My Christmas Binder

I began keeping a spiral bound Christmas notebook in 2001. In 2007 I switched to a 3 ring binder with the following dividers:

Gifts:

• This section is subdivided by year.
• I create a document for each year in a table format with the following columns: To, Gift, Bought, Wrapped. I list the recipient's name and the gift. Then I put an x when I buy (or make the gift), and an x when I wrap the gift. On the pages that I create for my children, I make one page per child, and instead of having the To column, I have a From column. That is because I shop for my mother and my mother-in-law most years, and I can keep track of who is giving what to whom. This list is also handy for seeing what gifts I gave to others in years past.  I also love to look at what I gave my kids in years past, especially when they were younger.

Addresses:

• I keep a list of the addresses I use for my Christmas cards. I reprint this list each year because I make changes on my computer on the master list as I get wedding announcements or sadly because some people pass away.
• I also make a list of addresses for any parties that I send invitations.

Parties:

• I keep copies of party invitations in this section.
• I also keep guest lists for various parties here.

Food:

• This section has recipes for all the Christmas goodies we make and share each year.
• I include menus for Christmas meals and parties.
• Some years I have made labels for the homemade treats we give to others. I have the master copies of those labels in this section. I like to put who the goodies are for on these labels. This helps when distributing them.

And that's it. My Christmas Binder. It brings me great joy to keep this binder. 

Homeschool Planning

So I have been working on my homeschool lesson plans for the upcoming school year all summer. I am still not done.  And I am planning for only three students!

To begin my planning process, I first had to clean out my entire schoolroom. I cleaned every single cabinet, drawer, shelf, closet, etc.  And this led to my wanting to clean and and reorganize every single bookshelf/bookcase in our house.  I did that!  I am so happy with the finished product. I grouped like books together in various spots in our home.  I cleared out two shelves of books in one of my schoolroom closets, and moved those books to the built-in bookshelves upstairs.  That gave me much needed room in the closet for teacher supplies, binders, current school resources, etc. As I went through the hundreds of books, I found many, many duplicate titles.  I kept all the duplicates, and I can share them with my children when they leave home.

After I got everything in order I began making a school supply list.  It was actually fairly short.  I think I have enough markers, pens, spiral bound notebooks, and glue sticks to furnish an entire elementary classroom. (Clearly, I am an over buyer in certain products!) Next I made a list of schoolbooks that I needed for each child.  It wasn't too long of a list either.  I ordered everything, and all has arrived except for my final (second!) Sonlight order.

I bought new crates for the children's schoolbooks and supplies and have put all their new school things in there.  I typed up their daily work checklists, and I think I have almost everything ready to go.  I am just finalizing my daily schedule.  When my Sonlight comes in, I will need to spend some time putting the new Instructor's Guide in my binder, sorting out the books, and putting stickers on them.  The last big planning task I have is mapping out my English IV class plans.  This is a senior level English class for Clay and five other twelfth graders.

About the Sonlight.....Lynn, Leanna, and I are taking a short break from our Sonlight studies this August-November to study the presidents, the election process, and our American Government.  I am also going to finish covering the 50 states with Leah and Sam.  Beginning November 7, I will start Sonlight Core F.  My original plan was to fly through this Core, cutting books here and there and still completing the Core by the end of May.  I spent several hours culling the books and typing a 100 day plan.  But I still wasn't satisfied.  I couldn't figure out how to fit in the books and content that I wanted to cover, and I also wanted to add some of the newer Core F books.  I first used Core F 6 years ago, and Sonlight has revised this Core since then.  Last weekend I had a new idea!  I decided I was not in a race to complete this Core. In fact, I decided to order the newer Instructor's Guide (at half-price since it was a reorder!) and the newer Core F books.  I am so excited!  I really liked this Core, and I feel so much better going through it at the intended pace. We will just work on it November-May, and pick up where ended the next school year.

