Rhythm vs Schedule

What kind of family are you? Are you the family who goes with the flow, each day looking a little different? Or are you the family that a clock can be set by, always on time and never a minute past where you should be? I know we are much closer to the first one that we are the second. Having a baby plus two school aged kids, means I don’t get a lot of break time. It seems like we are always off doing something else.

A schedule keeps us tightly bound to tasks for set amount of time and allows for very little flexibility. Picture quickly moving from one task to another or staying one a task even when it is no longer serving its purpose. A rhythm keeps us going with the flow of the day but also lets us know what is coming next. Children knowing that when they wake up, they get ready for the day but then have some playtime before getting down to their chores. Or when the attention on todays reading wanders off, letting them get up and move on rather than keep droning on just to get through it.

So what does that mean? Don’t kids thrive on a schedule? Isn’t the latest research saying that schedules are the building block of consistency and that they better prepare children to know what is coming? Does it though? Some people thrive with a schedule. Knowing exactly what they should be doing every minute of every day. If you are like me though and sometimes don’ t know how much time a task is actually going to take to complete, schedules can be intimidating and daunting.

Here’s 3 reasons why we use a rhythm:

• Keeps us consistent while allowing flexibility
• Allows time to be used more productively
• Gives them better sleep and down time

Keeps us consistent while allowing flexibility

When we follow a rhythm, it keeps us consistent. It keeps us following the same path and lets the kids (and my mom brain) to know what is supposed to come next. Wake, chores, play, school, lunch, etc. It allows them the routine of how our days look. They know what they can count on happening and when it will happen but it also allows us to fill up empty spaces with fun. It allows for moments of connection. It allows for us to have the time to fall into the interesting topics and not worry about how much we are straying from our schedule. Because it doesn’t matter what time we stop reading and start math. What matters is that they know that even if we choose to read one more chapter, afterwards we will do math. And while we may not do the full 20-30 minutes that we typically do, it till still get done and we will still learn all we need to.

The greatest gift that homeschooling has given us, is the gift of freedom. We can choose what we learn and when we learn it. It also gives us the opportunity to embrace opportunity. When there is a beautiful sunny day, we can take the day and go to the park and put the curriculum aside. When there is a snow day we can go sledding then come in and put on a movie. The rhythm allows for this because while we are structured in what we do we can still toss it aside and continue to find little moments that make big differences.

Allows time to be used more productively

Have you ever sat through a meeting thinking “Well, this is a waste of time”. I think we all have. Why keep things going when they are clearly no longer being productive. Having a rhythm means the children and I can expect what is coming next but if we finish early or are no longer being productive with our task at hand we can change directions and it doesn’t interfere with what happens in our day. All that changes is what time we do it at. That also means that if we need extra time because we fall down a rabbit hole, then we can easily catch back up by cutting other activities short.

Math may come very easily to you. You may get to your math and it is an easy concept. So you get it done in 10 minutes. But mom/teacher says you are supposed to be doing it for another 20 minutes. So your options are to look over your work (boring) or keep going with your lesson and do more practice (boring and insulting). You already know what you are doing, that is why you finished and now as a “reward” you get to do more? Does that sound productive? To me it sounds like tomorrow I will make sure I don’t finish it so early. But what if I finished quickly got it right and got to move on to something more interesting. Or something I was having trouble with and didn’t get to finish.

Can you imagine a child who has found the topic so enticing when learning about ancient Egypt that they want to continue to read about it? Venturing into learning about canopic jars, embalming, mummifying and more. Did you know that Isis, Anubis, and Osiris were the Greek names for Ancient Egyptian gods but that Egyptians called themselves Kemets and they called the Gods Aset, Impu, and Usir respectively? I didn’t but my son did because I let him use his time to read what he wanted to rather than forcing him to do something he didn’t want to do.

Now imagine that you loved learning about Egypt but then your 30 minutes of ancient studies was up. And now you had to move on to something else. How frustrating would it be that you want to know more but you are made to move on to something your find WAY less interesting. Your head is not going to be in the subject.

Allows for better sleep and down time

I don’t know about you but my children are getting to the tween age where they want to stay up late and sleep in in the morning. What does this mean for me? Well it means quieter mornings with just the Mermaid and the Munchie around. But it also means that I can allow those mornings, where Monkey and Monster need the extra rest, to happen. We are not set by a clock on getting out of the house most days so if they need to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes or 2 hours, all it does is shift our start time. Since the girls aren’t doing school work, it really doesn’t change much for us. Once the girls are doing work, the boys will also be in a much more independent place and so even if they wake up later, they are likely to be able to still maintain their own rhythm.

I don’t know about you but in this day in age, I swear we are all just running from one task to another. We each know what we want but we also have to be pulled in so many other directions, that it doesn’t always happen. When is the last time you read a book for fun, went outside just to sit and watch the clouds. The rhythm allows for us to have more downtime. Well what do you mean? If we are following a rhythm, shouldn’t all moments of their day be accounted for in the blocking? Yes and no. Each moment has something accounted for but what happens when lunch only takes 15 minutes instead of 30? That is 15 minutes where they have the options of continuing in their daily rhythm or they could manage it themselves and choose to do a fun activity, picking up where they left off after they have completed their next task. My kids and I prefer the latter. Taking the time to relax and decompress multiple times a day to get ready for the next task is a form of self care. Learning to just be. Not be busy, not be doing something, not be cleaning or cooking or whatever. But just learning to be with yourself and your thoughts. I feel like this is the biggest gift of using a rhythm.