I'm a wanna-be scheduler.....there I said it....I want to schedule my days, but my whole being fights against it when I do. But I'm finding that the more children I have and the older my children get....we really need some sort of schedule to be able to get to everything we need to do each day, and while I will never be a minute by minute schedule follower, a general outline of my day anchored by specific times to stick to for meals and sleep/wake/nap times is something I feel I can do.
A couple of months ago, I set out to make just such a schedule, and we began to implement it each day....We started off strong. We were getting up early, going to bed on time, getting stuff done, but after a little more than a week, I started to fizzle out...and finally I just couldn't keep up with it anymore. I thought I was a big failure, and couldn't figure out why we started off so well, but couldn't keep up with it.
Well, we've floundered the last couple months, not really following any schedule or routine, at least not like I had been wanting to, and we've been scraping by, barely getting the minimum done. So I asked myself what did I do wrong with my original schedule. And then I realized, I was not giving myself enough "rest time". I was exhausted. This whole pregnancy has been incredibly exhausting for me...there was no 2nd trimester energy burst like with my other children, though the extreme exhaustion of the first trimester did let up some, I was still so very tired.
So with that in mind, and with the home school curriculum changes we've made, I sat down and made a new schedule for us to follow making sure we have time for all the things we need to do. Here is our new daily schedule:
Before breakfast-starting at 6am-
Wake up, make bed & straighten bedroom, get dressed, fix hair/face & straighten bathroom, wake husband up (if he's not already awake), start kettle, fix his breakfast & pack his lunch, make tea, start laundry (if needed), drink tea, read Bible, pray, & journal, take dog out & do outdoor chores, start breakfast, wake kids, kids do bedroom and bathroom chores.
Breakfast time-
Eat, take supplements, Proverbs and devotional reading, memory work, table chores, food prep for the day
After breakfast-
Kids do extra bedroom cleaning chores on Friday only(dusting, vacuuming, etc), older three do their math, mom works on chores & helps as needed, the little guy(4) does a quiet activity (coloring, playdough, etc), after math is finished, music practice, typing on Tuesday and Thursday, Family learning (Bible, history, foreign language, science, artist/composer/hymn study, etc), Reading lesson with E, older two do copywork, dictation, written narrations, grammar*), read aloud with younger two.
Lunch time-starting at 11am-
Lunch prep and eat, table chores
After lunch-
Outside time, family read aloud
Quiet/Nap time-
(Another anchor time in the day....I want us to be ready to have quiet/nap time by 1pm, and this is for everybody, including me. The youngest will probably take a nap, the older three can read or play quietly, so long as they aren't bothering anyone....mama gets a nap, or at least gets to lay down and rest for an hour)
After Quiet/Nap time-2pm-
Afternoon chore time-Depending on what day of the week it is will depend on what we're doing. I work on what I can throughout the morning in between doing school stuff, but this is a focused time to all work together to do the day's tasks. I have the kids do their Friday cleaning chores in the morning, so that if my little guy is taking a nap, he won't be disturbed. Around 3pm we will stop and have a quick tea/snack time (something I have been wanting to do for a long time!), and then finish up our afternoon chores, and do a quick pick up throughout the house before daddy gets home, a little after 4pm. If there are no chores for the kids to really do, or they finish early, they can work on handicrafts and other projects. When daddy gets home, we have a little free time, and this is when I'm hoping to start going for a walk every day, at least 15 minutes a day. After which, I will begin meal prep for dinner.
Dinner and devotions followed by table chores-6pm
Then family time-movies, games, handicrafts, etc. Around 8pm, kids will do quick pick up, and start getting ready for bed. Poetry and Psalm reading, and in bed by 9pm. I let them read for about an hour, and lights out by 10pm. I get ready for bed after they are in bed, and usually spend the rest of the time before bed reading or working on a project. I take the dog out one more time about 10pm, and then I go on to bed.
I used to go to bed at 10 and then read for an hour, but that's another one of those things I just really need to change for this season of my life....I NEED more sleep! :o) I'm so exhausted all the time, and I will have time for reading and such later on...right now, I just have to make sure I'm resting when I get the chance, so that when it is time for me to be up and awake, I can do so.