I am starting school later than I have in years.  I will be having various houseguests (college students) during most of August, and then I will be driving Julie (Olivia has to go a week early for a class) to school later in the month, and staying there a few days. So, I have set August 26 as our first day of school.  That leaves me exactly one month to get everything ready.  Actually, I want to have everything ready before the guests start arriving.  :)

I'll share our curricula for next year and an outline of our daily plans as soon as I get everything ready.

Summer is Here!

Each year as the summer begins, I like to make a master list of fun things and projects that I hope to accomplish over the short summer break.  Two years ago I wrote this article for The Homeschool Classroom.  It details how I make my summer list (with the kids' input) and how I implement the list. You can click here to read the post.

My list this year includes lots of canning and deep cleaning of my house and garage. Plus next year's school planning, getting Julie all ready to move to college, and doing a few things for Olivia's new (much larger) dorm room too.  Plus a vacation to the Smoky Mountains, Vacation Bible School, Rustic Youth Camp, and maybe even some sewing…..Oh, and I am probably going to teach a high school level English class (very small) for some homeschoolers this fall, so I have lots to plan and prepare for that.

Have fun planning and enjoying your summer!

10 Ways to Make Your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly

Almost four years ago I wrote a post for Real Life at Home (formerly known as The Homeschool Classroom) entitled, 10 Ways to Make Your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly.

The points I made in this article still hold true for me.  I was reminded of #1 as I slept later than usual this morning.  I still awoke before any of my children, but not early enough to get all of the things done that I needed to before the start of our school day.  So, I have skipped my shower (for now), and will begin our Bible lesson in 12 minutes.  I am reminded again of why my day runs so much more smoothly when I get up at 5:00.  That may not be the magic number for you, but for me, it is.

I'm setting my alarm for 5:00 AM tomorrow!

Enjoy reading this post, and I hope it encourages you!

Happy New Year 2015

I love January 1st and its promise of new plans, goals, habits, and resolutions. (Really, all of those things are the same).

I am still planning my goals for 2015, but here are my categories:

• Bible study
• books to read
• fitness
• healthy eating
• homemaking
• homeschool
• service
• parenting

Three books I am reading and/or rereading to help me lay out my goals for 2015 are:

• Climb Happiness Hill by Alan Bryan
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

I like to have a plan.  I also like to make attainable goals.  For instance, I will not be joining some of the running community in planning to run 2015 miles in 2015.  That is way too ambitious for me!  However, since I do not plan on running a marathon this year, running 1000 miles in 2015 is a reasonable goal for me.

But also……I need to consider pushing myself a little bit.  I need to make sure that my goals are not too easily reached, then I want give myself an opportunity to grow.

Like most things in this life, it's all about balance.

"The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her own hands."

Proverbs 14:1

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs His steps."

Proverbs 16:9

Holiday Hints

Create a December Calendar of Events

Last week I printed out a December calendar and wrote down all of the month's events.  Places to be, parties to host, activities to do with the children, etc.  It helps to see the big picture of the month.  After listing all of the items that are assigned a particular date, I then filled in the gaps with things I want to do with the children this month. Doing this made me realize that I really prefer not doing any school after Thanksgiving!  I plan to budget this month off in our school calendar next year.  We are planning a trip to Disney early next year, and since I needed a chunk of time off for that I did not schedule us much time off before Christmas Day this year. So here we are doing school for most of the day and then squeezing in the Christmas fun.

Create a Plan For Sibling Gifts

For many years now I have hosted a sibling store.  When my children were younger, it was just too stressful to take them one at a time to a store for them to buy their siblings a gift with their own money.  Throughout the years they have made handmade gifts for one another (and they are continuing to do that), but they also like a "store bought" gift for each other sometimes too.  So I created a sibling store.  Basically I bought 4 gifts for each of my children to be placed in our store.  These were items that I felt were educational or fun, or things that they had asked for.  Sometimes I put more than 4 items in the store, and what no one chose ended up being a gift from Mama and Daddy.

