I derailed our homeschool morning. Me. I did it. Not my kids. 

My husband was sick, so I had to sleep on the couch. I stayed up too late watching a true crime show that was more disturbing than I anticipated. The cat woke me up meowing way too early and then I tried to make up for it by sleeping longer but kept getting woken up by the dumb cat. 

Stumbling off the couch, I got coffee and told the kids to get some cereal. I was grumpy and unfocused and our day was already off course. An hour later, I was still foggy and unmotivated. The crime show was still haunting me.

I had two choices here. I could throw in the towel and declare the day a failure or I could try to turn it around. Earlier in my homeschooling career, I might have thrown in the towel, but I’ve been doing this long enough now to know that the day wasn’t over yet. It wouldn’t be an award-winning day, but it didn’t have to be a total loss. 

So, how did I pull myself out of the funk? First, I made the decision to do so. Then, I switched out the coffee for a glass of water and headed to the shower. I got dressed in real clothes and dried my hair. I even put on just enough makeup to make me feel like I was put together. While I was doing this, I sent my boys outside to get some fresh air and to work out some wiggles. When they came back in, I could verbally direct them to get some independent work done, like practicing piano. My older girls were able to carry on pretty much as usual. 

When I was ready, we all got a few essential chores done. Even though I wanted to get going with school, I knew that ignoring these chores would lead to chaos later and drag out the lousy morning. So, the dishwasher got emptied and laundry started. It was worth the 15 minutes. 

While I had gotten momentum going, I still felt fuzzy. It was time to change our environment. I loaded up the schooling basics and the kids in the van.  We grabbed math, reading, and writing and headed out of town for a short country drive to my in-laws. I even grabbed my laptop so that I could work while we were there. 

I’ve heard Pam Barnhill talk about “a minimum viable homeschool day,” so I know what the bare minimum for a reasonable day of learning means. Not every day will be able to cover every subject or everything that’s planned. But, even on a rough day, the minimum at least can be kept consistent. And that’s the key. When mom throws in the towel, pretty soon the kids will know that’s an option and they’ll help things go sideways so that they don’t have to do school. Our school and home aren’t nearly as orderly as I’d like, but I have put some effort into being consistent with that bare minimum for both school and chores. So now, the kids know what their morning chores are. I might need to encourage them to follow through, but I don’t have to teach them. 

Consistency is hard for me. I don’t just want to abandon the routine on hard days, but also on sunny days. Cozy rainy days. Days I have some random good idea. I like routine just so I can break it. Except then there’s chaos. So I work for consistency, and it takes effort. If it wasn’t for that effort, rescuing a day that starts off badly would be almost impossible. 

I made a calculated decision to break routine enough in this situation to get us off the destructive path we were on. On this day, we changed our environment and got out of the house. While we headed to the grandparents’, we could have gone to the park or the library. We could have gone for a walk and then baked at home. On another rough day, maybe we’ll need to take a break from math and do a fun science experiment we don’t normally have time for. There are lots of creative ways to consistently carry on with school even when what’s normal or planned isn’t going to work.

Out at the ranch, the boys helped their grandma clear out her flower bed of all the dead summer flowers and set up some pretty poinsettias. Then we got down to reading and writing. They took a break to make cookies while I worked, and then they conquered math. Sun streamed through the window and the house smelled good. 

My fuzzy head cleared, learning happened, and a family memory might have been made. Cookies were also eaten. There’s still time to get to the read-aloud with the family in the evening. I will make better choices tonight and get to bed on time.

Tomorrow is a new day. And maybe today was an award-winning day after all.