Our Schedule

This post is part of my thoughts on how to teach kids to work.

"There are times when  conforming to a schedule has legitimate advantages.  But when sticking to the plan becomes and end in itself rather than a means,  it may get in the way of loving attention to the real needs of children." 

"Linking people has less to do with what gets done than how it gets done." -SoF

I love making schedules, but I really have a hard time remembering not to make them an "end in itself "rather than a "means" to my life.  I tend to get stressed out when we're not "on schedule" and become less patient with the fun little things the kids do.

I've looked for ways to overcome this. One thing that helps me is to remember this scene from the Book of Mormon - 3 Nephi chapter 17 verses 4-7.  The Savior tells the people he has to go (he has an agenda), but he looks in their eyes and perceives that they need Him (they don't even have to ask!) and he stays and spends time with them.

I try to remember to look into my kids eyes more often and perceive what they need instead of looking at my watch.

That being said, I find that I am even more stressed out if I don't have a schedule. I have goals and ideas for myself and for the kids that I would like to work towards. If I don't have some sort of "roadmap" to how I'm going to get there - I worry more, and I waste more time on things that don't bring me happiness. Here's our road map (give or take a couple of hours, or a couple of items, depending on the day):

Our Schedule

Me: (to be done before 8am)

5:30 - Scriptures (30 min)

6:00 - Exercise

6:45 - Blog/Journal

Everyone:

7:30  - Breakfast Checklist

8:00  - Fix, eat and clean up from breakfast

9:00  - Weekly Jobs

9:30  - Morning Devotional

10:15- Family Work Project

11:15 - Discovery Time

12:30- Lunchtime Checklist 
              Fix, eat, and clean up from lunch

1:30  - Table Time 

2:00  - Study Time 

4:00  - Play Time 

Evening:

5:00 - Dinner Checklist

           Fix, eat, and clean up from dinner

6:30 - Bed Time Checklist 

7:00 - Family reading time *

8:00 - Reading in bed

8:30 - Lights out for kids

* I'll explain these in later posts and link them back here.


We follow this schedule pretty much every week day, but we do usually end up shortening some things or leaving some things out most days, depending on how the day is going.  I try to rotate what I leave out so I'm not neglecting the same things too often.


I think one reason that following a schedule is so hard for me is my personality.  I like spontaneity and freedom.  Sometimes schedules make me feel "caged" in.  On those days, I forget about the schedule and go on a hike with the kids or have a family read-a-thon or something of that sort.  

Another reason I think schedules are hard for me is my laziness.  I grew up being rather pampered.  My mom had a very, very difficult childhood and she wanted to make our childhood a happy one.  She wanted us to enjoy it as much as possible.  I'm embarrassed to say that sometimes she even cleaned my room when I was a teenager!  She taught me about hard work through her wonderful example, but since I didn't do too much myself (except for the money-earning type jobs I had as a teenager) I had a hard time adjusting to married life.  I still sometimes have a hard time making myself get to work.  On those days, I have to exert my willpower to take the initial step to get started and then usually it's easier and more fun from there.


I do, however, love this schedule.  That's probably an important thing when it comes to being able to stick to it.  Everything on the schedule is important to me and brings me joy.  I look forward to getting started on it in the mornings.  I really have the best job in the world!


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