Managing Motivation

Our family is really good at being flexible (which is one reason we love homeschooling). It doesn’t ruin everything if the little ones miss a nap. We adjust easily to small changes in our regular schedule. Traveling is easy because we don’t have a solid, set in stone schedule to follow.

But one thing I personally struggle with is motivation.

During the normal course of life, I find a way to make everything fit. School, writing, activities and life all get squeezed into the too few hours a day I have. But change that schedule and all bets are off on the things getting done.

This week has been a prime example of exactly that. Hubby’s parents are in town and he took the week off of work. Honeybun has her dance performance dress rehearsal tonight, two shows on Saturday and Sugarplum has her end of year gymnastics banquet Sunday night. All in addition to their normally scheduled classes (though we are taking the week off of school.)

And while most things are still getting done like feeding everyone and keeping the house tidier than usual (I’m even caught up on laundry!) you may have noticed the cobwebs all over Beyond Mommying. Because while I’ve had quite a bit of down time this week, it’s really hard to motivate myself to work when we’re off our normal schedule.

I usually write in the morning while the kids play and/or the girls do their independent school work. I do a lot of maintenance type work in the afternoons while the kids rest. But when there’s extra people around, even if we’re not busy, I find it really hard to actually get work done!

But the good news is, early Monday morning all the grandparents head home (my parents included who have been helping out all winter) and we’ll be settling into our new summer schedule which involves less afternoon activities and classes later in the evening so I’ll actually have more day time to accomplish all the things (hopefully!)