One at a time the children would come into the room and "shop".  I charged each of them a flat fee for all four gifts….based on their age.  Very young children would pay $2-3 (total) for their gifts, and older children would pay $10-20.  Then they would wrap their gifts and place them under the tree.  

This year, however, I am not having the sibling store.  I have two children with a driver's license, and it is really no trouble to take any of the them to the store to shop.  I scheduled shopping for your siblings on our December calendar this week.  Today I will take Sam shopping.  He wants to buy some supplies to make Leah a gift, and then he has a short list of gifts that he needs to buy.  He will spend his own money on his siblings.  I will take the other children, one at a time to town this week.

However it's done, I think it is special and fun for my children to give one another gifts.  They take a lot of time planning what they want to make and buy each other.  Then they eagerly anticipate their siblings opening and enjoying their gifts.  

December is Approaching

In keeping with my quest to simplify my life (and enjoy the process) I have decided to simplify my Christmas holidays.

While I LOVE wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue, and tape, I plan to buy only one roll of wrapping paper this year (red, from Hobby Lobby, as soon as they put it on sale), and to use all of the paper I have from previous years.  I also do not plan on buying any ribbon.  I have enough.  And if I run out of a particular color, I will just use a different color.

I also love buying and wrapping gifts for my husband, children, family, and friends, but this year I am putting a limit on myself.  Three gifts per person.  I tend to get "just one more tiny thing" for my children and nieces and nephews each year…..as I visit cute gift shops or our Celebration Village (a one-stop shopping extravaganza here in Tupelo, held for a few days at the end of October).  Limiting my purchases will also simplify my wrapping.

I got out my Christmas binder the other day.  I had already put in a divider for 2014, so the next thing I have to do is to print out a master gift list template.  (With 3 spaces beside each name!)  This is just a list of every single person that I will be giving a present to during the month of December.  It includes family, friends, teachers, hairdressers, etc. As I purchase or make each gift, I record it on the list.  I also include a column to check off when the gift is wrapped. I keep my list each year, filing it behind the appropriate year. I also keep a separate list of gift ideas (crafts, baked goods, cute things I see online or in a store).

One last thing that I am changing for this holiday season is to not have my sibling store.  It has been a good thing…..but this year I am asking my children to give handmade gifts to one another. I will help Leah and Sam plan their gifts, and assist them as needed.

I have fabric that I purchased last year for special gifts for my family…..and I never got around to even starting the project.  I plan to do it this year!

My birthday (September 16) marks 100 days to Christmas Day.  I am not sure what day it is today in the countdown, but it's not too early to at least think about your holiday plans.

Your Scheduling Questions Answered

Do you plan your group classes together first? 

I only do Bible with all of my children together.  They are welcome to listen to each other's Sonlight books, but Bible is the only thing that I require all of them to be with me at the same time.  I choose our Bible time based on what time I think all children will be awake, fed, and through with their chores.  I also take into consideration if I am training for a marathon or not, and realistically what time I will consistently be home from running.  Over the past several years we have had our Bible time anywhere between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.  This school year our Bible time is at 9:00 AM.  I have on my schedule to do writing and chemistry (when needed) with Clay (10th grade)  from 8-9.  I am making sure that I am through running by 7:45.  Julie (12th grade) is working on her online classes from 8-9, and Leah and Sam are eating breakfast, doing chores, and beginning their independent school work from 8-9.  We do our Bible lesson from 9:00-9:30.

How do you plan to be with each child at a certain time during the day and not cross over onto another child's time? 

I plan very carefully!  :)

I highly recommend reading and implementing the scheduling methods in Managers of Their Homes (MOTH), sold at Titus2.com.  I also have learned many tips which I use on a daily basis from Teri Maxwell's other books (sold on the same website), Managers of Their Schools and Managers of Their Chores.  I used to use the sticky tack and the huge spreadsheet that is included in MOTH when planning my new school year schedule.  Now I just pull up my last year's schedule and delete, add, and rearrange blocks in the table.  Then I rename it, save it, and print it out.  

