Friday, August 21, 2009

Finding Time to T-Tapp (and Homeschool)

One of the questions I get asked is "How do you find time to T-Tapp?" This post will be especially geared to the homeschooling mother and those with large families, as that is my situation and therefore, my experience.

When I began T-Tapping I had eight children still at home and the youngest two were one and three years old. Six were school-age and it was just before The Summer of the Weddings (two of my children and one nephew got married within two months of each other, and we were heavily involved with planning, sewing, shopping and cooking). Obviously I was busy. Heck, I'm busy on a slow day with no outside events. But I found T-Tapp and thought it would be a good way to look better for those weddings. Little did I know what a life-changing, body-transforming ride I was in for!

What worked best for me was to T-Tapp first thing in the morning, before my day got busy and exercise got relegated to the "maybe later" pile. I got up early, ate breakfast, did my quiet reading/journaling, and then laced up my shoes. Yes, actually changed into semi-cute workout clothes. It was part of my exercise ritual and made me feel official. Often things didn't go quite as planned so I exercised then showered while the children did their chores. If you say "well, my children won't leave me alone" or "they won't do their stuff if I'm not there" then that is another subject entirely. I'm just sharing what I actually did. Did school start late sometimes (often)? Yes. Did we still get school done? Yes.

I have noticed over 23 years of homeschooling that every year there are one or two children who are more needy in certain academic areas. I spend a little more time and effort helping that child overcome their weakness. Teaching a child to read, concentrating on spelling, and moving forward in math all come to mind. Well, that year was my year to lose weight and get in shape. It meant rearranging the schedule and committing to take the time for a season. It's a little different now that I'm in maintenance, but the losing stage took studied determination and focus.

One of the bestest things about T-Tapp is its efficiency. When my mind was whirling with thoughts of the busy day ahead and adding an exercise routine seemed overwhelming, I told myself, "ANYBODY can do 15 minutes. Just 15 minutes." Eventually during the summer I did longer workouts a couple of times per week, but during the school year I only did 15-30 minute workouts. Occasionally I did a lunchtime or afternoon workout, but the vast majority of the time mornings worked best, before the questions and distractions and responsibilities took over my brain.

9 comments:

  1. Oh Charlotte, you MUST have Read my Mind!!! We started back to school on Monday, and my days have been so LONG and Tiring and my T-Tapp workouts fizzled out after day 2 -- because I was too tired to drag out of bed at 5 am. :( I have a first grader and kindergartener this year that are requiring lots of one on one instruction. Plus, just like you, I have the older ones with their demands on my time and energy, and then there are the middle ones with their unique needs, and it sure adds up to a BUSY day! I have just been exhausted all week! Maybe it will improve as we get back into a routine. I do hope to tweak my schedule a bit this weekend. Anyway, thanks for this fabulous post! If you have any more suggestions for fitting health and fitness into our overflowing lives, keep them coming!!!!

    Praying for wisdom to fit it all in,
    Elizabeth

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  2. {{hugs}} Oh, Elizabeth, give yourself about 3 weeks to adjust to the new school year! The problem with putting off our workouts too much is that we pay for it in loss of energy and wellbeing. So keep trying until you find what works (and God will give that wisdom you're asking for, liberally and without reproach). Just go for 15 minutes right now--better a BWO+ than a TWO planned-for-and-not-done!

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  3. Thanks Charlotte for your encouragement! :)

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  4. Charlotte,
    Thanks so much for your post. I have nine children and homeschool. My huge weakness is eating (i.e. too much sugar etc.) I was just hoping that sometime in the future you might address diet, eating tips that have helped you.
    You are a blessing.

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  5. I will post thoughts about eating next!

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  6. Charlotte, you are such an encouragement!

    I, too, get moms who have such busy lives and want to make this time for themselves, but as we all know, tend to put it last on the list. I often tell them about the 10 minute Chair workout in MORE or even the 7 minute Broom workout! Yes, the 15-20 minute workouts are great, but I tell them the same thing you do--"You *need* this for your energy AND sanity!" ;)

    I have a friend who is tapping with me, and she comes over after she drops her children off at school. Problem is, if I wait for her to even start, I can't even fit a longer workout in as I need to hit the shower right away to get school started (well, we're *hoping* to start this week! LOL!). I realized that if I got up at 6:00, had my quiet time, I could eat and get in the second half of TWO before she comes over, have a half hour break to do some office work and then do Basic Tempo with her! Kind of backwards for order, but hey! It works!

    I'm excited as I've not been able to fit longer workouts in, either.

    Where there's a will, there's a way! :-D

    HUGS to you!

    Trisch
    (whose Google account keeps coming up as my dds'!!!)

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  7. Honey, I KNOW you will find a way! Just to keep it interesting, that *way* has to change and adjust as we move through different seasons of life. Or circumstances. Like a 3yo who is throwing up. Today. *sigh* Poor little thing.

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  8. Thanks so much for sharing this post as well as the next post about eating.

    I am a homeschooling mom as well. I just delivered our 6th baby 5 weeks ago. I found T-Tapp while pregnant. It was at the beginning of my pregnancy and I was so sick that I couldn't think of even getting up to move or I would lose it all. About half way through the pregnancy I got Teresa's book out and read the whole thing straight through. I was so excited about T-Tapp by then but didn't feel like I could do too much because I was pregnant. Through the rest of my pregnancy I did just a handful of workouts, mostly I#1. I was excited after delivery because I knew I could finally start getting my body back in shape (of course, I was most excited about our baby girl!).

    It has been quite difficult for me to find the time to workout, what with having a newborn and also having 4 kids that I am homeschooling this year and a toddler as well.

    I just wanted to let you know that your post has been encouraging to me. Your story on the T-Tapp site has been more inspiration to me than any other (even though I have just about 4-5 sizes to lose). I never knew you had a blog until today when I was looking through the T-Tapp forum posts and saw a post by you with a link to your blog.

    I prinited off a bunch of calendar pages as well as the measurement chart from the book this past weekend. I'm going to start keeping a notebook.

    The most important part of my day is in the morning when I spend time studying my Bible and praying. That time can't budge but I am going to try to start getting up earlier so I can study and then do my WO before the kiddos get up. The only challenge will be getting baby Havah to sleep during that time :-)! I usually get up very early but right after having a baby it takes me several weeks to get back into my old routine.

    T-Tapp has certainly helped to regulate my post-pregnancy hormones over the past 2-3 weeks. It has also helped my energy level to return to pre-pregnancy levels. I am expecting more great resluts!

    Thanks again for a very encouraging post!

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