So this is our new schedule....I think it will work because I won't be having to check the clock every 5 minutes, but yet, we can still stick to certain times and make sure that we're getting what we need to do done during that time.
Blessings,
sara
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
10 Weeks Left & Goals-Week of March 10-16
We survived the first day of the time change this week, not as smooth of a transition as I'd have liked to have been, but we're none the worse for wear. Last week, however was difficult for me.....I started off strong on Monday, and got so much done, but beginning Monday night, all day Tuesday, and off and on throughout Wednesday I began having horrible contractions. They seemed to be little more than intense Braxton Hicks contractions, but they made it difficult for me to get anything done. By the time I got to Thursday, I was feeling quite overwhelmed with all I needed to do. I decided to make the most of what I could, and not stress over it. I did accomplish, or at least get started towards many of my goals this last week, and a few things that were not part of my plans got done that were a huge blessing as well. I'll share what all I got done this last week, and the goals for this week under each category....
One thing I realized I did last week, was I thought I still had 12 weeks left....wrong.....I had 11, and now that number is down to 10 weeks....eeek!
So much to do, so little time, but I can only do what I can do....so here it goes!
Spiritual-
My goal was to begin writing in my new Journible, and get at least a chapter done by week's end....I didn't....I did get started, and completed one page though, and I will continue to work on about a page a day this week. I also didn't spend near as much time in God's Word as I'd have liked to. So I will be working harder at that this week also. In addition to Bible reading, I'm also trying to read through Created to Be His Helpmeet....I've started this book so many times, and I never can finish it....I hope to read at least a few chapters by the end of the week. Another thing I want to do, that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit during yesterday's services was to reach out more, talk to more people about Christ, and what He's done for me, and invite more people to church. I want to try to make sure I invite at least 5 people to church this week. And lastly, no complaining....I let myself get into the habit of complaining about everything in my life, and I don't want to be that way. I want to see God's blessings in all I have to do each day.
Family-
My family goals were to be more intentional with my time....I did better, but again, not as good as I'd hoped. I made an effort to spend time with the kids outside every day this last week, I talked to them more, I tried to pay more attention to what they were doing and talk to them about it. I'm going to keep this one going....I want to do more...I'm tired of wasting my time on frivolous things that don't really matter.
School-
Homeschooling went great this week! It was the one thing we did really good with, and I'm so thankful! I just want to continue working on what we've been doing, and fine tuning our routines and what we're doing every day. I also need to take the time to do the neccessary pre-reading of books for my kids to read....not really because I'm worried there will be something bad in them, but I want to be able to discuss the books with them as they narrate to me and tell me what they read. I'm hoping to do a blog post on the changes we've made this week.
Home-
You can pretty much look at last week's goals for my home, and put them for this week....the only things I really accomplished were Monday's goals, and I got my errands ran for the week. I just need to keep working on putting these routines in place, and getting stuff done, and making the adjustments that I spoke about last week.
Health-
Like I said, I did spend a lot more time outside this week, and will continue to do that this week....my appetite this last week took a significant dive....I ate very little all week. I started drinking a protein shake each day to keep up some calories, but for whatever reason, I couldn't eat hardly at all. I will be working harder at incorporating some healthier foods into my diet this week even when I'm not very hungry.
Other-
Most of my other goals were hit or miss...I did take a load of stuff to church, and have another one ready to go. I did manage to get up earlier, but not sure how that will work out this week with the time change....I did not however manage to eat out less, as with my appetite all but gone, I could not make myself get up and cook like I wanted to. We didn't eat out all week, but I did end up going to the store and buying a lot of convenience foods for the week. No crafting got done, and I didn't take inventory of baby stuff. So we'll just continue with those goals for this week...
One thing we did get done that was an upcoming goal was we found a second hand bunk bed for my girl's room, and even found a second hand set of comforters and room decor, all for very cheap...It was EXACTLY what we needed! We got everything all set up in there room, though there is still a bit of organization that needs to be done.
So, yeah...this week is pretty much going to have to be a catch up and get through the week kind of week. I do have lots of goals in mind for the next 10 weeks, but I need to play catch up with what I haven't been able to do this last week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
One thing I realized I did last week, was I thought I still had 12 weeks left....wrong.....I had 11, and now that number is down to 10 weeks....eeek!