But actually it's way more involved than that!

It takes a little bit of trial and error to get it all work out, but now I pretty much follow a similar schedule from year to year.

Here is an overview of my current school year schedule:

• 8-9:  work with Clay; Julie does online classes; Leah and Sam do chores and begin independent school (using a laminated checklist that I have prepared)
• 9-9:30:  Bible with all
• 9:30-11:00:  Clay and Julie work alone; I assist Leah and Sam with all schoolwork except science and Sonlight
• 11-11:30:  science with Leah and Sam; Julie and Clay work alone
• 11:30-12:30:  school with Clay (check all his work, go over algebra, etc.); Leah and Sam finish up any schoolwork needed, Julie work alone (or she may be done by this time)
• 12:30-1:30:  lunch.  I check email, attend to laundry, clean the kitchen, etc.
• 1:30-3:00:  Sonlight with Leah and Sam.  I am doing 2 Cores.  I do one Core and then the other.  I alternate which Core I begin with each day.  Clay and Julie finish up any school work and then have free time.
• 3:00:  I check Julie's schoolwork (really not that much, and I usually do it before this time.
• extra activities, errands, housework, laundry, etc.
• 5:00:  cook supper, kids do evening chores

Which leads me to these last questions.

School takes all day. When and how do you fit in all of your cleaning? How do you divide your chores with your kids and when do they do them if school starts around 8am? after school? 

We have very specific chore charts and lists.  The children  have before school chores (things like bring dirty clothes, pet care, make beds, etc.) and they also have evening chores (things like tidying different areas of the house, both inside and out, putting away clean laundry, taking out trash, etc.)  In addition to these daily chores, each child has weekly chores (things like dusting and vacuuming their rooms, cleaning out my vehicle, taking the trash to the road, cleaning bathrooms, etc.).  I divided my housework into areas and jobs, and everyone, even my 8yo has work to do each week.  I do not assign a specific day for these weekly chores to be done, but they must be completed by Saturday night.  I assess fines for any chore not completed by Saturday night.  Thankfully, I rarely collect any money!  I also do my fair share of the housework--the jobs that no one likes to do and the jobs that take the most time.  I usually do my housework 2-3 afternoons a week or on Saturday.

So, no, my house is not completely clean from top to bottom on any given day, but the whole house is cleaned once a week--just not all clean at the same time.  
I will add, that I do have a housekeeper that comes once a week and cleans my main floor.  That is a huge help, and I am very grateful that I have this help.  
My children are hard workers!  Jimmy is a hard worker too, and we just seem to keep the household running.  Our house is  never "magazine perfect", but it's homey and for the most part clean and orderly.

One last tip:  We pick up all the clutter every day. 

Friday's Ramblings

Bible Study

I haven't shared in a while about what I am doing for my daily Bible study.  If you remember, I began the B90 (reading through the entire Bible in 90 days) in late January.  That was after attempting to follow a plan of reading through the Old Testament in one year and through the New Testament four times in that same year.  That plan was not working for me because I did not not like reading in both the Old and New Testaments at the same time.....I thought I would prefer to just read it straight through.    So I began the B90.  I read through Ezekiel, and then I just stopped.  I am not sure why.....I have done the B90 three times previously, but this time it was a struggle.  

So I went back to copying Scripture.  Jimmy bought me a pretty pink leather journal just for this purpose.  For no particular reason I began my copying with Colossians.  I am using Frixion pens.  They write smoothly, come in a variety of colors, and most importantly, they are erasable.  That is important when copying the Bible!  I ordered mine from Amazon.  On most days I copy half a chapter or more, usually whatever is the equivalent to one page in my journal.  When I finish copying a chapter, I outline that chapter (in my journal--I copy only on one side of the pages and I use the other side for the outlines and any notes or thoughts I want to record).  Some days I only copy, and other days I write some extra notes about certain verses.  I have also started choosing one verse from each day's reading/copying and writing it at the top of my to-do list for that day.

