Re-Create Your Homeschool Rhythm

EP216: Rather than getting bogged down by decision fatigue or overwhelmed by curriculum choices, learn how establishing a consistent rhythm can bring ease and confidence to your homeschooling day. The topic of this week’s podcast episode is how to re-create your rhythm.

In this episode, Jean discusses simple, adaptable homeschool rhythm ideas and also offers encouragement to embrace the power of rhythm over rigid schedules.

Rhythm is the heartbeat of your home and the starting point from which all activities flow, one after the other, in a gentle way. And holding your rhythm gently but consistently can transform your homeschooling experience.

Looking for more support? Join Inspired at Home for expert homeschooling masterclasses covering rhythm, child development, lesson planning, and more; plus monthly group coaching calls and a private community for questions and encouragement.

Find the Show Notes here  https://artofhomeschooling.com/episode216/

Join the Inspired at Home Community

Chapters

• 1:50 3 gentle reminders about the value of rhythm
• 4:22 Simple morning rhythm example
• 5:07 Rhythm is flexible, not rigid
• 7:15 Steps to reset your homeschooling rhythm
• 10:13 Why every family and every family's rhythm are unique

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

You're listening to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where we help parents cultivate creativity and connection at home. I'm your host, jean Miller, and here on this podcast you'll find stories and inspiration to bring you the confidence you need to make homeschooling work for your family. Let's begin Hello there, my friend, and welcome back, or welcome to, the Art of Homeschooling podcast. It's early February as this episode airs and for many homeschoolers, we're doing our best to get back into the swing of things in the post-holiday transition. For me, this one's often the time of year when I think it would be just a great idea to send my kiddos to school, because getting back to a regular rhythm in homeschooling, with our lessons and all of the togetherness every day and learning activities, it can be challenging. Let's just acknowledge that Rhythms often fall apart during and after the holidays and it can feel like a lot is on our shoulders to try to get everything rolling smoothly again. I know I've been there, but here's the thing we all benefit from a smooth and flowing rhythm in our homeschools, children and adults alike. So it's worth it to focus on rhythm.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Here are a few reminders if you need some convincing that rhythm is your friend. Three truisms to keep in mind. Rhythm is simply a flow of activities, one to the next. Rhythm is simply a flow of activities, one to the next, that we do in the same or similar order each time, like most days, because when we do, we have fewer decisions to make. We're not starting from scratch each morning, deciding what to do when. Believe me when I remind you that decision fatigue is real. That just means that our capacity for making decisions diminishes throughout the day. So the more we can rely on rhythm, the less we use up our decision-making energies. As we transition back into homeschooling after the holidays, we're all re-establishing rhythms for the new year. Keep in mind that creating cozy morning routines and lesson time rhythms homeschooling rhythms can help combat that winter sluggishness you might be feeling right about now. Just like I mentioned in last week's podcast episode number 215, inner Quiet a Simple Morning Routine for Homeschooling Moms.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Rhythm can help us simplify and take a lot of guesswork out of our days. So then the question becomes how do we create and hold the rhythm gently? We're diving into this topic inside the Inspired at Home membership this month, if you want to join us there to explore the role of rhythm in our lives as homeschoolers. More about that wonderful community toward the end of this episode, but first I want to talk a little bit more about why rhythm matters. Here's just a little reminder of why it matters so much.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Rhythm is like the heartbeat in our homes and our homeschools. We can let it guide us. In fact, rhythm can come to our aid, be our friend and even be our starting point for homeschooling over curriculum. That's right. Instead of focusing so much on what curriculum to use, try putting your energy into rhythm for a few weeks and see where that leads. Want an example?

Speaker 1: 4:22

A super simple morning rhythm might include you waking up and doing a little meditation or prayer time for yourself while your children play. Then you all come together for breakfast. Some chores. Perhaps you like to take a walk after that. For us, we would take the dog out for a short walk all together and then you can return and begin your homeschooling lessons. That's a very simple morning routine.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Do you see how that flow of activities can be similar each day without it being too fixed? And the rhythmic flow can happen whether you wake up at 6 am or 8 am can happen whether you wake up at 6 am or 8 am. That's the magic of rhythm. Rhythm is flexible, not like a strict schedule. A schedule tends to have times attached to it, like you do this at 8.15 and you do this at 9. And I for one I don't know about you, but I get a rigid, fixed feeling and it makes me feel tense when I look at a schedule. Rhythm, on the other hand, is meant to be more like a flow, like I said, from one activity to another, with a more fluid feel. So, while the activities may be similar from one day to the next, every day will be a little bit different, and that's okay.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Like I said, rhythm is really the heartbeat of the home and homeschooling. Rhythm allows you to seamlessly flow through learning activities, through all the activities of your day, even on days when you wake up with no clear lesson plan. That lesson rhythm might include a warmup with songs or poems, story time, artistic activities, main lesson book work and skills practice. But even when you don't know what specifically you will do for each of those activities, you can still fill in the blanks much more easily when you have a rhythm like that established. This is how rhythm can provide structure and security in your homeschool day. Remember this, though it's also quite normal to need a rhythm reset at times, like after the disruption of the holidays or illness if illness has gone through your family, or even after birthday celebrations, because your rhythm will fall away at times, and that's okay. I want you to understand that that's going to happen to all of us. It's actually to be expected, in fact. Just remember to come back to rhythm and create a rhythm that supports you and your family, wherever you are on your homeschool journey.

