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First let me start by saying I am NOT a “schedule” person. I never have been. Not when they were babies, toddlers, and not now. However, being a full time work at home mom, I’ve come to realize that I need something.
I’ve come up with a schedule for us during the week that I hope will allow me to get all my work done, the boys to have a little fun, and for me to have quality interaction with the boys.
I try to wake up early and get as many hours in before the boys wake up as I can. They’ll usually wake up about 9 (the little one sometimes 10!) and this allows me quite a bit of uninterrupted work time in the morning depending on what time I can drag myself out of bed.
The boys will usually watch a bit of tv before being ready for breakfast and when they are, we do a lot of easy ready to go breakfasts like smoothie pops! (Thanks Mom for the new popsicle molds – from Pier 1) These are actually “green” smoothies – this particular batch is strawberries, banana, pineapple, mango, and romaine lettuce. There are actually little chunks of romain in there and you don’t even notice. They know they are in there but they don’t mind. Our smoothies are any assortment of fruit, ice, and water/coconut water and leafy green.
After breakfast they tackle their chore charts. In order to keep the house from looking like a disaster I made up chore charts (with check boxes as requested by them) for them to tackle after breakfast. This will take them a little while because, well, they are easily distracted. It has simple things like brush your teeth, pick up clothes/toys/dog poop, feed the dogs, and 1 extra chore for each boy.
Sometime in there they’ll eat lunch. Either a sandwich they make themselves, a muffin tin assortment, leftovers etc. After lunch/chores I have a fun activity or craft ready for them to do. We have lots to choose from the Pinterest board I’ve been keeping. This requires a little bit of planning on my part to make sure that I hve all the things I need and have them ready to go. This is one of the biggest benefits to having older kids and working at home – they can entertain themselves. I think having this ready to go greatly cuts down on the “I’m bored!” whines that are sure to come this summer.
After their craft or activity is done and my work is done for the day (hopefully early afternoon) we can then leave the house! We’ll go to the library, park, waterpark, museum etc. Having them do the chores early in the day makes leaving the house in the afternoon a little less stressful.
I don’t have an hour by hour schedule because 1. I already said I’m not a schedule person (and that would be asking way too much of me LOL!) and 2. It all depends on the day – what time I get up, how much work I have (what is due that day) etc. A lot of times I’ll put in a little time after the boys are in bed (9pm – that’s why they sleep so late) but so far so good. I’m getting what I need to get done without feeling like an absent mother.
Are you a schedule person? What does your family schedule look like this summer?
P.S. Roadtrip Roundup starts this coming Monday! I’m excited to share (along with some guest bloggers) tips on keeping those kids busy during the summer roadtrips – even if it’s just 45min into town. I still have room for 1 more guest if you’d like to share a fun activity, printable etc. contact me!
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1 Comment
I have a general outline for the day but by no means are we on an hour to hour schedule. The boys have their lists of chores but it's on a weekly basis. I'm thinking of changing it to daily for the summer. I try and have a surprise activity or 2 a week for them (could be friend coming over, netflix movie, craft).
Jennifer
http://www.bigdandme.com