<p>Is there any way you could enlist outside help to help maintain your routine while you need extra "me time" to deal with stuff? Like a mother's helper?</p>
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<p>While we do some Waldorf inspired stuff still, and totally believe in its ideals for younger kids especially, it's not a particularly good learning style for my kids. So, for us, what works is having a schedule posted on the wall, and the kids know what they're going to do when.</p>
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<p>They do Saxon Math in the morning, which is pretty hands-off. They take a slow pace and I don't have to do a lot of explaining.</p>
<p>They have writing journals. I printed off a bunch of journal prompts and cut them into little strips and put them in a jar. Every morning they draw one topic and then they write about that.</p>
<p>We do some spelling practice every day. I printed a list of spelling words for their grade, divided them up into 10-15 words, and on Mondays I give them a pre-test. 5, 10 mins. The words they get wrong they practice every day until Friday, when they have a quiz on the same words.</p>
<p>We visit the library once a week, or once every two weeks, and they choose books to read. Every day they read a bit. I also get some other stuff for them to read - like this week, we're doing Japan. I just grab some stuff from the non fiction shelves.</p>
<p>Finally, I take 5-10 mins here and there to print off some worksheets for the kids - or else if I have the cash I'll buy some Spectrum workbooks for them that they can complete at their own pace. If they're getting unruly I'll set them down with some of them and they'll focus.</p>
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<p>Otherwise, they can do various games/manipulatives - play doh, art stuff (we do Kiwi Crate, they send a box a month to your mailbox with everything in it including instructions), puzzles, pattern blocks... A lot of Waldorf is free play, and while the toys change as the kids get older, mine still get a lot of free time. If the weather was nicer they could go outside too, but that's not realistic in two feet of snow.</p>
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<p>We also have some times in the week they do lessons, homeschool group stuff, etc. The only thing I really have to do is drive them there, then I can chill in the car while they do their thing.</p>
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<p>Basically when we're on a good swing, we do more "main lessons" together, go on field trips, whatever. When things are busier and/or I have less energy, we keep the bare bones stuff (math, reading) but let the other stuff slide until we're all more motivated.</p>
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<p>My question is, are your needs being met? It's NOT selfish to focus on yourself. I just wanted to throw that out there too.</p>