A Routine for Days That Aren’t Routine
Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. You make your homeschool schedule, the days are clicking along beautifully, and then all of a sudden… life happens. An unexpected change comes into your life, and it’s not going away. The routine you loved no longer works. How can you find routine for days, or maybe even weeks or months that aren’t routine until the chaos goes away?
Number Each Subject
Homeschool schedules might plan for Bible Study and Corresponding Music at 9 AM, Reading About History and Picture the Past at 9:30 AM, Math and Dictation at 10:00 AM, and so on. But chaos of undependable days throws a wrench in that. Well, I have good news! You CAN find routine in the chaos!
Instead of attaching subjects to times, just number them and do them as time allows. So, number Bible Study #1, Corresponding Music #2, Reading About History #3, Picture the Past #4, Math #5, Dictation #6, and so on, until each subject has its number. Heart of Dakota makes this super easy, as you can just number the boxes in your teacher’s guide!
Do Each Subject in Numerical Order
Whenever you can homeschool, do the numbered subjects in numerical order. Maybe Monday, that unexpected change takes more time and you can only homeschool from 2 to 4 PM. Just start with subject/box #1, and get as far as you do. Maybe out of #10 boxes of subjects, you get through box #6.
When Tuesday rolls around, you have more time. Things calmed down, and you have 10 AM to 2 PM to homeschool. Simply start with box #7. Then, work through the remaining daily plans boxes #8 through #10 in order. Turn the page to the next day’s plans and start with #1. Work through as many boxes as time allows. On Wednesday, start wherever you left off.
Consistency in Routine Order
Maybe an unexpected change makes it impossible to keep a consistent routine, but the consistency of keeping a routine order creates consistency too! Music always come after Bible, and Reading About History always follows that, etc. It also ensures subjects don’t get skipped for long periods of time. The temptation to do just the disciplinary subjects (i.e. math, reading, spelling, grammar) and to drop the inspirational subjects (i.e. Bible, music, poetry, etc.) makes days long, dry, and lacking inspiration.
Likewise, the temptation to do just seatwork or to just read books and not do hands-on plans (i.e. history projects, fine arts drawing/painting, science experiments, etc.) makes days long, lacking movement, and missing important skills. To find routine in days that aren’t routine, try numbering your subjects/boxes! And by the way, this works for independent older students too! I hope you can find calm in the chaos until the change passes – I know I did!
