In Pursuit of a Gracious Homelife

Excitement of blooms.

The colors all fall to earth.

Carpet of petals.

Our Spring 2020 was ushered in with unprecedented uniqueness.  The whole world, it seems, had slammed on the breaks.  Chris celebrated his second week of working from home.  The children had completed their first week of Long-Term School Closure homeschooling assignments.  Likewise, I had successfully completed a week of virtual piano lessons in my studio. 

This break-but-not-a-break came at us somewhat unexpected (I mean, at some point, we all knew closures were inevitable, but really- did anyone expect to become their child's schoolwork implementors from mid-March through the end of the year?).  When the call finally came, I knew we needed to set some ground rules to not only help us survive but to set us up for success in thriving during our extended time together at home.

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As many type-A parents shared on social media, I, too, created a schedule to help us make sure we maintained structure during our two-week-turned-three-month intermission from regularly scheduled programming.  Over the week, we adjusted and fell into a very gentle routine.  I wanted to share bits of our routine with my readers in hopes of bringing inspiration for thriving during this quiet time.

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8:00-9:00 We all appreciate sleeping in and leaving our alarm clocks set to off allow us time to naturally wake each morning.  We allow the children to have a slow morning as Chris and I make our French press coffee and go through the day's work commitments.  I'll journal in my gratitudes and affirmations journal, check email, balance our budget, and print out the children's many pages of work for the day.  

10:00-1:00  These are the times I've been holding my virtual piano lessons.  I've fought the virtual lesson model for quite a while and still do not believe it to be the most pedagogically sound means of instruction, but it works for the time being.  The fact that it's new to my students does make it exciting and it is fun to see them in their homes and see them playing their own instruments!  

This is also the time Fiona and Eliot watch their instructional videos (sent by their amazing teachers each morning) and complete their homework sheets.  It's so funny what resources you find you need more of each day and one we quickly realized we need to make sure was on hand was plenty of printing paper and ink!

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1:00-4:00 Afternoons allow free time for myself and the children.  This is generally when I'll walk out to get the newspaper and complete the daily sudoku.  If I leave it out, Chris will sometimes squeeze in the crossword puzzle.  Our chickens have recently decided there are so many more interesting places to lay eggs other than their nesting box, so daily Easter egg hunts provide fresh air and entertainment!

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5:00 If the weather has let up at all (which surprisingly it does, most days) we'll take a family walk.  We have many options in our neighborhood and surrounding sidewalks for short and long walks and it provides much-desired exercise and fresh air.

6:00 We've been attempting to have earlier (for us) dinners and have continued to enjoy the various meal box subscription services we rotate through each month.  Our favorites have been Everyplate, HelloFresh, HomeChef, and Marley Spoon.  While these meal kits are generally not cheaper than going to the store and purchasing all of the ingredients yourself, they do a fabulous job of providing a variety of recipes that we wouldn't normally think of creating.  Additionally, all of the ingredients are appropriately portioned so that you're not purchasing a large amount of an ingredient you rarely use only to throw out the unused portion a week later.  

7:30 Early dinners normally allow for a family movie night.  So far we've watched Pitch Perfect 1, 2, & 3, Starwars IV, and Mean Girls.  My daughter is now slightly obsessed with acapella versions of pop songs.  We finally started a trial of Disney + and look forward to exploring its programming over the next few weeks.

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9:00 We've attempted to keep bedtime relatively early and because of that I still have time for my nightly bathtime ritual which helps in keeping a sense of normal to my days.  I've been reading a whole lot at night and recently finished Death at Chateau Bremont and just started Where the Crawdads Sing which I'm absolutely loving.  I've noticed that many of the books I read take a few chapters (sometimes up to half-way through) to really catch my attention and keep me wanting to read.  Delia Owen's best seller immediately captured my interest and I've been reading multiple chapters a day.

While this peculiar time is still somewhat of a novelty, my hope is that we can graciously continue in this slow, steady rhythm, and are able to look back to this time fondly.

FTC: This is not a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.  Links may be affiliate.