Spontaneity vs. The Routine

{The OLD ME: Too Spontaneous...Not much of a Routine}
So today was great. I am starting to finally figure out what works for me when it comes to our family's 'Daily Default Routine.' I'm still FAR away from having it figured out, but I'm kind of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. I love to be spontaneous and do whatever sounds like a good idea at the moment. As a result I am not naturally a routine kind of person, but I am having to change this about me because always being spontaneous doesn't really work when you are trying to home school your little kiddos.

{The NEW ME: Controlled Spontaneity ...More Routine}
Last week I finally implemented a 2 hour quiet study time. This is where the kids can draw, read alone, read with me, play a 'school' game (with or without me), do a quiet project, etc... This doesn't mean we didn't have school time before...we did but before simply had chunks of study or school time throughout the day but I didn't call it 'quiet' study time. As a result 'school' time usually ended up looking like this...the younger kids would get super loud and crazy making it really hard for me to work with the older ones or the older kids joined in the loud fun and I went crazy. So during our 2 hour quiet study times last week the younger kids learned that they had to play quietly inside or go outside to play. It worked okay last week but I have to admit the kids were having a little trouble adjusting to the new rules. Thank goodness today they started (not totally) to get it. YEAH!!! We only lasted an hour of what I'd call quiet study time this afternoon, but I still think it was a success. After all it was quiet and we did get some good learning done!! During our one hour Jarom read some old issues of ZOO Books Magazines and Megan and I played Math games. I am so grateful that I am finally figuring out how to manage all six kids and learn at the same time. WOO-HOO!

{The Plan}
I want to keep the good momentum going so tomorrow I have a plan...we'll see if it works. After breakfast and devotional I am going to make sure I have (just started doing this so I need more practice) a planning meeting with the two oldest kids to talk about what they are interested in learning that day. Then we are going to have a two hour morning 'family quiet study' time before lunch. Then we'll have lunch and do our Let's Play Music homework. After that we'll go to LPM and once we get home we'll have a two hour afternoon 'individual quiet study' time. Once we're done with that the kids will be free to play and I'll read Laddie like crazy to try and finish it for my 5P class on Thursday. Okay so that's the plan we'll see if we can stick to it and get four good quality quiet study hours in tomorrow. I'll post the results tomorrow.