Can we share basic schedules again?

[CLHCO]

I'm not looking at *just* school schedules, though that is important too, but ones that include things like when you clean, when you fix dinner, work on extra projects, read, etc. Nothing too detailed and you don't have to be perfect at it or even rigid. Perfect houses are not necessary either, just kept up in the basics. Flows instead of schedules are nice too because I usually waver between the two.

 

I have some extra projects I really want to get done and I need to figure out how to better manage my time as well as what to cut down or simplify. Mostly, I want to make room for some work on our basement while making sure I get my girls through with their 4-H projects, keep school going and the house at least manageable. My kids are 2 to 13 with the older ones expected to help with sitting and cleaning. Oh, and I'd like to play online at least now and then too so I don't go crazy lacking all down time. :cool:

 

Anyone manage all that at least to a minor extent? TIA!

[battlemaiden]

I don't have a schedule worth admiring so I will refrain from posting.

 

Perhaps we all have less than ideal life schedules?

 

Jo

[Mrs. H.]

Dh likes to be at work EARLY, so I usually get him up around 5:30...5:00 if the weather is good and he wants to run. I know some would stay in bed or go back to bed and let Dh get himself up, but I am so not a morning person, but if I get up early, I get a couple of hours alone before the kids get up, and that's perfect for me. YMMV.

 

Dh is usually gone by 6:00-6:30, and I empty the dishwasher, start a load of clothes, do any meal prep (setting up crockpot, feed sourdough, etc.), read, knit, blog, etc. until the kids get up around 8:00.

 

We have breakfast, and do chores like bedmaking, dressing, brushing teeth, feeding the dog, etc. I try to start school or be out the door for errands by 9:00. I change the laundry over as needed, and I get a little cleaning done during this time.

 

9:00-12:00 We do school. I have one child in 5th, one in 3rd, one in K, and one in Pre-K, and a 1yr. old, so we stay busy. I swap out who plays with the baby, who's working, and who's doing something else as I see the need, but there's not set schedule.

 

At noon we do lunch, cleanup, and either reading out loud or a quick tv show. My little ones love Between the Lions, so if I need to take care of a phone call or quick chore, they watch this until Rest Time.

 

1:00-3:00 The only scheduled part of our day. Rest Time is mandatory for all members of our household. The littles nap, the older ones read or play quietly. If they haven't been good about schoolwork, they may get an assignment to do quietly while everyone else rests. I fold clothes, read, knit, make phone calls (I don't answer the phone unless it's dh or I'm expecting a call during school time), or nap if I'm tired.

 

3:00 until Dad gets home we finish up any schoolwork, the kids go outside and play, we tidy the house, feed the dog, and start dinner. We usually have a snack somewhere in there as well.

 

After dinner I bathe the kids and they find activities to do until bedtime, which is around 8:00 for the baby, 8:30 for the two younger boys, and 9:00 for the two older kids. We play board or card games, do origami, play chess, watch a family movie, wrestle with Dad, color, play with GeoMags or Legos, or play in their rooms. As long as their doing something quietly and not fighting, I'm cool with it. We clean up about 1/2 hour before bedtime.

 

After the kids go to bed I tidy up what little bit is left, start the dishwasher, find a book to read or something to knit, and settle in for some time with dh. This usually involves tv watching, but could be spending time in his workshop just talking, or sitting out on the porch if the weather is good. We usually go to bed around 11:00.

[Valerie in Chicago]

A friend who is chronically disorganized once asked me about a "day in the life." As if I'M the example to follow????? But here are some broad strokes:

 

DD is 4 1/2, other DD is 13mo.

 

We go all over town doing activities -- Spanish, soccer, swimming, art and piano.

 

Over breakfast, we do phonics/reading. While the baby plays, we do some handwriting and piano practice (all of 10-15 min each).

 

During the baby's nap, it's math, so that we can spread out on the floor.

 

Might give her a Dora episode in Spanish, if I need to focus on the baby exclusively for a while (eg: getting her down for said nap).

 

Otherwise, it's run here and run there. I take them to the gym 3X/week usually to play with other kids (and I get to play with other grown-ups!).

 

So that's K4 @ home. What will I do as they get older? Probably post your question again!

