rhythm | Ducks in the Pond

Category: rhythm

August 21, 2012

And We’re Off! Plus Our Daily Rhythm ’12/’13

Botany lesson

Experimenting with The Crow and the Pitcher by Aesop – too yucky to drink.

Everyone is part of our day.

I was a little worried yesterday morning when my fifth grader balked a bit about getting up for school, but I took a deep breath and everything turned out well.

Here is what our school days look like this year:

Mama rises early and prepares for the day. (So glad I already have a few weeks under my belt!)

All three kids rise and take of care of morning tasks. (Dress, prayer, teeth, hair, bed, tidy room)

Second grader piano, Fifth grader piano

Breakfast

Morning Devotional (Song, Prayer, Memorized Scripture, Scripture Reading)

Walk

Opening Verse, Pennywhistle

Toddler songs and poems

Second Grade Main Lesson (Includes academics, art, extras and 10 min. of read aloud. Fifth grader helps with toddler and prepares snack.)

Snack

Fifth Grade Main Lesson (Includes academics, art, extras and 10 min. read aloud. Second grader helps with toddler.)

Lunch

Rest Time

Fifth Grade Extra Lesson / Second Grade Independent Reading

Spanish (M,W 5th grade; T,TH 2nd grade) / Handwork (T,TH 5th grade; M,W 2nd grade)

Fifth Grade Independent Reading/ Second Grade as needed

Our days are longer this year, but the flow feels good. (Granted we’ve only completed two days, and all schedules are subject to change…)

The challenge for me on our first day was making it special. We are using almost the same rhythm we used last year, so I had planned to just plop right back into academics. I’m glad I had sudden inspiration over the weekend to slow down, review the “rules,” and do something enjoyable. So, for fun yesterday we made a “Recipe for Success.” (I pinned a little snack mix on Pinterest a while ago which is where my idea came from, but since we are at home I thought it would be much cuter to make something together.) I got a cookie recipe that looked really good and changed all of the ingredients to words that I wanted to emphasize in our homeschool time together. Then I labeled all of the ingredients with their new words.

The recipe looked like this:

Recipe for Success

3 kids (eggs were labeled “kids”)

1 cup love (sugar was labeled “love”)

Etc. You get the idea. It was really cute. The kids had fun, even though they pretended to think it was dumb. The cookies were delicious.

Thanks so much for visiting today! Leave me a comment or link and let me know what you are up to.

Mrs. Mallard

2 comments

January 17, 2012

Rhythm in Our Home

Daily rhythm is something I’ve been reading about on two of my favorite blogs. It’s also something I spend a lot of time thinking about! More than a strict schedule based on the clock, for me rhythm is the flow of the day, the in-breaths and out-breaths of all of our activities. Our daily rhythm right now looks like this:

_____

Mom and kids all wake up at the same time.

Mom prepares breakfast while kids dress, make beds, brush teeth, play.

Everyone eats breakfast together. Mom cleans up.

Morning Devotional. This consists of a hymn, a scripture we are memorizing, and scripture reading.

Grade 4 child’s Main Lesson. Grade 1 child reads independently, does Spanish lesson, plays.

Outside Break. (This used to be a walk every day, but now the baby has started taking a huge nap during this time and so I’ve been sending the kids outside alone.)

Grade 1 child’s Main Lesson. Grade 4 child reads independently and does Spanish.

Lunch. Mom cleans up.

Rest Hour. I usually read blogs and try to write during this time, but it doesn’t seem like the best time.

“Specials” Mon – piano lessons & library; Tues. – Handwork; Wed. – baking/cooking; Thurs. – painting

Play Time

Dinner Preparation – I cook. Fourth Grader feeds animals & sets table. First Grader empties dishwasher.

Family Book Reading – We are reading The Incredible Journey right now.

Mom puts baby to bed while big kids play.

Big kids to bed.

Husband and I chill with me taking care of waking baby as needed.

____

So when do we do our chores?! That’s my hugest issue! Some mornings I’ll throw in laundry folding or a quick house pick-up, but I need to implement a daily chore schedule that we stick to like glue. I know my big kids are able to help out with housework more than they do right now. (Like meal clean-up!) I’m planning to sit down and tackle a chore schedule to implement ASAP.

The other change I would like to make is getting myself up before the kids. I have tried this many times in the past only to be frustrated that the earlier I get up, the earlier my kids get up and once again I’m left with no personal time.

Here are the posts on rhythm from The Parenting Passageway: One; Two; Three

Here is the post from Celebrate the Rhythm of Life.

What is your daily rhythm? How do you handle your housework?

Thanks for reading!

4 comments

Ducks in the Pond

Category: rhythm

August 21, 2012

And We’re Off! Plus Our Daily Rhythm ’12/’13

January 17, 2012

Rhythm in Our Home

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