So much to do, so little time, but I can only do what I can do....so here it goes!
Spiritual-
My goal was to begin writing in my new Journible, and get at least a chapter done by week's end....I didn't....I did get started, and completed one page though, and I will continue to work on about a page a day this week. I also didn't spend near as much time in God's Word as I'd have liked to. So I will be working harder at that this week also. In addition to Bible reading, I'm also trying to read through Created to Be His Helpmeet....I've started this book so many times, and I never can finish it....I hope to read at least a few chapters by the end of the week. Another thing I want to do, that I was prompted by the Holy Spirit during yesterday's services was to reach out more, talk to more people about Christ, and what He's done for me, and invite more people to church. I want to try to make sure I invite at least 5 people to church this week. And lastly, no complaining....I let myself get into the habit of complaining about everything in my life, and I don't want to be that way. I want to see God's blessings in all I have to do each day.
Family-
My family goals were to be more intentional with my time....I did better, but again, not as good as I'd hoped. I made an effort to spend time with the kids outside every day this last week, I talked to them more, I tried to pay more attention to what they were doing and talk to them about it. I'm going to keep this one going....I want to do more...I'm tired of wasting my time on frivolous things that don't really matter.
School-
Homeschooling went great this week! It was the one thing we did really good with, and I'm so thankful! I just want to continue working on what we've been doing, and fine tuning our routines and what we're doing every day. I also need to take the time to do the neccessary pre-reading of books for my kids to read....not really because I'm worried there will be something bad in them, but I want to be able to discuss the books with them as they narrate to me and tell me what they read. I'm hoping to do a blog post on the changes we've made this week.
Home-
You can pretty much look at last week's goals for my home, and put them for this week....the only things I really accomplished were Monday's goals, and I got my errands ran for the week. I just need to keep working on putting these routines in place, and getting stuff done, and making the adjustments that I spoke about last week.
Health-
Like I said, I did spend a lot more time outside this week, and will continue to do that this week....my appetite this last week took a significant dive....I ate very little all week. I started drinking a protein shake each day to keep up some calories, but for whatever reason, I couldn't eat hardly at all. I will be working harder at incorporating some healthier foods into my diet this week even when I'm not very hungry.
Other-
Most of my other goals were hit or miss...I did take a load of stuff to church, and have another one ready to go. I did manage to get up earlier, but not sure how that will work out this week with the time change....I did not however manage to eat out less, as with my appetite all but gone, I could not make myself get up and cook like I wanted to. We didn't eat out all week, but I did end up going to the store and buying a lot of convenience foods for the week. No crafting got done, and I didn't take inventory of baby stuff. So we'll just continue with those goals for this week...
One thing we did get done that was an upcoming goal was we found a second hand bunk bed for my girl's room, and even found a second hand set of comforters and room decor, all for very cheap...It was EXACTLY what we needed! We got everything all set up in there room, though there is still a bit of organization that needs to be done.
So, yeah...this week is pretty much going to have to be a catch up and get through the week kind of week. I do have lots of goals in mind for the next 10 weeks, but I need to play catch up with what I haven't been able to do this last week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
An adjustment
In an effort to "roll with the punches" I realized this week that I needed to make an adjustment to our weekly routines. I kept noticing that my husband kept asking me to go and do various errands on Wednesday instead of Thursday....Yesterday he asked me to go ahead and go get the tag for our van, last week, he wanted to go to the store for a few things on Wednesday instead of Thursday.....So we've moved our town day to Wednesday now, and it's worked out quite well this week.
And since I adjusted our town day, I had to follow suit with some of our other days....Sunday and Monday will stay the same....the Lord's day followed by laundry day....Tuesday will now be my desk day, where I prepare bills, do homeschool prep, etc. Wednesday will be town day. Thursday will now be kitchen day, which I think will actually work out better so I can have time to do extra prep work after going to the store on Wednesday, and the rest of the week will stay the same....Friday, cleaning day, and Saturday, family day.
It's easy for me to get set in my ways about how I do things, but I try to remember that God makes these changes neccessary for a good reason, and when we take the time to listen and adjust as He shows us....I know it will be a blessing.
