Morning Routine

As the days go on we continue to tweak our morning time routine to fit in homeschool, housework and helping. As of about 2 weeks ago our routine looks something like this:

7-8 wake up/TV time
8-8:30 breakfast/brush teeth/get dressed
8:30-9 chores
9:00 school

The chore section has been the most recent update/addition. I have come to realize that as much as I try I cannot do everything myself. If I don't stay on top of things we get behind and it takes a whole day to catch up. So, every morning the kids have to straighten their rooms. Then they have a list of chores that I pick from for them to do such as vacuuming under the table or the bathroom floor using the Dirt Devil, emptying the laundry basket, wiping down my bathroom or theirs, shaking rugs, straightening the living room or emptying wastepaper baskets. Each kid gets one chore. I figure this is just a starting point. These chores are an attempt to make the house company ready at any given moment. The list will expand and the older kids will get an additional chore as it becomes habit.

The biggest thing I did was to reduce TV time in the morning. One of the draw backs of homeschooling is that there really is not set time to start unless you really make an effort to get going. Nine o'clock is the time I set for us to start. It gives us just enough time to get our schoolwork done before lunch (which includes feeding EG and a shower for me.) But if the kids were watching a show and their teeth were not brushed or they were not dressed things would get a little hectic. And we would fall behind. So, Little Mama and Boop are usually the first up. They watch a 30 minute show. Sometimes, if time allows they will watch a second one while Nature Girl is up. But honestly, if the TV is off while they are eating breakfast, they carry on the most delightful conversations AND they eat quicker. If they know the TV is going off at a certain time regardless of what is on there is less bickering. As school gets a little more time consuming and I start adding more students to our little homeschool I foresee the TV not going on at all in the morning. A friend of mine has done this and if the kids are really good about no TV and doing their chores and getting ready for school they have movie night on Friday night.

We are still tweaking our morning routine because things are always changing around here but I have started and it seems to be working out just fine. We will be flexible and ready to reevaluate when the time comes . . .