{"id":1132,"date":"2014-12-02T22:37:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T05:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/?page_id=1132"},"modified":"2015-07-03T12:29:42","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T18:29:42","slug":"interruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/interruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Interruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6010\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dianereading2girls.jpg?resize=239%2C207&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"dianereading2girls\" width=\"239\" height=\"207\" \/>Question:<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Interruptions seem to be the order of the day<\/strong> . . . each and every day. How do you manage homeschool when there is the phone, doorbell, visitors, dentist appointments, holidays, and more. Sometimes I feel <strong>there&#8217;s just not time to do schoolwork<\/strong>!<\/p>\n<h4>Answer:<\/h4>\n<p>I think we all have felt that way! It is especially hard if you are transitioning from a public school lifestyle to doing homeschooling for the first time, where you\u2014and others\u2014may be used to having those daytime hours free.<\/p>\n<p>I think the answer to the question of interruptions is priorities. If we truly feel it is our God-given responsibility to educate our children, then it must move into a<strong> top priority position in our lives<\/strong>. I caught the vision of this when I worked on a luncheon committee once many years ago. The mothers on the committee who &#8220;worked&#8221;were not expected to be available during their work hours, and no one thought less of them. They had a job. If we deem our homeschooling job to be important, then we have to <strong>carve out a block of time that becomes inviolate and dedicate it to our children&#8217;s education<\/strong> and nurturing.We have a job!<\/p>\n<p>If <em>you<\/em> personally do not infringe on that time by <em>allowing<\/em> interruptions, others will be less inclined to ask you to do so. But if you ever schedule visits, appointments, committee work, etc. during your homeschool hours, others will consistently expect it and feel irked if you decline. Personally, I had to make some rules for myself as I am prone to get carried away talking to people, and I feel a lot of compassion if someone is in need\u2014I am likely to throw homeschool right out the window so I can rush to their aid.<\/p>\n<p>There is a time and place for all things and it is <strong>a test of patience to keep things in their order<\/strong>, for me. I don&#8217;t answer the phone or door during school hours. I have found I just can&#8217;t seem to recover and get the troops back on track if I do! One 30 minute phone call (<em>and trust me, that 30 minutes feels like 5 minutes<\/em>) is enough to blow your history lesson to smithereens!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5831\" style=\"width: 205px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5831\" class=\"wp-image-5831 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ammonjournalbooks.jpg?resize=195%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ammonjournalbooks\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-5831\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My son Ammon writes in his journal.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So I dedicate 3 hours each morning, 3 <em>uninterrupted<\/em> hours, to my children and their education, and I make the world wait until noon before I become an involved part of it (<em>unless there is a crisis, but that is the rare exception!<\/em>) What this does is speaks a loud message of importance to my children. They see that I feel <strong>education is important enough to make it a priority<\/strong>. And they personally feel that they are important enough to be put first for a few uninterrupted hours of my time each day.<\/p>\n<p>When my part in homeschool is over at noon each day, I feel good! I know I&#8217;ve put their education first. We&#8217;ve had a good time together learning, so I don&#8217;t suffer from that nagging &#8220;<em>I&#8217;m not spending much time with this child<\/em>&#8221; feeling. And both myself and my children are ready to move on to the bigger world outside our homeschool!<br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 0 !important; background: transparent;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/signatures.mylivesignature.com\/54490\/257\/E095ED040C4EDD3E333135FD5DD62823.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>May I recommend:<\/b><\/p>\n<table width=\"600\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhomeschooling.com\/setting-up-a-family-schedule\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/climbingcliff.jpg?resize=144%2C144&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"climbingcliff\" width=\"144\" height=\"144\" border=\"1\" \/><br \/>\nSetting Up a Family Schedule<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhomeschooling.com\/managing-childrens-time\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/3partplan.jpg?resize=144%2C144&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"3partplan\" width=\"144\" height=\"144\" border=\"1\" \/><br \/>\nThe &#8220;1\/3 Plan&#8221; for Kids<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.happyhomeschooling.com\/its-gotta-be-fun\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Photoxpress_5168470-1024x768.jpg?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photoxpress_5168470-1024x768\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" border=\"1\" \/><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s Gotta Be Fun!<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Interruptions seem to be the order of the day . . . each and every day. How do you manage homeschool when there is the phone, doorbell, visitors, dentist appointments, holidays, and more. Sometimes I feel there&#8217;s just not time to do schoolwork! Answer: I think we all have felt that way! It is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[277,47,182,276],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-homeschool","category-homeschooling-method","tag-avoiding-interruptions","tag-dedication","tag-priorities","tag-time-for-school","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/dianereading2girls.jpg?fit=239%2C207&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6IrRN-ig","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1171,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/not-organized-not-perfect\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":0},"title":"Not Organized, Not Perfect","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Help! I'm not too good at this! \u00a0I am not very organized, and I am not doing everything in homeschool that my children need and it worries me. Should I wait until next year when I can get more prepared and organized to homeschool?\u00a0I'm afraid that my kids will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concerns&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concerns","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/homeschooling-concerns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/skydiving-658405_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/skydiving-658405_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/skydiving-658405_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/skydiving-658405_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/skydiving-658405_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7808,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/gearing-up-for-school-%e2%80%8e\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":1},"title":"Gearing Up for School","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Looks like it\u2019s that time again. In spite of the fact that it is the dead heat of summer, you can\u2019t miss the school supplies sales in the stores and the shut down of the local swimming pool. I wish summer lasted a little longer! Since all the neighbor children\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;How to Homeschool&quot;","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rebekah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/rebekah072010-283x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":582,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/homeschool-lab\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":2},"title":"Fifteen Years of Research in the Homeschool \u201cLab\u201d","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"As a \u201cresearch associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations\u201d, some days my research seems more productive than others. My younger lab assistants continually challenge my theories. My able teen-age lab assistants are truly helpful and quick to point out where I can improve. Of course, research\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;How to Homeschool&quot;","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"man-216985_1280","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/man-216985_1280-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/shouldnt-you-be-in-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":3},"title":"Shouldn&#8217;t You Be in School?","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do I say to people who ask my kids, \"Shouldn't you be in school?\" What do I answer my neighbors, friends, and my own mother? I'm ill-prepared for the confrontation or even accusations that may come from some people, thinking me negligent for not sending my children to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Concerns&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Concerns","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/homeschooling-concerns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"homeschooling-Louisa and Ammon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/homeschooling_1083_zpounce-300x203.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1777,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/advice-to-new-homeschooler\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":4},"title":"Advice to the New Homeschooling Mom","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Some things I wish I had known when I began homeschooling: 1) Put homeschooling first, for your kids sake When I began homeschooling, I thought that I would somehow just add homeschool to my \u00a0already busy life. It didn\u2019t take long to realize that is impossible. There are only so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;How to Homeschool&quot;","block_context":{"text":"How to Homeschool","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/how-to-homeschool\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/hsmakingflags.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/why-homeschool\/","url_meta":{"origin":1132,"position":5},"title":"Why Did You Decide to Homeschool?","author":"Diane Hopkins","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Why did you decide to homeschool? I decided to keep a list of the reasons I have heard from other mothers for taking children out of the public school system: too much disrespect allowed swearing bullies busy work emphasis on peers rather than on family too much value placed on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Molding the Heart&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Molding the Heart","link":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/category\/why-homeschool\/molding-the-heart\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DCP_4942.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DCP_4942.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DCP_4942.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DCP_4942.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1132"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7405,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132\/revisions\/7405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happyhomeschooling.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}