Rhythms can be the heart beat of your home. Take a peak at my weekly homemaking rhythms, and download a free printable so that you can create your own.
Rhythm vs schedule
What is a rhythm and why is it different from a schedule? Schedules can often feel rigid or limiting. They are usually associated with a set time of the day and have a certain amount of time attached to the activity.
A rhythm on the other hand is fluid and leaves time for spontaneity, while still providing a structure to our days. The time at which we perform a rhythm might change day to day, or season to season, the pattern of the rhythm often stays the same.
How I plan my homemaking rhythms
I tend plan our rhythms out seasonally. I find that what we need to get accomplished in spring is different in summer, is different in fall. Taking time to acknowledge this can help with implementing rhythms in our home. Seasons change, people change, needs change.
I like to start planning by writing down the non negotiable activities in our day. Meals, school, naps, children’s activities, work. These fixed activities start to give us a structure to our day.
Next I write down activities that I would like to happen. Outside time, nature walk, library trips. These are all aspects of our day that have added value and we enjoy doing.
Lastly I add in any homemaking tasks that need to get done. I prefer to spread my homemaking tasks out over the week. I do not dedicate an entire day to cleaning the house. It’s too much work and it doesn’t stay clean long enough for me to enjoy all the work it takes. So instead I assign a different task for each day.
Daily Rhythms vs Weekly Rhythms
There are tasks that we do every day, no matter what. These look like meal times, bed time routines, morning and evening chores for the farm, playing outside. These rhythms add structure to our day. They provide the frame work for what our days and weeks will look like. I do not attached times to any of these activities.
When you start to look at your day, you might find that you already have a strong frame work for planning homemaking rhythms just based on things that you do every day.
For us, our morning rhythm looks like this:
Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, morning farm chores, school time, snack time, free play.
There are lots of things that don’t need to be addressed everyday but need to be done regularly enough that they have earned a spot on my weekly homemaking rhythms. Meal prep, bread baking, house cleaning. They all have a dedicated spot on my weekly homemaking rhythms.
What our week looks like
Below is a brief outline of what a typical week looks like in our house. I have our rhythms listed out by day, but you will see that some activities only happen once a week. I’ve excluded meal times on this list. But rest assured they are included in our rhythms, I just don’t have them on this list.
Monday
Refresh sourdough starter
Daily lessons
History and Art projects
Outside time
Clean my room
Vaccum main level
Grind flour and get bread ready to bake tomorrow
Evening chores
Tuesday
Morning chores
Daily lessons
Bake bread
Science lesson
Outside time
Clean upstairs bathroom and childrens rooms
Ironing
Evening chores
Wednesday
Morning chores
Work day for me (the children come with me)
Daily homeschool lessons happen at work
Come home and make dinner in the afternoon so it is ready when we get home from town
Outside time
Head to town for child 1’s classes
Evening chores
Thursday
Morning chores
Grocery day
Library
Visit my parents
Daily homeschool lessons once we get home
Outside time
Child 2 has a class
Evening chores
Friday
Morning chores
Work day for me
All children have classes today while I am at work
Evening chores
Saturday
Morning chores
Daily lessons (yes even on a Saturday!)
Kitchen project day – canning, meal prep, etc
Go to town for child 1 class
Outside as much as we can today
Evening chores
Sunday
Free day. Our daily rhythms still happen but we take a break from any additional work if we can.
Do you have homemaking rhythms in your home? If you need help getting started, you can sign up below and I will send you a worksheet to help you plan out your weekly and daily homemaking rhythms.
This sounds like a busy, and interesting, but organized schedule.
I’ve gotta say….this was an interesting article, but……the bread looks delicious !