I have mixed feelings about living by a schedule. I love it and I hate it. I love to have everything written down on paper, so I know exactly what I should be doing, and when. My kids know that when mommy’s brain is too tired to think about what comes next, she consults her schedule. What they haven’t figured out yet is that everything would probably grind to a halt if they just hid that precious schedule!!
I have been using Managers of Their Homes by the Maxwells for several years. This type of schedule has me assigning a different color to each member of the family, and recording in half hour increments everything that each person should be doing from sunup to sundown. This has been a real blessing to me, especially in helping me make sure that I am not needing to be two places at once, that each school subject gets proper attention, and that the needs of each child are being addressed.
But I also hate my schedule! I would rather have some flexibility. I don’t like to say, “It’s 10:00! Drop what you are doing and move on!” Life, inevitably, intervenes in my best thought-out plans. So I have started using a framework schedule.
I still plan out my days MOTH style, with color coded 30-minute boxes for each person. But I don’t live according to the times. I just “do what comes next”, trying to get all my morning things done in the morning and afternoon things done in the afternoon. If something doesn’t get done one day, I make sure that it gets done the next day. If we run out of time for something, this helps me make sure that it is a different “something” every day, so that nothing is neglected for long.
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