I do not have a planned out, hour-by-hour schedule, but we have a schedule established in our home.
Get up, eat, see Daddy off to work, morning chores, then independent book work. After independent book work, there is a bit of a break, kid showers (after arguments), lunch, then group time work before they all run out of the house to play for the rest of the day.
This works for us. This also just changed.
I find it interesting that once we get a good rhythm going in our house, things have to change. Whether it changes because your kids hit a new developmental stage or something happens with a family member, or a parent’s job gets changed up, there always is a change. For instance, a few years back my mom and little brother came to live with us for 8 months. Another instance was when my twins developed from young kids who had to do hands-on things all the time to ferocious readers who wanted more library books on what we were learning about. Yet another example would be when my hubby was activated with his national guard unit to help with hurricane rescue and evacuation. Changes happen and we have to adjust accordingly
So what changed this time?
We now have a 3-month-old puppy running
around our house. Thankfully this change to our schedule is a happy one but it can be challenging. He is a lab mix and is thankfully extremely intelligent but he still needs to go out every hour to two hours. This puts a pause on our typical routine. He is also very playful in between naps. This playfulness gets my kids excited and distracted, which puts a pause on their book work. He also kept us up a lot the first week while he adjusted and got settled in, which means when the puppy napped, we too fell asleep, on the couch or floor, in the middle of a lesson.
It’s not always a puppy but how to handle a change is the same.
No matter what the interruption is to your schedule, how to adjust is basically the same.
- Determine what subjects are your flexible ones. There will be times when they need to be done later in the week or paused completely.
- Try to stick to your original schedule as much as possible to reduce confusion but do not overstress it and make things harder for yourself.
- If your kids are 6 years old or older, involve them in the planning so they learn this life skill and have ownership with the new schedule.
- Give yourself grace and take deep breaths. Changes are difficult, especially when we have so much that needs to be done every day but we are human. Prioritize, don’t be hard on yourself, and set aside time to unwind.
Life throws us many curveballs, and they always seem to come right when we think we have things all figured out. I don’t understand why it seems to work out that way but knowing that it could happen and having a just-in-case plan on the back burner helps reduce our stress and keep the basic flow in our homes. This time it was an unplanned puppy which has brought us many giggles and silly moments. Sometimes it is a somber event that throws us for a loop. No matter what has happened to change our schedules suddenly, we know what needs to be done and we have a simple way to figure out how to move forward.
Greetings! My name is Joy and I am currently a stay at home mom who is homeschooling her three kids in South Carolina. I love learning and I love sharing the love of learning with others so getting to home school my kids and watch the “ah-ha” moments when they understand something is unbelievably rewarding. I have been homeschooling since my twins were preschool age so we are going on 8 years now. I am also a military spouse so we have the added joy of being a military family with some of the complications that come with it. As a family, we stay busy with our scouting groups, American Heritage Girls and TrailLife, and we do many camping and hiking trips with them. When I have downtime, I am typically reading books I have sitting around the house, on YouTube/websites getting more information on different home school programs or working on plans for homeschool. I look forward to being able to share our experiences with everyone and help encourage all homeschooling families.