[melissel]

Dh likes to be at work EARLY, so I usually get him up around 5:30...5:00 if the weather is good and he wants to run. I know some would stay in bed or go back to bed and let Dh get himself up, but I am so not a morning person, but if I get up early, I get a couple of hours alone before the kids get up, and that's perfect for me. YMMV.

 

Dh is usually gone by 6:00-6:30, and I empty the dishwasher, start a load of clothes, do any meal prep (setting up crockpot, feed sourdough, etc.), read, knit, blog, etc. until the kids get up around 8:00.

 

We have breakfast, and do chores like bedmaking, dressing, brushing teeth, feeding the dog, etc. I try to start school or be out the door for errands by 9:00. I change the laundry over as needed, and I get a little cleaning done during this time.

 

9:00-12:00 We do school. I have one child in 5th, one in 3rd, one in K, and one in Pre-K, and a 1yr. old, so we stay busy. I swap out who plays with the baby, who's working, and who's doing something else as I see the need, but there's not set schedule.

 

At noon we do lunch, cleanup, and either reading out loud or a quick tv show. My little ones love Between the Lions, so if I need to take care of a phone call or quick chore, they watch this until Rest Time.

 

1:00-3:00 The only scheduled part of our day. Rest Time is mandatory for all members of our household. The littles nap, the older ones read or play quietly. If they haven't been good about schoolwork, they may get an assignment to do quietly while everyone else rests. I fold clothes, read, knit, make phone calls (I don't answer the phone unless it's dh or I'm expecting a call during school time), or nap if I'm tired.

 

3:00 until Dad gets home we finish up any schoolwork, the kids go outside and play, we tidy the house, feed the dog, and start dinner. We usually have a snack somewhere in there as well.

 

After dinner I bathe the kids and they find activities to do until bedtime, which is around 8:00 for the baby, 8:30 for the two younger boys, and 9:00 for the two older kids. We play board or card games, do origami, play chess, watch a family movie, wrestle with Dad, color, play with GeoMags or Legos, or play in their rooms. As long as their doing something quietly and not fighting, I'm cool with it. We clean up about 1/2 hour before bedtime.

 

After the kids go to bed I tidy up what little bit is left, start the dishwasher, find a book to read or something to knit, and settle in for some time with dh. This usually involves tv watching, but could be spending time in his workshop just talking, or sitting out on the porch if the weather is good. We usually go to bed around 11:00.

 

Well, gosh. THAT is my ideal schedule. If I could only make that work, I think my life would be SO much easier. How do you manage to get up that early???

[Mrs. H.]

Lol, just kidding. 6 hours of sleep is about the minimum I need on any given day, and 7-8 would be, well, luxurious. The real factor is my wonderful hubby: he can sleep through anything...literally. The alarm clock can be right by his head blaring away and he doesn't hear it. If I don't get up and literally wake him up every morning (it involves shaking), he would never make it to work before 8:00. Now, for normal people, at work by 8:00 would be great, but dh is very ambitious and likes to be the first one there, so he's outta here by 6:30 and at work by 7:00 at the very latest.

 

We always sleep in on the weekends, and often roll up around 9:00 on Saturday and Sunday.

[mcconnellboys]

Well, I take my older son to school at about 7:10. I get back at about 7:40-7:50. Ideally, LOL, I try to shower and be ready for school by 8:00 so that I don't have to do it later. If I don't get that done before we start, then I tend to do it after I've started my younger son on his written work. It doesn't take me very long to get ready.

 

If I'm ready ahead of time, things that I may do while my son is doing his written work include: Straightening and/or cleaning my bedroom and bath; laundry chores, if they're not completed over the weekend (generally only folding and putting away is left); phone calls for things I need to get scheduled; starting dinner if it's going in a crockpot and sometimes cleaning up the kitchen counters and putting things away there; play on the computer if it's January/February and I'm in my piddle mode for the year.....

 

His written work generally takes me about 20 minutes to introduce, then I leave him to do it. He comes to me, as needed, with questions. It generally takes him about an hour to complete all of it. The rest of our morning time, up until lunch at noon, is taken up with reading of literature and history, and also normally Bible, Latin and Spanish, unless it's January/February (and you get the picture)..... If I had other children to get started on work, there would be less reading time for us in the morning.

