Routines

Summer is such a hard time to have a routine. You know I planned on having a lot more school time than we have had. Guess I didn't plan very well. The kids are happy about that. But I do sneak things in and try to use our everyday activities to teach them new things. Like this adventure with the dogs.. We will be learning about hard work, preparation, responsibility, and the rewards of these characteristics. Don't you think these are so much more important than learning which bear is the largest in the world? Sometimes I forget that the most important lessons for my children are those that teach them how to be more like God, how to be pleasant to be around, and how life works better when we behave well and work together. I will be spending a lot more time on that this year. Don't think I will neglect reading, writing, and arithmetic! We will get it all in. And we will use it in our day to day activities! I really want us to explore life and experience our surroundings and events!

Back to the routine idea! I don't like routines! Coming up with them isn't the problem. It is doing the same things over and over again. I can come up with routines and schedules and I can follow them for a while but then life takes over along with my desire to have fun and the routine gets left behind. Then I start to notice that chaos creeps in. We've been so busy having fun that we don't know what to do with ourselves. We thought we didn't need to drink that water as much or eat like we should until we start snapping at each other and forgetting what we wanted to do for fun in the first place. That's when we realize that we've got to reestablish some kind of routine. So, that is where we are right now. I have made a routine for us. Between getting enough water, doing Allen's eye exercises, watering my plants, and going on trips I have to have a plan to keep it all going! So I have made one! Let the calmness of routine, mixed with fun of course, begin!