heartofdakota.com

This is kind of off topic but sort of relating to homeschooling. We have shared how we schedule our HOD day but I am hoping some ladies more organized than myself with time would share how they schedule their life. I have this problem...there are too many things I love to do and need to do. I have all this painting, organizing, scrapbooking and many sewing things I simply must do . And then there is consistent exercise and more structured quite time and study of the Word and one on one time that is special with each child. My head spins with all that I want to accomplish and I am realizing that I need a plan. But it has to be a plan that works with my head so I would love to hear how others do it. And I thought I would ask those of you that have some tips to share what do you do to organize you time that is not school? Now that my school plan is perfect with HOD I want that for the rest of my life. My only idea is to make myself a project and craft wheel (like a chore chart on a wheel) and then I have blocks of time to work on certain things eventually I get things done by working around the wheel. I would break projects down to phases or steps since finishing seems to be my downfall, once I can picture it in my head I am on to the next thing. It hopefully would trick me to follow through and eventually complete things. One thing I know for me is that if it begins and ends at a specific time I am resistant to it so I have to work in general blocks. And I know for me it has to feel like it frees me up rather than constricts me. So essentially it needs to be HOD like in nature. I need to be able to turn my brain off of it's constant chatter that sort of gets in my way and go on autopilot somehow.

Some things I have done already that have helped:
Bulk cooking- This is a huge help I try to have 1-2 months meals made ahead in the freezer. To date I have 40 meals prepared...Yeah!
Set my alarm- don't laugh
Turn my old office into a craft room for myself and my kids so we can craft together instead of having to take time away from them to sew.
Vacuum the main house in the evening so I wake up with it done and pick up clutter before bed including dishes.
And the chore chart for the kids helps a lot. It's the mommy plan that is messed up.

But that is the basic stuff and I have huge gaps in the rest, especially project type things. Maybe if I am more organized I really can have it all...it's possible isn't it? I just want to be half the Proverbs 31 woman. In Mary terms I need the sneaky Olive plan to work for the off the chart Betty (if you know her terms, if not don't worry) and hopefully other tortured ladies like myself will be helped as well.

I like routines more than a set time schedule since every day is different around here. I like your idea of a wheel chart --very creative! I get lots of ideas from myblessedhome.blogspot.com and flylady ...like I said I can't do the rigid set in stone by the clock thing but a general flow of the day and duties to be done in each section of the day I can do.

I'm also enjoying the book Homeschooling at the speed of life

I know my major problem is too much stuff in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment .... but purging stuff during the summer knowing spiders lurk everywhere creeps me out ... so it has to wait for cooler weather.

skillet04 wrote:I like routines more than a set time schedule since every day is different around here. I like your idea of a wheel chart --very creative! I get lots of ideas from myblessedhome.blogspot.com and flylady ...like I said I can't do the rigid set in stone by the clock thing but a general flow of the day and duties to be done in each section of the day I can do.

I'm also enjoying the book Homeschooling at the speed of life

Thank you for the site! I had not seen the first one. I just started reading the same book. Maybe when I get deeper I will find it. I am exactly like you the time schedule feels like a heavy burden and I resist it. But the blocks of general time kind of works. I am thinking also if I do the wheel I may have a chore wheel and a fun and project wheel separate. But just want to see if someone has something else already done, tried and true before I add that project on my plate.

I could certainly use more organization as well! (Somebody has GOT to fill me in on the Olive/Betty thing....it is referred to around here often enough, but I am out of the loop on that one!)

One thing that has helped me is that I now get up at 5am everymorning for my quiet time with the LORD. It was so so so SOOOOO hard at first to get myself up that early, but I found it so hard to consistantely have my fellowship with HIM when I waited till the kids were already up to get up (6:30-ish), that often it fell to the back burner or was rushed and distracted. Now that I am "in the groove", I don't even set the alarm, I just wake up at 5, turn on the coffee (that I prepare before going to bed), go potty (actually I do that all day now), grab my bible, my journal, GHILLM & a Beth Moore devotional, along with my pen & highlighter, put them at the couch, grab my coffee and cuddle up with my bible and have my special date with HIM. The kids are NOT allowed to come out of their bedroom (except for potty) untill 7am regardless of how early they wake up. I usually finish my quiet time around 6:30-6:45 and start the water on the stove, because the first thing my kids will ask for is hot cocoa (even in summer....it's like hubby and I with our coffee).

Honestly that has been HUGE in how my day starts to go. I know that I could be more disciplined in scheduling my day in many other ways, but I'm still working on that!

So after the kids get up, feed the dog and then they can play for a bit, but must have breakfast eaten and be dressed no later than 8:15 (can be earlier). Breakfast varies between eggs, oatmeal, cereal, fruit & yogurt, pancakes...whatever we (or I) are in the mood for. Then they go outside to play while mom gets dressed, dallies on the computer for a bit, look over HOD and see if I need to 'prep' anything & get out the books we will use that day, chat with a girlfriend/mom on the phone, prepare snack/juice. They get till 9:15 to play outside. I find that that helps to get the wiggles out before we start our day.

