I have found that for my family, sticking to a tight schedule does not go well and neither is it healthy for us. It took me a while to come up with a rhythm that works well for us. For the most part we are able to stick with it. The most amazing thing about this is that if our day does not completely follow this I am fine. Why? Because I have found comfort with letting our days flow.
Yesterday, I knew that I wanted to share some of what I had been learning about Mary Seacole for our kidschool. Let me just start off by saying that if you have never heard of her, you should learn about her! We talked about both Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale which then led to talking about the environment that Florence stepped into when she came to help regarding rats and lice. I talked about why she moved things higher up and focused on keeping medical tools sanitized which my son wanted to learn more about lice and how others get it. After this, we talked a little bit about the Crimean War. I am going to further research more information from books on this matter and guess what!? That's right! Another kidschool will focus on the Crimean War. It was so much fun and our kidschool went over, but I was not stressed out about it. I was enjoying how things were flowing.
Our rhythm consists of different block times. This is one thing that has really helped me out. I am not focused on a specific time that is right down to the minute, but rather a time frame. My mind does well with this. I feel that I have always been a person that has needed to have such structure that if anything had changed I would be lost. I am so happy that this has put my mind to ease which has also helped my children not feel stressed out. No running around our house trying to make something work or fit that only would cause us to get less done in a day. That's right. As a family my kids and I are able to focus on what's important during the day and we get even more accomplished. This helps a great deal as my husband has a work schedule that leaves me alone with our kids way before the sun comes up. We are able to enjoy our time when he is home because our days are smoother.
One thing that never changes within our routine is that at the beginning of our kidschool we read scriptures, I read a children's scripture story, we sing a children's song or hymn and we say a morning prayer together. This makes all of the difference in the world for our days. I know that my kids and I need this to help jump start our day. I also need my own personal time before my kids wake up. I know that not everyone is a morning person, but for me this is also essential. Some days I may have more time than others, but I need it. I use it for personal study. It is time well spent.
If you have a schedule our routine that is not working for your family and only causing stress, find out if little changes will help things to be better. We should enjoy our time spent together.
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http://www.proverbialhomemaker.com/a-weekly-rhythm-planning-without-strict-schedules-printables.html
Head on over there and enjoy her freebies.
