My Betsy-Bee asked me for a list of things to do today, and I thought again of Melissa’s Rule of Six. Melissa of The Lilting House has such a nice, simple list of “six things to include in your child’s day.” I’ve been meaning to use her list with my urchins, but I have such a cluttered mind that I keep forgetting the things on the list. SO, here it is, plagiarized but attributed, in which case I guess it’s just borrowed.

Melissa even says that “Miss (Charlotte) Mason believed children needed three things every day: something to love, something to think about, and something to do.” So educator Charlotte Mason started with three things each day, Melissa made it six, and I’m making my own list of ????

I’ve been thinking about starting school next week, and I have a list of things in my head that I want to include in each day. These things fit into the six, but are more school/subject specific. I always make things more complicated than they need to be, but anyway here’s my list of things to include in our (school) days:

1. Meaningful work
2. Meals
3. Prayer and Bible reading.
4. Poetry
5. Good books
6. Mathematics
7. Beautiful art and music
8. Play or work outdoors
9. Imaginative play
10. Adventure

The ideas and discussion should flow out of these ten tasks. I know I always try to cram more into a day than is humanly possible, but please tell me that these ten things are possible, doable, and somewhat sane.

1. My children have assigned household tasks, that have been only loosely supervised this summer. We need to be more disciplined about the jobs.
2. Meal planning has been a little loosey-goosey this summer, too. I need to get a plan and a schedule.
3. We plan to have family prayer and Bible reading each morning at 7:00 AM so that my working/college kids can participate. It’s going to take some work to get us all up that early since we’ve been a bunch of ten o’clock scholars this summer.
4. We usually sing a hymn together at family prayer time, and I’d like to read a poem aloud each morning.
5. Not too hard. We are a reading family.
6. Math is the only school subject that I insist on getting done each and every day. I really think that for math proficiency, daily practice is essential.
7. I’d like for us to listen to this program each day on our local NPR radio station. It comes at about lunch time, so maybe we can listen over lunch. I’m not sure about the whole art thing, whether I want us to do art or look at art, or some combination of the two, but I’ll take suggestions.
8. We tend to stay indoors too much. I need more exercise, and the urchins need more nature. Maybe we should start nature journals again.
9. I think if we turn off the TV, the imaginative play will take care of itself.
10. Adventure. I must be open to taking the adventure that comes into each day, whether it’s a great adventurous field trip or a small adventure of exploring the nearest anthill. Adventures can’t always be programmed, but they can be recognized and enjoyed.

More posts about the Rule of Six:
Whence It Came
All Roads Lead to Rome (Especially for Bunnies)
Other people’s thoughts