Routines, schedules and habits

The summer holidays can be a riot of chaos, with breaks in routine, habits disrupted and a whole host of excitement throwing any schedules into disarray. Sometimes I like it, the "anything could happen" feeling but it does seem that the children need that security of knowing what we are doing. In previous school holidays, the question "what are we doing today?" has wrangled my nerves almost as much as "what's for lunch / tea?"

I've been back at work for over a week, although the students have only been in for tge last couple of days. In some ways I am looking forward to there being a little more structure to our lives but I do so wish the summer could really be endless.

At the start of the holidays I introduced the "half an hour reading after lunch" rule. It took a bit of work for the children to accept it as a habit but it has worked well. It's the enforcement of a rule that's tougher than the rule itself. The children went back to school yesterday and Josie was straight into the harsh reality of the run up to the Kent Test.

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