How to Make a Schedule, Part 1

I've noticed that one of the biggest things homeschooling moms (and moms in general) struggle with is making a schedule. This is one area where I feel blessed to be reasonably skilled, so I thought I would share some pointers! First, I highly recommend a few resources - Managers of Their Homes by Terri Maxwell, was a major influence in my learning how to schedule. Second, the CD "24 Hours is All You Get" by Susan Bradrick is also very helpful, as well as encouraging.

First and foremost, I will say that your schedule needs to be in submission to the Lord, and your husband. So pray and discuss with your husband as your proceed. My husband hates scheduling discussions, but he understands that, as head of the home, it is imperative for his input and direction to be applied, and, thankfully, is willing to take some time to talk things over with me. This was an area I struggled in submitting to him, but the Lord is faithfully helping me turn this over more!

When we sit down to discuss, our first step is writing out what our goals for each family member is. What are necessities? Priorities? What are things that might be nice but don't take precedent? Don't forget to write down the obvious, like meals, naps, chores, and play/exercise time! They all take up part of the day, too.

Then, we figure out the amount of time needed for each thing. Should it be done daily? Weekly? Every other day? How long should it take? How long could it realistically take? I also look at the general flow of a typical day for us and see where things are struggling or going really well, and take note of those.

The part I find the most challenging, but also the most fun, is rearranging these lists into time slots that form a schedule. Let me take a minute to also say that there is a wide variety of "scheduling". Some do a minute-by-minute strictly timed schedule. Some do more of a basic routine of "first this, then this..." without any time constraints. Some fall in between.

I personally fall in between - using time as a guide to limit certain activities (math, for example, will only go 20 minutes, no matter how much or little we've accomplished), a set wake-up time to get our day started smoothly, and set naptimes as well. Of course, there are areas for wiggle room - if naps start 15 minutes late, its not the end of the world! And if Isaac's English lesson takes 10 minutes instead of 15-20, we just move on from there - that extra time won tends to be easily gobbled by other activities anyway.

So don't feel like you have to set the timer for every activity, but also don't feel like you're too rigid if you do! Let the Lord, your husband, and your personal lifestyle lead you in what ways you need to work the schedule most suitable for your family.

I will end on that note and continue with the actual arranging of things in a second post in the near future. :-)