I created this blank schedule document and printed it. For the summer I tried doing something similar, but I wrote up the schedule and tried to make the whole week one one sheet and then use it for the whole summer. But too much changes around here on a day to day basis. And, because I wrote it, there wasn't much buy in. Having the girls write in their own schedule has been AMAZING! It was really informative to start at 8:40am (our "GO TIME" as Libby calls it), and work backward. The girls realized that if they wanted to fit in piano, breakfast, a treadmill walk (they do about a mile while watching a show on the ipad), snack prep, showering (some days), running club (T/TH for Libby), getting dressed and making beds, they needed to get up at 7:00 am. We had a couple of days of working out the kinks, but it is running pretty smoothly after 2+ weeks. I'll mention just a few miracles.
Miracle #2: They have made their beds EVERY DAY (even Ben is making his bed because his sisters are doing it).
Miracle #3: They have gotten their own breakfast. Almost zero help from me.
Miracle #4: They are practicing their piano and getting their piano homework done.
Miracle #5: They pack their own snack for school.
Miracle #6: We are finally doing the mommy/daughter strength workout 2x a week that I have been thinking I should start for months. (This was also motivated by one of the modules in my new Weight Management Certification and by Libby not making it into Level 3 gymnastics.)
Miracle #7: If a kid seems to be dawdling, instead of yelling, I say, "What's next on your schedule?" They (almost always) snap right back into "get ready" mode.
Miracle #8: I feel calm in the mornings. If I'm being honest with myself, I realize that before we were scheduling, I was feeling anxious all morning. I would frantically move from one thing to another, hollering at one kid or another, unsure EVERY DAY if we would get everything done before they left. Now, I know that if they do everything on their schedules, they will get in a workout, piano, snack prep, teeth brushing, etc. I don't have to be watching and stressing. And, when Mom is calm, everyone is better off. Especially MOM!
Miracle #9 is an added bonus: My girls need practice writing. And, every night they write a whole bunch of words on their schedules. Sneakily killing two birds with one stone.
Miracle #10: They don't fight over the treadmill or the piano in the mornings because they each have time scheduled in. (Ben struggles with this a little still since he can't tell time and gets impatient.)
Miracle #11: Most mornings they have some playtime or kindle time scheduled in at the end. And they actually get it! So they decide what the carrot will be at the end of their schedule and they work with that in mind.
Miracle #12: They are learning how long it actually takes to get things done. When Libby realized that she needed to schedule 20 minutes to eat breakfast because she takes so long to eat, she decided to dawdle less and just get the eating done. That is an incredible advance.
A couple of downsides:
-I have to remember to have them write their schedules every night. One night Dad supervised the schedule writing and things didn't go quite as smoothly. He forgot to have them schedule in their workout until they were part way through, so they went back and made some changes that weren't fully thought out. In the morning they got a little stressed. (To help me remember to have them write their schedules, I got them each a clipboard, which I keep hanging around the kitchen. Before they have fun in the evenings, I try to have them write their schedule for the next day. But, in case I forget, I have put it into their points at the end of the day. So if we are at bedtime, I check off their points for the day and am reminded if they haven't scheduled. (Which lengthens out the bedtime routine, so I try to do it earlier because I am a less kind Mommy when bedtime stretches to 9pm.)
-My perfectionist daughter sometimes gets stressed about being behind schedule. (i.e., "Mom, I am 2 minutes behind!") And it bothers Libby a little too. But I think this is so much better than the alternative life we have been living. So Much Better.
This last Friday morning ended up pretty rough for Sarah. She was upset that I was trying to get her to fill out her reading log for the week that she hadn't started (and this wasn't on her schedule). So, she didn't have any idea what she read or when. (She is constantly reading, so it is an overwhelming task for her to try to remember longer than one day back.) She was pouting and fuming all the way to school. I coached her to try "underreacting" to the problem. She said, "Mom, this Gretchen Rubin stuff isn't going to work on me."
Ha! Little does she know that it already is...
I feel like I am teaching my kids a real life skill here (even Derek admitted this!). And, mornings have become pretty great around here.
(knock on wood)
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| When I'm less stressed in the morning I can listen to my kids and laugh at things like Ben's request that I homeschool his animals while he was at school. |
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| And Sarah's worry that she shouldn't wear her Stanford hat on the day that Stanford was playing the UW. Turned out, she needed have worried. The Huskies are on fire this year! |
1 comment:
Brilliant!
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