New Routine: Revision

Quiet time is a bust.  Tertius doesn't take naps so he spent "quiet time" terrorizing his sisters.  And apparently Secundus doesn't understand what, "Stay in your bed and look at books until the timer goes off" means. 

So "quiet time" is just an hour of me feeling guilty and selfish for ignoring them.  Plus, I got to thinking... once school starts, we will have an activity of some sort almost every morning for a couple hours before lunch.  There is no way that we will complete all of our school work before leaving for our activity.  So then if we always come home, eat lunch, and then immediately go to quiet time, then it will be 2 o'clock before we get back to school work.  I see that as a lot of time wasted in the middle of the day. 

I'm thinking that this is what we will do instead of a set "quiet time:"

After lunch will be Relaxed Reading time.  Me and the kids will get comfortable on the couch or on my lap in my rocking chair and I will read books aloud.  Or Primus will practice reading books aloud to us.  These books may be stories that we just wanted to hear.  Or, more likely, I will use this time to read books that go along with the science or history subjects we are studying.  Or they may be stories we plan on doing enrichment activities with for Language Arts.  Also, depending on what's going on, Primus may occasionally use this time to do independent work in another area while I read stories to the younger ones. 

I know I can't expect Tertius to sit still with us the entire time.  He's a very active boy!  But I do think it is important to encourage him and having a set time each day will be beneficial.  Relaxed Reading time each day will go as long as we have the attention span and desire for.  Then we will get back to school work. 

As for my computer time?  Well, I will just have to do without for a few more hours.  I can sneak in a few minutes while the kids play after school/before dinner.  I can also sneak in a few more minutes before I go to bed.  But I've got to be sure and go to bed no later than 10pm- no matter what is happening in facebookland!