Free to be Flexible

One thing I absolutely love about our lifestyle is our ability to be flexible with our daily schedule.  If something isn't working, we can change it.  Sometimes I have a hard time thinking outside the box, but other times I surprise myself.

Finished math = Chess game (with Lula)

Daniel has been a humongous problem for our homeschool.  He needs to have a buddy at all times and he needs to be lead in a productive activity.  One of the reasons he can be so beastly is because MY routine is not meeting HIS needs.

Wants to continue homeschooling so he can know his siblings

For example, in my "perfect" morning plan (with lots of time built into it), IJ and Shane do their math independently while I listen to Evie read out loud.  When she is finished reading, I teach a math lesson to her.  Evie's instruction time shouldn't take more than 45 minutes.  While I'm busy with Evie, Fiona and Daniel are supposed to play.  They can play whatever they want wherever they want, they just can't disturb the peace.  After the 45 minutes is up, Fiona and Daniel get my undivided attention.

The Darkness Club-invented by Evie

In reality, Daniel bugs and pesters his brothers to play trains with him.  Or he and Fiona fight with each other.  Or Evie runs off with them to play in their room (The Darkness Club plays with flashlights and makes shadows) and I have to disturb the peace to stick to my (loose) schedule.  Or they bug me to watch a movie.  And if I put a movie on, Shane starts watching the movie instead of doing his math.  Daniel gets more and more irritating and we have to start disciplining.  And then he yells things like, "I HATE you mama!" or "I'm a BAD boy!" or "I'm gonna SPANK you Mama!"  And he has completely regressed and would rather have wet pants all day instead of submit to nature's calls.  Basically, 10:00 AM is a witching hour at my house (which is also right about the time Mark comes out of his office for a coffee break).

Give a girl K'nex and she makes jewelry.

I've tried staggering the boys' math times so one can always play with Daniel.  But with Shane's space-out problems, he rarely gets done on time.  And IJ gets tired of playing crash the trains and cars.  While the kids take their "recess" break, I'm supposed to catch up on laundry, dishes, that sort of thing.  Whatever housework I don't get done, I'm supposed to finish up in the afternoon when the kids are done with school.  But with my constant interruptions and frustrations during the morning school hours, I just have no energy for housework.  By evening, I usually put on a movie for the kids and try to get things done while they are zombies-or I become a zombie with them.  My "perfect" schedule was supposed to be a starting point to return to when we got off course, but I always seemed to get off course at the same spot every day.  And some things just are not getting done.

Teach a child to read and he can learn for a lifetime.

So, to recap, Daniel's day is supposed to be playing with siblings in the morning, taking a nap in the afternoon, and engaging in educational something-or-others in the evening.  In reality, his day is spent being told to wait and stop and quit bugging me and no you can't go outside and why can't you just color at the table during school time? and can't you just sit still on my lap? until it's nap time.  After he wakes up its watch a movie and quit bugging me again.  No wonder he's driving us crazy.

Take a boy outside for 15 minutes and he's happy all day.

So, New Plan. Again. Gosh, how many times have I posted about new plans?  Anyway, I discovered that IJ and Shane are perfectly capable of doing most of their work independently, which I already knew but forgot.  On Tuesdays when the girls have their dance class, I leave them a list of what they need to get done and they do it.  So now they can do that every day.  And I now spend every morning just puttering around the house, doing a chore here and there, and always available to Daniel and Fiona.  If Daniel wants to go outside, I pack Lula up in her snowsuit and Ergo and we all go outside.  If Daniel wants me play cars or trains, I do that (although when I play cars and trains, they don't crash into each other, they talk about their feelings, "Thomas, when you say you hate me, that really hurts" *snicker, snicker* He usually just takes his trains back at that point).  When I need to change a diaper, we all go have a "potty party" and get lots of stickers for dry pants, going on the potty, and putting pants back on without fighting.  And if we want to do a fun activity, like going to the zoo, the boys can do their math at night like Evie.  Daniel doesn't have to miss out on the fun things his brothers did when they were toddlers!

The dogs like the new routine too!  "Play? Outside?!?"

What about Evie? Well, lucky her, she is a Night Owl just like me.  Right now, IJ and Shane have activities every night except Tuesday.  So we do her schoolwork in the evening!  I am never too tired to homeschool because I love homeschooling (teaching Evie math is way more fun than laundry and dishes)!  And by the time evening rolls around, Daniel is happy, happy, happy, because he played and got lots of love and snuggles and took a nice three hour nap.  And I'm happy, happy, happy, because I got all the "hard" homeschool work done while he slept.

Mina hid her toy in the pond so she wouldn't have to share.

While Daniel slept this week, we started reading The Odyssey (Mary Pope Osborne's version), read about the Ancient Greeks, did three weeks worth of map coloring, and...

Cutting the jaw hinge to see the "teeth"

...dissected frogs.  Evie learned how to add 8 to any number less than 100 without having to count or write anything down.  I finished up another pair of wool pants and worked on my Leafy Shawlette that I started last weekend.  I batch-cooked lasagne last night.  Daniel and I brought in 15 eggs this morning. And we all feel so much happier and peaceful, all because I moved a simple 45 minute teaching session to the end of the day.