Routine? What Routine?

As I know I've said before, I learned a lot at the other places I've lived.  Each place comes with it's own special mix of things I want to bring with me into my next place in life ant things I never want to repeat again.  In this case, there's something I found I really need and miss at my last home, a sense of routine.

There's something to be said for having your kids in school.  The day predictably starts at the same time every weekday when you get the kids up and ready for school.  Breakfast is had and then they're off.  For us, this was when homeschooling was supposed to happen, though often times it didn't start until a few hours later.  We would do our school work until about lunch time, then the younger two would have their naps, if the smallest didn't crash out before then.  We would go back to schooling until the other kids got home, then it was play time, dinner time, then bed.  The routine wasn't exactly that cut and dry, but it was at least enough of a guideline that I felt we could hold to it, for a while at least.  It wasn't perfect, but it was better than we had before.

Now the kids are back to their lack of routine.  Moving caused all sorts of chaos.  The divorce is once again getting stressful.  Life with new room mates has it's own collection of problems and uncomfortable situations.  In truth, as I know I've said before, I kind of feel trapped in my little anti-social portion of the house, not that I'm terribly complaining.  I like my privacy and tend to be a very private person, but I don't always want that.  I'm starting to miss having my own place with no one's toes to step on or rules to follow.  Finding my place in this new living arrangement has left me feeling quite lost, to be honest.  I'm realizing I'm tired of feeling like a guest in someone else's house.  If I'm going to live in a place, I want to feel like I belong there.  It's put me all out of sorts again, though I know I'll adjust in time.  The lack of routine only adds to the stress and chaos around here.  Instead of nap time being a calm relaxing time like it was before, it's often a time of fighting and frustration.  Bed time isn't nearly as bad, but it has it's moments too.  With a picky three-year-old, meal times are always interesting, but it seems like the more lack of routine he has, the more picky he gets.

I'll be honest, I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of girl.  I like just doing whatever suits the moment, but kids need more structure and predictability than that.  All three of my kids need naps or they get wild and temperamental.  Regular nap times, bed times, and mostly regular meal times seem to keep them on a pretty even keel.  Without that, our world goes to chaos and I feel like I'm losing my mind.  I've got enough chaos in my life.  I don't need more.

So we're going to be working towards getting back our sense of a routine.  It won't be rigid, like some households.  However, it won't be as lax as we've been lately.  We need to strike some middle ground.  We need to find our balance in all of this.  It's going to take some effort to find a routine that fits our lives in this new arrangement, but we'll get there, one baby step at a time.