So far I have copied the following books:

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

almost through with 1 Timothy

Each day I read or reread the chapter that I am copying before I begin my copying.  Then I read the chapter again from my copybook, checking for mistakes.  I am really enjoying this method of Bible study right now.  I want to do the B90 again, but I am not sure when.

My Homemaking Binder

I am still working on it.  I do not have a final product!  I have read all of the links that you readers have shared with me (I got several ideas from my FB post and personal friends too).  What I need is a huge block of time to just sit down and "get it done", but we all know that huge blocks of time to do anything are few and far between.  I have decided that I will have a page called a Daily Docket. I got the idea for this page from a book I have called Organized Simplicity. I have created a form for this on my computer, and I am so proud that I figured out how to make little blocks with text inside!  This Daily Docket page includes these categories (inside cute little blocks):

• Today's Top Three (the most important things I have to do that day)
• Inspiration (where I record a Bible verse)
• What's For Supper
• Running Plan for the Day
• Places to Be Today
• Today's To-Do List (the rest of the day)
• Today's General Plan (I list key times of day and what I need to be doing)

Yesterday when I was at Staples (one of my FAVORITE stores!) I saw a whole line of planning binders, pages, etc.  The brand was Arc Customizable Leather Notebook System, and it looked fabulous!  I looked at it for a long time, but I did not buy anything.  I think I will continue with my original plans, but the Arc system sure does look tempting!

Running

Due to my root canal saga, I have run only one time this week.  Last night we joined other runners in Corinth for the first night of the Team Corinth Summer Series.  They are meeting weekly to run/walk/jog for an hour or so, and then end at the Pizza Grocery for supper!  Fun!  I ran with Koach, and we ran a mile to a place called Warrior Circle where he has marked off 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 mile.  He was planning on running a few 800s (800 meters--1/2 mile--also called Yasso 800s, after Bart Yasso).  I have never done Yasso 800s, but I had planned to do some of these workouts this summer as I try to bring down my half-marathon pace.  I asked Koach if I could run them with him, and he was delighted to have me join him.  It was nice not to have to look at my watch to keep myself on pace.  Koach was an excellent pacer--I just ran beside him, and we met our goal of running each one under 4 minutes!  Wow!  I did not know I could do that!  We did a total of 3 Yasso 800s, and then we ran back to the Pizza Grocery.  So the run was 4 miles in all.  I plan to run tomorrow, so for this week I'll have two days total.  Some weeks are just like that!

I think that is all the rambling for now.  

A New Year!

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Habakkuk 3:17

I love the first day of a new year!  It is like a blank page, a fresh start, a new beginning. It is a time for counting your blessings, and for both looking back and looking forward.  I like to spend some time reflecting on the past year, thinking about choices I made that I am pleased with, and the choices that I made that I am not pleased about.  

That was my focus word for 2012:  Choose.  A lot of things happened last year in my life that I did not choose, but I did try very hard to choose the right response to those circumstances.  As I reflect, I see areas where I could have chosen differently.  And that is how we grow!  We look back at our mistakes, and the resolve to do differently.

As the new year begins, I join millions of other people in making New Year's Resolutions.  I think that resolutions are good to make.  Setting goals is a good thing!  I like to set realistic, attainable goals, but they are goals just the same.  I plan to choose a new focus word for 2013, but I have not selected one yet.  I also plan to write down goals or resolutions in several different areas for this year.  Some of my categories will include spiritual, physical, homemaking, homeschooling, service, and family.  Like all of the other recent holidays, New Year's has arrived before I was completely ready, and I am still sorting out my thoughts and making my plans.

