Schedules or Routines?

I struggle.  There, I admit it!!  I struggle greatly with getting it all done and most days, it doesn't all get done.  I try to teach, cook and clean too much in one day.  It gets hectic.  I get discouraged.  We get behind.  I make plans; I mark the calendar; we have setbacks.  Sickness, visits from Lauren and the grandchildren, home projects long left unheeded which now demand attention.  And now we throw in a filming schedule for Jeff's latest project which doesn't just involve Jeff, but the older boys and maybe even some assistance from the girls and I.   Time away from home and our plans are shattered.

We plug on and see success in some areas.  History and geography are going well.  Kaelan is keeping up with her Teaching Textbooks.  Jordan is knocking out some courses to finish up his last semester of his official homeschooling career.  I am staying on track with Jackson's math, phonics and Bible study. Menus are made and followed through.  Laundry is taken care of regularly and the great clothing swap has been completed.  Lots of books on history topics and missionary biographies are being read.  Lots of Bible study going on:  personal and family.   Children taking over more and more of the cooking responsibilities and doing them well.  Daily reading of Psalms and Proverbs with the children at the beginning of our school day.   All good.  (And is it any surprise that the things that are going well are the subjects and activities that we enjoy?

Struggling with finding the perfect science and math for Aaron.  Is there really such a thing? He has expressed an interest in the medical mission field.  A good background in math and science is extremely important for this. Ordering something new; something "out of the box".   Re-thinking our language arts....again!  Not getting to the hands-on science unit that I had planned on doing with Kaelan and Jackson.  Too much internet for me.  Too many videos for the little guys.   A house that needs some major decluttering, but I don't even know where to start.  Bedrooms that never get completely cleaned.  Neglected scripture memory.  Not good.

I was up very early this morning re-organizing our memorization card file and writing up a schedule--again.  Using a schedule really makes me nervous.  I am more of a routine person and, if we are enjoying our learning time, I hate to bring it to an end in order to stick to a schedule.  But, in order to get it all done I am afraid we will have to keep to a schedule.  I will try to finish up my schedule this weekend and put it to use starting on Monday.  But I am already seeing some interruptions.  We'll have two weeks on our schedule and then two weeks of filming with twelve hour days and then each day's work times being different.  We'll do the best we can and look forward to getting back in gear when the film dust settles.

So, how does your homeschool run?   Do you work best on a schedule or a routine?  I would love to hear from you and if you have a blog post about your schedule, please link to it in the comments.  I hope to post mine next week.