Part 1: Family Management Why's

You may be wondering what it was exactly that caused me to put the brakes on the way that we were living as a family. Here is a look at a few of the bigger problems that caused me to make some big changes:

1.) I became concerned that my kids relied too much on me to do basic things such as cleaning up after themselves, preparing meals for themselves, washing their own clothes, etc...

2.) I also became concerned that I was running out of time to teach my boys (but especially Andy) how to function on his own should they each want to venture out of this house when they turn 18.

3.) I was seeing some pretty lazy habits in all of my children (and to be honest I saw them in myself too!)

4.) I was tired of being asked, "Mom, what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack?" x 4 Every.Single.Day.

5.) I was tired of being asked x4, "Mom, what are we doing tomorrow?". Every.Single.Evening. 

6.) I was tired of reminding my children to get dressed each day. (When you homeschool it is very easy to fall out of that habit.)

7.) I was tired of having to show my kids how to do basic chores like sweep a floor well or wipe down a toilet well. Over and over again.

8.) I was tired of picking up after everyone else and/or asking everyone to pick up their own items. 

9.) I was tired of feeling like I wasn't spending enough time with my kiddos.

10.) I was tired of feeling like my kiddos weren't spending enough quality time with each other as 4 siblings instead of pairing off into boys and girls. 

11.) I was tired of being bombarded with pleas to use the internet, ipod, ipad, xbox, netflix, etc...

12.) I was tired of living by the seat of my pants in terms of running this household. 

13.) I was tired of not feeling like we had a routine. 

14.) I was tired of hearing the words: "I am hungry. What is there to eat?" 

I think that those are all some pretty valid points of things that need to be remedied. I completely realize that in order to change all of these things I had to change first because I am the heart of this household. My attitudes and opinions trickle down into the masses of the kinda little and little people that reside with in these four walls. That being said I knew that I had to have a game plan that would not be hard for me to implement since I still needed to oversee everything, but still be effective in accomplishing my goals for our family. 

So these are what our days now look like:

Morning Routine - Prior to 8:30 am

Breakfast - 8:30 am

Schooling - 9 am to 12 pm

Lunch Hour - 12 pm to 1 pm

Finish Schooling - 1 pm to 2:30 pm

Read Aloud Time - 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Quiet Time - 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Snack

Afternoon Chore Time - 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm 

Dinner Hour  - 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Family Time - 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Nighttime Routine -  7:30 pm +

*I have made eating a deliberate act for all three meals. I did this for a few reasons:

1.) I want to make sure that my kids are eating food. (A lot of the time my kids will get absorbed into doing something and only stop when they are starving. This creates a hangry child that needs to eat.right.now!! My day is usually so busy that I don't have time to deal with this 4 times a day x 3 meals. If I make sure that we are all sitting down at the table 3 times a day then I know for sure that everyone is eating something. (I was already doing this most of the time for breakfast and some of the time for dinner, but I never did this for lunch. Which is where I most struggled with hungry children. During the lunch hour prior to this routine I would be the the throes of homeschooling and stopping right in the middle of that can really mess up our flow. Now that I am planning for a lunch hour I am also planning my homeschooling day around that which means I am no longer being unexpectedly interrupted by pleas to eat by hungry children.)

2.)  I want to make sure that I have at least 3 chances to touch base with my kiddos to see how they are doing each day. This allows me to check the pulse of our family several times a day and helps me to either reset the tone in this house if need be, or offer praise or encouragement, or just to hang out with my kiddos and talking with them. 

3.) I want them to have three opportunities to make sure they have the ability to communicate with each other and share with each other how their day is going. 

*Another note to our day: the boys sometimes need to work into part of our story time to complete some of their school work, but generally they can get everything that they need to get done done in about 4 1/2 hours a day. There is usually 1 or 2 days a week where Andy needs 5 hours to do all of this school work, but that is more due to his need to take 10 minute breaks every so often than it is because of the amount of content. 

There is a day here or there that may look a bit different, but for the most part this is what we are doing every day. Implementing this schedule has been amazing. Everyone knows what is required of them Monday - Friday. (We also have some stuff we do on Saturday, but I will get to that in another post. Sunday we all have completely off.) I think that all of the kids appreciate the routine that we have created. I feel like we are all in better moods. If I were to say that anyone is having a harder time than the others in implementing this routine it would be Elizabeth, but she is coming around. Consistency is key with her.

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If you are looking to read this whole series here are the links:

The beginning
Part 2 - The Binder
Part 3 - Housekeeping
Part 4: Family Meeting, Chore Packs, Recipe Box