Nov 263 min read

Homeschooling: Is This Right?

It All Just Depends...

Some homeschool days can feel like a breeze. Those easy-going days where the lessons and activities run at a great pace, and all parties are invested in accomplishing the learning load.

Then there are the more common days of homeschooling, where it feels like the largest accomplishment of the day was just getting started.

I am very familiar with these days. Being in year five of our journey, I know these days very well. I used to think that our learning days were running too late, should be more streamline, and that achieving an earlier start time was the answer...

"if I could just wrangle us up and in there (our learning space) sooner..."

The only problem with this notion was that

no matter how I reworked the morning routine, rushed through getting ready, or set great goals the result was always the same.

Our "learning time" didn't get started until late afternoon.

While this would make it seem that our days were taking too long, and that we should "start sooner," I knew that was no longer the solution .

So what was then?

How do we finish our lessons earlier in the day?

WE DON'T.

That's right, we just don't.

While in conversations with others, their "ideal plan" and/or suggestion for us was, we would naturally wake up early in the mornings, get ready, then hit the lessons and be completed by midday-

that dream wouldn't be our reality.

We are night owls.

From the time my kids were babies, we have always thrived on a later schedule. In fact, one of the dreads I had about the concept of sending my kids to public school was the loss of our freedom in our happy schedule.

We function best in the afternoons.

Our brains are ready to work and absorb information in the mid-afternoons.

Why then would I push against this natural rhythm?

It's not a wonder why my attempts at changing it were futile-

an earlier schedule went against our flow.

Some may see easing into the morning and getting a later start as inefficient or a loss of productive time,

but for us, it's more effective.

While our days may run longer compared to others, we are getting just as much, or even more completed within the day, all because we work within the hours we are at our best.

Being at our best for learning means;

less irritability, less push-back, less distractions,

more progress, more motivation, more patience.

Better learning.

This is certainly not to say that we don't have our share of hard days, it just means we optimize ourselves for our homeschool days because we follow our own timing.

So, yes, it may take us that long,

but we are very content with that.

Your optimal time may look entirely different. Perhaps you are a home of early risers, that love to dive into learning right away.

The important thing to remind yourself of is, "does it work well for our family?". If the answer is yes, then if your days run later or earlier than the norm, it doesn't matter because that is the norm for your home.

Though there may be days you dream of a different rhythm, my advise is, just go with the flow...it's more effective than you think.