This is the time of year when I look around and wonder how I’m ever going to recover my home.

We have been knee-deep in school for a month and a half. While my days have been full of learning and fun, the house has suffered. It is time to re-establish habits to keep everything running more smoothly.

Homeschooling is just as much about home as it is schooling. There has to be a balance between the two before your home will run with peace and harmony.

In the past years, we have tried full-day schedules.

Though I love the structure of a full-day schedule, it seemed many days we were always off by about 10 a.m. for one reason or another. At times, I had a baby who needed extra mommy time, or a beginning reader who needed individual attention. Sometimes, we were involved in a school assignment that wasn’t quite finished. There was always something.

After a few years of experience, I have learned during this season of my life, it’s just easier to establish some simple routines for times when life kicks in and the schedule seems to fly out the window.

Simple Routines

The following are some examples of the simple routines we have in place to keep our school plans and our house from falling apart:

• Morning routines — This includes simple things like having the children wake, dress, brush their teeth, and make their bed. I usually do add in a few tasks such as feeding our pets, or setting the table for breakfast.
• After Breakfast Routine — lay out school books and pencil boxes, start dinner preparation
• School Block 1 — literature, grammar, spelling, handwriting, reading (Illuminations makes it easy to schedule school in blocks since you can lay out your subjects in any order you choose.)
• School Block 2 — science, math, history, art
• Lunch and Clean up—lunch, wash dishes, change out laundry, daily cleaning tasks, continue dinner prep
• School Block 3— finish independent work/place away school supplies
• After Naps— play time outside, work on dinner
• Early Evening— dinner and clean up, straighten house, devotions
• Night Time— straighten bedroom, lay out clothes for tomorrow, personal grooming, into pajamas and into bed

We also have a separate routine for Saturday so we are prepared and ready for Sunday. Each child has an assignment to accomplish that day—cleaning out the car, packing a diaper bag, setting out dress shoes and socks, or ironing church outfits.

By establishing these kinds of routines, even if you are off your regular schedule because of illness or a delay of some kind, you are still able to maintain the flow of your home. You may miss school block 1, for example, if an appointment runs late, but can easily come home and have the children pick up right at block 2, or wherever you are in the day.

So, how about you? Are you a full-day scheduler, do you use routines in your home, or are you more free-style about your home-keeping and homeschooling?