Scheduling That Works

I like freedom. I want freedom to enjoy life, to be spontaneous. 

​I like to be productive. I like to create, to learn, to teach. 

​How can I ever bring these two things together because you see I discovered the hard way that without scheduling things, they just don't happen. 

​Oh, dear. What's a mother to do?

​I tried creating an hour-by-hour schedule, but that was a disaster. I was so angry at my schedule. It made me feel like I was in jail.  

​I had to find a way to schedule that wouldn't make me feel boxed in or locked up. 

​That's when I discovered block scheduling. 

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Block scheduling is similar to the scheduling I tried, but with one important difference. Instead of scheduling hour-by-hour, you schedule blocks of time. I created four sections of time for each day: 

​Block One: Between Wake-Up & Breakfast
Block Two: Between Breakfast & Lunch
​Block Three: Between Lunch & Dinner 
​Block Four: Between Dinner & Go-To-Sleep Time

​I scheduled things in those blocks of time. Before breakfast, I would have my Quiet Time, but I could wake up any time I wanted to. Between breakfast and lunch, I would teach math, phonics, and writing. Then we would eat lunch when we finished. We scheduled other things for the afternoon. I left my evenings free except for church or homeschool meetings.

​To my excitement, block scheduling worked perfectly for me! I became productive, but didn't feel like I was in a straight-jacket. Soon, I was making schedules for all my children. They would tweak them and we were all happy. 
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Block scheduling gave us a rhythm without taking away our freedom. As a homeschooling mom, it kept us on track while leaving room for flexibility.

If you want more tips and practical advice on homeschooling with joy and success, you've got to read Joyful and Successful Homeschooling. You can purchase Joyful and Successful Homeschooling at Amazon. Purchase the E-book at Payhip and TeachersPayTeachers. Learn more here.

​Happy Scheduling!
​Meredith Curtis 

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