Comments on: Get Ahold of Your Time! http://www.homeschooling.net/blog/schedule/get-ahold-of-your-time/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:30:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Diane Hopkins http://www.homeschooling.net/blog/schedule/get-ahold-of-your-time/comment-page-1/#comment-81 Diane Hopkins Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:22:17 +0000 http://www.homeschooling.net/blog/?p=139#comment-81 I think part of the "a-ha!" of this exercise was realizing that I was under the illusion that I was "doing it all", when in reality, I couldn't possibly do all the things I felt were important to do! I made my brainstorm list of all the things I do everyday, week, month, year. I also found a need to list all the things I <em>want</em> to do, because some of the things I want to do, but never get around to, really belong in high priority! So after I got my list completed, and assigned a 1 (high priority), 2 (medium priority) or 3 (low priority) to them according to my own values, then I plugged in all the #1's in the appropriate time slot. I only had room for my number one priorities plus a few of my number two priorities. The rest can't fit in a 24 hour day! Let me give you an example. I think it is important to get daily exercise, but I have been rather lax through this cold winter. So, I gave that a #1 priority and put it right after breakfast, which is not exactly the best time (with food in your stomach), but it was the time that would work in my current family schedule. Prior to creating this priority schedule, I was using that after-breakfast time to catch up on email and make phone calls before the school day began. So I had to evaluate how much time I was spending on email (too much) and phone calls (more than I wanted to), and since it was less priority than my health, daily exercise bumped out of that important time slot and cut down the amount of time I spend on it. My schedule looks something like this: 7 AM Scripture Study with the family 7:30 Family Prayer 7:30-8:00 Family Chore Time 8:00 Breakfast 8:20 Go on walk 9:00 Shower 9:15 Homeschool 12:20 Prepare lunch 12:40 Eat lunch 1:30 Answer emails, write blog or read 2:00 Nap (kids do schoolwork, reading, research, etc.) 2:30 Afternoon routine: talk with kids, housekeeping, help kids with projects, errands, run kids to lessons, church work, make phone calls, work on my projects, sew, garden, bake, research, write, visit, see my grandkids, call my mom, grocery shop, etc. (in priority order) 5:30 Dinner Preparation 6:15 Eat Dinner 7:00 Clean up Evening routine: do things with family, talk with kids, read, attend meetings, write, study, projects, etc. (in priority order) 10:00 Talk with my husband 11:00 Bedtime Saturday is my favorite day! We sleep in a bit, do a family work project together for an hour or so (work in the garden, clean up the playroom, get the 3 cases of strawberries ready for the freezer, build something, etc.), then do our individual chore assignments until noon. Often we'll picnic or have a BBQ or some fun food like homemade pizza or scones or something. And in the evening, we do something fun together like watch a movie (I'm into watching all the Christian science videos I can right now, plus I love Jane Austen) or read quietly all together in the same room, or discuss things, play games or dance. Schedules definitely change with the age of your kids. When you have a baby, that little one takes up most of your #1 priority time slots. Now that I no longer have a baby, I spend a lot of time talking/listening to my teens. Life has seasons, but I think there is never a time when we feel like we can get it all done! So priorities really help me be more sensible in my time commitments. Can't add any #3 priorities if I can't fit my #1's all in. ; 0 ) I think part of the “a-ha!” of this exercise was realizing that I was under the illusion that I was “doing it all”, when in reality, I couldn’t possibly do all the things I felt were important to do! I made my brainstorm list of all the things I do everyday, week, month, year. I also found a need to list all the things I want to do, because some of the things I want to do, but never get around to, really belong in high priority! So after I got my list completed, and assigned a 1 (high priority), 2 (medium priority) or 3 (low priority) to them according to my own values, then I plugged in all the #1′s in the appropriate time slot. I only had room for my number one priorities plus a few of my number two priorities. The rest can’t fit in a 24 hour day!

Let me give you an example. I think it is important to get daily exercise, but I have been rather lax through this cold winter. So, I gave that a #1 priority and put it right after breakfast, which is not exactly the best time (with food in your stomach), but it was the time that would work in my current family schedule. Prior to creating this priority schedule, I was using that after-breakfast time to catch up on email and make phone calls before the school day began. So I had to evaluate how much time I was spending on email (too much) and phone calls (more than I wanted to), and since it was less priority than my health, daily exercise bumped out of that important time slot and cut down the amount of time I spend on it.

My schedule looks something like this:
7 AM Scripture Study with the family
7:30 Family Prayer
7:30-8:00 Family Chore Time
8:00 Breakfast
8:20 Go on walk
9:00 Shower
9:15 Homeschool
12:20 Prepare lunch
12:40 Eat lunch
1:30 Answer emails, write blog or read
2:00 Nap (kids do schoolwork, reading, research, etc.)
2:30 Afternoon routine: talk with kids, housekeeping, help kids with projects, errands, run kids to lessons, church work, make phone calls, work on my projects, sew, garden, bake, research, write, visit, see my grandkids, call my mom, grocery shop, etc. (in priority order)
5:30 Dinner Preparation
6:15 Eat Dinner
7:00 Clean up
Evening routine: do things with family, talk with kids, read, attend meetings, write, study, projects, etc. (in priority order)
10:00 Talk with my husband
11:00 Bedtime

Saturday is my favorite day! We sleep in a bit, do a family work project together for an hour or so (work in the garden, clean up the playroom, get the 3 cases of strawberries ready for the freezer, build something, etc.), then do our individual chore assignments until noon. Often we’ll picnic or have a BBQ or some fun food like homemade pizza or scones or something. And in the evening, we do something fun together like watch a movie (I’m into watching all the Christian science videos I can right now, plus I love Jane Austen) or read quietly all together in the same room, or discuss things, play games or dance.

Schedules definitely change with the age of your kids. When you have a baby, that little one takes up most of your #1 priority time slots. Now that I no longer have a baby, I spend a lot of time talking/listening to my teens. Life has seasons, but I think there is never a time when we feel like we can get it all done! So priorities really help me be more sensible in my time commitments. Can’t add any #3 priorities if I can’t fit my #1′s all in. ; 0 )

]]>