The 'No Schedule' Schedule.

One of the themes that has been popping up on my Twitter feed and other Homeschool forums is the anxiety about socialization and scheduling as regards to Homeschooling. Masha' Allah, we've been inundated with long weekends, visits and weather we need to get out and take advantage of, which has left us facing some scheduling conflicts of our own around here, so I thought I'd share what we've been up to in this arena.

The teacher in me, the one that's brain is morphed to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) guidelines, often fights with the SAHM (Stay At Home Mother), of four children under the age of 5, in me and it can cause great anxiety at times.  The NAEYC part of me knows we need (I want) to accomplish certain things daily such as circle time, a small lesson, story or reading time (15 min a day used to be the  suggestion) a craft, and weather permitting outdoor playtime, and a nap, and that's the scaled down version. That might sound unrealistic for one person to accomplish, but surprisingly, on good days we get everything done with in a few hours and we have loads of time for outdoor and or free play before, and or after nap.

Nap and setting a nap time, has always been the one thing that has been the most consistent around here, Masha' Allah, however now that Baby Professor is generally down to one nap a day, that has not been consistent with the other Professors nap times, and has led to me being in a constant carnival of activity, we needed to make some changes.

Now instead of strictly sticking to circle time and story time in the morning, the Professors mainly engage in their free play, while Baby Professor toddles around and does his thing. He and Professor #3, who just turned 3, both get tired around 11/11:30. Instead of 'getting through' lunch time with everyone, or putting Baby Professor down, then praying he does not wake up when Professor #3 goes down for his nap (they share a room), I've decided to move up nap time to 11:30 for everyone. The twins have never been consistent nappers, ever, so they have a selection of books in their room they can read, or they can just rest.

Mahsa' Allah, I can't lament enough what a positive, refreshing difference this has made in our day. I get a more consistent break, everyone is happy and ready for lunch after nap and we get in much more learning, even though its stuck in more here and there,  and much less formal. Beauty of homeschooling so I'm told, and am learning. This new schedule Masha' Allah also allowed us to get outside yesterday and enjoy the surprise snow storm twice, and allowed us to stay out much longer than if we had to hurry in for whatever reason.

The Professors have had some concerns reagarding this new schedule, and like any change in routine, its taking some getting used to, but for now its working, Alhumdullilah.  Will it always be like this? Is this finally something we can call a schedule? Probably not. But the Reggio in us just goes with the flow : ). Next week this schedule might be a complete disaster for us. We'll have to wait and see insha' Allah.