Weekly Rhythm

I like to have a bit of a rhythm to our days and weeks.

Too much routine and I am bored...yawn...

Too little and I think we feel scattered and less connected.

So how does a rhythm work in unschooling? If we are not "doing school" how do we structure our days and weeks?

It varies.

You knew I was going to say that...

When my children were younger we had a routine of pretty much daily mass, ice skating or swimming or science centre on Monday afternoon..and mum would try to catch up on washing on Monday mornings! Wednesdays were Discovery Journal days..writing and drawing about our week, our maths discoveries, our Science discoveries, books, current affairs.. Doing the Days.  Thursdays we often did grocery shopping and went to the library and out for cofffee..or met with other Catholic homeschoolers. Friday was park day or nature/art day. Music lessons meant we played 'pick an envelope'..an envelope with ideas like do a maths game, write in your saints book, draw in your nature journal..to keep siblings occupied while others were in their piano lessons.

And all this fitted in around my work schedule and around babies and toddlers.

Now with an unschooling teen, and older sons still at home but at university, our rhythm still revolves around my work schedule and our outside things.

Mondays, Anthony has gaming day with two homeschooling friends. Often mass at Campion College with the older kids.They work with me at my Kumon Education Centre. Tuesdays have mostly been unstructured, so around my work we have had errands, library visit and in my mind... a good morning to try some more formal work. But this term Anthony has surfing lessons so he is out most of the day with other homeschoolers. And we all go to the mass and Novena to St Anthony in the evening. Wednesday, I teach catechism at a local school so that is a good day for religion! he has drama class, sometimes goes to debating  with his brothers at Campion, maybe guitar lesson and a friend for dinner.Junk mail delivery! Thursday Anthony helps me with work for Kumon, we go to mass, he may do some maths and Latin, he works at Kumon, we usually watch a DVD. Fridays can be ice skating or outing or hang around, mass in the Extraordinary Form, busing to piano lessons and coffee, youth group.

And that is how the weeks go...way too fast...but we work on flow...on doing...and on being.. For me, knowing the flow of activities throughout the day works better than having set times. Waking up flows into breakfast flows into getting dressed flows into brushing teeth, etc.

Like the blue willow tea set...cups in a row, beauty, but not perfect...little imperfections...like those little imperfections in our days, our order, our rhythms ...that make the unschooling week.