Ordering our Home Series - My Schedule

I have found my daily routine much altered in the past few months. So much of my life has changed with the children going to attend school. I will be honest that for the better part of the first semester I found it hard to motivate and get things accomplished. So much had changed.

After careful evaluation of the situation, I really believe that I was truly missing having the older kids at home. So, to some extent, I feel I was grieving for the life I had always known with them around everyday. It was hard for me to admit this - for I KNOW that God wants them in school this year - and He made it very clear to us that this was His will for us. Somehow admitting that I was missing them seemed that I was saying I did not want God's will for us. Then I thought of the verse that tells me that He knows my frame - He remembers that I am but dust. How thankful that He cares for me - even the emotional side of me.

The grieving time seems to be over; and I have been able to come up with a routine and schedule that seem to be working. I also see God's wisdom in it all; because Zak has done very well with having one on one time with Mom. We have had our issues; but I have seen marked improvements with him also.

Here is the schedule that I try to follow throughout my day. At the beginning of the school year, with the older kids gone, it was so easy to just kind of drift along throughout my day. However, I found I HATED the way I felt when I did not have a definite plan for what needed to be accomplished. I also hated the way the little ones acted - they needed a routine!!

This is my schedule when the kids leave for school at 6:15 or so in the morning:

4:50 - Rise / Dress / Make bed

5:00 - Get older kids up and started on their schedule / instruct the younger two, if they are awake to stay in their beds

5:05 - Turn lights on down stairs - turn on music - make the house look 'awake' for the kids

5:10 - Assemble lunches (they are prepared the night before for the most part)

5:20 - Start on breakfast

5:30- Set table - (make sure kids are quiet and doing their devotions)

5:50 - Sit down with the kids as they eat their breakfast / go over their day

6:05 - Supervise as kids get ready to leave

6:15 - Kids leave for school / grab a cup of coffee and sit down for my time with God

7:00 - Get little ones up / dressed / hair combed

7:10 - Breakfast with the kids / Cleanup (Zak dries dishes, Anna washes cabinet doors) / Brush teeth with kids

7:30 - Do Housework ( Clean / vacuum / start laundry / do baking that needs done)

9:00 - School with the Kids

11:15 - Prepare lunch

11:30 - Lunch time with the kids

12:00 - Read the kids a story / Tuck them into bed

12:10 - Blogging / email

1:10 - Work on Book / Writing

2:15 - Get kids up from nap / snack time

2:30 - Zak play outside / supervise as Anna plays on her mat / make phone calls / Free

3:15 - Do a quick cleanup of house /

3:30 -Sewing/ Project Time

4:30 - Start setting table / Older kids get home - keep them on schedule

5:00 - Family Dinner Time / Family Devotions

5:40 - Dinner Dishes with Rob / Pack lunches

6:15 - Get little ones ready for bed / play with them / read them a book

7:00 - Little ones in bed / Change into PJ's / Read or Write

7:30 - Mom and Me with James

7:50 - Mom and Me with Abbey

8:10 - Mom and Me with Rachel

8:30 - Make a cup of tea/ Read or Write

9:30 - Pray with Rob

10:00 - Lights out

That is my day in a nut shell. There are times there are projects I am needing to get done - and I will do that during the blog time or the writing time; but I like to keep the writing time so I can get something accomplished on my book. (Someday, perhaps it will be done!!)

Not everyday works like this ... but I try. I do try to make up a list of things that need to be done for the week. I do this on Saturday mornings. I try to get out for about an hour on Saturday mornings. I grab a cup of coffee and a breakfast roll then I spend some time with my calendar and plan out the week. I plan the menu for the week's dinners - ( lunch and breakfast menus are already set on a rotating calendar) -as well as the daily things that need to get accomplished that week.

On Saturday mornings when I am planning my week I make up a list of everything that needs to be done during that week.My weekly lists include everything I need to do for the week. After I have the list completed, I plug the "to do" items into the days that they need to be done. Then each night I go through my list and go over what needs to be done tomorrow; and also add anything else that I need to get accomplished that day also.

It is nice to see at the end of the day the items marked off the list. It also helps when I get side tracked during the day to have the page to turn to and get refocused on what needs to get accomplished. (I also have a monthly planning session on the last Sunday of the month. That Sunday afternoon while the kids are napping, I do the same thing; but on a monthly scale. For the most part, monthly planning is making sure the big things like doctor appointments and school activities are written in correctly.)

I guess the thing I want the most is that I am redeeming the time - and having things organized so I can be able to minster to those God brings my way. I do not want my schedule to be something that I have to just "do"; but rather a tool that allows me the ability to have things done (or scheduled to be done) so I don't have to be consumed with them in my mind. When my mind is free from the worry of all the things there are to do, I am able to see the things around me that I would have missed.

I also want for my children to grow up with order. Children thrive on a routine. Autistic children almost can not function without a routine!! I am so glad that God is a God of order and allows us the ability to think and to plan.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I trust your this month of January has been profitable as you begin this new year.

Blessings,

~Martie