My Schedule Thoughts-Part 1

This summer has been flying by so quickly!

 

It is HOT HOT HOT and sunny most days :)  If it rains, it is only a passing shower and it gives me some hope that we can get back outside or to the pool.  This weather is amazing! 

 

The blog, however...uh, as you have noticed probably has been placed on the back burner. 

 

I sure hope you don't mind and hope you are having a fulfilling and fruitful summer as we are! :)

 

I have been super busy with that schedule that I mentioned HERE.

 

It is a super duper, heavy duty, 30 minute time increments of our day.  I hope to, God willing, post in detail about our days and how we are working with it.  That will come with time. 

 

However, I will post today on my overall thoughts on it.

 

Prior to implementing our family schedule, I had some issues at the end of my day.

The biggest things for me were:

• Why didn't I start my day with prayer?  How did I forget?!
• Why was I ending my day and wondering what did I accomplish? 
• Why didn't I get to the things I really wanted or needed to do? 
• Why didn't my kids get around to doing the things I knew were best for them?

 

I was living in a total reactive mode of parenting. 

 

I could not get one step ahead of my children and their want/needs/desires.  I could not figure out how to tend to each of our 7 blessings in a way to 'fill up thier love tank' and be the Momma they needed me to be for them and the Momma and wife that God was calling me to be.  Daily. 

 

Days would go by. 

 

Weeks would zoom by. 

 

Months were disappearing in a snap of my finger. 

There was a mental list of things I thought that if I accomplished then it was a good day.  If I didn't get to them, than it was not such a good day. 

 

This way of thinking was not healthy, b/c we know children have their wits about them and God's Will was very prominent. 

The deal was, I was fighting God's will for me and my family. 

It was apparent that I needed to change a diaper (or 2!) or fold the laundry but I was doing this task lacking the much love that it needed and deserved.  I was grudgingly doing these things.  I was wishing that I was off doing something else.  I believe St. Teresa said to 'find God in the pots and pans'.  And that is so true.  In my vocation to motherhood, though, I was not seeing it.  I wanted to, oh, how my desire was to.  BUT, I was kissing this boo-boo, disciplining this child, vacuuming when I should have been reading to my son, or answering my emails or phone eradically when I should have been playing w/ my 2 yr old b/c he wanted me to and on and on and on.  Living in a reactive mode of parenting set me up for a disaster of sorts. 

 

30 minutes is what we have per scheduled activity throughout the day, minus lunch and dinner which is 1 hour each.

 

30 minutes is a very short amount of time. I like that. It is short enough that fights and squabbles may not errupt too badly and long enough to be able to get some stuff done. What I have to get used to is that a little each day goes a long way-we may not finish the whole page of Math for the day and may need to come back to it the following day. This is not how I have ever really done school-it was always to finish a whole page and then Math was done. Not now, it is done at that 30 minute stopping time. That's it. It is growing on me, for I see how excited they are to be done with that subject. They can visualize the 30 mins and they know it is not that long. They opt to get to the scheduled work quicker than me nagging at them to do it (most of the time! :)

 

Now, this 30 minute schedule really freaked me out the first few weeks-thoughts rushed around my head and doubts that it would really work for our family. But, once into practice for a while, it has helped us all tremendously.

 

It makes me think of what Blessed Mother Teresa said:

 

"Do small things with great love."

 

Making a list of things that I wanted and needed to do that entire day was uplifting.  It gave me hope that I could get to reading to my children that I so badly wanted to and all those other things as well, but could not 'find the time' to do it!  Now, when my kids are interested in me reading to them, I tell them that I absolutely will and what time it will be at.  And it gets done.  Period.

 

That's all I have time for today!
God bless your day,
Mary