Do you ever feel like Calamity Jane, rustling up your rowdy team every morning so you can hitch ’em to the homeschool wagon?
Do you ever catch one, loop it to a post, go off to wrangle the others, only to return and find that the first one has returned to pasture?
Ever used a whoop and a holler or even a yodel-ay-hee-hoo to get everyone rounded up and running?
Well, what if we could trade in our Calamity for a lick of calm?
What if our Jane bartered a bit of Canary for a smidgen of Austen or Eyre?
What if we could get our team to the table without so much as a word?
Well, gals (or pals), that’s what we’re ropin’ for today. Saddle up and let’s ride!
Four lovely ways to quit hollering, “KIDS! IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL!”
1.) Ring a bell.
This, of course, is as classic as it gets. If you enjoy a taste of the traditional, a hailing back to yesteryear, an ode to school days gone by, a bell may be just the thing to ring in your homeschool days, no calling or hollering required.
2.) Play a specific song or playlist.
Pushing play on a device may not be as quaint as ringing a rusty old school bell, but it sure is less jarring.
If you are sensory sensitive like me, communicate ahead to your kids their new come-to-lessons cue with a specially-chosen song. Be sure the song you select is one you can handle hearing every day. The Wheels on the Bus or This is the Way We Go to School would be ill-advised, while a lovely piece of classical music would work well for the longevity (not to mention sanity) of this habit.
Alternatively, rather than playing the same song each day, you may consider playing a particular playlist which you only use during homeschool hours. If you are in need of a school-hours playlist, we’d be honored if you tried ours: Happy Homeschooling!
For extra credit, you could even opt for sneaking in a little music appreciation practice to kick off your homeschool hours. Simply play a different classical music masterpiece each day or week, naming it for your kids once they have all gathered. As the weeks and months progress, start replaying pieces and ask your children to recall the name of the piece as well as the composer. Kids love this easy, organic way of memorizing the great music masters and their pieces! Plus, it’s so rewarding when listening to an audio drama or watching a family movie to hear your kids excitedly call out, “Hey! This is the William Tell Overture!” Here’s our classical playlist which we will continue to update throughout the months and years for an ever-evolving, enriching start to the homeschool day: Morning Masterpiece Playlist for Kids!
3.) Give a little whistle, from the tea kettle that is.
In our home, our clocks are set by the whistling of the tea kettle. In the evening, that lonesome whistle tells us that story time is steeping and bedtime is brewing. In the late mornings, the steam whistle echoes that lessons are coming into station with three piping cups of Earl Gray waiting on the platform. It’s a sound that delivers reliability bundled in affability. It promises diligence with two lumps of delight. It’s a sound that says, “it’s time to sip in the scenery, explore this new territory, and savor its flavor together.”
Why would we have school time without hot tea when we can have it with? Transversely, why would we have hot tea without school time when we can drink all that goodness down together in one, lovely sitting? If you and your kids enjoy a cup of tea together and haven’t done so already, join us in making schooltime teatime, or teatime schooltime, however you choose to look at it. And if tea is just not your family’s flavor, don’t fret. Coffee and cocoa do the job nicely, too.
4.) Last but not least… my favorite! Just sit down.
Growing up, my dad insisted he was suffering under an unexplainable phenomenon in which someone would pull down the driveway or the phone would ring any time he tried to sit down for lunch. “SEE!!!” he’d yell through one measly mouthful of roast beef sandwich. The funny thing was, we did see. It happened almost every time.
This caught-you-sitting phenomenon must be genetic because the seat of my pants seem to elicit the same reaction my dad observed, just from my kids rather than my phone or driveway. If the kids are happily playing or busily working on some little activity by themselves and I try and steal a few minutes for myself with a book… FLUMP! Suddenly, as if from nowhere, the kids have sprung themselves onto the couch beside me before I’ve even managed to swallow one word.
It took me many years to give up entirely and use the power of my bum for greatness instead of idleness (as Maxwell Smart might have reasoned). The approach is simple, though it may not work for everyone: SIT AND THEY WILL COME.
Grab your book, journal, to-do list, or crossword. Settle yourself at the homeschool table or your desk. If your kids are anything like ours, they may be sitting in front of you before you crack that book or your pencil dismounts your ear.
Thank you so much for reading and for following our month of love letters to homeschool families!
Power on, power strong!
Love, ~Candace Arden~
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