Pages

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Homeschooling the Strong-Willed Child: Establishing a Routine

http://myteachersnameismama.blogspot.com/search/label/Homeschooling%20the%20Strong-Willed%20Child
Click the photo to see all the posts in this series!
This post contains an affiliate link
that I hope will be helpful to you!

I'm convinced that every family has one!  This is the child who is determined, strong-willed, confident, and independent!  We may look at these traits as negatives BUT steered in the right direction can become wonderful qualities.  Welcome back to my series, "Homeschooling the Strong-Willed Child."  In this series I will share with you tips that I have used both in my classroom and home.

Today's tips will focus on establishing a daily routine.  Routines seem to work best for many people.  The trouble is that living to a strict routine can also become a problem when a bump in the road comes along.  I carried out a daily routine in my classroom but assemblies, field trips, and special events came up and children had to adjust to those activities.  This is a GOOD thing because everyone needs to be flexible at times.  I feel it is important to strive for a daily routine but also to create some flexibility in it as well.  This will teach your child to "go with the flow" yet they will also have an idea of a predictable pattern. 

The best advice I can give to a daily routine is do what works best for you and your family!!  As a teacher I taught with three other teachers.  We each had a completely different system and daily routine yet we were like-minded with helping children to learn!  Each teacher did what worked best for them and their students and they weren't afraid to make changes if needed.

The same goes for us as parents.  What may work for my family could be completely different then what would work for yours.  Below I will share with you my ideal morning.  Notice I do not have any times listed because for us, having very young children, the order of events is more essential then sticking to a timed schedule.  Also notice the stared (*) activities, these are our daily MUST-DOs.  I like having a STRICT MUST-DO schedule for myself then those activities become habits in our home and are expected daily.  YES occasionally the MUST-DO list may not get accomplished or be "out of order" but I like having this goal for myself and children!! 

Morning:
  • WAKE-UP!
  • Eat
  • Play, read a story, watch a show (just have some wake-up time)
  • *Complete our Bible Curriculum or Daily Devotional
  • Clean up breakfast, pick up, and/or start laundry
  • *Proceed Upstairs (I find when ALL go upstairs TOGETHER it is a GREAT way for us to ALL get ready and not end up in our PJs all day!)
  • Get dressed, brush teeth, brush hair, etc.
  • Children make their beds and clean up their rooms
  • Mama makes her bed and puts laundry away
  • Go back downstairs
  • Prepare for home school
  • *Complete our home school time (more about this routine coming soon!!)
  • Play (outdoors if possible) 
  • Lunch 
  • *Nap or Quiet Time (We have a DAILY quiet time.  My children still sleep during this time although as nap time fades I will still make a quiet time part of our daily routine.  This will be a time that they will need to stay in their room and quietly read or do a quiet activity such as a puzzle or coloring.  A visual timer may be a great way to reinforce this idea if you are just beginning this with your family.)
This is our typical morning although sometimes we may have a visitor, go grocery shopping, or just pack up for a fun day out.  Those things are great too and help us all to be flexible.  I have noticed if there is too much flexibility and not enough schedule the MUST-DO activities become harder for the child to accomplish because I have sent a message that those things are not a daily priority.  So having a good balance with a goal of sticking to a workable routine for your family may help your strong-willed child (and all children) know that there are certain daily expectations and tasks to be accomplished.  This may make the day and dayS run much smoother for everyone! 

http://mad.ly/signups/115703/join


2 comments:

  1. Great series.

    It does seem every family has at least one strong-willed child. (And I must confess that I was one!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for joining the series!! And your honesty! Lol!!

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...