The Benefits to Schedules (help for mama!)
Have you ever thought being a homeschool mama AND a stay at home mama is just plain HARD? Many of us ( myself included ) were never taught the necessary skills of managing a household WHILE home teaching.
My mother did take her time to teach me so much about homemaking and I have a profound love and respect for home economics. However, when you throw homeschooling in the mix…it gets messy…untried…and hard.
Many homeschool mothers I talk to have a difficult time with teaching because everything else feels chaotic. Our list is endless on a daily basis.
What A Schedule is and does…
There is an absolute myth floating around that says, “Charlotte Mason homeschoolers are UNschoolers and live without discipline”. In all of my reading of Miss Mason, not once did I get that impression from her teachings. In fact, check out the old PNEU manuscripts and journals from Charlotte Mason in this digital collection.
A schedule is…A written plan for your day. A schedule allows incremental time filled with pre-planned activity for you and your children.
Writing the schedule isn’t enough..it requires discipline to follow it (this is hard for all of us) 😊
When we look at nature, we see patterns and routines. Seasons come at their “scheduled” time. God gave us such a wonderful example in creation. Sometimes we see interruptions in nature like storms, tornados, or snow.
As we plan our own schedules, we remember that life will give US unexpectedness too. We will have times that we didn’t plan BUT I have fond having that plan in place will help us get back on track so easily.
Advice from the Bible-God’s Word
If we open our Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:14 it says, ” I will therefore that younger women marry, bear children, guide the house…”
Guiding the house gives YOU the rightful authority from God to rule in your own home. Guiding requires management skills and written plans. Writing a schedule is a powerful tool for homemakers, not a ruler, but our servant.
Habits
Your daily schedule becomes your habit. Schedules relieve stress for mama and children. Just like jumping into your van and putting on a seat belt, schedules are like that.
This may be a poor example but it’s one I think of a lot. You know when you are merging into oncoming traffic ( I like near Chicago with lots of expressways)…Well, when I AM the oncoming traffic and I see people merging that cannot make up their mind to either go fast or slow down, accidents happen and much more mental effort is exerted. In fact, I’ve seen more accidents happen in unpredictability. ( I am not saying we shouldn’t be aware of our surroundings and be unsafe…)
Our days are like that. If we make up our minds ahead of time of how the day will go, it is much easier on us and our children.
Children love to know what’s next. They love the predictability of knowing what’s next.
The habit of routine…
This habit of routine will help you as you add more babies, teach more subjects, and have new domestic duties at your doorstep.
Every year our mothering duties get a new description. Last year I had a 2-year-old still in diapers, a 5-year old that needed more help, a 10-year-old who that needed more help with reading than my older children did…
This year I have a potty trained independent 3-year-old, a 6-year old that is learning to read and spell, an 11-year old that finally had that lightbulb moment in reading, 3 teenagers that are studying difficult periods in history all at the same time, I am teaching Latin to 3 students all at once, we are beginning a homestead…This year is different, as you can tell!
One thing that remains the same is, our Bible reading, academics, hygiene, keeping our home clean and maintained, laundry…etc.
Within all those changes, comes a new time to sit down and plan a new schedule. I have found this to be critical in home education.
We start with a time “budget”. This budget makes me so much more aware of the time we have..and the time we’ve wasted in the past.
So many times I used to think I was “too busy” but the reality was, I wasn’t managing my time correctly.
Having a schedule allows you to be in charge of your time instead of your time telling you what to do. Often when you live in this “unfocused” way, you live in an adrenaline mode. I only know this because…I’ve been there. I have been the mom that is so exhausted and trying to “do it all” from a place of adrenaline instead of rest.
When I started Charlotte Mason Mama, I hoped that in some way, I would help other mamas live their days in a beautiful, restful yet productive way.
I talk a lot about resisting the urge of “too many activities” outside of your home. I am not talking about being a hermit… but I am talking about daily out the door again activities.
In today’s culture, we need to regain the vision of what home life should be and create our own cultures at home. So many plans are in the works at Charlotte Mason Mama to help you achieve that home life that you’ve always dreamed of. Sign up below for NON spammy…real help updates 💜
We will talk much more in this coming month about schedules and routines..how to begin and why I know it will help you!
Love,🌷
Jenny
