After reading Christy's blog, I see that I need a lot more tweaking on my resolve to eliminate interruptions. I feel like a firefighter who has to keep putting out fires. Instead of living our lives, we are reacting to distractions and problems.
This week has had a lot more interruption than most, even after stating that I wasn't going to take it anymore. I've been forced three different times this week to take appointment times because I was desperate. One was for a cat that was bitten and hurt, one was for a tooth filling of mine that needed adjusted, and one was for another cat that turned mysteriously ill and lethargic.
The cats I had to get in right away and I took the first available. Is that wrong? I am responsible for their health and would feel awful if I just let them heal on their own. Of course they got injured and ill on different days.
The dentist office could only fit me in Tuesday at 5:40 PM, which is right in our dinner time which means I would have to feed the kids a really early meal or really late meal (we live 45 minutes away from the dentist), or I could wait till Friday and be in pain all week. The receptionist hemmed and hawed on the phone while clacking away at the computer, untill I felt grateful and priveledged that they could see me at all.
Christy advises a "rhythm of the home," and I am going to get one. I think that I will be taking lessons from her and find out how she does it. We need more peace in our lives. It's not a matter of wanting more peace, but we really NEED it. I think our stress levels are bringing back Sami's OCD and making us all grumpy and depressed.
I will pray and ask God for guidance to lead us in a way that is best for us and to help us through this. Too many interruptions are really affecting us in a bad way.
Showing posts with label Interruptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interruptions. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Too Many Interruptions
We barely have extra-curricular activities anymore. We used to be so overscheduled that we would rarely spend a day at home enjoying our lives. I've got it down to School-Age Story Time at the library (geared towards older homeschoolers) and sewing lessons with my sister, and Friday park playdates in the summer. That's three days committed. But we still have too many interruptions on the other four days that we should be spending at home learning in a quiet environment.
The girls are getting really frustrated with having our lives revolving around everyone else and our necessary commitments outside of the house. We still need to go to the doctor, dentist and orthodontist when needed, the store for food, helping out my elderly parents, visiting with friends...and every week there are several things added that are completely unexpected and can't be avoided. Or so I thought.
So why are we so overbooked? I think part of it is because of when those commitments occur. All of these things happen right smack in the middle of the day. 11:00. Because we homeschool, we are given middle-of-the-day appointments that no one else wants. I think that if we change what we can to be first thing in the morning or last thing in the day, then we'll be better off.
I also think that once people find out that you homeschool that you should be available at the last minute. They don't respect your time as much as someone who works a job or has children in school. They think that we should just be ready to babysit at the last minute or take all the appointment times that no one else wants.
A homeschooler's schedule is a double edged sword. We can do what we want when we want, but it also means that we can easily become available whenever anyone else wants. I'm going to start saying NO. We deserve better.
We love visiting with our friends and helping my parents, so we aren't going to give that up. We have to go to the dentist, orthodontist and doctor when needed, so we can't give those up. I will be a lot pickier about what appointment times people try to give so it doesn't screw up our whole day, and I can ask for better days or more advance warning on other matters. Time to lovingly put up some boundaries for our own sake and sanity.
The girls are getting really frustrated with having our lives revolving around everyone else and our necessary commitments outside of the house. We still need to go to the doctor, dentist and orthodontist when needed, the store for food, helping out my elderly parents, visiting with friends...and every week there are several things added that are completely unexpected and can't be avoided. Or so I thought.
So why are we so overbooked? I think part of it is because of when those commitments occur. All of these things happen right smack in the middle of the day. 11:00. Because we homeschool, we are given middle-of-the-day appointments that no one else wants. I think that if we change what we can to be first thing in the morning or last thing in the day, then we'll be better off.
I also think that once people find out that you homeschool that you should be available at the last minute. They don't respect your time as much as someone who works a job or has children in school. They think that we should just be ready to babysit at the last minute or take all the appointment times that no one else wants.
A homeschooler's schedule is a double edged sword. We can do what we want when we want, but it also means that we can easily become available whenever anyone else wants. I'm going to start saying NO. We deserve better.
We love visiting with our friends and helping my parents, so we aren't going to give that up. We have to go to the dentist, orthodontist and doctor when needed, so we can't give those up. I will be a lot pickier about what appointment times people try to give so it doesn't screw up our whole day, and I can ask for better days or more advance warning on other matters. Time to lovingly put up some boundaries for our own sake and sanity.
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