An Hour For Everything

These late Autumn days are changing so it only makes sense we are changing right along with them.  I decided to move our formal learning time to the afternoon to make more space for the little ones in the morning hours, and it has turned out to be a genius move at this time, at these ages.  Time and again I am grateful for the opportunity that homeschooling affords us in terms of flexibility of schedule.  We can morph and change to try and accommodate each member as much as possible.  With Rosemary beginning to take a somewhat predictable nap in the afternoon along with dependable napper Peter, it has made the most sense to let the mornings center around the small people and the afternoon around the bigs.  I've got six children, so I know that  this may "work" for a month, or even a week, and then change.  But for today, right now, it is so good.

So in the mornings, I do our read alouds and bible.  The kids eat breakfast and head outside, watching the little ones while I get things cleaned up and start supper.  Then it's in for lunch and maybe a game or some playdough before the babies are put to sleep and school begins.  I'm feeling more at peace.  More able to get things done.  It's working out splendidly.

My brother made an off-hand comment that stuck with me recently.  He said "I think kids just basically need an hour of everything.  An hour of reading, an hour of math, at least an hour of outside play - no matter the time of year."  Words of wisdom from unexpected from a fledgling father of one, until you consider he was an active little boy once, right smack dab in the center of a large family not unlike ours.  He gets it.

One of my struggles during the year is honestly finding things to do for those kids who (some days) race through schoolwork at record speeds and then loll around, tossing that "B" word (Bored!  Eek!) around for the rest of the day.  Within the confines of "An Hour For Everything," I can see time get lapped right up.  An hour for creating.  An hour of cooking.  An hour of eating.  An hour of cleaning.  I can hang up a list of hour long activities and have the kids work through them as they wish.  The difference is transforming.  We're finding purpose.  We're working mindfully and wasting less precious time.  It's good...for now.  Until it's not.  But that's another trouble for another day.  Today, we're taking it one hour at a time.

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