Speaker 1: 7:13

Right now, here are three simple steps to reset your rhythm. Step one reflect and let go Briefly assess what has worked and not worked in the past with your rhythm. You might look at your daily rhythm, your lesson time rhythm, specifically even your weekly rhythm as a family, like what you tend to do on Mondays, or if Wednesdays are different or the weekends. If you're brand new to rhythm, start small and build from there. For example, what are three activities you want to do most mornings? Those can serve as the foundation of your daily rhythm. When you're ready to reset, I encourage you to start fresh, without feeling guilty that your rhythm has fallen away. That will happen from time to time, like I have said, and just let this episode be your reminder to come back to it. If your kiddos are old enough, you might even have a short family meeting to gather input from everyone about your daily and weekly rhythms.

Speaker 1: 8:27

All right, step two start small with anchor points. So focus on key points of the day and let these become anchor points. The regular activities that you do most days, like morning circle or warm-up time, snack time, bedtime, meal times. Anchor points are these times when everyone in the family, or most everyone, comes together, is doing something together and you are reconnecting. If you've been without rhythm for a while, work on these anchor points for a bit before adding in more activities. This way you can layer in additional activities gradually and when you want to bring the whole family together at certain points in your day, a great place to start is with something familiar that can become like the cue to that activity. For example, reintroduce a familiar song or poem, a mealtime blessing that everybody already knows or a ritual to ground you in that activity and at that time of day. And step three add layers gradually. Build the rhythm slowly over a few weeks rather than diving into an elaborate day of activities all at once. You want to create space in your day for creativity, learning, playtime, home care, rest, connection. There's so many pieces that go into making a rich and connecting day. So think about that as you're creating your rhythm and add layers gradually.

Speaker 1: 10:13

As we bring this episode to a close, I want to offer you a little more encouragement. First of all, every single family's rhythm is going to look different. There's so many things that go into the daily rhythm and we're all going to create something that is unique and works for our family at this point in time, keep in mind it's okay to experiment. Rhythm is not about getting the perfect flow down on paper. So many homeschooling parents I talk to want to write out their rhythm, tweak their rhythm, show me their rhythm, ask me if I think that this is going to work for them and I know how tempting that is right but it's really about intuitively guessing what seems good for your family right now and giving it a try, see how it goes and then make small tweaks. Remember, when you make changes, it's best to make only one or two changes at a time rather than throwing the whole thing out and starting over. I've been there and I can't tell you how many like perfect looking rhythms I've created, but then it isn't fitting where we are on our journey at that time. So, just like the homeschooling lessons themselves, we want to spend more time in the doing than in the planning. You want to create your unique homeschool rhythm for your family, so that means you'll create, tweak and find your homeschool rhythm.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Here's a great quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. Now, if you want more support and a community of homeschoolers from all over the world, come join the Inspired at Home membership. Every February, we focus on the masterclass Reset your Rhythm, where you'll find six lessons with guidance for how to create your daily and weekly rhythm, your homeschool lesson rhythm and how to increase your rhythms. Plus, there's so many examples from other homeschooling parents of what their rhythm looks like and how they make it work for their family. The Reset your Rhythm Masterclass is designed to help homeschoolers create sustainable rhythms that are just right for you. You'll get this masterclass, along with 30 others, when you join the Inspired at Home community.

Speaker 1: 12:52

For details, head over to artofhomeschoolingcom slash inspiredathome. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you have a wonderful week connecting with your family. Don't forget to let rhythm be your friend. You'll find a quick summary of the episode here, along with any links I've mentioned at artofhomeschoolingcom, slash episode 216. Remember the Emerson quote all life is an experiment, and the more experiments you make, the better. That's all for today, my friend, but here's what I want you to remember Rather than perfection, let's focus on connection. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast.