A note from Jamie: My family moved to a new house and town over the weekend, so the only school currently on our minds is the school of life (the most important one, after all). Enjoy this replay from last October while I unpack boxes and get settled. I’ll be back next week to share my biggest homeschooling mistake.
Ever have one of “those days?” I bet I’m not the only one! In spite of our best intentions, not every day of our homeschooling life will end up winning us Teacher of the Year.
You’ve probably spent a significant amount of time brainstorming and planning how the school day will flow in your home. You may have even created a flexible schedule of the order in which you’ll tackle specific subjects.
Maybe it looks something like this:
-
- Breakfast/Cleanup
- Reading/Phonics together on couch
- Math with Suzie; Jim works on Language Arts
- Math with Jim; Suzie works on Language Arts
- Spelling together
- Prepare for lunch
But what about the day when you find yourself sick with a cold? Or your child woke you up three times last night and you feel as though you’ve been run over by a truck?
How about the day when Suzie declares, “I hate math” and Jim declares “I hate Suzie!”?
What to Do on a Bad Day
Of course you could lock yourself in the bathroom for a few moments–as I’ve written previously, that’s a technique I implement on occasion. But let’s face it, one cannot spend one’s entire day in one’s bathroom!
In a case like this, a bad day routine just might be your saving grace. By taking time to develop it before a crisis develops, you’ll have a plan in place to rescue you from utter despair on days that just do. not. go. according to plan.
For the mother of Suzie and Jim, a bad day routine might look like this:
- Breakfast/Cleanup
- Snuggle on couch reading novel to kids
- Play a board game
- Watch a historical documentary together
- Bake some bread for lunch
Ahh, don’t you feel better already?!
Sir James Dewer, a British scientist, once said, “Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.” A stressed, tense mind is a closed mind, but with a gentle change in direction on a bad day we can help our children’s minds open once more.
Let’s hear from you–what are your strategies for turning a bad day around?
Great concept! Thank you!
I have an almost 4yr old and a 9 month old, and we are getting ready to homeschool our 4 year old, it’s great to know that you don’t have to feel guilty because you can’t “school” everyday! I love the routine above ‘snuggling on a couch and reading’ on those days when I’m sick or tired, or the weather outside is lovely for snuggling!
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On bad days (and we see them coming very early) it’s reading a lot, games and either play doh or paints. As messy as paints can get, it calms their gripes and buys me time to get over myself!
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On a bad day I have to take a look at myself and get rid of my selfishness, then we try to do something fun together. Sometimes it only takes an hour and then we can successfully get down to business. Other times we might do some of the “fun” school and save the other stuff to double up on the next day.
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We are in a virtual school program which does have semester deadlines so when a bad day starts I really try to keep it on track. However, when there is just no recovery I search Netflix for anything related to what we are studying. We pop some popcorn and settle in bed or on the couch and watch the movie. We’ve taken a break, but at least my son has learned something relevant. The next day we pick up where we left off in much better spirits.
Thanks for the great ideas!
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This is a really helpful post! I think that sometimes, instead of it being a “bad” day, where we do not learn anything, I try to reclaim the day and make it a learning day, but in a different sort of way. Baking becomes the reading and math lesson as he has to multiply the numbers and read the instructions. It is also something tangible, which is something sometimes frustrated boys need, a reason for why he needs math and reading.
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Great post. Kids can learn a lot from art day and games. Drawing is a great way to build penmanship. As long as my son works hard Monday-Thursday then we declare Friday to be fun day. We read a lot, do art, and play games. Having that carrot at the end of the week really helps the motivation throughout the week.
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Everyday could be a bad day here if I went for that. 😀
I could really identify with Sprittibee’s post and I’m going to go bookmark her blog!
I have a chronic illness, have a firstborn with many serious medical issues, have had 1-3 in diapers for the past 11 years, miscarriages, stillbirths, hormones related to all of that, along with cross-country and cross-world moves, etc, too, and it would be so easy for me to just call it a bad year, or a bad decade and slip into a bad day routine every day, and in fact, I have done so for months at time during the “survival mode” seasons, so I really have to guard against it in my life and just learn to be THANKFUL for all the good parts of life. I do need to remain in prayer a lot, and I long for accountability… someone who encourages me to keep on going, fighting the good fight, to run the race, strive for holiness, etc. I have to avoid the kind of people who tell me it’s okay to just wallow because “life is hard” and I “deserve it”, because I’d so be tempted to agree with them and I’m not sure that would benefit my kids.
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Love this!!! The kids have been sick all last week, and I’ve finally caught it! 🙁 I think I’m going to pull out a few of these tricks! 😉 Sometimes we bake, and my kids like when I pull out the flashcards! 🙂 I’m going to head to Netflix to see what they have too! Once we watched a bird documentary, and our house sounded like the Forrest, as it was all about the different bird calls! 😀
P.s. We have 5 kids, so we had lots of “birdies”!
I especially love the quote at the bottom. In 4th grade my teacher called me waterworks because I would cry during math. I hated math and was no good at it. My daughter and I just finished her math lesson for the day. It’s not difficult for her but takes her “forever” to get through each three page lesson. I find myself turning into my 4th grade teacher at times, never calling her names, but becoming frustrated with her, which always makes her shut down more. The times when I stop mid lesson/frustration and pull her into my lap and just hug her and remind her of my love for her, make the lesson go much smoother and bring resoration to our relationship in that moment. May I always remember that a stressed/tense mind is a closed mind, and be able to find gentle ways to bring change and an open mind that is ready to learn.
it usually takes me awhile to realize that our day is headed downhill. i am stubborn i guess. i want to keep forcing it in a direction it doesn’t seem to want to go…last week though i woke with a wrenching, gonna vomit kind of headache, i knew the day was going to go nowhere fast. so we watched tv. me in my bedroom watch last seasons oprah’s while the kids watched wild kratts on PBS learning about animals. sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and it was great. i don’t know why guilt always keeps me from taking ‘a day’, but it usually does.
🙂
jen
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after SUCH a day today, i knew coming here to SH i’d find encouragement. thank you once again jamie for your insight. helped turn this day around for me! xo
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Perfect timing! I had company over the weekend, woke with a cold this morning, and my son needed x-rays. I’m glad all days aren’t like this.
Just found your website. Love the all the comments on this blog! For us too, the “bad day” plan sounds a lot like our regular good days!
I like the ideas of art day, music break, baking day… don’t we all believe this variety is good for the kids anyway. Academics is NOT all there is to life, or even education.
Lately, I’ve been trying to remember to put “my” favorite music on to play, for the chore time, or break times. I made a my favorites folder on Itunes, so I can just click with the mouse, and wander around doing stuff to music. It helps me a lot to sing, I just forget that in the middle of managing kids and house…
This “bad day” routine looks like an awful lot like our everyday routine! 🙂 Relaxed.
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I like the art day idea and have used it myself. This year we started a month later than usual. My youngest spent two weeks in the hospital with complication from a bacterial infection and cause severe ulcerative colitis. We didn’t have all of the materials need and we were also dealing with the death of my mother. School this year was the farthest thing from my mind. But my wonderful children found a way to turn even the worst of my days into learning days. We learned about the workings of hospitals, about the causes of ulcerative colitis, why it is important to grieve and through it all my sick child wanted to know what was for school work today. Now when we are finally able to put the last two months behind us I am thankful for the wonderful documentaries we found at the library that really helped my future vet and free online classes that my girls utilized while I was trying to sort out life. I am a big fan of turning anything into a school day. If they learn something important it’s a school day for me. We just go with the flow most days anyway but this year even more so.