When your schedule messes up your schedule

I like things neat and tidy. I live inside that box. As a homeschool mom I should have learned to let this go a long time ago. For a rule follower, list follower, in-the-box follower I can be flexible. . . sometimes.  I can’t yet consistently roll with the flow, though. When things aren’t fitting inside my box I feel anxious, get short-tempered, and contend with feelings of failure. Can anyone else relate?

I am getting better though, and it seems as if what kills me is actually what ends up making me stronger. If I can just. adapt. to. change.

I like to have a schedule. One of my favorite parts of homeschooling is the organizing and planning part. You know, where you lay out all the curriculum, the calendar is printed out month by month, and you plan out everything you want to do and the days on which you want to do it. (I know! Silly to plan so far ahead, and yet it’s so fun to plan!)

And you have the days each week you’ve planned to stay home and just get school done, and then there are the not so frequent days that you’ve planned to schedule all the appointments (because we know that always works out the way we want it, right?).

But then, what to do when your whole week is an endless mix of meetings, doctors’ appointments, a field trip, a snow day, several trips to the grocery store, your husband has a day off of work, etc, etc?

What do you do when your schedule messes up your schedule?

Ripping hair out is not an option, I have determined.

This past week was yet another chance for me to practice growing, because this past week was one where my actual schedule royally messed up my intended schedule. I rarely have a week that can be considered “normal”, but this past week came close to my definition of chaos. So, instead of pulling out my hair, or even yelling at my kids, I told myself at the beginning of the week. . .

“It will be ok.”

And it was. I figured out what we could ditch for the week (spelling and science) and had the girls do as much of their workbook work as they could by themselves (I was in a bunch of meetings, and one day did the monthly freezer cooking). We practiced Spanish in the car. We reviewed what we had learned in history in the car as well. My older daughter’s writing assignments just had to be pushed back for a week. My girls did some math at the table by figuring out what Infinity characters they wanted to buy and how much they would cost, including tax.

And we survived. Is my paper schedule messed up since we didn’t get several things done? Yes. But I’m still breathing. And my girls are still learning. And thankfully I fill all that out in pencil.

It’s definitely not something I want to happen every week, but by allowing myself to let go a little and think realistically, I can survive and maybe even step one foot outside that box.

What about you? What are ways that you deal with schedule changes, especially if you are a schedule follower like me? I look forward to learning some things that I can add to my toolbox.
                                                                                                NotSoSAHM
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