Show Love By Giving Time | In Due Season Vol. 1.2
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We show love by giving our time.
[Tweet “Time is our most precious and finite resource”]
Time. There is no more to be had, no place to buy an extra tomorrow. As homeschool parents we have left jobs, careers and opportunities behind to give instruction time to your child. We calculated and intentionally structured in our lives, yet in the everyday thick of it; between language arts and math, I let time slip away. Little scenarios chip away at our structure and whole days can go to waste. We show our children love best in our schooling by setting aside solid chunks of time for their learning. Don’t make the same mistakes I made and let business, phone calls or other interruptions eat away at your instructional time together.
What I am not asking is for is more time in the books
More work is not the key to the equation, and I am not talking about ending playdates and sick days. All of those “Field Trips” to see Star Wars, totally excused in my books. What I am talking about are bringing an end to those time-sucks, the dividers of intention. The little interuptions that leave all of you frustrated at the end of the day. Think of all of the little things that sabotage your concentration and interrupt the flow of a great lesson. How many of those could you eliminate very easily today? Knowing these are keeping you from loving your kids to the fullest helps you make changes that matter. Let me give you my personal example.
The main time-sucker last year was my phone.
I had great intentions, I was not going to sneak in some Dots, or scroll FaceBook during silent reading. Please sister, that is what hiding in the bathroom is for. The trouble started innocently enough. We had a bunch of Usborne, “internet-linked” books in our school reading list. The links were right there, it was legit school. I thought I would be a very cool Mom if I let the kids watch the video clips when we read. I did think it would be a great tool for school as well. We could watch a relevant video, convert measurements, check dates and use the timer.
If I had more self control it might have been fine. Instead it turned into a dinging, vibrating, distraction. I had emails, and calls and little chirps that I still don’t know what they are allerting me to. If you spend more time looking at a screen that at a beautiful little face, you might want to make some changes because you are missing the very best stuff.
My phone was one example of the interruptions that broke our concentration and allowed the unimportant seem urgent.
Almost every call and message that stole my attention could have waited three hours for a class break, but the dinging called me away from my priority. I did not see the importance of being intentional with our school time. By the weeks end I could see that I failed to protect our time and it was obvious on every one of my kid’s faces. Our attention reveals what we value. When every call takes precedence, when every time the dryer dings, we leave, we are sending our child a message. The message is that we are not really here for them wholeheartedly. Oh, man do I know how hard that is some days. Being wholeheartedly present is the greatest challenge of homeschooling.
It is the greatest challenge of every relationship really. Have you ever talked to you husband while he is in the middle of a business deal or tried to talk to a teen who is in a Marvel themed meme war on her phone. You stand waiting for an answer in silence, feeling forgotten about. You know the hurt divided attention can cause because it happens to every one of us. Being intentional is the cure. Being honest with our selves is a great place to start. Start by saying; I can not do it all, I have to choose. Is it laundry or love? Is it reading email or read-alouds? Knowing I have to choose makes it much easier for me to stop doing things that don’t matter during school time.
The truth was, I served my kids poorly when my attention was divided.
What are distractions that you can cut out of your day?
Great news! Changing is not all that hard. We did some looking at our interruptions and created some ways to work around them. The phone did not make this year’s schoolroom accessory cut. It stays up stairs, silenced. If I protect our time, I show that I value our time. I can fully engage in our reading and class time without distractions. Showing my love for my children means making them my priority. We’ve made many thousands of tweaks and shifts to our school day over the years and we will make hundreds more, but knowing intentional time shows love has helped me remain focused on the task at hand.
By setting aside time for them exclusively without distractions I value to our school day and show my children love.
What are areas where you need to make changes in your day right now?
What changes to your schedule can you make so there are fewer interuptions?
Do you look your children in the face? I found I did not do it nearly as much as I want to. I hope you take time this week to reconnect while you school together.
