For the Love of Homemaking

Isabelle and I have decided that this is going to be the week when we start on her home management binder. She is really looking forward to these next few weeks and so am I.

The purpose of this little project is three-fold. Firstly, it will provide a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to build some wonderful memories and get in some great one-on-one time. Secondly, it will give me a chance to put a true joy, love, and respect in her heart for all of a homemaker's duties, and to show her just how important and incredibly rewarding this job is. And thirdly, this will be a perfect introduction to home-economics, and will provide plenty of learning opportunities amidst the fun.

The home management binder that we are going to create is not going to be like the typical home management binder that so many of us rely on for keeping all of our important stuff in one place. Instead, we are going to make her binder into a scrapbook of sorts. I am hoping we'll make at least a few trips to our local scrapbooking shop to pick up some things for us to use as we go. The first project will be the cover of her binder.

We are going to fill her binder with favorite recipes, which she will choose and which we will then make together, hopefully getting lots of pictures in the process. I am hoping we'll get in at least one of her favorite recipes everyday.

We'll also create a schedule and chore list together, putting my list and hers side by side. We'll discuss the importance of getting certain things done every day and what happens when they don't get done. (I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to review that first hand.) We'll also write out tips about cleaning and organizing as we go. I know this will be fun for her because she loves sharing tips with me that she learns! She also loves researching as much as I do, so we'll read through some home-organization books together.

One of the things that Isabelle has been really wanting to learn for the past few years is how to knit, so I'll be teaching her this month. I think I'll give her the option of making some dish cloths or a scarf. Then she can choose whether she wants to keep them or give them as a gift to someone. Once she gets the hang of it, she can sit on our back patio and knit. She is really excited about this one.

We'll also be filling in the pages with appropriate bible verses that show God's happiness in creating a loving and functioning home. I feel God's hand in all that I do, and I want to point this out to Isabelle as we work together.

These four things are the primary focus as of right now, but that might evolve as the weeks go on. While this next month will be a very focused time of working on her binder, I'm hoping it will be an on-going project throughout the years. My dream for this is that someday it will serve her well when she is setting up her own home. And in a few years, I'm sure she will be anxious to watch me create binders with Olivia and Gracie.

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My Home Management Binder: An Update

We are now a week and a half into using our new schedule and chore charts. So far everything seems to be running fairly smoothly and falling into place. I think the few things that are not are more due to the craziness we've had around here lately and not the schedule itself. But it will be worth re-examining when life calms down again.

I have seen four huge benefits thus far. First, Alex and Olivia just love their chore charts. They have really taken ownership of their assigned chores and they carry their charts around with them like prized possessions. Just this afternoon, Olivia was looking at hers and realized she did not have a smiley face in the dusting column for today. She asked me if she could have a rag so that she could dust. Obviously I said yes! As soon as she was done, she brought me the rag and her chart. The three of us sit down two or three times a day to review their charts and fill in their smiley faces. They always point out what still needs to be done and then they make sure they do it. It is incredible! Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Isabelle also really enjoys her chart. She has had chore responsibilities for quite a while, but this is the first time we have done a "reward" (well, a star drawn on a piece of a paper) system and she's really enjoying it. Her kitchen duties have become her pride and joy, and they are such a huge help to me. She has breakfast duty or lunch duty on alternating days. We work side by side for now, but I have definitely seen her potential and see an area where I can slowly start working myself out of job. She loves it so much that I know she'd gladly take it over.

Designated preschool time has also been very beneficial, not for Alex and Olivia, but for myself. I am surprised with how much they know already and having this dedicated time has really opened my eyes. Of course I've always known the big things that they know (the alphabet, counting to 15, colors and shapes) but it is the little things I'm impressed by. I had no idea Alex could recite "Hey Diddle Diddle." Also, I had no idea Olivia could listen to a poem and ask a relevant question about it. These little things are so important, in fact, they are one of the many reasons why we homeschool. I will never again allow myself to miss seeing them.

And last but certainly not least, my one-on-one time with Gracie has led to remarkable progress with her gross motor skills. She is now pulling herself up to stand, sitting up on her own, and climbing into or on top of anything she can. I'm no longer worried. She's just going to be a petite thing whose physical development is below the charts for the first two years or so, just like Alex and Olivia.

I think I definitely hit on something this time with my scheduling. I don't feel nearly as stressed to stick to the schedule as I have in the past. The key for me must be to not have every half hour of the day broken down into individual assignments. I can still stay on schedule even when I'm not on schedule because I have a built in buffer zone. This may be one schedule that will go the distance.

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Home Management Binder - Schedule, Chore Charts

I managed to get my new and improved schedule finished, as well as my new chore charts. It is officially Monday since it's 12:05 right now and I just finished, but I've decided to cut myself a little slack on that. (It was a crazy weekend! We had company over until 12:30am Saturday night, and Sunday after church we went to see a house we may be purchasing if this one sells this week.)

Overall I am happy with the schedule for now. We may need to work into it slowly for the first few days, but it really isn't too different from our "unscheduled" days, so the transition shouldn't be too difficult. I can tell I'm still not convinced it's officially Spring as I didn't schedule any outside play time. There is a good deal of time that is unscheduled though so I will be able to fit it in at various times and once we see what works best I can officially add it to the schedule. You can see the new schedule here. I also managed to fit in the things that were important to me to have scheduled throughout the day. I can already feel the way this will reduce stress for me.

