I have a friend who is the mother of 12 biological children.
No, that is not a typo-12.
She and her husband have always educated their children at home.
"How is it that you never look frazzled?" I once asked.
"Quiet Time", she answered.
Home school Moms often find themselves pressured to"perform".
Daily schedules that include house work, school work, outside obligations, and our children's activities often leave us tired, mentally exhausted, and emotionally unavailable when our children and husbands need us the most.
Quiet Time is the first thing that I add when making out our schedule for the year.
The rules for Quiet Time are simple:
1. Everyone must be in his/her room with the
door closed.
2. Activities may vary. Reading, Writing, Naps,
Drawing,Paper Dolls- anything that you can
do quietly.
3. No T.V. , No Hand-Held games, No Music,
No Computers .
4. No one is to leave their room unless it is to
go to the bathroom, you are bleeding, or
you smell smoke.
5. No one disturbs Mom's Quiet Time unless
you throw up, you are bleeding, or you smell
smoke.
6. Mom will let you know when Quiet Time is over
If you ask- You get 30 more minutes.
7. The Ringer is turned OFF.
Our Quiet Time lasts from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
This is the same time that Nap Time is scheduled for the babies and the toddlers.
Everyone knows what is expected of them and the house is calm and peaceful.
Little ones (who may have had a difficult morning) have a chance to rest and re-group.
Older children who did not quite finish their Literature or writing assignments have a chance to catch up.
Journals can be updated and pen-pal letters can be addressed and stamped.
Mom can throw that load of laundry into the dryer and sit down with a hot cup of tea and read her Bible, return e-mail and calls received, read a few pages from her favorite book, and catch her second wind(before the evening activities) without the fear of being interrupted.
I believe that it is important that we teach our children that it is O.K. to slow down, it is O.K. to spend time playing alone, it is O.K. to take a nap, it is O.K. to be still, and that it is O.K. for Mom to have some Quiet Time,too.
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8 comments:
Oh, I love this. Love it. I really need to institute this. Put in on the schedule!!
Andrea, you are BRILLIANT. I remember you talking about this before... but I haven't implemented it, and I need to!!! I would probably do mine in the morning, because we homeschool in the afternoons during Grant's nap. Thank you SO much for these wonderful ideas, and for posting the rule list - I am going to just copy it and post it at my house!!!!
Can't wait for Quiet Time on Monday!!!!
xoxo
OK I tried Quiet Time and I ended up having to add an HOUR onto Emily & Claire's quiet time (30 mins at a time) because they kept talking!! (They share a room).
Next time, they go in separate rooms...
Yeah! I can't even let Mary and Rachel take naps in the same room! they do the same thing. It really is a bummer, because it would help if I could put them in the same room- But they do the same thing and no nap is taken and everyone is psycho by 6:00 pm because no- one has had a nap, then I'm ill because I feel like I am constantly getting onto them because they are being little toots, and things just go downhill from there.
Rachel spends alot of time trying to convince me that she is old enought to read(like Hannah).
Keep trying , Baby...It will get better. It is one of my favorite times of the day. :0)
I'll pray Monday goes better.
Andrea
I have thought about his post all weekend. For one, I couldn't get the number TWELVE out of my mind! TWELVE? And I am struggling with my TWO :)
What it made me realize the most was that I was trying to "fit in" home schooling. Everything else has been a priority: friends, Bible study, relationships, cleaning, computer time - everything BUT home schooling. trying to "fit it in" has caused me loads of stress!!
This week I am going to try to be intentional about home schooling being my priority! if I don't get anything else done, that's OK, because this is the sacrifice I have decided to make!!!
And this includes quiet time!!
Well Sara...As long as we are coming clean...We have actually had to pass on High School Rodeo this year, because we are trying to get Caleb into The Potters School( a college prep program out of Belhaven College).Good thing we did not buy a horse in Georgia...that would have been bad. God is Good!
We all want our children to be well rounded and not miss out on anything, but before you know it..we have scheduled away our week running here and there taking lessons and having play dates.
I had a good friend say, "You know- I just realized that you can't HOME schoool if you are NEVER HOME." We all laughed at her, but she was RIGHT ON!
Almost everytime I see that we are not getting enough done in school, it's because we are not at home to do it. Sometimes I just have to pull the plug on a lot of things.
Looks like I would learn not to over-schedule(as long as I've been doing this), but I haven't.
Just hard-headed, I guess. :)
Praying for you & Rebecca this week....
that your quite time goes well and that you are able to get in a little rest during it.
xox,
Andrea
Can I just say I LOVE the Quiet time idea. I used to do this when my kiddos were little 5 and under and I loved it. I cannot believe I stopped. But I sat down last night and had a do-over on the scheduling (tat seems to be happening allot lately). My kids were actually excited about Quiet time!! We'll see how long that lasts!
I hope it works out well. It should , your little ones are older and will probably really enjoy the down time.Mine sure do. Let us know how they do. :)
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