Today I began my Bible reading goal for 2013:  reading the Old Testament all the way through once and reading the New Testament four times.  This plan requires six chapters of reading, six days a week--three chapters in the O.T. and three chapters in the N.T. Here is a link to the plan. My husband and my older two girls are reading this same plan.  Clay (13) is either going to read the O.T once or the N.T. four times.  Leah (8) will be reading the N.T.--one chapter a day.  I think she will get through the N.T. at least two times this way.  Since Sam is still a beginning reader, he is not going to be reading his Bible independently this year!  However, he still joins us for daily Bible study, and I read to him from a Bible story book at bedtime each night.

I began my New Year's Day today with a 5 mile run with Leanna.  Since it was raining, we ran side by side on the treadmills in our basement.  Leah has been telling me for several days now that she wanted me to rest on New Year's Day.  I am not sure where she got this idea, but the more she mentioned it, the better it sounded to me!  So I made muffins for our family's breakfast, took a shower, and then went back to bed!  Her plan for me includes computer time, reading books, playing games on my iPad, and her bringing me a Coke in bed!  What a great plan!  So today I will rest.  And I will catch up on my December blog posts.  Also I plan to redo our chore charts, daily schedule, and update our weekly meal plan.  I have a stack of cookbooks beside my bed along with Les Miserables--I am on page 52.  Finally, I will list my resolutions and goals for this year and choose my focus word.

If you have some resolutions that you would like to share or a focus word for 2013, please leave a comment.  I love reading other people's ideas!

Happy New Year!

Helpful Holiday Hint #2

Microsoft Office Free ClipArt

First of all, while I have made progress on my list making and list crossing off from Monday, I have not completed everything.  So, I am still working on my tasks from earlier in the week!

Today's hint is about making a Master Gift List.  I type this list every year.  I title the document Christmas Gifts 2012, or whatever the current year is.  I use a table format with four columns.

Column 1:  The person's name
Column 2:  The gifts for that person (one gift per row)
Column 3:  A column with the heading "Bought".  I check this box when I have actually bought or made the gift.
Column 4:  A column with the heading "Wrapped".  I check this box after I have wrapped the gift.  This saves so much confusion, especially since my girls help me wrap presents.  How many times have you wrapped a few presents only to forget what you wrapped?  I stick on a gift tag and mark off the present as "wrapped" as soon as I put on the last piece of tape.  My girls know to either tell me immediately and watch me check off the "wrapped" box or check it off themselves!

I always print out this master gift list and carry it around with me as I am shopping.  I update it on my computer as I shop or wrap gifts, and when I am all done with my shopping, making, and wrapping, I print out one final copy and insert into my Christmas Binder.  It is so helpful to look at previous year's Master Gift Lists as I begin planning my current year's Christmas preparations.  It is almost like a journal---looking at the gifts I made or bought for my children over the years.

I really, really enjoy gift giving.  I like the planning, the buying of supplies for handmade items, the online shopping for toys, books, and games.  I love to wrap presents and make pretty bows for them.  I love to see my children's delight as they open their gifts.  I sometimes even have a surprise for Jimmy, and that is so much fun too!  I always have a gift or two for him, but it is hard to surprise him with the contents.  He usually figures out what the gift is before he opens it!

My master gift list is not complete.  I have some lists in my spiral bound notebook.  I have some lists on my phone.  And I have a partially completed master gift list on my computer.  Today's goal for me is to consolidate all of those lists into one master gift list on my computer and print it out.

Holiday Hints: High Speed Version

Since my life since last February has been out of the ordinary for me, I am not where I am usually am in regards to my Christmas shopping, planning, organization, etc.

But it's ok.

Way back in January I chose a focus word for 2013.  Choose.  I wanted to be careful how I spent my time, and I wanted to make the best choices every day.  For the past several months I have been periodically forced to choose to rest and scale back some of my normal activities.  That has left me with limited time to accomplish what I wanted to do, and I have chosen to do school with my children on any and every day that I could.  I have also chosen to resume running and I am currently training for a marathon that is 6 weeks away.  That takes time too.