 

We often eat lunch out, or are eating on the run on our way to some afternoon activity. If we're home in the afternoon from the 1-3 time period, then we'd generally be doing more reading and hopefully science (unless, well, you know....)

 

We try to arrive at my older son's school sometime between 3-3:30, by which time he's generally ready to pop out of the building. I have to deliver them to various things, such as swim practice, on different days after school.

 

If it's a day when my younger son has a lot of after school things, it may be almost 6:30 before we get home(or we never do get home, in soccer season). If it's a day when he has nothing, such as today, then I'm done and back home by about 4:30. Yeah! More time to play for me! Today, I played on the computer, soaked in Dead Sea Salts for my skin (ignored my current book), and got supper on the table in time for my husband and older son to come in and eat.

 

After I put supper on the table, I'm generally done for the night unless I have to go to the grocery, library, etc. on some urgent errand, have a meeting, etc. That's my TV time for the day and I play on the computer while I watch.

 

I try to do my shopping once a week, sometime between Friday evening and Sunday evening, depending on what else we have to do for the weekend. I also generally do all my laundry for the week on the weekend and there's rarely any reason that needs to vary. Most cleaning will also occur on the weekend, too, if it's going to get done. One thing that will get me moving on cleaning is some service person scheduled to come to my house, etc., LOL....

 

My older son cleans his bedroom and their bathroom on the weekend. I tend to help my younger son clean up his room as we're putting away his clothes for the week. My older son folds the bath towels and mountain of beach towels from swimming. My younger son folds all the kitchen towels, hand towels, and washclothes. The older is responsible for garbage and recyclables getting out to the curb and the younger feeds all the small trashcans into the one, larger kitchen can over the weekend. My husband and older son handle the cleaning of dishes and (sometimes) the putting away of them which was a trade off my husband and I made years ago in order to get me to cook, LOL.

 

A lot of my reading gets done when I'm waiting for my children at events, such as swim meets. I also work on doing my scheduling for next year during that down time. I used to do that when they were doing outside classes and events, but it's gotten so I know so many people that I end up talking about homeschooling most of the time now, LOL.....

 

Yard work gets done in the summer because we're not doing school then.

 

That's all I can think of right now,

 

Regena

[CLHCO]

I think I learned something - I don't have a real "routine". I suppose I need to work on that. I thought I had one, I really did, but compared to the couple busy ones I read I seem fairly scattered. I sat and tried to think of how I would respond to this post and nothing came together. :eek: Or at least it wouldn't sound like the ones I read.

 

Food for thought.

[freethinkermom]

We keep it simple :)

 

I crawl out of bed at 8 when I hear ds11 in the shower. I start a pot of coffee and breakfast (either omelettes or cereal). Ds6 has usually been up for an hour and is playing his ds or doing his math. We eat and have coffee/milk. The kids make their beds and tidy up their rooms. Ds6 gets dressed. I make sure they are started on their schoolwork and get ds6 going on the rest of his math or something else he can do on his own. Then I shower and get dressed.

 

We school until about 12:30. Both boys are usually done by then with everything but some free reading. We make lunch which I do as a cooking class most days. Someone starts their laundry (we rotate days).

 

The rest of the day is free time. We run errands or go to the library. I clean if I need to and the boys are usually willing to help (we put on load music and make it fun). Most days the kids play video games or board games, play outside, draw(ds6), or read and I read, paint, or plan.

 

Dh works from home some days, but that does not alter our schedule much. He helps a lot with the house work too.

 

I do most of my work (writing) at night when the house is quiet. ((that is what I should be doing right now...I promise I will when my tea is ready :) ))

[Amy in Orlando]

I think so much depends on your kids' ages and what your life is like. We're working our way back from being extreme night owls now that dh is working "normal" daytime hours. My kids are older and get their own breakfasts and get going on their work independently. Usually, my 8 year-old will climb into bed after dh leaves for work (dare I confess he usually has a cup of coffee and a book) and he'll wake me up. He's such a fourth child in that I care,but I don't panic.

 

Usually we start school around 10:30 or so. The older boys generally finish around 4 pm, but some days they find themselves with homework. My youngest usually finishes (with a generous lunch break) his second grade work in 2-3 hours.

