Archives for January 2011

Written by Amida of Journey into Unschooling

Perhaps one of the most interesting topics for homeschoolers is that of scheduling, specifically the day to day, hour by hour activities of individual families. If you’re like me, you’ve been following our series, tuning in each week to get yet another peek at how someone else does it.

When it comes to writing out our own schedule, however, it’s not met with the same enthusiasm. Feelings of inferiority and not doing “enough” start to creep in.

What will people think? And of course, with each day being completely different, which to write about? I’ve considered sharing one of our more academically productive days, in which lessons are cranked out at an impressive rate, but that, while authentic, would be deceiving. It certainly doesn’t reflect our day to day life.
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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

So far this month you’ve heard from four of our contributors, revealing the details of our typical school days. I love seeing how each mom’s rhythm reflects her individual personality as well as her unique family priorities and purposes.

We have several more posts coming up–including ones by moms of many and those of infants and toddlers.

But today, it’s your turn to share!
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The following is a guest post written by Donna Ashton of The Waldorf Connection.

Rhythm is the key to making things run smoothly in our household. As a homeschooling mom who is also running a business from home, having balance and rhythm to our days helps make it all possible.

The breathing of the day is an important thing to consider when I am scheduling lessons or activities.

What is this in-breath and out- breath?  It is alternating between an outward energy producing activity and a quieter inward one.

I try to keep this balance and when things get a bit “one-sided” I can tell we need a change. Here’s a sample day for you to see what I mean.
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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

Are you enjoying this series on homeschool days as much as I am? There’s something quite vulnerable about getting to peek behind the curtain of another mom’s living room and see how she keeps all her plates spinning.

One word of caution, however: Don’t you dare leave any of these posts in a comparison mode, thinking, “She does so much more than me–now I know I’m screwing my kids up!” Do what you know is right for your own children–that is all they need.

You won’t feel the need to worry about “more” when it comes to my family’s rhythm–I don’t do it all, I purposefully take it slow, and I focus my days on enjoying my children.

My family is unique in that there are only 22 months separating all three of my kids in age, and even less separating them developmentally. I also work 15 hours a week blogging both here and at Steady Mom, so our rhythm takes into account Mommy’s writing time.

I believe my main goal should be to nurture the relationships in our home. When relationships flourish, I find that the academic side of learning naturally springs forth in an unforced way.

Here’s what that looks like practically.
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