Sara
And since I adjusted our town day, I had to follow suit with some of our other days....Sunday and Monday will stay the same....the Lord's day followed by laundry day....Tuesday will now be my desk day, where I prepare bills, do homeschool prep, etc. Wednesday will be town day. Thursday will now be kitchen day, which I think will actually work out better so I can have time to do extra prep work after going to the store on Wednesday, and the rest of the week will stay the same....Friday, cleaning day, and Saturday, family day.
It's easy for me to get set in my ways about how I do things, but I try to remember that God makes these changes neccessary for a good reason, and when we take the time to listen and adjust as He shows us....I know it will be a blessing.
Sara
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Goals-week of March 3-9th
I guess I'm a very goal oriented person....though I don't really do well with New Year's resolutions....but I'm thinking...if I just take things a week at a time....now that's doable.
I'm coming down to 12 weeks left until my due date, and I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed with all I need/want to do. The last couple of weeks have been a bit hit or miss with getting things done...Some days I did above and beyond what I hoped to do, while other days, I fell flat, and got nothing done.
I worked a lot this last week on some homeschool changes that I've been wanting to make, and hope to blog about soon, so that took up a lot of my time, getting stuff organized and such....So now that I've got our homeschool stuff organized, I feel more balanced and I think I will be able to get some much needed stuff done in the coming weeks.
We are still working on making a habit of following our daily routines that I've discussed in past blog posts. I'm happy with our progress with that. But I'd like a bit more focused direction during each day in some of the bigger things I'd like to accomplish on each day. So with that said...here are some of my goals for the upcoming week.
Spiritual Goals-
I'm super excited about this, because I got something new to aide me in my study of God's Word.....a Journible! Have you seen these? It's basically copying down God's Word, word for word. Of course you don't need the special journal to do so...a regular notebook would work just as well, but I was excited to get to indulge a little and get something nice to start off on this new adventure. I always get so much more out of what I'm reading if I physically write it down for myself, so I think this will be very helpful! My goal, in addition to making sure I'm spending time reading and studying my Bible daily, and spending time in prayer, and hopefully doing that multiple times daily, is to copy one whole chapter starting in the book of Galatians.
Family-
I want to make sure I'm being more intentional with my time around my family. When I started this new year, I said that 'intentional' was going to be my word for the year...and I started off strong, but haven't been doing very well. Ways I would like to do this include doing more with them and for them. I have a tendency to get into a funk, and have trouble doing little more than surviving the day to day. Some things I would like to do to are....call my kids in to help me more in the kitchen...I catch myself just trying to hurry up and get done in there and don't stop and include someone. I want to make sure we're spending more time outside...I took the children out for about a half an hour today, and just watched them play and ride their scooters up and down the sidewalk, and they had a blast. I want to do more projects-craft, science, etc-type projects, like teaching my girls crocheting, or help my son to do more hands on type activities like whittling on some wood or something. And for my husband, I want to make sure I'm doing more than just the things I feel I should do to be his help meet, as God says, I want to enjoy doing those things, and be thankful for the oppurtunity to help him as he works hard to take care of our family.
School-
This will be the first week putting into action some of the new things we will be doing. So my goal for this area is to make sure we're getting school done each day, and try to stick to a good routine for getting it done.
Home-
I plan on continuing work on following our weekly routines that I shared a couple weeks ago, and on each day, I'm hoping to make extra efforts in each area of my home, in addition to regular chores, as follows:
Monday-Laundry day-Continue to declutter in the laundry room. I'm actually hoping to get quite a bit cleared out of there, because there is a lot of stuff that just needs to be moved to another storage area like our outside storage building, and the weather is going to be nice this week, so I'll be able to do that easily. There are three doors in our laundry room, one that leads into the house, one that leads to the backyard, and one to the front yard....the door to the front yard is actually blocked, so I hope to get it cleared out, so we can use that door more often.
Tuesday-Kitchen day- I'm going to take a section of my kitchen, and I'm going to take all the stuff out of just one section, declutter what I don't need, clean all the surfaces, and organize the stuff that needs to go back. I'm *hoping* that my honey will also take the time this week to remove my no longer working dishwasher out, so that I can have that space for more storage.
