New Things

I'm reveling today in the thoughts of the new life Christ gives. I love that in His plan He gives a new day with fresh potential. We're making a fresh start this week in many areas of our lives.

In schooling we are forging ahead with a new schedule and a new way to organize our materials. I hope to have my first-ever-tutorial up in a couple of days all about the fabric wall pockets like these that I made to help organize our days. Today was the first day of our new schedule and it worked out so well. I'm confident it will keep the kids on track and keep me accountable to be prepared for each day. I really don't want to just create a public school at home feel, and have been accomplishing the work we needed to do, but a schedule give me the peace of mind that we are progressing and that there is some order to this crazy place. Our schedule is made with room to be flexible and I think even the kids were surprised at how much we all got done today, before lunch, just by starting half-an-hour earlier and staying focussed on the tasks at hand.

In the efforts to have a clean (enough) house we've established some new routines for keeping up with dishes, laundry and other housekeeping tasks. I plan to get up earlier for a quiet moment in God's Word, begin the day with an empty dishwasher and a tidied house. Then I want to make sure that the dishwasher is empty and the kitchen counters are clean when I begin dinner prep. That little bit of amazing wisdom comes straight from Auntie Leila over at Like Mothers, Like Daughters. I only wish she were my aunt in real life.

Oh the Justifications I could give!

I began two weeks ago with a re-vamped routine, a chart of our school schedule for the kiddos, charts for the kids' chores and even a customized checklist for myself. I wanted to post the schedule, but haven't had the time to figure out the best way to do that. Well, I haven't taken the time!
Mainly we alternate our schedule, following a routine for Mondays and Wednesdays and a different routine for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays are great because they are set aside for art, science, and cooking projects and for catching up on any work or chores. The first week was incredible. I am in the 6th month of my pregnancy and am really enjoying the energy I feel now. I felt empowered to stick with our schedule and I even got some housework done that had been SOOOOO neglected! Even the first part of the second week was great. And then it happened...I stayed up too late one night (watching season 3 Lost episodes and youtube videos) and the next day I was completely unmotivated to keep the routine going. Oh the justifications I can give you for that day! We still managed to get most of our subjects covered (excluding art) but the housework suffered and the kids were not kept accountable to do the little chores for which they are responsible. I think this points out my need to schedule some down time, but the question is how to relax a little, without throwing out the entire routine and package.
That last sentence sounds like I am a wonderful scheduler and extremely organized. Not so. I must have routine to function. I must write a list or I will forget. many things. My checklist for household stuff gets ignored so much that it is laughable that I have one at all. I guess I just feel like I need a goal to work toward. This has been a recurring theme in my life, the one of getting organized, energetically tackling the plan to maintain organization and then hitting a bump in the road that gets me off kilter and causes me to abandon the entire plan. Then I start it again. The encouraging thing is that every time I get knocked down I don't stay down as long as I used to. I don't beat myself up with negative thoughts and pity parties. I am seeing God's hand in my life as I grow in His grace. O thank goodness for that grace!
So I fell again. I'll just get up, dust myself off and try again. I'm so glad God doesn't give up on me, even when I want to!