So this year I did not plan any handmade Christmas gift projects in July (we were still doing school since we had taken an unexpected six week break back in February/March).
In August, I did not begin buying wrapping paper and ordering ribbon.
In September, I did not order my Christmas cards.
In October, I did not make a complete Christmas gift master list and do most of my shopping.
In November I did not finish my Christmas shopping or prepare my Christmas cards to be mailed on November 30th.

And now it is December 3rd, and I am about to condense several months of meticulous planning and executing into about three weeks!

I got out my calendar last night and just looked at December for a few minutes.  I made several lists--some on paper, and some on my Teux Deux site.  I am planning on doing a little bit at a time (well, a lot at a time, actually) in order to get everything done by December 24.  I am streamlining where I can, but I refuse to omit any special traditions just because I am behind.  I don't even like to say that, "behind".  Behind who?  I have learned so much this year about not being in control.  I am so blessed and grateful that I have good health today.  I even feel pretty much like my old self!  Except that I am really not stressed that I have not been publishing or practicing my annual holiday hints!

So here is my first holiday hint for the 2012 Christmas Season.

Holiday Hint #1
Make master lists.  Write down anything and everything you can think of that you need to do, buy, go to, make, bake, etc. for the next few weeks.  These are the lists I am working on.  My goal is to have these lists completed by Wednesday. (The actual lists of what I have to do completed, not the items on each list completed!)

• all parties/functions/family gatherings, etc.  This list includes events I am hosting as well as ones that we are invited to.
• gift wrapping supplies (gift wrap, tape, tags, scissors, ribbon, cute things to put on bows, etc.)
• Christmas card supplies (cards, stamps, return address labels, addresses, labels to print addresses on)
• baking supplies for gifts, special baking with the children, meals/parties I am hosting
• master gift list--gifts I have bought (thankfully, I did quite a bit of online shopping while recuperating in my recliner back in October).
• shopping lists (gifts left to buy), organized by store or website
• sewing list (I have a major sewing project planned--gifts for family members!)

Getting all of these lists down on paper will help my brain so much.  Then I can get to work.  In addition to making all of these lists, I plan to complete some of the items on some of my lists this week. I have set several deadlines:

Today

1. Prepare Christmas cards for mailing.  The cards came in before Thanksgiving, but I have not even taken them out of the box yet.
2. Two shopping assignments. (Pier One and Starbucks)
3. One online order
4. Buy paper goods for Saturday's Brunch that I am hosting

Tuesday

1. Wrap a friend's gift that I will be seeing that afternoon.
2. Wrap teacher gifts (Bible class, piano, art, etc.)
3. Mail Christmas cards.
4. Make and mail invitations for another party that I am hosting.

I think you get the idea.  Taking my super, super long list of things to do/places to be/things to cook, and breaking it up into daily tasks makes my stress level go down!

I hope to share my high speed version of holiday hints for the next few days.  Maybe some of you out there can benefit from my late start!

Working With a Schedule

Five weeks ago I began our new school year a little bit differently than I have in the past.

I never made out a schedule for our school days.

I had typed up a routine for our days (school 9:00-12:00 and again from 1:00-3:00).  I included broad time slots for Bible study, running, morning and afternoon chores, housecleaning, laundry, and cooking, but I did not assign specific times for those activities.

When I was planning this summer, I was so overwhelmed whenever I looked at my children's school material and considered the time it would take to implement, that I just never put anything on paper.  I figured that we would just begin school, and I would try a few different things, and then hope for the best.

It didn't work so well.  After almost 5 full weeks of school, I felt like I was drowning.  Little by little, I kept feeling more and more behind.  I was diligent to do school every single day that Jimmy was working.  I still washed and dried our clothes (although I got way behind in the folding and putting away), I still cooked supper at night, I still did some house cleaning.  But after about 10 days of this--working myself to death all day and feeling like half was left undone--I just chose to stop stressing about it.  I reminded myself that my family was more important than my to-do list.  So, my attitude improved, but my productivity was still lacking.  Not from lack of my working all day, but from less than perfect use of my and my children's time.  I had a peace with this busy season of my life, but I still felt like I could do better.

