I love the idea of gently guiding children through a daily homeschooling routine using more than just words. For example, parents could use essential oils to reinforce a daily rhythm by picking one or two blends and briefly diffusing them at the same time each day.
Do you use essential oils?
I love them because (a) they make my house smelly pretty and (b) very few of them give me a headache or a sore throat, unlike the standard scented stuff you find in most stores. I can’t even walk down the detergent aisle of my grocery store without feeling lightheaded. Heaven help me if I actually need to find something in that aisle — my throat feels all scratchy by the time I escape to the frozen foods. My kids are the same way. It’s funny — in my more sleep-deprived moments, I feel almost guilty for not inundating them with chemical scents because they aren’t building up a tolerance to them. But of course, that’s ridiculous.
After years of making sure that every product I buy is scent-free, it’s nice to live in a home that smells beautiful again. In fact, at one point I was so enamoured with essential oils, I decided to become a certified aromatherapist. Of course, if I knew that home parties with MLMs were about to take off, I would have skipped the schooling and signed up with doTerra or Young Living instead. It didn’t matter though — I was too busy doing 100 other things to either finish the aromatherapy courses or offer home parties.
Our Sense of Smell is Powerful
Did you know that your sense of smell is tied to your memory? I’m sure you’ve had it where you catch a scent and suddenly you’re far, far away for — just a second?
I get that sometimes when I smell the smoke of a wood burning stove on a cold winter day: suddenly I’m walking across a bridge at Christmas time in a small town in the south of the Czech Republic. The memory is there for maybe a fraction of a second — vividly — and then it’s gone.
Our sense of smell is powerful.
It’s kind of like how I use different styles of music throughout the day to reinforce our daily rhythm: we play classical during lesson time because it helps us focus, but then we play contemporary (ok, Disney. OK, Disney Princess hits.) in the afternoon while we do our chores and we want something energetic.
You can use oils in the same way.
Essential Oils as Part of a Homeschooling Routine
Imagine this. It’s about time to start school and you want the kids to get ready. Sure, the smell of coffee might get you up and moving, but your kids might respond better to something else. What if five minutes before you call them, you diffuse something bright and citrusy? Just for a few minutes, each and every morning. That way when you do call them to the couch or the table, it won’t be (as much of) a surprise. I don’t know about your kids, but mine seem shocked that we have to do school again. Like, every single day.
Or how about this: do you do a quiet time in the afternoon? I’m so jealous — I can’t ever make quiet time stick on our schedule. But if I did have a quiet time, I might set the mood by diffusing something relaxing, like lavender. I remember when my oldest daughter attended a Waldorf kindergarten, the teacher put lavender lotion on each child’s hands at rest time. It was such a sweet and gentle way of calming the kids down, and I’m sure that the scent of the lavender had a powerful effect over time.
We do our family chore time in the afternoon. We have essential oils in our cleaners, so I don’t bother diffusing. But if I did (and I’m including this because I know that there are people out there who read the ingredients of essential oil blends the way other people read novels), I would pick Germ Destroyer from Plant Therapy; it has Spruce Hemlock, Marjoram Sweet, Lavender, Rosalina, and Lemon. I actually diffuse that one a lot, because I love the way it smells.
Bedtime is another great time that you could choose to diffuse. If you have a child that has a hard time transitioning from playtime to bedtime, you could pick an oil that’s calming and just let the air fill up with the subtle scent of nighttime.
My only caution is that you research your oils before diffusing them because some oils aren’t safe for younger children. I’m actually pretty lazy in that respect, so I order my oils from Plant Therapy. Plant Therapy puts “KidSafe” right on the label when their essential oil blends are safe to use around kids ages 2 – 10 years old — that way I’m not second guessing myself when I diffuse oils in my perma-sleep deprived state.
Once you’ve selected your oils, you don’t need to make a big deal about using them. Just pick the time of day that you want to use an essential oil to reinforce a mood and then diffuse it. I wouldn’t even say anything out loud. Over time, I’m betting that the kids will catch the scent in the air and sense that it’s time to be alert or quiet or tired. It’s all about creating subtle cues throughout the day that help guide your children.
Want some more ideas on how to gently introduce a rhythm into your homeschooling routine? Check out the other posts in my series:
Five Laid-Back Ways to Add Structure to your Homeschool Days
- An Easier Way to Assign Chores
- Why You Should Try a Homeschool Uniform
- How Meal Planning Helps Homeschooling Kids
- Use Music to Give Your Homeschool Days a Rhythm
Check out the rest of the iHN Hopscotch posts here…
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