Time management in anything starts with knowing where you are going and how you are going to get there.
To homeschool effectively and efficiently, you must take care of some basics first.
- Prioritize rest for you and your children
- Develop a rhythm and make it work for you
- Automate your rhythm with habits
- Fuel your rhythm with systems
With a solid homeschool rhythm and a set of objectives, you can educate your children in 90 minutes a day.
What is Rhythm?
A strong, consistent, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.
A regular reoccurring sequence of events, actions or processes.
A harmonious collaboration of elements.
A rhythm is a guide. It is a way to plan for the day, intentionally incorporating margin. This allows users to remain fluid through the unexpected. Think of it as a natural process like a heartbeat, breathing or tides.
When building a healthy homeschool rhythm, you group your day into larger components and protect them with boundaries and intention. You determine ahead of time not to overschedule. You prioritize what matters to you, saying yes to those things ahead of time, so when an opportunity arises you can evaluate it properly.
For example, if you have scheduled rest for yourself in a window of time each afternoon and an opportunity presents itself during that same time – you must evaluate what gives and what stays. Having a prior decision on what is allowed to break your rhythm helps you determine if this is an occasion to do so or not.
Rhythm employs habits and systems to maintain its borders. It is a framework of order.
How is this different from a schedule?
Scheduling leads to overscheduling. Schedules dictate, overlord and incite undue pressure on your day. To build a schedule, you are segmenting your day by time and assigning each segment to a certain activity. Life never goes according to our expectations or our schedules.
For instance, when there are open-ended portions of your day, you ‘schedule.’ The problem with a schedule is open space looks free, but it is often the space in your day that you get things done that aren’t on your list. Everyday things like responding to emails, time to draft that project, edit and finalize it. Time to accomplish those subjects and activity with the kids, walk the dog and help grandma. These are things that you know you have to do each day but don’t necessarily put on the calendar. This is how over scheduling happens. There is no margin for error or for the unexpected before the next calendar item is due.
Another way scheduling overwhelms and defeats us is when we schedule time slots with specific expectations and match them to our list. Inevitably, our time is insufficient or the task is not achievable in totality that day.
If you thrive on a schedule – fantastic! If you need flexibility and a sense of accomplishment – keep scrolling.
Rhythm is forgiving and adjusts to life’s challenges. A rhythm is a flow. It is an order that helps tasks and responsibilities move from one to the next. A schedule is more rigid and may leave you with stress when you begin to fall behind.
A schedule may work well for an individual. However, it is hard to stick with for a family. Everyone has a different need: developmentally, rest-wise, interests and moods. In a single day there are often toddlers tantruming, babies napping, nursing, kids asking questions, tweens resisting…life is erratic and interrupted. Your days need to be anchored and character and connection must come first. A rhythm provides this.
