Flexibility
* This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. *
I know I’m probably preaching to the choir here (though, I do have lots of people who find my blog by searching for things about weird or unsocialized homeschoolers, so maybe I might help someone who is on the fence about homeschooling to see a new benefit).
Anyway, one of the things that I really love about homeschooling is the flexibility. I do have to guard against being so flexible that we never get anything done, but some degree of flexibility is really nice. Today was a prime example.
Our usual routine goes something like this:
- Get up
- Spend half-an-hour to an hour doing household chores and general clean-up
- Eat breakfast
- Bible study
- Grammar/reading/handwriting
- Math
- Lunch
- Free Time
- History/read-aloud
- (Latin — when we add it in next week)
- (Science — to be added back in next week)
- Hands-on projects/activities
Then, we’re pretty much done for the day as far as schoolwork goes, with the possible exception of music class homework for my younger two later on this fall.
Well, once again I stayed up way too late last night (what is it about a quiet house when everyone else is asleep that makes it so hard to go to bed? Okay, that was a rhetorical question. What mom doesn’t live for just a little bit of that uninterrupted quiet time?). So, I got up late today and, of course, no one else was up either and even if they had been they wouldn’t have come to wake me up. I mean, hello? If they came to wake me up, they’d have to start school.
So, anyway, it was right at 11:00 by the time we were ready to start school, so we skipped breakfast, worked until noon and had lunch. That meant that the bulk of the work we usually do before lunch got moved to after lunch. And, you know what? No one cared. We just made the adjustment.
That is so nice to be able to work within our own schedule and to make adjustments that suit our family’s needs. We can take some time off in the middle of the day to go meet a grandparent for lunch or meet some friends at the park. My oldest often likes to finish up the days’ work after the younger two have gone to bed or save some of her silent reading until bedtime. We take off when Dad’s off. We take vacations during the off-season. I have friends who sometimes travel with a spouse for his job.
It’s so nice to be able to do that and not be tied down to a schedule set by schools to meet the needs of the millions of parents who work 8-5 jobs. It was so nice to be able to work around my husband’s schedule when he worked second and third shifts (praise God for first shift, though!).
Not only can we tailor our children’s educations to meet their needs, but we can also tailor our schedules to meet our family’s needs. Homeschooling is such a blessing.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
Being a new homeschooler (who has not started yet) I get a little edgy when I think of a schedule. I think things will be out of control if they don’t run the same all the time. Thank you for sharing that it is ok to have flexibility. I think I need to be unschooled.
Kelly
We have a similar kind of schedule. We kind of get up when we get up, and then go from there. My oldest doesn’t fall asleep easily, and so I like that I can let him sleep in some, rather than pulling him out of bed at 7 am like we used to have to do.
I agree with you. My husband works three jobs and when he has half the day at home, we wait to do school until he leaves. That way the kids get to be with daddy. However,today he is home allll day, so school will continue, but probably at a slower more sporadic pace!