More on Schedules and Routines

I don't want to give you all the wrong idea, though. I do plan, just not in detail and not more than a week out. I plan our school weeks on Sunday nights, I plan my housework after I get an idea of the weather forecast, and I plan our days roughly the night before. I have an idea of my priorities for the day and into what order those priorities are going to fall. For instance, yesterday was unseasonably warm, but my kitchen needed some bigtime help. So, we didn't have a Park Day, but the children did play outside for three hours while I cleaned (with the kitchen door and window open, watching them and keeping things positive where needed). The kitchen was high priority yesterday. We got to our booklist readings, did some more drawing, and SweetP and I talked through a living math lesson, but not much more than that. I had gotten behind on the kitchen and it needed attention.

Today, it's gray and windy. Today's priorities (physically, there are others spiritually) are to focus in on more structured lessons, dust and vacuum the downstairs (we do it together), and work on some training issues with Punkin. Hopefully, we'll get a nature walk in around the neighborhood if the weather cooperates.

We do not have a schedule with designated times and time increments.

We do have a routine that we follow in general, with a set order - this thing always follows this other thing, but without set times and durations. That's up until about mid-morning. After that, things are highly variable.

So, I'm not completely bohemian ;) I guess it depends on the day. Somedays look fairly close to what Miss Mason suggests - morning lessons and afternoons outside. On those days, the little ones are the ones who flex the most. Somedays are more of what I call my "unofficial unschooler" days. At least, that's what they feel like to me. I stress out if I try to get each day to fit into some preconceived plan that just isn't going to fit. You know about the square peg and the round hole? I want my pegs and holes to match up ;) I'm hoping today will be a little more structured so Friday can be a little more bohemian when my sister visits ;)

We'll see.