** Disclaimer: The following has been arrived at with months of experimentation and daily adjusting to allow for us all to arrive at this place comfortably and with joy in the process. We have not fully arrived yet and will continue to tweak as we need to because life is vibrant and moving. This is where we are now, but “Aslan is always on the move”. We can only do what is front of us today and let tomorrow take care of itself. So please don’t copy what I do. Be inspired or take things that hit a chord and then seek God and find your own unique spin and then let me know. I love to learn and try new things. You wont believe what I learn quietly on all of your blogs and how I process them and assimilate bits and pieces into my own life.
OK people it is now safe to read on.**
There are a few constants for me. Waking at 5am and ”to bed” as close to 10pm as possible, no TV during the day ( and really not much at all anymore) and very little phone or personal computer time during the day. Everything else is shift-able within reason.
5-5:45 Dress and spend 45 minutes of time to get my head on straight and do some of my own business stuff. 5:45 - 6:45 Workout, with my workout partner 5-6 days a week alternating running, weights, yoga and sprints depending on the day. We pray talk, process our thoughts with God and each other. It is very renewing for me. I look forward to it every day.
6:45 - 7:15 finish up emails and look over my daily school activities to refresh my memory. I may pull a few things up on the computer that we may refer to throughout the day. The great thing about the CM method, is that most of the reading is found free online or at your library. Good old classics never go out of style.
7:15 - kids up (usually they trickle down stairs one by one). They come down and we prepare breakfast. I work on the “youngers” and our eldest prepares his own. He usually cooks his own eggs and has a bowl of cereal. Until 8 we leisurely eat and start thinking about our day. We review or family rules and have our devotion. It is a very fluid time, of talking and working together. I do want to make a point about devotions with the kids. There is a specific time when we read a certain story or verse, but for the most part we strive to make the language of Jesus and the kingdom of God an “every moment” thing in our home. Every moment is God inspired and He will reveal himself to us where ever we may be looking.
8-9 - We do our housework. We make beds, we pick up, we do our zone. I am just starting to train the oldest 2 on how to really clean. The youngest still uses a baby wipe. You wont believe how much they love to help me clean. We usually fold a load of laundry, get dressed and generally get things “stowed” in that amount of time. They are typically done in about 20 minutes and I continue working on a few things while they play together until we head back downstairs for our lessons. Now I believe that all of life is learning and that cooking in the kitchen is as important as math and penmanship. We generally try to school from 9-11 or 12. However, lately it has been so hot here that we go out first and then school during the youngest ones nap time. We just adjust according to the temp of the day. I have a daily calendar that keeps me on track of what I should get done, and I make sure it is completed before the late after noon. I am sure as the weather cools off, we will gravitate to a morning routine.
11:30 - 12 we have lunch. The kids normally play and enjoy each other until lunch is ready. The youngest is pretty tired by then, so we make hast to get him in bed asap. The middle child is training to go without naps and she is very excited about this process. She can’t go everyday without a nap so again we play this by ear. 1-2 is “quiet time” for all of us unless we need to school then because of the heat. Even with school during the middle of the day, I make sure to have at least 30 minutes of quiet. I get to go to my room for that time too.
2:30 - 3ish, children are waking, I am picking up some type of mess and we are having snack. Then 3-5 is ether, errand running, pool time, or outside playtime/nature study, or inside carpet play. If we are inside with quiet play, I generally try to have some type of good quality music on quietly in the background. Everything from classical to world music. Something that is good and broad. Training children to like music and sounds of other cultures starts early. Because I have taught them all music and movement since they were in the womb, they all come fairly naturally to music.
At 5 we begin preparing dinner. The oldest two help with some portion of the meal and the youngest usually plays in the kitchen with something. As I have said before I typically have a sink of soapy water setup so he washed dishes or his cars depending on the day.
We are just starting to get into a consistent sit down family meal that we are all a part of and I am not running around like a crazy person wiping up spilt milk and globs of food or getting more of something for someone or physically having to feed another. I was very proud the other week when we had family guests over and they all sat at the table with us and participated. We reviewed our table manners before hand and they did very well. Up until this point we would feed them all before and put them to bed and have guests over after they were asleep at 7. Now they are starting to be able to join us. It is fun. Our church community is a huge part of our life and therefore our children’s as well. At least 2 nights a week we eat with our church so a bedtime routine is “canned” in favor of deepening and strengthening relationship with peers their own age as well as everyone else older than them.
I am still working on getting into a consistent nightly rhythm with having the kids help pick up and put everything away before bed. I feel like once the time changes we will be adding that into our daily mix as well. Little baby steps daily create huge change over time. This has been a rewarding process and very freeing. There has been sacrifice on my part in order to get here, but I will say that so far it has been well worth it. It has allowed me to find Sabbath rest in the midst of what could be chaos.
Grace and peace to you as you find your daily rhythm of grace.
