I’ve been sharing a series of posts on planning a year of homeschool. You may want to catch up by reading:
- about my experience overfilling our schedule last year and what I learned
- how I created my vision for another year of preschool
Today I’m going to share with you our daily rhythm. This year we will have a 4 year-old and 2-year-old at home. In January a baby brother or sister will join us!
| Julia | Josiah (4) | Jessa (2) | |
| 6:00 | Mother’s Morning Time | still asleep (hopefully!) | |
| 7:00 | wake up | ||
|
prepare breakfast pray & eat |
|||
|
wash dishes wipe counters |
clear table wipe table sweep |
wipe hands and mouth put booster seat away wipe bench |
|
| get dressed | |||
| morning basket time | |||
| 9:00 | make beds | ||
| school room time | |||
| 10:00 | outside play | ||
| 11:30 | lunch & clean-up | ||
| 12:30 | mommy time! | nap | |
| 2:00 | housework | help with housework and play | |
| 4:00 | begin supper | play | |
| 5:00 | pray & eat | ||
| 6:00 | spend time with daddy (game, movie, walk, etc) | ||
| 7:30 | head to bed | ||
What’s New?
If you’ve seen our daily rhythm from last year you might have noticed some differences.
This year…
I’m adding a mother’s morning time before the kids wake up. I started doing this this summer and while it’s hard to wake up early I can tell a difference in my attitude and disposition throughout the day. I’m more ready to take on what comes when I’ve begun my day with some intentional quiet time.
Getting dressed is before basket time. While there’s something special about cuddling up on the couch in your pajamas to enjoy a basket of books, I’m moving this before basket time for two reasons. One, I’m going to be laying clothes out the night before and bringing them downstairs. I already do this on Sunday mornings to make getting ready for church go smoother. So I’m thinking it can make weekday mornings run smoother too, especially those days when we plan to go on an outing. Another reason is because I plan on having basket time outside as much as possible. Although our neighbors have seen my kids in their pajamas, costumes, and even their birthday suit, I feel a morning ritual of getting dressed before going outdoors is a good idea. They are still getting dressed after breakfast though because blueberries, syrup, and spilt milk don’t mix well with fabric!
Additional Notes:
- Everyone helps prepare breakfast, even the toddler. This is considered school.
- I would love to put make beds right after the kids wake up, but since they share a room, and wake up at different times this might not work. But I’ll probably try it anyway.
- There is a pattern of indoors, outdoors, indoors, outdoors. We begin the day inside for breakfast. Then basket time is outdoors. We come back in to make beds and spend some time in the schoolroom (which actually a lot of our “school” will be done outdoors too). Then we head back outdoors for a while before lunch and naptime indoors. If we can wrap up the housework quickly, we will return outside. Then after dinner we are usually back outside with daddy at least for a time. I think I will like this pattern for us. It breaks up the day nicely and provides a good rhythm. Or I may get tired of the back and forth, move making beds to first thing and be outside from basket time until lunch. We’ll probably try it several ways before we find our actual rhythm.
Weekly Agenda
Because of the vision I have for this school year, we plan to limit our days away from the home. We will set a day a week to run errands. Our dairy farmer delivers our milk one morning a week and we must pick it up promptly. So on this day we will pick up milk, drop off our recyclables at the recycling center, and go to the grocery store.
We will also spend one morning a week at the library. This is our one organized weekly outing I’m keeping from last year.
Why am I keeping it?
- Our library’s story time is exceptional! They expose the kids to classic literature, contemporary favorites, classical music, drama, and so much more. Seriously, if they charged for it I would gladly pay.
- My mother-in-law sometimes joins us and this is a special time to be with her.
- We meet other families with young kids there and it gives the kids an opportunity to interact and play with others in an unstructured environment.
- I have to go to the library weekly anyway to get our books for the week; this is the best day to do it!
- I like to arrive early and play with the kids. Sure I play with them at home, but there’s just something different about playing with them away from home. I have absolutely no other distractions vying for my attention.
The other 3 weekdays we plan to be at home unless we plan a nature day or special field trip.
I’m sure changes will be made when our new addition joins us in January. And of course this is a rhythm, not a schedule. Our days will probably never align to match this hour-for-hour and there will be days we are just completely off.
How about you? Do you have a daily rhythm in your home?