Morning Routine of a Homeschool Mum

When I began planning the ‘Morning Routine of a Homeschool Mum’, I jotted down everything I do in a morning. It was a lot! I could give myself a pat on the back for being so productive between the hours of seven and ten (the time we begin homeschool). Y’know that saying, pride comes before a fall? Never has this applied to me more than when I was creating this video. Let me explain…

In general, when I’m not filming, (so, basically every single day apart from this one) I get lots done. I go through my list, which over time has transferred from paper to my mind. I potter. It’s three hours and I achieve a lot in those three hours. Pressure free, without any need to impress anyone. I enjoy my mornings. They are calm and productive (have I mentioned this already?)

Unfortunately, this is not so when I am filming.

To Film or Not to Film?

Filming isn’t just a matter of turning on a camera, pointing it in the general direction of the subject and pressing record. I mean, one can do that, of course, but not if one wants to improve one’s recording skills. And I do. I really enjoy making videos. I’ve got used to the sound of my voice and no longer cringe and turn a bright red when I hear it. I’m not quite there with actually seeing myself on video, but I am certain I will become more and more comfortable. Most of all, though, I really enjoy communicating with my videos.

Therein lies the problem, I fear. Without the elephant in the room (otherwise known as the camera) I go about my business without any thought of trying to capture the morning routine of a homeschooling mum. I just get on with it. Filming well requires much more planning than I have time for. I think I’m just hoping that one day something will click and I will find it easy…practice makes perfect and all that jazz.

The (Fragments of the) Morning Routine of a Homeschool Mum

Filming this video of the morning routine of a homeschool mum should have taken me no more than three hours, if that. My early morning routine occurs between 7 and 10. However, on this day, it lasted MUCH longer and I achieved considerably less than I usually do. So, whilst I will post the video, I will also post what I normally do that is not shown in the video. In fact, I think I recorded until gone eleven and I still hadn’t got done everything I would normally do.

What I am learning by looking at other channels is that the videos are more interesting if you change the point of view of the camera. In fact, some of the more popular YouTube channels change the angles of their videos multiple times each minute. Each minute?! I think this is somewhat achieved with more than one phone or camera. Whatever the case, it is this I find particularly hard, not to mention time consuming.

My Actual Morning Routine

I am really proud of my actual morning routine. It has been curated over months and even years. Both productive and enjoyable, whilst at the same time very relaxed and slow, I have refined it over the years so that it really is the very best way to spend those three hours.

Morning Walk

My alarm clock goes off at seven. Not five or six. This is unremarkable. Seven is simply the time my body, regardless of whether I have slept at all, believes it is morning and is ready to start the day. I let the dog out whilst I head to the bathroom. The first thing on my to-do list is to walk. Until recently, I walked my dog. Mum requested that she do this as it has really helped her come to terms with her cancer diagnosis. She takes him into the depth of the local woods. In contrast, I walk the lanes. This gives me sunlight to my eyes (important for circadian rhythm), vitamin D, slowly builds up my skins tolerance to the sun (important for me as I had melanoma a decade or so ago) and exercise for my body

I also listen to a book. I try to listen to something that will teach me more about the Bible and/or my faith. Right now, I am listening to Friend of God: The Inspiration of Abraham in an Age of Doubt by John C. Lennox. It’s taken me a while to get into it but now I am it’s fascinating.

Kitchen, Bathroom and Hallway

Once back from the walk, I feed the dog and cats. I then focus on the kitchen, bathroom and hallway. Whilst I do this, I listen to a different book. It’s usually a non-fiction, which is always my preference. At the moment, I am listening to Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. This book was recommended by another book I’d been reading on therapeutic parenting. As I hope to do my master’s dissertation on therapeutic parenting, I thought this book might make some good additional reading.

I spray the whole of the bathroom, wipe everything down and sweep and mop the floor. I hang out the washing which was done overnight and pop on another load. The hallway only needs a sweep and a mop most mornings, so I do that quickly before tackling the kitchen.

The kitchen takes up the most of my time. Again, I spray everything and wipe everything down. The herbs growing on the window sill take it in turns to be popped into a bowl of water to take whatever it needs.

Extras

Extras include stuff like making bread, bone broth or yogurt. I try not to have more than one of these extras each day (ahem). Bread is usually every other day. Yogurt is perhaps twice a week, sometimes three depending on how many smoothies are made. Bone broth is once a week, using Sunday roast bones.

I am also currently playing about with making Philadelphia-like cheese. I’ve almost got it down perfectly! I had the most gorgeous sandwich using the cheese with some herb leaves and tomatoes…honestly, I think it has been one of the tastiest sandwiches I’ve eaten for a long time.

As the weather heats up, I want to work on learning how to make a healthy, high protein yogurt based ice cream.

Deep Work

Between 9 and 10 each morning I school plan. This is one of three sometimes four ‘deep work’ sessions in my day, where I am uninterrupted. Theoretically, at least. It allows me to focus my attention onto just one thing. I talk more about this in the video below.

I’ve made a video of my morning routine, although as noted above, I don’t think it does it justice! Filming takes waaaay too long, and I didn’t account for this.

Sometimes a YouTube video doesn’t want to play on my own website, so here is the link just in case: Morning Routine of a Homeschool Mum

For many more homeschool posts, do visit my Home School Page