Our New Schedule 2012

  Well, it was that time..........time to come up with a new schedule.  We all were starting to get stressed and just needed a pick me up!  So here it is.  We started yesterday, and I don't think Satan liked it, because he sent every possible distraction.  But we're going to stick to our guns and pray without ceasing today :)


5:15 - Mommy wakes up and gets Baby Leigha (the child we baby-sit) and puts her in bed.
   *Then depending on the night, I either stay up or go back to bed for an hour or so.  (My plan is to stay up, but if you have too high expectations, you will just feel like a failure when you can't fulfill them!)

6:30 - Wake up Ronnie and fix his breakfast and lunch, kiss good-bye and send off to work.

7:00 - Jump in the shower and get ready for the day.

7:30- 8:30 - Put dishes away from the dishwasher, fold a load of laundry, check e-mail, write blog post, read devotional, and start breakfast.

8:30 - Wake up children/Breakfast

9:00 - Morning Chores (I'll give a break down of chores and daily work routines later)

9:30 - School with Derek (Lindsay plays with the babies/watches Leapfrog)

10:30 - School with Lindsay (Derek continues any extra work and starts his spelling and typing on the computer)

11:30 - 10 min. toy pick-up, Lunch Prep

Noon - Lunch

12:30 - Babies go down for a nap (Lindsay has to lay down until Leah falls asleep, this gives her some rest time and makes her feel like she's helping Mama ;)
* Rest time for Derek consists of listening to an audio book while laying down.  After Leah falls asleep Lindsay may lay down with Derek and color or read.)

2:30 - 3:00 - Babies wake up/Snack Time

3:00 - 5:00 - Free Time / Afternoon Chores

5:30 - 10 min pick up and Get ready for Daddy :)

Depending on the day and what's scheduled, we normally have some kind of Evening Activity and then Supper.  If not, we all work outside while it's nice then supper.

Then Bathtime, Get ready for Bed, Family Worship and Bedtime!!! :)

No, I'm sure we will not stick to the time just exactly, but it gives us a good standard to try and live up to.  And it also lets the kids know what's coming up next.  And my children do soooo much better on some sort of schedule.  All children need boundaries, depending on yours, depends on how strict a schedule you may need. 

Do you have a schedule?  Do you keep the same one?  Do you start a new one every school year? 


I'm linking up at:  The Modest Mom, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, and Raising Homemakers 

First Day of School

  We actually school year round since I got sick last fall and had to take some time off.  It's easy for us if we just stay on schedule all the time and take off when we need to for holidays, fair, and just whatever.  We pretty much took the whole money of July off for 4-H and we just got back into the swing of things two weeks ago.  We started most of our new curriculum, except for finishing up some history from last year.  So my kids moved up a grade level in reading, math, and such.   Lindsay is much farther ahead than a regular kindergartener, but for 4-H and sports purposes, she is "in" kindergarten. 

 This was a cute idea I've been seeing a lot of homeschoolers do, so I thought I'd try and do this every year for their scrapbooks (that will be done one day when they all move out;). 

  Derek has been very adament about being a conservation officer for sometime now.  That is the motivation that gets him through his schoolwork most days, when he feels like it's too tough.  When ask what she wanted to do when she grew up, Lindsay very quickly said piano teacher.  She has been working so hard on her lessons here lately, and I know if she keeps up the hard work, she will make a wonderful piano teacher someday!

  I'm sooo very proud of how my kids are growing and maturing everyday.  Trust me, we definately have days where we all feel like we may pull out our hair, but overall, I can truly see God's blessings in my precious children!!

I'm linking up at The Modest Mom "Not" Back to School Blog Hop

School Room or Not?

  I have a friend that has the cutest little school room in the whole world!!!  It's not like a whole classroom, but a room away where she can store her school stuff and a table for the kids to sit around, a couch for reading, and a computer area and such.  It's adorable!!!

  However, in our house, there is no extra room for that here (even though my hubby has some really neat ideas on how to add one), so this is how we school....

  For the most part we school around our dining room table.  All memory work, math, phonics, handwriting, and such happen here.

Sorry for the mess and indecency, but this is how we school in the mornings ;)



All our schoolbooks are kept on the bookshelf and

games are in the drawers under our computer table.

All reading, bible, catechism, history and some science happens in the living room on the couch.

  Some schooling even takes place in the bathroom.......

Sometimes, school happens in the kitchen........

Making snow ice cream last winter.

  Yesterday, school happened at Spring Mill State Park. (Sorry, I have no pictures, my camera ran out of batteries :(  We loaded up our books and grabbed some lunch and went and found a picnic table by the creek and had an awesome time doing our schoolwork out in God's amazing creation!!!  Once the kids were finished up with their work, I took a timeout of my own and worked on lesson plans while they played!  We are definately going to be doing a lot of this, this fall!!!  (I promise to get some pictures :)

  The main thing is, it doesn't matter where your school takes place as long as you put God first and the children are learning something new each and every day :)

  Do you have a schoolroom?  Where is your favorite place to do school?  What does your schooling look like?

I'm linked up to:

The Modest Mom "Not" Back to School Blog Hop

Raising Homemakers