get it all accomplished each day?
