I sit here this morning with children in bed waaay too late, a scratchy throat, a runny nose 1yo and a grey dreary sky. Happy Monday! After a fun and busy, but somehow still relaxing holiday week I am ready to play catch-up with all our school work and yet again try to tweak our schedule to fit it "all" in. It seems I am often sitting making up schedules and routines and looking with jealousy at school teachers who run their days like clock work. I'd love to run my home like that... I'd love to see them run like that with a 1yo!! Every few weeks or months the schedule needs to change because WE change. It drives me crazy but I'm starting to realize (12 years later) that this is life with littles.
For example, life with a nursing baby is one crazy schedule. Life with a 3 month old is suddenly new again because that baby woke up and wants to be around people. Then you have a crawling 6 month old, in our house a walking 10 month old, then a 1yo who spends 3-6 months outgrowing but at times still needing a morning nap. Add to that activities that are ever changing. Football, dance and Legos, basketball, softball- the list is endless and we don't do near as much as others! There are days I'd like to lock us inside our house and yard and be invisible to the rest of the world. Probably sounds strange from someone who is with her family ALL the time but there are times I long to just be, not do.
But anyone who knows me knows I don't like to "be" for long! I'm part of the ever changing routine and schedule because I want to DO more! Not more running (at least not right now) but be more intentional with how we spend our days. With the holidays approaching I know starting a new routine is pretty much not worth my time or energy but, I figure it gives me a nice long window to reevaluate what we want to do and how to do it come the new year.
My thoughts, wishes and goals-
#1 Continue to stay on track with our core curriculum (so far so good)
#2 Figure out how to consistently fit in our Grammar work (nobody here including me loves grammar)
#3 Find time to get outside with the kids everyday (Addison really wants OUT and I think if I get out the fresh air will do me good and I can spend time playing with my kids which doesnt' happen that often)
#4 Fit in Quiet Time (a consistent hour or even two where everyone is quiet and I am ALONE)
#5 Find a wake-up time for everyone that is not too late and not too early (there are shows to watch or games to play in the evening with Daddy but also work to be done and places to go in the morning)
#6 Try to make a simple outline of our day with spaces to play with so it doesn't need to be completely changed every few months
#7 Find time for offering hospitality more often in our home or a prayer group or outreach to others
#8 Be so routine (and boring) that I don't have to tell them what's next, they already know
Yes, I said boring. I get really bored on routines. I am the one you can call last minute and say, "Want to go to_____?" and I will be ready in 20 minutes or less! BUT I'm told that if we have a good routine we can still blow it at times without everything falling apart and being behind at home... so I'm told. And as much as they bore me I also know we get so much more done when on a schedule/routine.
I recently read about a family that puts there kids to bed quite early, like 7:00. They are a large family with 10 children (baby up to 13yo). All the kids crash early (or read and talk to their siblings they share a room with) while mom and dad have time to spend together, go to bed early or invite people in without messing up the home schedule. I think they do a mens and womens ministry once a week at 7:30 so no need for a sitter or shoving kids to bed before they are use to. Of course they wake up at the crack of dawn! But something to think about, especially since we have 3 boys in a room who see each other ALL day long and still have enough to talk about that they are hollered at every night to quiet down two hours after they've been tucked in! AND they're still sleeping at 9am this morning because they chit chatted so long last night! Hmmmm, so much to think about.
Well off to wiping noses, a late breakfast and lots of thinking about routines. Crazy, but I love it!
Do you have a good routine in place? Would it make life easier??
2 comments:
Ha! Sounds like me! What a relief to know we aren't alone in this... I an typing one handed here as I nurse my 8 month old. I have five too. (I linked through from the CM yahoo group). My oldest is 10 and I feel NOT like I am just now getting it together but that I am just now realizing this is IT. This is the new normal! Whatever that is. I read something recently ( I think it was on one of the Vision Forum peoples blogs) that said it wasn't until the fourth kid that his wife started getting routines into place. For some reason that made me feel better. Some things have been working for me lately. I am getting up before the kids and getting myself totally ready to walk out the door. That has been HUGE. We also have implemented some good cleaning routines so that I know that the decluttering gets done and it is allowing me to give them uninterrupted freetime for a few hours in the afternoon. I really try to give them space then. In a larger family, they know that isn't always possible. They WILL get called to help with the baby or something but we are all happier.
It seems like there will always be something to throw our daily routine off. In regards to getting all of those things in that you want to, have you tried workboxes or circle time? You can do a search for workboxes and you can find more about circle time at preschoolersandpeace.com. I use workboxes for my 7yo & 11yo and would like to implement a kind of circle time for memorization and Bible study.
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