A day in the life of me

My schedule on school days is pretty much the same, unless there are very important outside obligations that cannot be moved to a time that best fits my schedule.

Although it may seem like a pretty “strict” schedule, I find it helps me move through the day smoothly because I never have to wonder what needs to be done next, nor am I tempted to waste time here and there on checking my e-mail, returning a phone call, etc. We usually end up finishing early and being able to take it easy in the afternoons.

Also, I never make schedules for our babies. They get fed, held, and cared for on demand until they are about 1 year old and know how to entertain themselves better and understand what I mean when I tell them to go play. Feeding on demand is an essential part of natural child spacing. When the babies are very little they are happy to be strapped to me in a sling/wrap while they snooze the day away. Once they become more active and alert, they learn to play by my feet and just tag along with whatever I am doing at an early age.

So here is what I do on a “normal” day (i.e. no unforeseen catastrophes):

6:30 kids and I get up and get ready

7:00 breakfast, clean up, morning chores such as getting the washer started, emptying the dishwasher, etc.

8:00 start school

8:00 – 8:45 read the Bible to the kids, work about 5 min. with each child on their memory verses

8:45 – 9:15 John and Isaac go play while I teach Solomon English and then get him started on his worksheets for English, spelling, and penmanship. Solomon is allowed to go play until 10:45 once he finishes all his sheets

9:15 – 10:45 Teaching Isaac one-on-one in the following order: phonics, writing, science or art, reading, phonics review, math. Isaac is then done for the day.

10:45 – 11:00 Read with Solomon

11:00 – 11:15 Teach Solomon math, give him his math worksheets. He is dismissed until after lunch once he finishes his sheets

11:15 – 12:00 I cook lunch while the kids play, clean, and do chores such as switching the laundry etc.

12:00 – 12:30 Lunch

12:30 -12:45 John and Isaac get ready for their nap while I load the dishwasher. This is important, since Miriam from birth has loved the sound of the dishwasher to fall asleep.

12:45 Miriam, John, and Isaac go down for their naps. They sleep anywhere from 1 1/2 – 3 hours

1:00 – 3:00 PM Teach Solomon history and science, do some quiet chores (laundry, cleaning, etc.) and take a half hour nap myself while Solomon plays quietly

afternoon: Run errands, then teach all three boys the “other” subject at the same time. We rotate between P.E., Health Safety & Manners, Music Theory, German, and Art on the five days of school each week. Cook dinner.

around 6: dinner

Between dinner and bedtime, the kids have to clean their room, take their showers and get ready for bed, and then have time to play. I again load the dishwasher so it’s ready when I put Miriam to bed.

around 8:30 : put all kids down for the night. I spend the next hour or two cleaning the house and finishing up on laundry, correcting the kids school work and lay out the worksheets for the next day, get materials ready, take a shower, etc. Then I have time to myself to blog, e-mail, read or whatever.

around 11:00 PM: Go to bed myself.

On Saturdays, I try to tackle bigger projects that I don’t have time for during the week, such as cleaning out a closet, balancing the check book, dealing with the week’s mail, clipping and organizing coupons, etc.

On Sundays, we go to church in the morning and evening. In the hours between the services (12-6 PM) we have lunch, and then my husband goes soul-winning until 4 PM while I put the kids down for their naps, clean the house for a couple of hours, cook dinner and (on good days) take a short nap. After my husband gets back I go soul-winning with the other ladies until the evening service starts at 6:30 PM. We get home again around 9 PM, at which point we try to get the kids down as fast as possible and take it easy for the rest of the nigh.

There is a ton of stuff that just never gets done, because there is only so much time in a day, and I can only work so many hours. For example, I never ever iron any piece of clothing. You read that right. I just hang the stuff fresh out of the dryer. Not perfect, but something I can live with. True, I could have ironed several shirts in the time it took me to write this blog post, but I want to enjoy my life. Taking time to do what I like keeps me going and in the end gives me more energy. After all, I am not a machine.

I am not trying to sound like I have it all together, because I don’t. But planning on neglecting certain areas of your life, while planning on doing others, takes away a lot of stress and guilt (i.e. “I should have done … instead of napping”).