Managing

Jeremiah mentioned in his email that I have been reading a book and working through setting the kids and myself up on a schedule. More of a routine, actually, to give us some structure and to enable us to accomplish all the things that need to be accomplished throughout the course of a day.

If you had known me back in the day (b.c. as in before children) you would have known a very neat, organized person. A husband, five children and homeschooling have made me rethink all my organizing skills. After reading this book, I have come to understand more fully that it wasn't my skills all along. It is Christ. I am nothing without Him. So, we have set out on a journey to have a home that is more glorifying to the Lord by reducing the chaos and stress that can come with so many children and homeschooling, too!

You can see the Midday section of our schedule below. This is the biggest chunk of our day. We are still working out all the bugs, but it is going rather smoothly. It has already made a difference in several areas. One was the constant fussing about the computer. Whose turn was it, somebody played longer than someone else and fussing when they were told to get off the computer. Now, each one knows that they have a set time each day and they happily move to the next activity knowing that their turn will come again tomorrow. Noah willingly went to his room today - even with Aunt Jessie being here - to take his nap! Wow!

Here's how it works. I made a list of the activities that I felt (after prayer) were things each child needed to have in their day. Then, I assigned each person a color of paper. Wrote their activities on the little or big squares depending on the amount of time they needed and then we sticky-tacked them to this master schedule. Now, when I need to work out a bug, I don't have to rewrite or redo the whole chart, just move the squares around that I need to.

So, far, it's working great for us! I am so grateful to the Lord for directing me to this resource. A lot of what I read was stuff I knew or had read before. However, even for an organized person like I thought I was, managing this many people and activities is quite a daunting challenge and without the Lord, impossible! I ask the Lord every morning to help me depend on Him and get my strength from Him and not put my faith in "the schedule". It's the only way it'll work. Please pray for us as we strive to please Him in our home.

Well, my computer time is up for now! :-) On to the next thing!