Okay, I decided to write a post about our pajama days. I've had a lot of people ask about our schedule and our 'dress-code' and I thought I would share with all of you a little of what we do on a weekly basis and why.
I am a supporter of school uniforms. I tend to agree with the crowd that says it is an equalizer in schools making upper and lower income students more equal in the classroom. Now, I understand that there will always be cliques of popular girls who have thousand dollar bags that go with these 'equalizing' uniforms and set them apart from the other students. Still, I believe that in the classroom, a uniform or dress code helps to turn the focus away from the students and toward learning. Of course, this is coming from one of those students who was never part of the cool group, the athletic group, or the 'pretty-girl' group either. I loved school because I loved to learn, I could really have done without all the drama that distracted from learning.
Also, as a teacher in a school that had uniforms, I appreciated how it helped to bring order to the classroom. We had a few days for spirit week or when we were going on field trips when students were allowed to come to school in something other than their uniforms. These days were always more chaotic. Of course, there were field trips they were excited about or pep rallies to look forward to, but the lack of uniforms contributed to a slightly more chaotic classroom environment.
Because of this, we have a structure in our daily routine and the children all wear something equivilent to a uniform most days. My mom found an amazing little dresser with 5 wicker basket-style drawers at a garage sale for us. I love it!! Josh and Joy choose what they want to wear for school each night before bed and put their clothes in their drawer. I get Hudson and the twins' clothes for them and put them in their drawers. Although they aren't uniforms, we have the boys wear polos or button-up shirts with khaki-style pants. The girls have several cute jumpers and tops or skirts and sweaters. They all know where their clothes are when they need to get ready for school. I find that preparing for school in this simple way helps to bring order to our day and to the classroom each day.
Now, here is where our orderly days take a slight detour . . .
Wednesdays are busy for us. We have Wednesday night prayer meeting at church at 7:00pm. Because Joey doesn't get home from work before church, we don't eat dinner until after we get home from church on Wednesdays. We have Bible Club for the kids during the church service. We generally don't get out of church until 8:30 or so and then it is a 20 minute drive home. Having dinner at 9:00 or later makes for a very late night for five little ones. Because of our craziness on Wednesday nights, we have an altered Thursday scchool schedule. I let the kids sleep in later on Thursday, we have a quick and easy breakfast, and then we have school in our jammies. Well, the kids wear their jammies anyway :) I know, I could just as easily skip Wednesday night services and keep our schedules on track, but we, as a family, decided that being in church was more important to our children's life-long education than sticking to a schedule. Plus, we love pajama day.
Obviously, we love pajama day!!
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