Save Your

Homeschooling
Day
3 STEPS TO RESCUE
YOUR RHYTHM FOR
A SIMPLE HAPPY
HOMESCHOOL
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Welcome, My Friend!

Today is the day you will get your daily rhythm created and mapped out! 

Whether or not you’ve worked with rhythm before, I’m going to help you keep this so streamlined
that you can save your homeschooling day and rescue your rhythm whenever you get off track.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through 3 simple steps to help your homeschooling days flow with
more ease. Plus, I’ll share some great visuals with you for creating your own rhythm chart!

As a conscious holistic homeschooler, you are NOT ALONE when it comes to feeling
overwhelmed and confused. If there’s one thing we all have in common when we start
homeschooling, it’s probably feeling uncertain about how to do it!

So how do some homeschoolers manage to overcome these feelings of overwhelm and begin to
gain clarity and confidence?

The answer is to start with the basics of rhythm and build from there. And in this guide, I’m going
to show you how that’s done so you can start small and grow as you go.

Have fun with rhythm because rhythm is your friend,

Jean

WHAT IS RHYTHM?
Rhythm is simply your daily routine of what you do first, and then next, and then next. I’m going
to help you discover your own rhythm to provide a structure for your homeschooling days so that
your children can feel secure in knowing what to expect. This actually makes daily life with
children easier for everyone – you and your children!

With a sense of rhythm, you can move throughout your day with alternating activities of inward
focus and outward focus, much like the rhythm of breathing, inhaling and exhaling. So a pattern
is established. And then repeated.
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That’s what rhythm is – a repeated pattern.

Rhythm is more about sequencing and grouping activities than it is about a schedule with time
slots. A sort of scaffolding for your homeschooling days.

WHY RHYTHM IN HOMESCHOOLING?

It is important to build patterns and routines, rhythm, into your homeschooling day before
planning, customizing, and implementing the curriculum. This will help tremendously when it
comes time to start your lessons!

Because really, no matter what resources or packaged curriculum we may choose to buy, we
each create our own curriculum anyway. 

We cannot use someone else’s pre-made curriculum exactly as it is. We aren’t even meant to,
actually. Curriculum writers intentionally include multiple options for each lesson. But we are
often left feeling like we're not doing enough, not fitting it all in, or getting behind as a result. 

When we create our own curriculum, we get to look at our own children and bring them what
they need. Starting with rhythm rather than a fixed curriculum allows us to be more flexible and
the lessons more relevant to our children. So we wind up feeling like leaders in our homeschool,
like we’re steering the ship instead of someone else. It’s a good feeling!

Once you establish your foundation of rhythm, the curriculum can flow so much more gracefully.

RHYTHM IS NATURAL
Do you struggle with rhythm? Or have a resistance to it? I know I sure did when I first started
homeschooling!

Here is a great place to begin - with an image of how the naturally occurring rhythms within us
connect with the naturally occurring rhythms all around us.

Picture a warm, glowing heart in your mind. It represents love but it also represents the rhythm
of your heartbeat.
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Rhythm is “a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.” Steady rhythm can be a
steady beat, recurring sound, or a repetitive activity. We can think of not only our heartbeat, but
also our breath, in and out. These are the natural rhythms that live inside our bodies.

We can also observe external rhythms. There is the rhythm of day and night, the rhythm of the
days of the week, the rhythm of the months, and the rhythm of the seasons. All of these rhythms
are part of our lives. Their repetition brings us comfort because they are regular and expected. 

Rhythm provides an anchor and especially helps children, who have little control over their
environments, to feel secure.

Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf Education, said, “Rhythm can take the place of strength and
will.”

Rhythm is the reason why Steiner suggested warming up at the start of our lessons with verse
recitation, speech exercises, or singing. He even began each of his lectures to the very first
Waldorf teachers-in-training with speech exercises and verse recitation to help regulate
everyone’s breathing, their natural in breath and out breath - their internal, natural rhythm. He
reasoned that this practice teaches us flexibility and helps to ground us in the present moment. 

That’s what a strong rhythm can do.

AS YOU EXPLORE RHYTHM...