One thing I toyed with was getting up earlier myself. However, because of Eric's schedule, I stay up late with him every night. That is just more important to me than being up earlier. If I find that I can function on less sleep without any problems, maybe I'll switch to that at some point. But for now, time with my husband is my number one priority.

I also created chore charts for myself and for each one of the oldest 3 children. You can see those here. Isabelle is old enough now that getting dressed and making her bed every morning are just second nature for her, so that is why they are not on her chart. Alex and Olivia's charts have pictures representing their chores, but for some reason the pictures did not transfer from Word. Their daily chores are: make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, dust, laundry help, dishwasher help, and toy pick up (twice a day). Their charts will be printed out every week and taped to the kitchen wall to be filled in with a smiley face or stickers as a motivator. We will keep the smiley/sticker as the only reward for now. This will be a novelty for everyone, so they will be quite happy with just that. We may change it as they get older to a special treat once a month for so many stickers, but we'll wait and see on that.

I know my chore charts will be especially helpful for me. They will keep me on track and focused without feeling overwhelmed. And not to mention I'll know that these things will actually get done so I won't have to worry about it from one week to the next. That's my goal; more structure equals less stress, not more busyness! I'm excited for the morning.

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Home Management - A Realization

Well, as much as I hate to admit, I have not finished up my schedule yet. But I do have it pretty much worked out in my head, so now all I have to do is transfer it to paper. I have BIG plans for the rest of my night and through the weekend. I WILL be done before bed Sunday night. And, I expect you all to come back here Monday morning to scold me if I haven't posted it yet. :-)

I had a realization today when I was thinking through my schedule and chores list. I really do not need, or want, to fit more into my days. As a whole, I get lots done every week if you average out my days. But, I do feel stressed when I get behind, or when we have company coming over, or when I feel like my housework is taking away from my mommy time. So...there's my realization...I want to schedule not so I can fit more into my days but so I can do what I already do in an orderly, stress-free way. That one thought has really eased some burden for me. I feel like I can move forward with this without worrying about my lack of follow-through because it will just make sense. And as I've said before, I'm all for working smarter, not harder.

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Re-Examining My Home Management Binder

This week, Candy has been revisiting her Home Management Binder University. Back in 2004/05 when she first when through her binder, I created my own. I followed some of her leads, as well as some from many other ladies who also had similar binders. (I believe Kim from Large Family Logistics had a wonderful section on this also, but I think her website is no longer in existence. If anyone knows differently, would you please let me know?) I loved my binder and used it often, until life got the better of me and it got pushed aside. (Read my post here to see what I mean.) But now that Candy is going through it again, and Crystal has also been doing some very encouraging posts on scheduling/time management, I have decided to pull my binder out and put it back in use!

When I used my binder previously, I loved having everything in one central location. I would even just leave it open on my counter all day so that I could see at a glance what still needed to be done, what the children should/could be doing, what we were having for dinner, etc. I still have some of the lists I used in that binder here. At the time, Olivia was still just a baby, under 6 months. Life is even more full now so I know that re-implementing a binder system would be immensely helpful for me. So, in an effort to improve my follow-through, and now that I have gotten being a leader to my children pretty well in hand, I've decided to jump right back in and improve my home management!

We currently operate our days under what I consider to be a fairly loose schedule.

8:00am - Kids up
8:30am - Dad & Mom Up & dressed, kids get dressed, make beds, etc.
9:00am - Breakfast (Mom start lunch/dinner prep)
9:30am - Breakfast dishes cleaned up, start dishwasher
10:00am - Isabelle start school (Mom finish any dinner prep)
11:30am - Gracie nap
1:00pm - Lunch
3:00pm - Isabelle computer time, Alex & Olivia TV time
4:00pm - Snack time
4:30pm - End computer and TV time
6:30pm - Dinner
7:30pm - All kids in bed, Isabelle reads until 9:30
Eric gets home anywhere between 9:30pm and 12:30pm, and we usually go to bed around 1:00am so that we get to have some quality time together. (Hence, the reason we sleep until 8:30am)

Those are the only set/planned times throughout our day. I'd like to see quite a few more added in to give the children more structure and for all of us to make the best use of our time. Here are some of the specific things I am going to work on fitting into the schedule at set times everyday:

1. Reading to the children
2. "School" time with Alex and Olivia
3. Laundry folding/putting away time
4. Bible/prayer/devotion time as a family
5. Time to play outside
6. Chore time for the 3 oldest kids. (Alex and Olivia love to help out, and they are getting to an age where they can handle certain chores, so I really need to take advantage of this now.)
7. One-on-one time for Gracie and me to help her with sitting/standing/walking
8. Craft/project/table toy time for the three oldest

Some things I'd like to work in on a rotating basis:

1. Kitchen helper for the day
2. Specific day and time to go to the library and run any needed errands
3. Specific day to wash sheets, towels, etc.
4. Specific days to do major cleaning chores (like I had in my list from '05)

Now, I realize I'm a bit behind the trend here. Crystal is just about done with her series, and Candy covered this section yesterday, but that's ok! At least I'm doing it now, right? The first step for me is to show this list to Eric and for us to talk it over and see if there's anything he'd like changed, added, or deleted. Then I'll hand write it into schedule form, type it up, and put it in my old binder that now seems new again. (Oh, and I'll post it here. That's for my benefit. It helps keep me accountable.)

If you have any other organizing/binder/scheduling links, PLEASE share them with me. Sometimes I need all the encouragement I can get!

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