a little tweaking

On Wednesday I noticed my daughter's eyes starting to glaze over a little bit after PE and lunch. She was tired and starting to shut down her brain. Now, there are a variety of reasons as to why she was tired; adjusting to our new school schedule where the kids get up an hour earlier, having spent a fantastic weekend with family celebrating John's baptism, riding her bike up and down the street a bazillion time during PE, etc. Anyway you look at it, she was exhausted.

Although there were many factors contributing to my kids being tired in the afternoon, as their mother I know that even on their most rested days - after lunch they tend to slow down for a little while. Trying to teach a tired child didn't seem to be enabling the most conducive environment for learning. So yesterday I tweaked our schedule just a smidge. We started at 9:00 and were done with everything by 12:30. It was fantastic! Condensing things just a little allowed us plenty of time in the afternoon to ride bikes, read several chapters from Mr. Popper's Penguins, scrub the house from top to bottom, and just enjoy each other's company. (I even snuck in a little nap myself!) I love the flexibility we, as a family, are experiencing. When something needs a little tweaking - we can tweak it!