A word to the wise as you develop your own homeschool and family rhythm: Be yourself. Be
authentic.

Holistic homeschooling is not about doing what you’re supposed to do, doing what I suggest you
do, doing what other mamas are doing on Instagram… 

This process of laying the foundation for your daily and weekly rhythm is about you and your
family. Stay connected to your own unique life and do what is best for you, no one else. 

Courage comes from being willing to be who you are! Don’t wait until you’re confident to show
up. You have everything you need right now and can show up just as you are. :)

Now let’s dive in!

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3 Steps to Rescue Your

Rhythm for a Simple
Happy Homeschool

1. Embrace the Concentric Circles of Rhythm

2. Design a Daily Rhythm that Works for You
3. Create a Visual Reminder
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Step One: Embrace the

Concentric Circles of
Rhythm

Rhythms exist all around us!

The image below shows how we can homeschool with rhythm as the foundation, honoring those
natural rhythms that already exist all around us.
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From the outermost ring, we move through these rhythms:

Year
Seasons
Month
Week
Lesson
Day
Breath
Heartbeat

These are the concentric circles of rhythm in our lives. 

How can they help us in our homeschooling?

If we can visualize these different rhythms and create a plan for the rhythms we’re responsible
for, it forms a strong container for homeschooling. It helps us to continue forward with our plans
while at the same time remaining flexible to face whatever life may bring. Rhythm can carry us
along. 

I am comforted by the fact that, of these eight circles of rhythm, many of them flow whether we
think about them or not!

We're really only responsible for three of them - the weekly rhythm, lesson rhythm, and daily
rhythm.  

We are held on all sides by the naturally occurring rhythms in our lives. I hope you can take
comfort in that.
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Step Two: Design a Daily

Rhythm that Works for You

Now it’s time to create your daily rhythm!

Start by thinking of the rhythm of the week, where each weekday has a different flavor and often
different activities. Like pizza on Saturday nights, or errands and grocery shopping on Thursday
afternoons after lunch. These are activities that we do regularly and repeatedly. They are not
necessarily assigned a particular time, but more of a general time slot or relationship to another
activity. 

While some activities might vary day to day, there are other activities that you repeat daily.

Think about what you do each and every day. Start by making a list of your daily activities from
the time you wake up until you go to sleep at night. Include chores, mealtimes, rest times, and
bedtime – plus lessons and activities. 

Be gentle with yourself and breathe into your daily rhythm.

No need to include the exact time unless you want to. Just start with Wake Up and end with
Bedtime. Add in Meal Times, Lesson Time, and Rest Time, and you have your basic structure.
These provide anchor points or pillars in your day that form the basis of your rhythm.

On the next page are a few time chunks in your day to reflect on as you craft your daily rhythm.
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YOU TIME
What do you need to do before your children get up and ready for the day? Even just 15 minutes
to yourself to listen to a meditation, recite a verse by heart, light a candle, or sit quietly can
nourish you before the day begins.

MORNINGS
Make a list of what you and your children will do together. On this list, you can include breakfast,
chore time, circle time, lesson time, outdoor time…you can even include the specific steps of
lesson time if you have children in the grades.

MEAL TIME
Regular meal times help to provide anchor points in your day. And when you sing or recite a
blessing before eating, you’re adding a ritual that can make this daily activity even more special.

REST TIME
Keep rest or nap time going as long as possible as your children grow older! Even pre-teens can
benefit from quiet alone time each day. And so can we! In my family, this was a good time to
encourage my boys to separate for awhile each afternoon.

TIME IN NATURE
Time in nature helps to ground us in beauty while giving us and our children extra space. Try
making time for unstructured play outdoors each day after breakfast or lunch.

AFTERNOONS
Don’t forget about the afternoons. Aside from daily quiet time or time to play outside, consider
doing handwork, reading aloud, painting, cooking or baking in the afternoons. This can also be a
good time for errands or other outside-of-the-house activities.

EVENINGS
Evenings are a great time to consider a family activity such as reading aloud, a game, or making
music together that can include everyone.
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Here is an example of simple daily rhythm:

Wake Up
Morning Chores
Breakfast
Morning Activity or Main Lesson
Lunch
Play Outside
Read Chapter Book
Rest
Prepare Dinner & Eat
Playtime
Get Ready for Bed

A rhythmic approach is really very simple. 

