Home School Corner: Routines and Hobbits--er, I mean Habits

 There's a joke about home schoolers, that we are like hobbits and basically eat our way through the day, since we're home and there's food here. It's more true than I care to admit at our house! 

Image via giphy

But that's not what I want to talk about today. [Although, pro-tip: if your kids (read: little boys) are wiggly and cranky and unwilling/able to work towards anything, grab them a cup of water (or tea) and a little snack and 9 out of 10 times you'll suddenly have a new, teachable creature before you.]

In all seriousness, one of the most comprehensive and fundamental aspects of homeschooling success that I can pass on to you is this: 

Routine

Create routines that fit your family and your needs, and stick to them. That's it. If you want your kids to do a certain amount of reading in a day, create a routine with a time and place for that. If you want them to do chores before breakfast every day, then help clean up after breakfast, then hit the lessons--create a routine for it. If the routine you have isn't working, drop it or change it. And when you find something that works, make that your new routine. Show your kids (and tell them) that this is just how our days are going for this season, and you will be amazed at how quickly a daily struggle to survive becomes...well, I wouldn't say streamlined (because, kids) but at least not a huge battle Every. Single. Time. So, what's the keyword here? Routine. You don't need to have the details figured out yet, but keep that concept in your mind. (Remember my "habit tracker"? That's the purpose of that particular record-keeper: it helps me monitor our consistency of the things I've deemed worthy of adding to the routine.)

This leads to my second point. 

Habits

Habits (for purposes of this discussion, habits are smaller, daily decisions and actions that you do instinctively or without thinking about it, as opposed to routines, which are an intentional developed sequence of actions or events). You are always forming and grooming habits, both in yourself and in your children. Evaluate, and be sure that the habits are beneficial. Is the tone of your home the safe, gracious, encouraging, kind tone you want it to be? 

Obviously you can't be perfect, and neither can your littles. But your can HABITUALLY be kind, and you can habitually expect it from the others under your authority, and then, when you have a bad day, that's all it is. Not a bad home, or a bad life. And that, too, is true in just about every area of homeschooling. This includes both schooling practices and personal practices. You can make it simple: just pick one or two things that you want to improve, and focus on it until the improvement is a habit. Then pick two more.  Look at the big picture; think long-term. If we do this same thing we're doing consistently, what kind of people will we be? 

Not to quote whats-her-name in Batman, but, "It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you."

(gif from funnygifs)

So that's it! How do you want your home defined? Who do you want--both your self and your kids--to be?