Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

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My new summer schedule

May 31, 2008 by Marissa 14 Comments

I recently read “Managers of Their Homes” by Steve and Teri Maxwell, which is a scheduling book for homeschooling moms (primarily those with several kids). Although I will only be homeschooling 3 days a week and don’t intend to ever have more than 3 children (never say never, right??), this book was very helpful to me. (Thank you, Lynette for recommending it. Has anyone noticed all the great recommendations I get from Lynette? I recommend that you get a Lynette in your life–someone who reads the newspaper every day and talks often with intelligent people and is full of useful and interesting information.)

One reason I wanted to read about developing a schedule for our family is that I feel that on days that we are at home, I tend to ignore my kids. That sounds awful, but it is true. They play reasonably well together, so I can get away with sitting on the computer, writing insightful blog posts, emailing friends, and updating my Facebook status, only emerging occasionally to referee their arguments and hand out snacks. Then all of a sudden, it is dinnertime and my kids haven’t been read to all day. So after reading the Maxwells’ advice, I sat down to make a schedule. I prayerfully considered all the things I want to accomplish in a day: teaching Christopher to do chores, reading to the kids, having Christopher read to me, coloring and doing crafts with them, playing outside, having time for family worship/Scripture memory/prayer, and spending individual time with each boy while the other one does something independently. Then I mapped out three schedules–one for days we go somewhere in the morning, one for days we go somewhere in the afternoon, and one for days we (gulp) stay home all day.

I am proud to say that implemented my schedule last week. It seemed like a good week to start, since it was a 4-day week, and I left town on Friday, so I really only had three days of the schedule. Are you dying to know how it went? I thought so.

Day One: Things went fairly well, except for when I set Christopher up to color and practice writing letters while I played with Will, and Will wanted to color instead of playing in his room with me. I think the concept of playing alone with Mommy was so new to him he didn’t understand what was happening. But once we got going with some puzzles, he had a great time. We got behind schedule in the afternoon, and things started getting a little hairy. But Daddy came home early and whisked the boys away on errands at 4:30, bringing the schedule to a mercifully early end.

Day Two: Beautiful. Of course, the kids were with a sitter all morning. Sure does make it easier!

Day Three: Made it through half of the day (the part where we were gone all morning) and abandoned the schedule for the afternoon in the interest of laundry, packing and errands before leaving town.

So it may not be the most successful start, but there is all kinds of time between now and Labor Day for improvement. I have noticed several advantages already. The primary one is that I have been getting up earlier. All four days last week, I was completely showered and dressed AND spent time with God before my kids got up. I am not a morning person, and so this is a big deal for me. Of course, it isn’t so hard to get up when the sun is shining and there are birds singing outside my window–the winter will be more challenging! Also, I’ve been more organized with my housework. I thought I wouldn’t get as much done because I’m spending more intentional time playing with my kids, but somehow the opposite has happened. Amazing! And even on the days that the schedule came unglued, I read to my kids and Christopher read to me. In just a week of dedicated reading time with Christopher, his reading skills have really taken off. I’m so proud of him!

If this is something you’d like to try and want more info, leave a comment and I’d be happy to email you my schedules. I think it will be great this summer to keep us from just wasting the time we have together, and it will be great when preschool starts back up so I can prioritize the things I want to accomplish with the kids.

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Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: managers of their homes, organization, scheduling, teri maxwell

Comments

  1. Missy says

    June 1, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    I’d love to see the schedules–things can get a little hairy around here and I could use some structure!

    Reply
  2. Laura King says

    June 3, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    Oh my goodness, this sounds great, let me know your secrets!

    Reply
  3. Melissa says

    July 1, 2008 at 6:53 am

    I would love to see your schedules. I really don’t want the TV to be a major player this summer.

    Reply
  4. Kris says

    July 16, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    Hello! I would LOVE to see your schedules. I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile as well! Thanks for sharing w/us!

    Reply
  5. hill upon hill says

    July 23, 2008 at 4:31 am

    If you have time, could you please send me a copy of your schedule? Thankyou, Jacqui

    Reply
  6. Allison says

    June 1, 2009 at 7:22 am

    I think this is an awesome idea! The teachers during the school year do such a great job with schedules which set the child’s expectations up in advance. I was googleing schedules and found your post so I would love to see it to help make mine. Thanks so much!
    Allison

    Reply
  7. Amanda says

    June 14, 2009 at 2:03 pm

    I would love to see how you set up your schedules. I am in the process of organizing one for our family but would enjoy (and could desperately use) some guidelines and examples from other peoples schedules. I am trying to home school starting this fall and this summer schedule is like my own personal exam. If I can do this I can home school!!!! Thank you!

    Amanda

    Reply
  8. jennifer says

    July 8, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    I would love to see your schedule .please email it to me. a I have a 2 year old and 6 year old

    Reply
  9. Casey says

    July 14, 2010 at 10:50 pm

    I would love to see your schedule. Thanks!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A Meek and Quiet Spirit, Part 1 « By Grace Alone says:
    June 9, 2008 at 8:45 pm

    […] pm Tags: anger, homeschool, meekness, parenting, spiritual growth, teri maxwell When I recently ordered the Maxwell’s scheduling book (Managers of Their Homes), I noticed another book on their website. Homeschooling with a Meek and […]

    Reply
  2. Making Time For Quiet Time « By Grace Alone says:
    June 17, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    […] couple of weeks ago I started a new daily schedule for the summer. Before implementing my schedule, I rarely spent time with God in the morning, […]

    Reply
  3. Here Am I! - By Grace Alone says:
    August 22, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    […] commitment will fit into my schedule. I can’t map it out on a nice little spreadsheet, like I’m fond of doing. And I think that’s a good thing. Because if I could map it out, I could think it was all […]

    Reply
  4. Making Time For Quiet Time - By Grace Alone says:
    August 23, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    […] couple of weeks ago I started a new daily schedule for the summer. Before implementing my schedule, I rarely spent time with God in the morning, […]

    Reply
  5. A Meek and Quiet Spirit, Part 1 - By Grace Alone says:
    August 23, 2010 at 8:34 pm

    […] I recently ordered the Maxwell’s scheduling book (Managers of Their Homes), I noticed another book on Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, by […]

    Reply

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I write to remind myself of the truth of God's promises. I share my writing here in case you need to be reminded sometimes, too.

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