Our Daily Schedule

     This week I'm going to share some of our schedules and charts that keep our family running.  I figured the most logical place to start was our Daily Schedule.  We follow this pretty closely on school weeks.  If we're off of school we are looser with times but the same things generally get done everyday.

This is for me and the boys.  I'll share how the girls work in at the end.

6:30 (on good days) Mom exercises, showers and gets ready for the day
7:00- Carter (13 at the end of this month) up and in the shower
When he gets out he wakes up Caleb (10) and Elijah (7).  They get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, pick up their room and make their beds.
8:00 Mom and boys do B4 Breakfast Chores
8:30 Breakfast
If we are on task and time we sit down together and we'll read a devotion and sing a few hymns or work on learning a new one.  This doesn't always happen but we're working on making it more of our "norm".
9:00 After Breakfast Chores
9:30 School Starts (I'll share this tomorrow)
12:30 Lunch
After Lunch we finish up any school that needs to be done besides reading.  If all your work is done then you are free to go outside or do whatever.  In the winter I'll sometimes allow them on the Wii to get some energy out.
2-3:30 Quiet Reading Time
This is when the kids do their "school" reading, daily Bible reading and any other reading they'd like.  If they finish their required reading they are allowed to draw/color or go to the boy's room and quietly play Legos while listening to Adventures in Odyssey.  Sometimes I'll set out play dough or arts and crafts things at the table for them to do QUIETLY.  If they can't be quiet then they're done.  This is "suppose" to be Mom's quiet time to chill out and relax.  I'll watch TV, read, talk on the phone or hop on the computer on a good day.  Most days I'm picking up from the day and preparing for the evening all while answering 7,500 "mom? what does _ _ _ _ _ spell??" questions.
3:30-5:30 Free Time
For those who earned computer time they have a set hour they can play.  They earn 1 hour a day they can watch TV, play on the computer or video games.  They can do this anytime after Quiet Reading Time.  Lately however, they all like to play a strategy game on the computer so they have a set hour they can do that to avoid the argument of whose time it is. (Elijah 3:30-4:30, Carter 4:30-5:30, Caleb 6:30-7:30)
5:30-6:30 Dinner Hour
We eat (duh) and then usually read some of our family read aloud and since Christmas we do some Mind Traps.  We love these!  We'll also just talk about the day, sometimes do a devotion and often pull out a game.  We really feel meal times offer us great opportunities to have fellowship and disciple our children.  Something about good food and everyone in one spot opens hearts, mouths and minds.
After Dinner-
During this time we cycle through shower and bath times.  Caleb still has his computer hour if he wants it.  This is the time we will play board/card games, read aloud some more or watch a family movie or show. Because we only have so much hot water Mom, Dad and Carter shower in the morning.  The girls have baths usually on T/T/Sat. and the boys do M/W/F and then work in Saturday or Sunday morning.  We've never been a bath everyday family for our littles.
Bedtime-
This varies.  Addison's bedtime is usually between 7 & 8:00.  Everyone else is 8:00 unless there is a family show on.  We like to watch Biggest Loser and Survivor together.  Both of those are often cut short because of language or attitudes we'd rather not repeat.  The kids know Mom and Dad have veto power at any moment.  They also know at commercials it will be muted and often we tell them to turn around or close their eyes. We'll say, "Don't look" and they'll all close their eyes or turn. Because it's muted sometimes we forget to tell them it's fine to look!  We'll be talking and finally someone will say, "Can we look now?!" This may sound silly but seriously some of those detective type shows have some of the worst commercials ever!  Not to mention the fact that Victoria Secret and Go Daddy commercials are practically pornographic! If you're amazed at how long our kids "sleep" don't be.  Remember all our children share a room.  3 boys in one 2 girls in the other and that equals lots of talking and giggling.  We learned a long time ago if we want them asleep by 10:00, 8:00 bedtime is our best bet of that happening!  If there's not a "family show" on they are allowed to listen to a story on tape or read for a bit.

    The girls are allowed to sleep until they wake on their own.  This is usually sometime between 8 and 9:00.  Hannah has her own Morning Chores and I get them dressed and do hair as I'm doing other things (between spelling words etc.).  Hannah joins us for some school and usually at some point wanders off to play with her stuffed animals.  Addison's job is to get in the way and cause trouble and most days she's FANTASTIC at it! I was really frustrated with this about a month ago but I was reminded how quickly it will pass and I know it's true.  So for now we just enjoy the chaos.

   Does this sound complicated??  I hope not.  After years of trying different schedules I found certain things we always did no matter what.  For example hours for quiet almost always seemed to hit around 2.  Dinner always happened around 5:30/6 even when I wasn't going by the clock.  We preferred to have the kids in bed around 8 to have some time for "us" and give them time to talk.  After filling those things in it was pretty simple to plug in the best time for chores, school, baths etc.

So there ya go.  A day in our life :0)

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