It is the first Friday back after a long Christmas break. We made it through the first week back to school. Our last day of school was December 19th but the truth is we both checked out way before that. Over the break I realized how burnt out I had become from staring at my laptop writing articles and doing homework of my own. I took a few days off in both weeks to try to regroup. You know your brain has been over worked when you sit down to write something and all your synaptics seize up.
I spent a good amount of time thinking about time management. We have so much going on day by day and I always feel like I ultimately get nothing done. Of course, I actually get something done but it never seems to be enough. Of the long list of things to be done, I feel like I only get 1% done, though I probably get more than that.
Harmonie did pretty well this past semester. We were on schedule 98% of the time. This last month took a hit with my school work and writing taking precedence. Now that we have made it through a week of being back, it is clear where we need work. I woke up on Monday refreshed and ready to follow my new schedule of getting up at 7am to start writing and get email and social media out of the way before school time. I was pretty excited about being productive and did pretty well.
I’m still recouping from burn out so writing is still a little of a labor but I started blog post and that went swimmingly. By 9am, Harmonie was working on her typing and I was in the shower getting myself fully awake and ready for the day. We started the official school day with math and I went through the problems with Harmonie on the board. That seems to be the best way to get through math with her. She whizzed right through the, which is a rarity for her. I was pretty pleased about it.
The rest of the school day went pretty well. We stuck to our schedule pretty much and all is good with the world, until day two. I was up late the night before and so I woke up at 8am instead of 7. I couldn’t get out of bed. That took me only one day to fall back into the bad habits of my life. Ugh! Well, I got up and got some stuff done. We started school on time and got through it.
The rest of the week went about the same. I did not necessarily wake up at 7am but I got up early enough to get school started by 9am. It is the late night working that kills me. I have to get a handle on my schedule so that I can get all things writing done during the day. Once it gets to be about 2pm, I begin to get tired and writing becomes harder and harder. I have to get to bed on time and stop working at night. That truly is the problem. I work at night and can’t get up in the morning. Bright side, I am working. I’m not wasting time watching television. Well, the television is on while I’m working but I’m working nonetheless.
For me the problem seems to be to many things going on during the optimum alert times of the day. I’m more awake once I get up and going. Unfortunately, this is the time I’m homeschooling. I can write while homeschooling, as Harmonie has told me on a number of occasions but I try not to because I don’t want her to take advantage of my working and waste school time playing. She gets more done when I give my 100% attention to the school day, which should be my priority. By night fall, once my second wind comes in, I’m back to being alert and productive but then I loose rest because of it. There has to be a happy balance somewhere.
The lesson learned this week is: a schedule works wonders in my house. We both get more done when we look at the clock and see that it is time to change activities. Harmonie works faster when she has a timer to beat. What normally takes 30-45 minutes, with a timer takes 15 minutes. The timer is my new best friend.
The truth is we had a good week. It was nice to get back into the routine of life. It is going to take a touch of time to really get this schedule mastered and to break our bad habits of time management life but overall I think we are on our way to success. Let’s see what next week holds.
How was your break? Did you come back from it full steam ahead? What lessons did you learn about your home school life while resting and thinking about your next season to come? Let’s talk about it!
0
0
0
0
0
0
A powerful share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a little bit analysis on this. And he in truth purchased me breakfast as a result of I discovered it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love studying more on this topic. If attainable, as you grow to be expertise, would you mind updating your weblog with more pasrciulart? It’s extremely useful for me. Big thumb up for this weblog submit!