Not all mothers have been blessed with being full time homemakers from the beginning. Many of us sort of fell into all of this and are doing well to stay afloat, knowing all the while there must be a better way.
One “better way” I am convinced of is the keeping of a schedule or daily routine. Now those of you who have followed Raising Arrows for a while know our family is anything but “scheduled.” But, as a mother of many, it has become imperative I have some sort of “guideline” to the day or else chaos ensues. I wrote an entire series on creating a daily routine based upon whether your family is more inclined to be scheduled or routine in nature, but rather than revisit that series, I wanted to offer you a way to pull together a schedule from scratch as quickly as possible. What we will create is a sense of structure and guidelines that you can easily work within. Nothing rigid, nothing set in stone.
Ready, Set, Go!
1. Grab a notepad and a pen. These are the tools you will need to bring your day from haphazard to happy. Nothing fancy, nothing special. Just plain old paper and a pen that doesn’t require a lot of coaxing to write fluidly.
2. Spend the day doing “normal” things, writing down EVERY SINGLE THING you do. If you are naturally a scheduler, then write down what time it is as you write down what you are doing, but don’t feel obligated to do this. This exercise is more about the rhythm of your day than the exact hours you keep. Remember, this is NOT the routine you WISH you had, you are simply writing down the routine you CURRENTLY and NATURALLY tend toward.
3. At the end of the day, compile your list into an easy to read format. Use the computer if you like or just write it down on a piece of paper. Voila! You have a schedule!
4. Follow your schedule the next day and tweak as needed. Perhaps you realize you MUST get up a little earlier in order to be on top of your game. Maybe you see that if you just waited another half hour to start school the baby would be going down for a nap and you would have your hands free. Look for the time of day when the children seem to fall apart…or when you seem to fall apart. Schedule a Rest Time in there. Look for ways to improve what you are already naturally doing. You will be much more likely to stick with it!
5. Refrain from EVER thinking this schedule is set in stone. Life circumstances change regularly. A new baby, a move, unexpected company, or a death in the family will break your life into pieces if you think the only way you can function is within the confines of a schedule that never, ever changes. Yes, a schedule gives your day order and boundaries, but it is a tool and must be kept flexible and able to adapt.
Quick story to drive home a point…
When we first moved here, I put together a loose schedule that reflected the fact that we were covered in moving boxes and life was dictated by which room needed to be unpacked next. As we settled in and started back into school (because we school year round), I put together a much more extensive schedule and posted it on the refrigerator. However, it was TOO extensive. I had too many things crammed into the day and not enough wiggle room.
I went back through my schedule and weeded out anything that was too structured. What I ended up with was a schedule that works wonderfully for us RIGHT NOW. When I get sidetracked, I can simply look at the schedule, find the current time and plug our day back in.
To give you some idea of how our day runs, I’ve included a pdf of our daily schedule. I made this daily schedule in Microsoft Word using a table (Insert > Table). A good starting size for our family was a 2 page spread of 8 columns x 8 rows each. This accommodated 1 mommy and 6 children quite nicely. (It doesn’t make sense for us to include Daddy in our schedule since his schedule is different every day and the hours where we really need structure are during his work day.) I taped the two pages together and stuck it to the side of the refrigerator where it is easily viewable.
You’re welcome to take a look at it to get some inspiration, but remember…start where YOU are, not where I am!
MissMOE says
Great post. I’ve found that much more gets accomplished when I have a schedule. I’m currently in a season of life where I’m flying by the seat of my pants. Perhaps its time to sit down and get that schedule back in place. Thanks for sharing this post.
Tracey says
Thanks for actually sharing your schedule! It was very helpful to see how you have it laid it. I like how each person has their own specific section of assignments for each time period.
Nicole from lake view, ny says
Nice post Amy! I need to start something like this to keep our homeschooling schedule on track…right now we’re just doing what subjects we please on whatever day….but I can see how this will get hectic very soon!
My kids thrive on schedule (naps and mealtimes) so I hope they’ll do well with scheduling their homeschool as well 🙂
Tristan says
I loved peeking at your schedule but it did trigger a few questions:
1. How do you get everyone to sleep until 8:30am??? Between my 6 I’ve got several early risers and no matter the bedtime they wake up like clockwork between 6am and 6:30am depending on the child for the early risers.
2. Do your children really go from 12:30pm to 6:00pm (almost 6 hours) without a snack?? Also wondering if they struggle with crankiness/low blood sugar with so long between food because of it?
Amy says
We do have a snack (right after Rest Time), I just don’t have it scheduled in. 😉
Tristan says
Makes sense – mine are a ravenous horde midafternoon so snack is a must!
Amy says
And no, they are not all sleeping until 8:30, but I do not require anyone to get moving until then.
Tristan says
Ok, I was just wishing you had some sleeping in secret I could use…LOL.
Amy says
LOL–no secrets, sorry. 😉
Mrs. Mary Joy Pershing @Learning to Live a Surrendered Life says
I love it! We have a rhythm to our day. We are more structured on our weeks when we have school. But some things we have every week. I love your suggestion of writing down what you do now…instead of trying to set up a wishful thinking schedule.
We have our littles on a T-Th-Sat schedule too for showers/baths. We were doing it at bedtime but then it would end up taking up our family time too. I love your idea for doing it at 6:30 before family time. Our family time starts at 7:00 w/Daddy and ends at bedtime at 8:00 so that would be perfect.
Thanks for sharing your approach. Its always helpful to get some ideas to add into or adjust what we are doing.
As always…I love visiting your blog…I ALWAYS learn something new!
Amy says
Thanks! I’m glad you gleaned something from what we do. I struggled for years with the thought that I had to have a schedule that was laid out by the half hour until I realized our day just does not run that way and doesn’t have to run that way to be effective.
Betty says
I just finished working our schedule/routine onto paper here. In fact that is the current post I am working on. 😉
Erin @ A Full Heart says
Great post, Amy! That’s almost exactly how I piece together our schedules, as well.
Amy says
I wish I had learned this trick years ago instead of trying to make our family fit into someone else’s schedule! lol
Christi says
Thanks for the secret on actually making the schedule in word! I can never figure out how to do this…I am so computer inept or something! Now I know and will be typing up our schedule today!
Amy says
You are welcome! I am terrible at spreadsheets, so being able to do it in Word was a HUGE blessing!
Renee says
I would love to see your schedule. I can’t seem to get it to come up. Any chance you could email me a copy….I know…asking a ton. I keep trying and I just can’t get it to come up 🙁