I'll find our "groove" eventually...

Ok, so here I am, just 4 days into the new schoolyear with my 3 kids and not one day has been like the next! The first day, some classes needed more than the anticipated time I'd planned, some were shorter than expected, some will need to be rearranged so we don't have one kid finished, one almost done, and one needs another half hour. It's very frustrating orchestrating this. And we haven't even added dance class or sports practices yet.

I know if I handle this with just my organization skills, I can find a schedule that works okay, but the joy will be gone, everyone will feel stressed out, and we'll lose the beauty and freedom of homeschooling. So what else can I do?

I'm going to do a few things:

1. First, I'm going to take a deep breath and remember what I learned from reading John Ortberg's book, The Life You've Always Wanted; slow down, don't live a life of "rushing" because it'll put me in the opposite direction from what I really want, which is peace and time to just be with God in little moments throughout my day. To NOT trade best for just good.

2. Second, I'm going to pray. God can organize and orchestrate the entire planet from the beginning of time through the end of time, so He probably could offer me some good advice. I've looked for mentors in my life, and they're hard to come by - so I lean on the advice I get from the Bible, and from God in my quiet time (such that it is).

3. Third, I'm going to ask my kids for their opinions. I want them to have the time they need to put forth their best effort, and not feel bored by time wasted through my imperfect scheduling.

4. Fourth and last, I'm going to take my time on Saturday to really figure out what's important, and remember what I really want each child to gain from each class. I'll arrange things so that a character trait or important lesson or moment of inspiration won't be lost. I'm going to remember that we don't have to have a set schedule. It can be flexible. And if I figure out how to co-ordinate what class to run at the same time as two others so that their ending times are pretty close, we'll find our "groove".