I recently replied to a post on one of the Home Education Facebook groups that I am a part of, something I don't usually do as I get imposter syndrome due to not technically home educating yet, but I felt that my opinion counted on this occasion. The post was someone asking about how to create a routine, and feeling like she expected too much of her children who were both still quite young. My response to her post was to say that routines don't happen overnight, especially with little ones, and that starting small and introducing one thing at a time until you have something that resembles a routine that you're comfortable with would be my advice. That's what I am doing with my boys already.
My example is that I have already started to introduce the idea of Quiet Time into our daily rhythm at home. This is something quite common amongst home educators as it gives everyone some time and space apart, and some time to chill out a bit. For now, all this involves is encouraging Bear to spend some time playing on his own, preferably in his bedroom, while I am putting his brother down for his afternoon nap. I help him decide what to play with, encouraging activities/toys that I know won't frustrate him or need my assistance, and then leave him with a drink and sometimes a snack, while I go into the other room with The Cub. Once he is asleep and in his cot, I spend some time lying on the bed, usually reading. It's nice to just have a little bit of time to myself, something that isn't as easy to come by as a home educating parent because in general, you are always together.
So far, Quiet Time is not enforced, if, by the time The Cub is asleep, Bear has had enough of being on his own, then we find something to do together. He is praised for spending some time alone, and for being quiet while I get his brother to sleep, and I use the words Quiet Time, afterward, not before, as this can cause him to panic a little at the idea of having to be quiet.
Bear is doing great with this concept so far, occasionally, especially while we've had all this hot weather, he has chosen to get into bed and lie down, (only once having actually fallen asleep) but usually playing with Lego or 'reading' some books. I use quotations as at three years old, Bear can't actually read yet, but he has an amazing memory and can read many of his favourites from memory, or makes up the stories from the pictures.
As we move through our home educating journey, I plan to encourage Quiet Time to last longer, hopefully, the same amount of time that The Cub naps for, giving us all some respite. Until then though, I am happy that Bear is comfortable on his own, even if only for a short while, and I love chatting with him afterward as he tells me all about what he got up to while I wasn't there with him :)
As I posted in the Facebook group, this is just one thing that I have introduced, and once I feel that we have gotten the hang of it, I will introduce something else. Currently, my plan is for that to be the morning basket in September that will long term, will be our 'lessons' when we pick up phonics and number work.
Any questions? Feel free to drop some comments,
Mamma Bear
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