Wednesday-Desk day-A couple weeks ago, I finally went through and sorted through all my paper clutter, and I organized it into three piles....trash, shred, and action. So now, I've got one large bag of trash gone, a big box of stuff needing to be shredded, and a few boxes of stuff that needs to be sorted and/or filed. Even if I only get one box sorted through, I'll be happy :o) My homeschool cabinets also really need to be organized, although I got all of our school stuff ready, I didn't take the time to organize the cabinets that holds all of our stuff, so I hope to work on that also.
Thursday-Errand day-Not much time for anything extra, but I think the weather will be nice and give me a chance for some intentional nature study/picnic/playtime with my kids while we're out.
Friday-Cleaning day-I'm going to work on one area that really needs some attention, or what's bothering me the most.....we have a pass through hallway, so basically you can make a full circle around our house, in other words, my kids have what they usually use for a race track :P But a while back I started piling some extra clutter in our hallway, and there is no longer a pass through because our hallway is pile high with stuff. I want to get that cleared out this week.
Saturday-Family day-The weather, as I said, will be nice, and I have a lot of work to do out in the garden to prepare it for the coming growing season. I've got seedlings started, and will be ready to plant in the next few weeks. My goal is to get the beds ready, and covered to keep the neighborhood cats out. I also need to get my tomato seeds started. And hopefully some 'intentional' time spent with my family playing some games and enjoying our time together.
Health-
Eat more spinach salad and spend more time outdoors. I just got some lab results and both my iron and vitamin d are very low...I'll be taking supplements to help, but any extra will be good too. Going to work on walking each afternoon for about 15-30 minutes as well.
Other Goals-
A few other miscellaneous goals that I can think of.....
-Take a load of stuff to the church for our upcoming camp fundraiser.
-Don't eat out this week...I've fallen back into a bad habit of eating out too much lately. It's not healthy, and it's just too expensive, even the little quick trips to Sonic for happy hour drinks....not good for us :o)
-Take inventory of baby stuff that I have, so I can answer everybody when they ask me what we need for our new little one.
-Finish the wool soaker that I'm nearly finished with, and get the one for my friend's baby started.
-Sew a few squares of N's quilt.
-This is a biggy...for me anyways....I want to get up earlier. I'm going to be shooting for 8am every morning....maybe 8:30 :o)
I know there were some other things, but that's all I can think of for now, and really it's plenty. I'll check in later this week or the first of next week to share how I did.
Blessings,
sara
I'm coming down to 12 weeks left until my due date, and I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed with all I need/want to do. The last couple of weeks have been a bit hit or miss with getting things done...Some days I did above and beyond what I hoped to do, while other days, I fell flat, and got nothing done.
I worked a lot this last week on some homeschool changes that I've been wanting to make, and hope to blog about soon, so that took up a lot of my time, getting stuff organized and such....So now that I've got our homeschool stuff organized, I feel more balanced and I think I will be able to get some much needed stuff done in the coming weeks.
We are still working on making a habit of following our daily routines that I've discussed in past blog posts. I'm happy with our progress with that. But I'd like a bit more focused direction during each day in some of the bigger things I'd like to accomplish on each day. So with that said...here are some of my goals for the upcoming week.
Spiritual Goals-
I'm super excited about this, because I got something new to aide me in my study of God's Word.....a Journible! Have you seen these? It's basically copying down God's Word, word for word. Of course you don't need the special journal to do so...a regular notebook would work just as well, but I was excited to get to indulge a little and get something nice to start off on this new adventure. I always get so much more out of what I'm reading if I physically write it down for myself, so I think this will be very helpful! My goal, in addition to making sure I'm spending time reading and studying my Bible daily, and spending time in prayer, and hopefully doing that multiple times daily, is to copy one whole chapter starting in the book of Galatians.
