Rhythm

I have been giving some thought to the rhythm of my life at the moment. In the last year I have worked hard to bring some rhythm into mine and the children's lives but I feel that I have now got stuck on how to develop this further.

A year ago we had one regular outing during the week on a Monday, to the nearest town for shopping and the library. Any play dates, trips out or home ed get togethers were sporadic and randomly organised. I found it really it really unsettling so I am sure the children did too. A chance meeting with a family that we had met at home ed groups at a folk festival turned our lives around. We started to join that family every week at their house for a play, along with several other families. I soon realised how much the children enjoyed this, looked forward to it and how my eldest, especially, started to make new friends.

We had been meeting up with another family but not on a regular basis just when we could each fit it. Soon we established a day of the week that suited us both for a regular meet up. We either meet at each others houses or out and about, for walks, visits, museums or whatever we fancy.

In the last few months we have also established a link with another family, we tend to meet at our house or theirs each week on the same day each week.

Now our week has some rhythm to it, for three days a week we are with friends. The other four we are at home. During one of these days we have a weekly visit into the local town in the morning, however it is these days that I feel are lacking rhythm.

Sometimes I feel that the day has drifted by and we have not achieved much, in reality this is probably not true at all, but that is what it feels like. I have read many blogs, forum posts and books about bringing rhythm into the day, I love many of the ideas but I am struggling to fit them into our day.

Some folks start the day with stories, circle time, structured learning time or crafts. We tend to get up late, have breakfast when we feel like it. The children tend to want to play quietly and independently at this time of day, it is my time to clear the kitchen, put washing in the machine or hang it up, tidy up the house etc. I feel that this is not the part of the day that needs structuring for us. It is the back end of the morning and late afternoon.

We are very much following an autonomous education route, I let the children lead the day and the activities/play when we are at home. If they want me to join them in this I do, if not I leave them to it. I like the idea of talking to the children in the morning about what they want to do during the day and then taking about whether we can. I already do this on the mornings we are going out and will try to extend this to every morning. If I have things that I need to do that day it might make it easier for me to fit them in too! I have no idea where this might take us hopefully a new direction, if not I will try something else, one thing at a time for me though. How about you, what rhythms do you have or wish you had?