Simplifying our daily schedule {an update}
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As I shared previously, the Lord has impressed on me to simplify areas of my life this year. Each month I will be addressing a different area of my life and allowing the Lord to guide me in simplifying.
For January, I am SIMPLIFYING MY DAILY SCHEDULE. I thought I’d give an update on how that is going. Each week I am working on focusing on one more block of time in our day. I wonder sometimes if this is really simplifying our schedule, but in a way it is. We had gotten so lax in our schedule, that our days were a bit chaotic. Now that we have been getting back on a schedule the past two weeks, our days are running much more smoothly, the kids are happier, and we are getting more done! Yeah!
In my last post, I shared the blocks of time that we were working on so far. Today I’d like to share with you the rest of the time blocks for our day.
For the most part, this schedule has been working well. It has encouraged the kids to take control of their time. I am finding that they are enjoying their productive free time in the afternoon – doing activities that are worthwhile instead of just wasting away the day. They have enjoyed playing games together, playing Legos, building things with the Erector Set, feeding the birds, and more.
As our days seem to be falling into a rhythm, I am seeing my children’s love for learning grow. It is almost like before there was too much disorganization, discord, and lack of peace or something, that they could not sit and enjoy learning things. My oldest son who does not like to read much is thoroughly engrossed in the book he is reading. He read 5 chapters yesterday! Two of my younger children who are working on learning to read have taken off with their reading, asking to read “another page please” or “another lesson” almost every day recently.
I am so thankful to the Lord for the fruit I am seeing in my children. Since we have been following this daily schedule, it has given me more time to address the hearts of my children too. Before I was always rushed to go to the “next thing”, that I would be impatient and short with the kids, and fail to address their own bad attitudes {as well as my own} when they needed to be addressed. God is working and I am so thankful for this journey He has me on this year!
I will share our daily schedule below. Please understand that I am not saying that this schedule will work for everyone or that you should copy it necessarily. I just pray that my sharing will spur you on to seek the Lord for your own family and allow Him to help you develop your own daily schedule.
Our Daily Schedule:
8:30 am – Breakfast & Devotions
9-10 am – Chore Time (Bedroom & Cleaning Chores)
10-11:30 am – Table Time (Math, Writing, Spelling, Reading Instruction, etc.)
11:30-1:00 pm – Active Play Time (1/2 hour outside if possible) & Lunch
1-2:00 pm – Read-Aloud Time & Nap Time {for younger ones needing naps}
2-4:30 pm – Productive Free Time {mom-approved projects, learning activities in areas of interest, and play time}
4:30-5 pm – Pick-Up Time {Everyone does a quick pick-up of the house}
5-6 pm – Educational Movie Time while Mom fixes dinner {the kids can pick one of the history or science DVDs we have}
6 pm – Dinner
I will plan on doing some posts soon about some of these blocks of time {such as Productive Free Time} that you may not be familiar with. I have linked above to a post explaining what we do for our Read-Aloud Time, but I will try to do another post soon explaining what we do during some of these other blocks of time.
I pray that you are encouraged to look at your own schedule. Does it need some work? Do you even have a daily schedule? Seek the Lord today about what He would have you do!
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