The Reluctant Scheduler

This is my recent post on The Homeschool Lounge on the “Scheduling” forum:

I just wanted to say up front that I’m a reluctant scheduler.

Basically, when you have 5 kiddies and they’re all a year apart, and your youngest is a one year old, YOU’RE NOT SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. (And no, I no longer nurse the baby – she has TEETH! My baby sleeps through the night! It’s the older kids who have nightmares, night terrors, who wake me up and say “MOM! I peed the bed again! I used the last extra sheet last night and forgot to tell you!”)

My husband travels for work (overseas, weeks at a time) and it got to the point where I was going absolutely bonkers. I wanted to be more of a free spirit but I was falling so far behind that it wasn’t, well, FREEING.

Ladies, I’m shouting it from the rooftops: There is NO POINT of scheduling and there is not point of being “anti-schedule” if it’s NOT WORKING FOR YOU.

If you find that you’re micromanaging everything and the kids are sneaking play out of necessity for THEIR sanity – you HAVE to let up a little bit! Too much scheduling stifles the imagination. If you are finding that you can’t get your responsibilities done and you are escaping, not to your bucket of Duplo blocks but perhaps to the Internet or telephone to avoid work, you might need to crack down a little and make some priorities.

Not only does the schedule help my husband to connect with what we were up to, I can plan ahead a little when my brain is somewhat awake and this helps me compensate for the times when I can’t see straight. I don’t have to think about, “what lesson are we doing in math today?” because I already have it written down. OR, if we have a diaper explosion in the middle of the day, I don’t have children staring at me saying, “Mommy, I’m done reading – now what do I do?” (My response being, “GET AWAY FROM ME, I’ve got your baby sister hanging over the bathtub at the moment!”)

Scheduling , instead of robbing me of my freedom, has actually given me freedom: less to think about, so more time to enjoy the day.

It’s not about being a control freak – I’m not!

It’s not about trying to be perfect – I’m definitely not!

It’s about finding little ways to keep you and the children motivated and moving throughout the day.

It’s about being efficient with your work – not encouraging staring off into space and “I can’t help with dinner – I’m only on problem #5!” conversation (which happens to my one sweet princess if she doesn’t have a time limit) – so that you can have the reward of playtime without worrying about the interruption of having to finish school work when your neighborhood friends get off the bus and want to play.

BTW, efficiency with housework and schoolwork gives mommies more playtime, too. Who wouldn’t’ want to snuggle up with hubby instead of staying up until midnight doing dishes by hand? I certainly don’t – hehe – but I do, more often than not.

IF you are in a perpetual state of frazzled – humble yourself and be honest here! -, be it from too much planning ahead or not enough planning ahead, it’s hard to focus on glorifying God. Our goal isn’t to fit into a niche on a forum, our goal is to life lives as women, mommies, wives and homeschool teachers who glorify God in all that we do.

No matter how you decide to keep your day – because I think we can all agree that keeping home is part of our responsibility – remember to be at peace with one another as you compare methods.<--- must read this article!! Let this forum be a place of encouragement, no matter where we are in our day planner or checklist. Much love, Sarah Joy Albrecht