Mom's Corner - June 2001

I was amazed by the reports of several of the moms who tested our book on scheduling for homeschool families before it was printed. After they had been on their schedules for a school year, some decided not to make and use a summer schedule. Their feedback was that they would not make that choice again. Their summer had rushed away without getting to the activities they had wanted to accomplish, and there was a greater level of disharmony among the children.

Summer is perfect for catching up on organizational and cleaning projects for which the school year does not allow time. I schedule one hour a day for these kinds of projects, and I am always surprised and delighted at how much I can do during this hour through the course of the summer.

The temptation is to continue working on the project past the allotted hour. However, this then undermines the rest of my summer schedule, in which I have other priorities planned for the rest of the day.

I keep a running list of projects I would like to get done during that organizational hour, prioritize it, and jump in when summer begins. I also like to look back over what I have done during previous summers to help me know what to tackle this year.

This is my list right now, but I will come up with other projects as the summer progresses: pack away and label children's winter clothes, box this year's school books, create a school portfolio for each child, clean kitchen cupboards, clean and organize closets, put photos in albums, and plan 2001/2002 school schedule.

I may schedule Joseph, my twelve-year-old son, to spend my organizational hour playing with the younger children outside. This way I would have fewer interruptions for that time, and the children would be getting some exercise. Because we live in Kansas, this hour is scheduled for right after breakfast before it becomes unbearably hot.

Planning for a summer schedule is a great time to pray about whether year-round schooling would benefit your family. Year-round school is one way to eliminate some of the time pressures faced during a normal nine-month school year. When you spend a couple of hours schooling each day throughout the summer, you free up that time during your full-time school year. It also gives your children something constructive to do with their summer days and keeps their skills fresh. We have found that we can skip the first quarter of a math book when we move into it right after finishing the previous one because that first part is all review.

I will also be praying about how much school to continue through the summer. Usually I schedule math, which will necessitate my involvement. I try to make the other school time self-instructional and self-correcting so that as much of my time is freed up in the summer as possible.

I want to spend more time playing with the children during the summer. I put this in my schedule as well because it gives me needed accountability. I am likely to find something I feel I need to do or want to do rather than go outside with the children - especially when it is hot! - if that time isn't scheduled. When the children are looking forward to our outside time, I don't want to disappoint them.

Summer is a perfect opportunity to teach your children new chore skills. You can revise your chore schedule by moving jobs from child to child, training them on new ones, and making sure they can do them well.

Some of you do gardening and canning. Your summer schedule can help assure you that the gardeners in your family are seeing to their tasks in a timely fashion. When canning days come along, you will evaluate your schedule, dropping the least important activities to allow time for the extra hours canning will require.

Having a summer schedule does not prevent you from taking whole days or weeks for activities that don't fit into your normal schedule, such as a trip to the zoo or building a swing set. Your schedule is your tool. Use it when it is helpful. Leave it be when it isn't workable.

We want our summers to involve a change of pace. However, we don't want to lose the direction, productivity, and peace our schedule lends to our home. Therefore, we simply pray about a summer schedule, seeking the Lord for His priorities for our summer days. Then we are ready to put together the summer schedule and look forward to what we can enjoy and accomplish.

Ephesians 5:16 and Colossians 4:5 both mention "redeeming the time." May we see the productive possibilities for a summer schedule to help us in this important directive of "redeeming the time"? May I encourage you to consider a summer schedule if you have not used one before? If you already believe in the importance of a summer schedule, may I suggest you begin now to pray about and plan for the details of that schedule?