Last week we started school again. The children had been asking for a couple of weeks to start. Not seeing any reason why we should wait, I decided to start us back up.
My personal goals in making our school day successful are 1) get started on time and early and 2) make school my number one priority. To this end, we start at 9 a.m. To accomplish my second goal I make myself drop what I’m doing at 9 and resolve to come back to it during our break. In the past we wouldn’t start until 10 a.m. and then I often found myself not giving Therese my full attention–because there was the load of laundry that needed to go in the wash, or the bread that needed to be started, or the floor that needed to be swept ‘real quick,’ or the baby I needed to put down for a nap. You know the book, “If you give a moose a muffin” ? I could write the book, “If you give a mom a chore.” I think as a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom I have two full time jobs and because they occupy the same space and time, the lines between them are blurred.
For the last two months, I’ve been preparing us gradually to get our act together so that our school time is more routine, and our home life is less chaotic. I’ve been training the children to do their chores and have been very pleased as to their contribution in making our home and meal times run so smoothly. I’ve been training myself to choose how I use my time more wisely. As we heard Jesus tell Martha in today’s gospel reading, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and trouble about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” I am a “Martha” by nature. I need to remember my work is to education my children and get them to heaven. The dishes can wait. The floor can wait. The laundry can wait.
I made us a schedule that will hopefully keep us on track:
- 6-7 a.m. exercise
- 7-8 clean up and get everyone dressed
- 8-9 breakfast and clean up
- 9-noon school
- noon -2 p.m. lunch, clean up and free time
- 2-4 p.m. finish school
- 4-5 p.m. free time
- 5 -6 p.m. cook dinner
- 6:30 p.m. dinner and clean up
- 7:30 p.m. bathtime
- 8 p.m. children’s bedtime
Then I have specific house cleaning chores for myself on certain days of the week (e.g. Monday and Thursday are bathroom cleaning days, Friday is laundry day and Saturday morning is grocery shopping). Of course I make time for 4 days of school. The 5th day is a make up day or we make a trip to the library, book store, playdate, etc.
