All Things O'Natural

So, Let's talk balance. Balance is one of those things that is greatly needed for a healthy, intentional lifestyle. I could say that we've always had it together throughout the ten years that we've owned a business and the ten years that we've homeschooled our four children, but that would be absolutely not true. It took some time finding the right balance. It took some time to find a schedule that truly work for our family and business lives. How much time, you ask? Well, let's just say that it was within recent years that we got it áll the way' together, to a point where we have a healthy balance and feel confident that we are giving our kids the much needed attention regarding their education. We became even more intentional about slowing down and being extremely mindful about getting as close to balancing education, business, family time, date nights and self time...whew! That's a lot!

Listen, if you're new to providing your children with a home based education, remember to give yourself grace during the learning process of what your family./work balance will be. Because I understand the importance of establishing a healthy balance, I will share how we navigate our daily To Dos with regards to our homeschool life, family life and owning a business. Also, feel free to view my post on the 'Pros and Cons of Homeschool' that I wrote some years back. So, sit back and enjoy an inside look of the daily life in our household. 

TIME TO WAKE UP!

Ok, so I am the morning person in the house. I usually wake up around 5 or 5:30 AM. This gives me time to answer emails, plan lessons, look over past assignments, enjoy a quick workout, meditate, plan art projects with the kids, schedule meetings and lunch dates and just Breathe. Early rising is extremely important for me as it jump starts my mind into focus and purpose. My husband, Syeed, wakes around 6 or 6:30 AM and on Tuesday,  and Thursday, he wakes the kids around the same time so that they can do their morning chores, eat breakfast (if they're hungry), wash face, brush teeth and then they go for a quick walk/hike.

LESSON TIME

We wake the kids at 7 AM on days that they do not hike with Syeed. This gives them time to linger a bit, wash face, brush teeth, do chores and prepare for the day. Their lesson time is between 8 AM - 12 PM. They begin with 30 minutes of reading (book of their choice that we borrow from the public library or books we buy from a local bookstore).This four hours of working closely with our kids is extremely crucial and highly effective. I love to have them take assessment tests each month so that I can gage where they are and what we need to recap and brush up on. The usual lesson time for most homeschool children is 3-4 hours, 3-5 days per week. This, of course, depends on the age and the number of children. We have found that 4 hours per day, 4-5 days per week works well for us. Our lessons usually include subjects such as: Math, Reading, Language Arts, Critical Thinking, Geography, Art, Music, Social Studies, History, Finance Literacy, Science and Spelling, with a bonus weekly Spelling Bee that the kids LOVE! If this list of subjects feel overwhelming just by reading, no worries, as I mentioned, we utilize many of the resources that are listed in this blog HERE. Syeed and I work as a team. He loves teaching history to the kids and I love Math (we even have fun math competitions to keep the spark flying). We make sure that we are both involved during these three hours of lesson time. This is also when I can hop online and chat a bit, especially when the kids are engaged in a written lesson or listening to a learning video. 

WORK TIME

Once lesson time is over, which is at 12 PM, the kids fix lunch. Yes, they fix their own lunch which always include a piece of fruit. We teach them responsibility because in order for us to have a balance in our home, it takes everyone within the home to work as a team. Believe me, teaching responsibility and working as a team earlier in age is what helps this process operate much, much smoother. They fix lunch and clean the dining room after eating. Lunch is usually over at 12:45 PM. Afterwards, it's art time for the kids. They love to either draw on their pads or free hand draw. This is also a perfect time for them to enjoy a documentary, listen to music, enjoy a music lesson, enjoy an Outschool lesson and more. Work hard during those three hours and we also include so many extra curricular activities throughout the day, including family day where we head out as a family for the day to enjoy an activity. Once 12 PM hits, this is the time that either Syeed, a few assistants, and I head to our studio to work. We process, prepare and ship orders which is definitely a daily, 5 day per week, task with the amount of orders that we receive. Our studio/work time is 12 PM - 4 PM. We do a ton of prep throughout the week and definitely on the weekends. Prepping on the weekends allows our week to flow smoothly. So, giving up a few hours on the weekend is worth it. This was all established by my husband's years of managerial experience in restaurants. And our 15 year old (now 18 and in college)became our first official employee within our household. And, our younger three help with other tasks such as folding boxes and stocking our shelves with our products. 

FAMILY TIME

Once our packages have been picked up by our delivery service, we begin to prep for dinner. Syeed and I alternate cooking, but honestly, he does most of the cooking and all of the grocery shopping. We do take a good thirty minutes to recoup and check in on the kids to see how they're doing. They're usually great, engaged in imagination play where they have a full fledge stage show happening with characters and all. Don't get me started on the hilariousness of their character 'Pa-Trasha' (a woman named Patricia who has bad/trashy character that they want to encourage to be a better person, it's hilarious). I digress. Dinner vibes are always fun. We prepare a meal, we eat together, the kids clean the dining room and kitchen and then they venture off to their rooms for a bit. Around 7, it's bath and shower time, and brush teeth. At 8:30 PM, it's story time or free time.  On Tuesdays, story time is with dad, where Syeed reads a story aloud to the kids.  Once it's story time, Syeed and I will enjoy a movie or a great conversation and just enjoy our alone time for the rest of the evening. 

EXTRAS

So, this is our day to day. On the weekends, Syeed prepares a beautiful breakfast that we all enjoy around 11 AM. Why so late? Well, this is when everyone gets to sleep in later which mean chores are pushed back a little later than on the week days. Our kids also have weekends at their grandparents that alternate every other weekend. Whew, that's helpful. Even though our kids are some absolutely great humans, it's nice to have the house to ourselves and they get a chance to enjoy being spoiled by grandparents. Grandparents who recently purchase a beautiful home that just under 5 minutes away from our house. 

We also involve the kids in extra curricular activities such as music class, theater camp, ballet, jazz and other activities. This, in addition to family outing days, is great for the kids to engage other young humans and chat about all things kid/teen friendly. 

So, there you have it, that is how we home in our house. Early rising is one of the most important pieces of the healthy balance puzzle, for me. This is probably the absolute best schedule that we've established since doing this for the past ten years and we, as I mentioned earlier, recently established this schedule. My best advice is, it's perfectly fine to be inspired by another's work/life balance, but definitely make sure that it works for you and your family. Or, feel free to tweak that inspiration so that it works for you. Don't forget date nights (if married or in a relationship) and don't forget self time. This is extremely important. Take yourself to lunch, to the spa, to the museum, to a coffee house to read a book, on a hike, catch up with friends, enjoy a soothing bath, just don't forget You! And, some days, there may be changes to your schedule, don't fret, go with the flow and don't forget, there's always tomorrow to wake and get right back on schedule.