Family-
I want to make sure I'm being more intentional with my time around my family. When I started this new year, I said that 'intentional' was going to be my word for the year...and I started off strong, but haven't been doing very well. Ways I would like to do this include doing more with them and for them. I have a tendency to get into a funk, and have trouble doing little more than surviving the day to day. Some things I would like to do to are....call my kids in to help me more in the kitchen...I catch myself just trying to hurry up and get done in there and don't stop and include someone. I want to make sure we're spending more time outside...I took the children out for about a half an hour today, and just watched them play and ride their scooters up and down the sidewalk, and they had a blast. I want to do more projects-craft, science, etc-type projects, like teaching my girls crocheting, or help my son to do more hands on type activities like whittling on some wood or something. And for my husband, I want to make sure I'm doing more than just the things I feel I should do to be his help meet, as God says, I want to enjoy doing those things, and be thankful for the oppurtunity to help him as he works hard to take care of our family.
School-
This will be the first week putting into action some of the new things we will be doing. So my goal for this area is to make sure we're getting school done each day, and try to stick to a good routine for getting it done.
Home-
I plan on continuing work on following our weekly routines that I shared a couple weeks ago, and on each day, I'm hoping to make extra efforts in each area of my home, in addition to regular chores, as follows:
Monday-Laundry day-Continue to declutter in the laundry room. I'm actually hoping to get quite a bit cleared out of there, because there is a lot of stuff that just needs to be moved to another storage area like our outside storage building, and the weather is going to be nice this week, so I'll be able to do that easily. There are three doors in our laundry room, one that leads into the house, one that leads to the backyard, and one to the front yard....the door to the front yard is actually blocked, so I hope to get it cleared out, so we can use that door more often.
Tuesday-Kitchen day- I'm going to take a section of my kitchen, and I'm going to take all the stuff out of just one section, declutter what I don't need, clean all the surfaces, and organize the stuff that needs to go back. I'm *hoping* that my honey will also take the time this week to remove my no longer working dishwasher out, so that I can have that space for more storage.
Wednesday-Desk day-A couple weeks ago, I finally went through and sorted through all my paper clutter, and I organized it into three piles....trash, shred, and action. So now, I've got one large bag of trash gone, a big box of stuff needing to be shredded, and a few boxes of stuff that needs to be sorted and/or filed. Even if I only get one box sorted through, I'll be happy :o) My homeschool cabinets also really need to be organized, although I got all of our school stuff ready, I didn't take the time to organize the cabinets that holds all of our stuff, so I hope to work on that also.
Thursday-Errand day-Not much time for anything extra, but I think the weather will be nice and give me a chance for some intentional nature study/picnic/playtime with my kids while we're out.
Friday-Cleaning day-I'm going to work on one area that really needs some attention, or what's bothering me the most.....we have a pass through hallway, so basically you can make a full circle around our house, in other words, my kids have what they usually use for a race track :P But a while back I started piling some extra clutter in our hallway, and there is no longer a pass through because our hallway is pile high with stuff. I want to get that cleared out this week.
Saturday-Family day-The weather, as I said, will be nice, and I have a lot of work to do out in the garden to prepare it for the coming growing season. I've got seedlings started, and will be ready to plant in the next few weeks. My goal is to get the beds ready, and covered to keep the neighborhood cats out. I also need to get my tomato seeds started. And hopefully some 'intentional' time spent with my family playing some games and enjoying our time together.
Health-
Eat more spinach salad and spend more time outdoors. I just got some lab results and both my iron and vitamin d are very low...I'll be taking supplements to help, but any extra will be good too. Going to work on walking each afternoon for about 15-30 minutes as well.
Other Goals-
A few other miscellaneous goals that I can think of.....
-Take a load of stuff to the church for our upcoming camp fundraiser.
-Don't eat out this week...I've fallen back into a bad habit of eating out too much lately. It's not healthy, and it's just too expensive, even the little quick trips to Sonic for happy hour drinks....not good for us :o)
-Take inventory of baby stuff that I have, so I can answer everybody when they ask me what we need for our new little one.
-Finish the wool soaker that I'm nearly finished with, and get the one for my friend's baby started.
-Sew a few squares of N's quilt.
-This is a biggy...for me anyways....I want to get up earlier. I'm going to be shooting for 8am every morning....maybe 8:30 :o)
I know there were some other things, but that's all I can think of for now, and really it's plenty. I'll check in later this week or the first of next week to share how I did.
Blessings,
sara
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