The Quiet Hour

When I first decided to homeschool my kids, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.  Just keepin’ it real.  It’s the truth.  There are so many different curriculums and methods out there that it can be extremely confusing.  And for someone like me, that hates making decisions anyway, it was pure torture! 

How could I be expected to choose a method, plan my days and weeks accordingly, plan the lessons, keep my house clean {something I’ve yet to accomplish, btw}, and still be mom to my younger kids that aren’t yet school aged?  It was daunting. 

I knew better than to try and make my homeschool look like someone else’s homeschool.  You hear it all the time at conferences and from other homeschool moms.  But everyone else’s homeschool looked so appealing!  And I didn’t listen.  I tried so hard to make our days look like Holly Homeschooler’s days.  I wanted to use the same books, the same curriculum, the same schedule, the same field trips, everything!  We were going to BE Holly Homeschoolers! 

I failed…

No matter how hard I tried, my family’s schedule just wouldn’t look like everyone else’s.  It tried hard, it really did.  But after realizing that it wasn’t working, I gave up.  Guess what I did then…

I tried to make our homeschool look like school!  You know, the public school down the street?  I was so public school minded from my own experience in public school that I thought our days should look like that.  We would buy desks, textbooks, and heck… we may as well make our own hall pass!  Not really, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.  When my kids’ friends would come over, I would ask what they had been learning and try to emulate that.  And then I would be delighted when my kids knew things that their friends had not yet learned.  It made me feel discouraged when their friends seemed to be ‘ahead’ of them in one area or another. 

It made no sense.

Why in the world would I want to recreate the public school?  The whole reason we homeschool is to give them a different opportunity. 

So now here we are.  The beginning of our 5th year!  It seems crazy that it’s been that long but it has.  And we’re still trying to figure out how to schedule our days.  Every year is different because each year something is different and new.  Last year, B was still pretty little and for the most part, immobile.  This year, he’s as active as can be and getting into everything!  We’ve had to work with little inconsistencies like this constantly.  Every day, every week, every child, every family is different.  We have to do what works for us. 

Holly Homeschooler’s schedule does NOT work for us. 

But each year, I look at what’s worked in the past and what needs improvement.  Over the summer I was able to observe my children’s squabbles {many, many, MANY of them} and realized something that we needed to implement into our daily routine. 

QUIET TIME!!

All summer long I heard, “UGH!  I just want to be left alone for a while.  I don’t want anyone talking to me!!”  or some version of that.

It was pretty much a daily thing. 

So, as we started our studies this year, I decided to introduce the kids to the idea of Quiet Time to satisfy the needs of each of the girls to be left alone.  It’s not an idea uniquely mine.  Obviously.  It’s an idea that has been filed away in the filing cabinets of my brain for quite some time after hearing of others doing the same thing.  Please note, it’s a rare occasion, indeed, that those filing cabinets are ever rummaged through… ;)

But every day, when the boys go down for their naps {thank goodness for naps!}, we have a quiet hour.  Each child gathers what they will need to stay occupied for a full hour by themselves.  No coming to mom to ask a question, no talking to each other, and no leaving your designated area {potty breaks are an exception} for the full duration of quiet hour. 

They take turns each day choosing where ‘their spot’ will be.  K prefers to be outside in the tree, A likes the basement or the living room, and H likes the living room or dining room. 

What are the allowable activities?  Oh, I’m so glad you asked!

Anything that is quiet.  I tell them they can read a book, write in their journals, read the scriptures, draw pictures, do something in their workbooks, take a nap, play with quiet toys, do a puzzle, etc. 

Can I just tell you what a blessing this has been?  Sure, H is sometimes a little fidgety and comes to ask me questions.  I smile at her and tell her I will answer her question after the hour is done.  But for the most part, it’s been a complete hit!  K absolutely LOVES this time to just be by herself.  It’s her favorite part of the day now.  She can be found most often reading her scriptures, writing in her journal and drawing pictures during this time.  A likes to play quietly with toys.  H is usually painting watercolor pictures. 

Do you have a quiet time at your house?  Even if you don’t homeschool, I think it’s a great thing to implement! 

This is the girls on the ‘first day of school’!

My sister already got after me for having it facing the street.  SORRY!  Gee whiz, I’m not a photographer…