We start school at 9:30. This is all rough as sometimes we fall a little before or behind timewise, but these are the times I aim for....the only one I am a definate stickler on is that I get up at 5 and the kids may not come out till 7. Everything else happens in that time frame...we aim for it, often get it, but sometimes fall off the time table a little. And that's ok, as long as we follow the routine. School actually takes us closer to 2-2.5 hours, but mostly 'cause of potty training interuptions with my little guy and snacks and things like that. We generally are done by 11:30, but sometimes not till noon. They go back outside, while I make lunch and clean up/put away the school stuff. After lunch, we all take naps (that will probably change for me after the baby comes... I'll miss my naps!....and yes, my 5 yr old still naps everyday!). When we get up, they help with clean up of the house. Then they go back out to play, and usually the little boy and girl next door come over to play....I get dinner started. Dinner time is all over the place because of daddy's work schedule. Depending on what time he is going to be home, we will either wait for him to get home and eat a bit later, or eat earlier 'cause he will be home way to late to have the kids eating dinner. This is all a "rough" view of our day. And it makes it sound like I don't play with them at all. Honestly I do! Although lately it's more in the form of lets do a puzzle, play in the pool or something else equally easy going (I was put on "semi-bedrest" a few weeks ago...what on earth is THAT??? when you have a 5 and 2 yr old??? ). After dinner we usually will put in a movie or play a game or something. There is often a snack, then bath (depending on the night, but with a giant sand pit for a back yard, they manage to get quite dirty by the end of the day!), story time then off to bed.

Then what I do after they go to bed varies on the day as well...sometimes crafts (although my craft room/area is in the basement and this time of year I'm freaked out by the spiders that come out of everywhere...so those either come upstairs or don't get done right now) or more computer time (and now blogging), movie with hubby. Whatever we (or I, if he isn't home yet) want to do. And make hubby's lunch and prep the coffee, before going to bed. I also usually shower at night.

I don't know if any of this is helpfull, because most of it feels like stuff that I would like to get done doesn't too. But that is the current routine.

I love to schedule and have to have routines to function. Here's my schedule for a normal weekday. I don't schedule weekends because DH is home and we just go with the flow. I have times listed but we don't really stick to them except for getting up in the mornings, mealtimes, and naptime.

7am - Get up, shower, get dressed
7:30-8:30am - Morning Routine (start one load of laundry each day, load/unload dishwasher, make beds)
I hate to spend all day cleaning so I have my home broken into sections and clean one section each day.
Mondays - I plan our meals for the week, pay bills, and later go grocery shopping
Tuesdays - I clean the kitchen and our half bathroom
Wednesdays - I clean the living room and dining room
Thursdays - I clean our 2 upstairs bathrooms
Fridays - I clean the bedrooms
After this on Mondays, we go out grocery shopping and running any errands that need to be done. We also usually stop by the library. We are usually out until lunchtime. On other days, our schedule looks like this:
8:30-9:30am - School - it doesn't usually take an hour, but we'll play educational games or color or things like that when we get done with school.
9:30 -10am - Zone Cleaning - this is a concept from www.Flylady.com She breaks your house up into zones, one zone per week, and you are able to deep clean your entire house each month. I don't usually get everything done, every week, but it helps me stay on top of things
10:30 - 12:30 - We usually either go to the playground nearby or go swimming in the pool at our apartment complex
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 - 4:00 - Samuel Naps, I have my quiet time, then try to do a workout video. After that it's my time to do something for me, usually I'm on the computer checking emails, working on my scrapbooks, reading a book, or just relaxing on the couch watching TV
4:00 - 5:00 - Samuel is up and I try to do something fun with him that he can't do without my supervision like play with playdough, play games, color, paint, etc
5:00 - 6:00 - Cook dinner
DH gets home at 6 and we eat dinner together. In the evenings we just do whatever so I don't have a schedule for that.

Thanks you guys so much for taking the time to answer. It's great to see how others juggle things. I have a fairly well say OK normal sort of routine but it just is not organized enough to allow the extras like I want. So I am going to look over these and see about some fine tuning. Hopefully I can find a way that works with my head in the process. I like the idea of general time periods and doing it by day of the week. Maybe that will allow me to be organized so I can fit in more of the what I want every day like taking a walk with just one child, playing cards with just one so they can have me one on one even though there are six. I really want more of that for them and for me. The tricky part is I am in a lot of ways doing this without the net of my husband. He works so hard I do not want anything on him but his work period. But what I am starting to see is God has the time for it all I just need to find the best way to organize the time He has given me so I can find the extra blessings.

Thanks for letting me learn from you all!

Cool topic and ideas! I am a perpetual list maker. If there are more than 3 things bouncing around in my head, I have to write it down or it drives me nuts. On my calendar I have taped my list that has my regular lists of "To Do," "Call" and "Go" (errands), but I also have a list of things that I have to on my own (titled, "Me" ) Sometimes I have a list for the kids. When I have free moments during the day, I look at the list (sometimes w/a quick prayer) to figure out what to do next. I also have a different list taped to the fridge of fun ideas of things to do with the kids. This is similar to your wheel idea.

I like how you keep your house clean...would you mind doing the bathroom zones at my house?

Gingel
Beyond with 7yo dd
Little Hands with 4yo ds

It sounds like you've gotten some good advice so far. I do blocks of time in a routine. But even then, I'm not so great. So I'm hoping to use some of what has been said here.

I found the old Betty / Olive post here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=184&hilit=betty
Enjoy!