Not always easy (especially in today’s world where so much swirling all around us is a-rhythmic,
meaning you can access just about anything any time of day or season you want)... but simple.
And we can give ourselves permission to let it be easy!

I invite you to embrace the simplicity. And to allow yourself to experiment and get comfortable
not knowing everything before you begin.

So truthfully, gosh darn it, rhythm is always the answer when things go awry or seem utterly
chaotic. 

The beauty of rhythm is that it’s comforting. It helps us all know what to expect and frees up our
brain space and our will so we can do good work.

Make rhythm your friend!

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Step Three: Create a

Visual Reminder

And finally, I encourage you to make some kind of visual chart of this daily rhythm. No need to
get too elaborate, but it really helps to create something clear and colorful to hang up for
everyone in the family to see.

You could create a chart to hang on the wall. Or you might simply write your daily rhythm on a
chalkboard. Or write your activities on cards that can be moved around.

This visual reminder will help you remember your plan and stay committed to it.

It’s also nice to have a basic rhythm to go back to when things get off track instead of inventing
one as you go!

Now for some examples. I want to show you a few different ways some of the parents in the
Homeschool with Waldorf community have created a visual for themselves.

On the next page is an example of starting with the activities written on cards. You could hang
these on a long ribbon, or add magnets to the backs of the cards and arrange them daily or
weekly.

Here’s what this mom said about her rhythm chart: “I have my rhythm that I created with your
Plan It Out course inside my kitchen cabinet. I don’t follow it every day. But it is WONDERFUL to
have right there on days that I am tired or confused. The answer to what to do next is ALWAYS
waiting for me. It is such a comfort.”
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Here are some other great examples of rhythm charts to inspire you to create your own!

This one is great for young children who aren’t reading yet showing symbols for different
activities.
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And here’s a rhythm chart from a family with two homeschooled children and an older sibling
who’s in school.
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Here’s a rhythm chart from a family with two children in the early grades. Posted on the inside of
a kitchen cabinet, “Our rhythm... always there to greet me... right above the coffee/tea.”
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And one more from a parent of three children.

See how different each of these rhythm charts is? 

You really can experiment with rhythm and make it your own.

Now it’s your turn to use your imagination and create a daily rhythm chart that’s just right for you
and your family.
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LET RHYTHM BE A COMFORT!
Remember to start with rhythm in your homeschool planning.

Rhythm will ground you and bring focus to your homeschooling.

Sometimes we get stuck on how to keep the rhythm going. Either life gets busier and something
comes up to throw our rhythm off. Or we might even get bored with it!

Don’t stress. Let go of some things. Be mindful. Choose intentionally. 

Establish a family rhythm and revisit it from time to time to tweak and adjust as needed. Be kind
to yourself.

It’s important to know what to do when you start to feel like your rhythm needs tweaking or even
a complete overhaul. It’s OK to change your daily rhythm as a new season arrives or your
circumstances change. And it’s also OK to mix it up some days. 

The daily rhythm you create is not meant to hem you in, but to offer you a sense of freedom –
knowing what comes next but also knowing that there’s flexibility.

When your rhythm goes off the rails (and it will from time to time), how do you get back on
track? 

Scale back until your rhythm is working again, and build from there.  

Start with three anchor points: morning chores, mealtimes, and bedtime. When these feel solid,
add more activities and lessons back in.

Less is more, I promise!

Remember... make rhythm your friend so you can relax and enjoy homeschooling!
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Want More Support?

Want some beautiful planning templates to help plan out your days, weeks, months, seasons,
and years ahead?!

I invite you to have a look at the Holistic Planning Pack for Homeschoolers.

These 14 printable, editable and customizable planning templates can be such a simple yet
profound support. They are ready for you to print or work with online, and make your own.

Please click here to see everything that's included in the pack. And if you're inspired to get the
pack for yourself, it's available for immediate download.

Blessings on your homeschooling journey and let me know how you're doing,

Jean