Mar 14, 2013

Schedule and Rhythm thoughts

I am not happy with how our schedule for this year looks and I am not happy with how the rhythm of our days feel.  The kids are happy, but to me it feels like I am not getting enough done. 

So I am taking the bull by the horns and really taking some time now to really think things through, do research, think about our life and homeschool and what needs to change.  I am taking notes of things that need to change and those that will be easier to change when we are not all tripping over each other in this little house.  (Btw, this house reminds of that old song, "Little Houses")

There are things that I would like to do and things that I am planning on doing.  I would like to plan our daily life better and that includes our meals, our cleaning, our homeschool and our schedule.  Having a plan will make me feel like I am getting closer to getting it all done.

Here are some of my thoughts as of right now, although they are still scattered and I am definitely open to suggestions and thoughts.  This may be a lot but I am writing it out partly as an exercise for me to figure it out.

I would like to be sure that in our daily schedule we do the following:
  • Get to bed at a certain time every day
  • Get up at a certain time every day (me before kids to get things done!)
  • Get naps regulated (this is pretty good now)
  • Get mealtimes regulated (plan them out, prepare in the morning and the night before)
For fun, I would love to have color days for the kids.  My kids would get a HUGE kick out of it and we could do some of the following things:
  • Wear clothes (or just shirts) of that color
  • Do crafts and artwork with that color
  • Try to find the day's color in the house or outside on a walk
  • Serve snacks in that color (smoothies in the colors of the day would be fun)
  • Make play dough in that color
I saw this on a blog I read that they had the schedule below for colors and I think it would work for us too.  Including some of the extra cleaning I thought of off the top of my head, it would look like this:

Monday - red - good cleaning in bathroom
Tuesday - orange Clean kids rooms and Change Beds in all rooms
Wednesday - yellow - Wash the floors really well
Thursday - green - Clean our Bedroom
Friday - indigo blue - Clean Kitchen (fridge, stove, cupboard doors)
Saturday - purple
Sunday - white

So for my daily schedule has this tentative rhythm:

7:00 - I get up first, get dressed, get coffee, get breakfast, get supper going (slow cooker?), get bread going, do one load of laundry (in summer hang on line and get off line at lunch time)
8:30 - Get everyone up, tidy up the room, make the beds, dressed and fed
9:30 - Go for Walk
10:00 - Circle Time
10:30 - Little Girls Lessons (Princess Belle helps with littles and sits with us as she likes to participate in their day)
11:00 - Snack
11:15 - Princess Belle Main Lesson
12:30 - Lunch/Play
1:30 - Handwork/Art/Extra Lesson
AFTER THAT: Free time until dinner on some days we go for another walk or just hang out in the backyard.
7:00 - Bedtime Routine and then I sweep floor, do my evening tidy, clean play area

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some people just do better with schedules. I know I do! I have all 7 days of the week planned with homeschooling (well, that's only 5 days a week), cleaning, and work. Even if I don't follow the schedule perfectly, it helps me keep a productive rhythm.

But on days when I just can't get into that groove, because "everything" is going wrong, I feel free to say "Heck with it" and just read a book. ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm here From Flash Friday...I understand your desire to have a workable schedule. Since we started doing 'day care' three days a week for our grandson, my organization has just flown out the window! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I found you from Flash Friday. I can relate myself. I have 2 monkeys of my own a 19 year old and a 2 year old. On top of that I work and go to school full time. Sometimes I wonder where the week has gone!

Prioritizing is a good thing which I may need to pay a visit to again. Good luck and I will be following along :)

Jessica

Michelle said...

My kids both stopped napping around 18 months . . . ugh. Afternoons have been a mess for YEARS.

I love the idea of getting up before the kids, but I always have a little one following me, no matter what time it is.

I also love the morning walk! I would like to get that into our routine, too.

Best wishes!

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