daily rhythms

Another great day for a bike ride!

One of the largest benefits that the Enki Education curriculum has brought to our days is the concept of daily rhythms. It's the way our day is structured to flow in and out like the tide, or like our breath (intake, rest, and exhale). There's no way I can do the concept justice the way the Enki materials do, but I can say that it's unlike a schedule in that instead of having set times for activities and parts of the day, it's just meant to add a predictable rhythm to the way the day progresses, which helps the kids (and adults!) with regulation.

It's been one of my great challenges to play around with our daily rhythms to find the right flow for our family. I wanted to jot down our spring rhythms now for several reasons: first to provide some structure for my posts in the days ahead, where I will be talking a little more in depth about each piece of the puzzle. Next, by reading through my rhythms, it will give a pretty clear picture of how an Enki Home-pre-schooler's day might be set up. (Of course, every family's rhythms are going to be different! That's the very best part about homeschooling -- no need to fit yourself into another's mold, everything is tailored specifically for your family's best advantage.) And finally, it will serve as a snapshot in time of how we are doing things right now. Our rhythms are ever-evolving, so if I posted a few weeks ago or a few weeks from now, there will have been tweaking and adjusting.

Something important to note is that we sing through transitions from one activity to the next (and through some short activities too). This is to help smooth the way to transition for the kids, and I've blogged about it previously.

Here's how our days shape up around here at this point: (I'll link to anything I've already blogged in detail about here or on my other blog, so that I don't have to repeat myself.) The times are very approximate, and if something takes less or more time than given, that's fine too, we just move on to our next activity block after finishing. The most important part of a young child's day is the pretend/creative play, so that especially I let take as long as the kids need to, so our days are usually very heavy on pretend play, much more than this written account might indicate.

--Wake (sing a waking song), open curtains and make beds (singing) (@ 10 minutes). We usually wake between 7:30 and 8:00 am, we don't set an alarm, just get up when we're rested and ready to start the day.

--Sensory Brushing for both kids (singing) (@ 10 min) -- this is part of their formal sensory integration program, and is something I'll talk about in detail in a future entry.

--Creative Play (@ 40-75 min) -- this is when I grab a shower and take few minutes to check email. I'd really do better to just leave the computer off in the morning, but often I need to respond to something from a student right away, so it causes problems if I don't at least check in and see what's waiting for me in my inbox.

--Breakfast (@ 30 min), generally served around 9:00 am. Call to table with song.

--Cleanup from morning play, while singing. (@ 10 min)

--Toothbrushing (singing) (@ 10 min)

--Calendar & weather activity (called to activity with a song) (@ 10 min)

--Sensory Brushing (again) while singing, followed immediately by dressing (@ 15 min)

--Movement Circle (songs and movement activities) (@ 10-20 min)

--Therapy activities (@ 30-45 min) -- both boys are in a formal Sensory Integration program, and Zoo Boy has Oral Motor Therapy, this is the time we spend focusing on activities to support those therapies.

--Clean-up from therapy activities (singing) (@ 10 min)

--Enki curriculum story (@ 15 min)

--Lunch (call to table with song) (@ 30 min)

--Adventure Block (@ 2-3 hours) -- this can either be at home (crafts, projects, baking), outdoors (yard play, bike ride, walking, scooters), or a trip somewhere (playgrounds, shopping, museums, library, beach, etc). I try to make sure it includes some sort of gross motor activity, and expends plenty of energy. This is also the time slot that the boys have sessions with their therapists, approximately once every other week.

--Rest (@ 1 hr). Literally, we rest. J goes to his room and shuts the door, Zoo Boy and I rest in my bed. I usually nap (ahhhh.....). On occasion the boys rest together in front of a movie instead, in which case I'll usually do some blogging.

--Snack (@ 15 min). This can come either before or after Rest, depending on how long the adventure block was. Or during rest if rest time is a movie.

--Small Motor activity (@ 1 hr) -- playdoh, sandbox, coloring with crayons, building with blocks, baking. Basically any activity that involves the use of fine motor skills.

--Chores/outdoor play (@ 1-2 hrs), every day but Thursdays (J has a music class that occupies this time slot on Thursdays). (Toward the end of this time, The Map Man comes home and takes over the kid care, still usually outdoors for awhile, while my students arrive and I start teaching lessons.)

--Supper (@ 30 min) (I'm working, so this is The Map Man's realm.)

--Creative Play (@ 1 hr) (Again, under The Map Man's care.)

--Bed Prep (@ 15-45 min, depending if a bath is involved) (Map Man's job again, I'm still out working.)

--Family Story Time (@ 30 min) -- this occurs around 8:00pm. Library books and singing on a weekly theme. (I finish up my work and rejoin the family for this, except on Thursdays when I work at a local dog training center and don't get home until much later.)

--Bed. Currently we're letting the boys watch a short (20-30 min) video before going to sleep. I don't think it's ideal, but we've been doing it since the beginning and they look forward to it. Both are good sleepers with no bedtime problems, so we're hesitant to change anything just because we think a video at bedtime isn't the greatest idea. We ourselves generally watch a little TV before we go to bed, and we're not comfortable being hypocrites about it. With the kids I try to make sure it's something settling and fairly innocuous. Blues Clues is the current favorite, and we've got pretty much every video they put out, so plenty to choose from without repeating very often.