I found that while I was working with one child, I would have 3 other ones who had done all they could do independently, and they were all needing me too.  Or someone would be trying to practice their piano while another child was doing a math lesson.  Or three children needed the computer for school, all at the same time.  I felt like we had a lot of time being wasted, because the children did not have a specific plan for their days.  Like we have had in the past.

So last Wednesday, I worked on a 2012 school day schedule.  Just creating a table and typing in all of those neat little blocks made me feel so much better!  I already felt like I could be the master of my day, instead of putting out fires all day.  I patterned the schedule after ones that had worked in the past.  Assigning piano practice times, computer times, times with Mama, times alone, times with a sibling, etc.

Thursday, we loosely followed the schedule for the first time.  We started 30 minutes late (because I ran 12 miles that morning, and I did not get home until 8:30....and I have us scheduled to begin at 8:00).  I had hoped to make up that time by shortening each 30 minute block by 2 or 3 minutes, but then I had to make some important phone calls and do some computer work for Jimmy that had to be done at 11:00 AM, and that used up another 1 hour and 15 minutes of my day.  In spite of those two deviations, we still accomplished MORE on that day than we had on previous go with the flow days.  I was encouraged!

Friday, we followed the schedule to the minute!  I keep my phone handy as a timer, and I had that timer playing the harp alarm every 30 minutes to keep us on task.  I worked with all five children, did all subjects, and even remembered to do science with Leah and Sam.  Science is on the schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!  In my schedule I made allowances for Mondays when we have to leave the house at 1:00 for piano, and for Tuesdays and Thursdays when we have to leave at 3:10 or 3:30 for XC practice.

For my family, using a schedule is a valuable tool.  I am not a slave to the schedule.  It is my  guide.  When things are going smoothly, it allows me to accomplish so much.  When life happens and there are disruptions, I can deal with those cheerfully, and then jump back into the schedule where I should be, or just take a few minutes off different activities here and there to make up the difference.  I also plan to make adjustments to our schedule as we use it this week.  Places where I do not have enough time and places where there is more than enough time will need to be tweaked.  When the timer plays, and we are in the middle of a good part of a book, or in the middle of an important math concept, etc, I will allow myself a few minutes to tie up the loose ends.  In fact, I set my timer for 28 minute blocks to allow for smooth transitions.

If you find yourself floundering in your days, I encourage you to create and follow a schedule.  But don't let it rule you!  Don't let it steal your joy!  Just let it serve as a guide for you, a tool to assist you in reaching your goals.  Serving our Lord, being a help meet for our husbands, lovingly teaching and training our children, cheerfully keeping our home...those are our goals.  Let your schedule serve as a means to that end.

The Summer List

I began making my Summer List yesterday.  I hope to finish it today.  It is already very, very long!  And I have not added any creative or fun things to it yet.  I listed each room or area in my home and made a list of every drawer, cabinet, closet, shelf and piece of furniture that needed cleaning out.  Today, I will finish the cleaning out portion, add some deep cleaning items, and also some fun/creative items.

I also ask my children to make a Summer List too.  They list areas in their rooms that need cleaning out as well as creative and fun projects that they would like to complete.  We are still doing school, but it is dwindling down.  Mostly we have reading (my reading aloud to them which continues year round and their independent reading) and math left.  A little bit of science.

After the lists are made, we begin working on them.  I will work on the list bit by bit, day by day.  Usually I will set a timer and work for 30 minutes at least twice a day.

I have found that if the children and I do not make a Summer List, the weeks fly by without us accomplishing much.  We still have plenty of unstructured free time, but I also want us to be productive too!

Do you have a Summer List?