You guys, I’ve stopped planning our homeschool days. Yes, you read that correctly and I tell no lies for the most part 😉
Back in July I spent many days planning and then re-planning our homeschool week.
Our first day was projected to start August 3rd and I wanted everything to go as well as it could.
I spent SO much wasted time trying to decide what days we would do art, science, nature studies etc. I planned out 7 entire weeks of our first unit study and what days we would do this experiment, this field trip, that craft. I even went as far as creating a book list and trying to track down as many of them as I could.
At the time I remember saying to myself,
“How on EARTH do these other moms have time to plan their weeks without going crazy.”
I truly felt crazy and knew this feeling had to pass soon or I really would lose my own head.
Unexpected Events
Most homeschool families go through a burnout phase sometime during the year. I expected it but certainly not during September!
At the time I chalked up this lack of motivation and defeat to unexpected events.
“When it rains it pours,” they say.
What started out as a minor inconvenience just continued to escalate. It seems like we were hit with one thing after another and schooling was the last thing I wanted to do.
So guess what happened to my plans? You guessed it, canceled. Whatever amount of schooling we accomplished was just going to be good enough.
Routine > Scheduling
When I started picturing our days as a routine vs a schedule things started to look up. I decided to stop pretending that I’m this organized person because y’all I’m far from it.
To keep from disappointing myself when the schedule goes wacky I’ve just done away with it all together. Instead of working life around school I work school around life.
If we want to take a spontaneous field trip we can. If someone’s having a bad day and we need to skip reading then so be it. We can do these things because I’ve stopped planning and it may be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
On a “normal” day I try and stick to a routine. We are usually up by 8:30 am and I need a while to function personally so I never start schooling before 11.
We do math, handwriting and language arts in that order. Afterwards I let Wyatt choose between ABC Mouse and Teach Your Monster To Read. 90% of the time he picks the latter. After that it’s fair game! If the weather is nice we are outside for at least an hour. Sometimes we do a nature or art activity and other times just free play.
If I’m feeling particularly fancy I may put together a mini unit study but allow a lot of flexibility. Most of the time I never make plans in advance because it’s simply just easier and I’m okay with that!
I’ve Learned Not To Get Too Comfortable
Most importantly, I’ve learned not to get too comfy because things are ALWAYS changing. This may be one of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling because I am the type of person who doesn’t care for dramatic change.
Just when I think that we are starting to get into our groove something happens that changes everything. Life is crazy I tell ya!
Although we have been through a lot this year I’m thankful for growth. Life wasn’t meant to be easy after all and neither was homeschooling.
Are you a planning person or more go with the flow?
Let me know in the comments! I love reading stories from you guys!
Pin It For Later
Leave a Reply