Don't be afraid of regularly reviewing your schedule. I used to think that to replan my schedule was to fail at keeping one!

To some people the word 'schedule' is a four letter word, kind of like, "plan." We plan our year, month, week, day and even morning only to watch it change beyond our control. For some, this can throw us dangerously off course and allow us to toss the plan all together! Espcially if you feel like you are not capable of keeping a schedule at all!

Admittedly, I have had days like that, where I chose to toss the plan and wing it for the day (or longer) but inevitably, that attitude has come back to haunt me if left to run too long. I think I've found the trick to scheduling/planning without feeling like a failure or letting my homeschoolers down because life changes things. It's learning a flexible schedule.

To use the term: Flexible Schedule - may seem like an oxymoron, but there is a beauty to staying with in a few mobile parameters while planning. Allowing the occasional ONE day that life has thrown your homeschool off schedule is perfectly normal, and actually therapeutic, but allowing 3 out of 5 days to happen TO you and your students, could make anyone feel like they are not doing as they should! Just limit the allowance of how often you will get off course and then you won't have trouble getting back on.

Flexibility is actually key to a good schedule/plan. In the day (extra 15 minutes here and there), the week (limiting to one trip a week unless it's a super special one to add), the month (time off for holidays are planned in) and the year (sure, change curriculums at any time if this one's not working for your student), flexible planning gives us an freedom to plan and re-plan our schedule but not permission to throw it out all together.

Schedules and plans don't have to be so ridged that there's no room for wiggling.  They're more like guidelines anyway.  So plan to wiggle just a little!

Blessings to your Family!

Donna L. Miller