The blessings of a homeschool schedule

Two years ago, we packed up everything we owned and moved to Fort Wayne, IN so my husband could attend CTSFW.

Since then, we have made two more moves as part of the Seminary process.

During this time of change my children have never had to attend a new school. They have had to work at making new friends and learning their way around a new town, but they've never had to change schools.

It is the one constant.

Due to the demands of these moves and changes I have been lax about our schooling schedule, allowing the children to work when they are comfortable, and where they want to. We've not had a 'school room' or even a school area, and I could see my children falling behind in their work and falling apart emotionally. The one thing that they had been able to count on was slowly deteriorating right before their eyes.

I'd thought I was doing them a favor by relaxing my demands.

But after our last move, my husband suggested that we get back into a scheduled routine of school and chores and then play. So the kids and I mapped out a schedule for our school day including recess times, snacks and lunch breaks.
The first day we were back into our routine we had a great time, we got a lot accomplished, and my most 'depressed' child told me he was glad to be back to school and that

"we did lots of fun things today"


Isn't that really why we homeschool?.... so we can do fun things with our kids. That's my favorite part.
Here are my top three reasons that I think a strict schedule is a blessing.

1. Everyone knows when to begin. There is a feeling of security that comes from knowing what is expected of you and when you are supposed to show up.
2. Everyone knows when things will end. Even the most dreadful tasks can be tolerated when we know that they have an end time, and we can see those minutes ticking away on the clock.
3. There is always something to look forward to, whether it's a favorite subject that's about to start or the next recess.

Oh, and one more! With a schedule that demands schoolwork and chores be completed before free time; my children can take pride in knowing that they have worked hard and earned their play time.