Relaxed Homeschool

I am normally a person who MUST have a plan.  It drives me slightly bonkers to just float along each day.  Steve would give a hearty AMEN to that—the bonkers part.

I don’t get much done without a plan.  I have various tools I use to plan each week.

TOOLS

Menu planner—for 2-4 weeks on the frig

Homeschool Tracker—enters our work & helps plan for future

Family Calendar—on the frig so I know when an event is coming up

Chore Chart—everyone has jobs & no excuses about knowing when to do them

Routines—we have weekly & daily ones, these aren’t written they just reoccur naturally  ie—errand/grocery days, lesson days etc

Off Track Plan

We didn’t do much Monday or Wednesday due to sickness & my recovery needs(SLEEP).  But we were productive.  The girls keep on working even when I am down so I used some of my down time to grade papers.  NOT my favorite chore but it must be done. 

It makes me irritable to just sit.  That is what I must do on these days of recovery.  I walk doing errands and feel good one day & the next is a mixture of soreness & overwhelming fatigue.  It is getting better slowly.  The lesson that the children & I are learning is that school can be relaxed and still get things accomplished.

1.  There is time for games.  Mental math gets practiced!

2.  I can work with one child on the quality of their cleaning in the zone.

3.  Daddy can use their labor at a project.  Like cleaning the basement—which I have yet to visit.

4.  Its okay not to work as hard as we can EVERY day.

5.  On the “good” days I need to work at keeping focused on the job at hand.  My habit of doing nothing all the time is hard to break.  I like to accomplish things but hey it is easier to do nothing instead. 

There are lessons in working hard & giving your all to a job.  But there are equal lessons to relaxing and mixing fun with learning.  In 50 years, will my children remember if we tackled a math lesson each day or will they remember the time we spent together learning about life when it doesn’t go the way you expected?  So I am going to do a little school today and perhaps read on the couch with my youngest & a cup of cocoa!  That give us both something that we love!

What do you do when your day gets off track?