A day in the life.... (routines)

Ok, Suzanne over at Joyful Chaos, just did a blog about her day “how I do what I do”. I LOVE those posts! They are so helpful for me to read about how another mama does it. I ALWAYS wish I could be a fly on the wall in someone elses home! She asked for other mama's days too, so, in response to her post, I am writing one of my own (I figure If I am going to write it all down for her, I may as well put it in a place where I can look back on it a few years)

Here it goes:

I do not have a schedule, never have, hope to some day, but that is still a work in progress.  But we do have a few “routines” that we try to implement, so I guess I will just start there 

My Hubby gets up at 5 and mulls around the house until 6 when he leaves for work (me snoring away) My littlens usually wake up between 6:15 and 7, but are NOT allowed to wake me up (Yes, I really am that bad) They go and play in the toy room in the back of the house until I come in and get them. It is far enough from the sleeping rooms, that they can have a good ole time without disturbing the peace. (little people and Duplo blocks are thoroughly enjoyed by all)

I usually roll out of bed between 7 and 8 and give them some sort of morning snack (fruit, crackers, popcorn, sandwiches)(still in the toy room) and make a pot of coffee. While it brews, I usually start the laundry and maybe tidy up the kitchen. Once the pot is ready, it is computer time… email, facebook, and the occasional blog. This usually takes about an hour. 

After I have been completely selfish and am done with my coffee and “puter” time, I go in and “release the hounds” (Of course I mean… invite my sweet kids to come and enjoy the day with me) This is when we “do school”.

Lets see… today we are doing money… the first day of the month (I didn’t pay them for their chores last month at all) so … read *Math lesson* All of their moneys are laid out on the table at their seats and their banks and wallets are there too.  Steven (4) is working on coin identification and getting a jump on values. Rebekah (6) is working on coin value and introductory addition. Heather (8) is working on addition, and percentages mostly, but sometimes multiplication and division find their way into our lesson. Jeremiah (3yo) is counting the amount of coins and putting them in the slots that I tell him to. (fine motor skills) 

One subject is done, so we move on to breakfast (late because they have already snacked in the toy room) usually eggs or toast with peanut butter… sometimes both, and if I am feeling especially care free, we will indulge in a bowl of cereal every once in a while.

Now we work on chores. Since we use money as a math lesson, we need to give them a reason to be receiving it… they have age appropriate chores that they are responsible for. ..

Jeremiah(3)- Sorts laundry into piles of who they belong to. Later in the day he will set the table for dinner, and he gets to put all of his folded laundry away in the right drawers.

Steven (4)- puts away the dishes out of the dish washer, folds his laundry and puts it away in the right drawers, and cleans one of the bathrooms (sweep, scrub toilet, wipe down counter, wipe down outside of toilet and empty trash can.)

Rebekah (6)- keeps table wiped down and clean, folds and puts away her laundry, cleans the other bathroom, and vacuums the living room floor.

Heather (8)- moves laundry from the washer to the dryer and starts it, folds and puts away her laundry, sweeps dining room floor, and washes the dishes. (She is also kind of my go to girl when something needs to be done that does not have a person assigned to it)

Once chores are done, we do something fun… PE  My kids have decided that they really like doing exercises with me in front of the tv… we have two exercise videos (Both biggest looser) and we rotate through them… Yoga is a workout for all involved, cardio is just hard for me 

Then it is showers and dressed for the day.  Usually while the kids are busy (either with chores or showers) I will tidy up in the kitchen and start getting lunch laid out…. Normally pretty light, like fruit or sandwiches and salad… it is ready for them when they are done showering. 

Lunch time!  This usually falls somewhere around noon… sometimes before, sometimes after… it just kindof depends on how the day has gone.

Then… if the littles can handle it, they get to stay up for “school”. This is the one subject that we do everyday. It is called Disciple Curriculum. It incorporates reading, writing, summarizing, scripture memorization, drawing parallels in similarly themed stories, theology, and apologetics.  It usually takes between 30 and 45 mins. 

Then naps. Every once in a while Heather will get to stay up, but most of the time they are all down until the youngest wakes up or two hours has passed whichever comes first. This is my time… I can clean, read, sleep, prepare dinner, bake, write letters, practice a new craft (I am going to pull my sweing machine out one of these days and work on my "fix this please mommy" basket) whatever I want (kindof). 

When they wake up, they make sure that their chores are still done (some of them are several times a day kind of chores) and we start on dinner plans… sometimes they help, sometimes they get to go outside to play, sometimes it is time for Heather to read stories to her siblings… but it is pretty unstructured till daddy gets home. 

When daddy gets home (if I am really good, we have dinner ready to put on the table) we finish up making dinner and sit down together. Dinner is always followed by daddy reading from the bible. Sometimes just a few verses, sometimes a lot.. It just depends on how much conversation comes from it… if the passage is easy to understand, we get further, if it is more difficult (or the kids are not paying much attention) we don’t get very far… we have been in Romans for …. Oh, probably around 3 months, and we have gotten midway through chapter 3. We always review what we talked about last, and we always end up using the dictionary. (Yeah, more school)  

Then those with after dinner chores get to work while daddy builds a fire and we go from there… sometimes a movie, sometimes reading, sometimes free play in the toy room, sometimes baking together…. It varies by the night. 

Bedtime stories is pretty consistent… around 7-7:30 the kids get ready for bed… showers if they have not already had them, teeth brushed, hair brushed and come in the living room to hear a story. Either daddy reads (the current story is Lord of the Rings) or mommy reads (the current story is Little House) and then we exchange kisses and hugs, prayers and then to bed. 

Now … this is not always the way it happens… there are days that we don’t even see home because of errands in town. And there are days when we scrap the whole thing, watch movies or just battle with temper tantrums (sometimes mine, sometimes theirs). There are days that are spent going on walks with the dog to the library and days when we get much more done… but this is a rough outline of what a day in our home looks like. 

Now it is your turn! What does your schedule look like?