 

At this point (nearly 8 years homeschooling) chores just get squeezed into the day. I have a basic (weekly rotating) chart on the fridge. We also have the dreaded "unload the dishwasher" on our big calendar. This seems to be the chore everyone (inlcuding me) hates. Each week, one kid gets assigned dishwasher duty. That child (not the 8 year old) has the rights to the front seat during that week. It sounds goofy, but it's brought us a LOT of peace.

[Colleen]

Not sure if this will be of any use to you, Cheryl, but the general routine around here looks like this:

 

My husband goes out to the barn some time between 3 and 5 am. My oldest three boys wake at 6, read their Bibles quietly for a short time, and then do some farm chores until 7:45 or so. I wake up around 6:30, read and/or pray, and greet my younger two when they get up. I might dust a bit and put a load of laundry in the washer. When the older guys come in, we have breakfast, after which they all brush teeth, tidy up a bit, and get ready for school.

 

We study skill subjects (spelling, handwriting, grammar, math, Latin, German) during the morning. This is also when the older three get in their piano practice, or in some cases, my oldest practices right after lunch. Lunch is usually around 12:30 and lasts a half hour. After cleaning up from that, I read to my younger two and the youngest takes a nap (or at least has to have some rest time). Then during our afternoon school time, we study content subjects (history and/or science, as well as art & music appreciation one day per week). I also do some reading aloud during this time and we wrap it up at 3 or 4 pm.

 

I go running in the late afternoon, after which I shower and make dinner. Sometimes I'll do some dinner prep earlier in the day, but not always. I try to get some spot cleaning in here and there through the day, too. We eat dinner rather later than many people, at 7 pm-ish. After dinner, we play games or read aloud. My guys usually go to bed at 9 ~ later in the summer. I do a lot of reading and various other things after that and am hardly ever in bed before 2 am.

 

We have various things that change up that routine ~ morning piano lessons once each week; afternoon chess club every other week; late afternoon/early evening soccer practices during spring and fall ~ but that's the general weekday schedule. The bulk of my cleaning is done on Saturday. That's also when my guys have soccer games and when I go to the natural foods co-op for my groceries. I tend to do special projects when I know I'll have a bigger chunk of time, such as when we take school breaks.

 

Best to you!

[LNC]

that I've become chunky from sleeping approx. 4 hours a night for 10 years! You are a rail and a runner with so little sleep! Is it a natural thing? Do you get tired or need caffeine?

[kalanamak]

M-F up before 5, tidy kitchen, read email, shower, head off to work while everyone else is asleep. Home by 4, snack, tidy house/laundry/pick hubby's brain on what kiddo needs (food, exercise) for the evening, and he goes his own way (sleep, TV, home repair). Kiddo and I run errands, do school, have dinner, etc. Some nights some or all of us go to the Y and swim etc. If just the boys go, I study. I try to tuck in at 9 to read from then until some time before 11. If kiddo is in the mood, we'll tuck in at 8 and I'll read to him for up to two hours.

 

Weekends I do all the sheets, the floors, dusting, shopping, school both days, and I cook a lot for the upcoming week (pasta, rice, sauces, soups, stews, mac and cheese, chop and wash 6 heads romaine, mix up dressing, etc). Hubby takes kiddo to visit friends or we have them over (he's an only, so we work at this).

 

To do this, I have given up gardening, knitting, gourmet cooking, pets, travel and letter writing. I am slowing training hubby in housekeeping, and have downsizing in my sights (I have a too big house left over from a previous marriage), plus moving closer to work. I may actually get a nap in about 5 years...2013!

[DB in NJ]

Don't know if you're still looking for schedules, but here's a typical day in our house:

 

*Up at 7:00-7:30 (me) - sometimes 8:00, but that's not good! LOL

*Bible reading, prayer, breakfast, watch news

*Get kids up, make bed, get dressed

*Gather school stuff while kids eat breakfast

*Start school around 10:00

*No doctor's appointments until after 3:00

*Phone calls get returned at lunch time

*Laundry gets done while we're doing school

 

At some point, when I'm finished working with my 3rd grader, I'll pick a cleaning job that needs to get done and work for 20-30 minutes. I keep a list of cleaning jobs and pick one or two a day. Just work for the 20-30 minutes and stop.

 

dh gets home from work between 3:30 and 4:30. We like to be finished school by the time he gets home, but that doesn't always happen. My 17 yo works on each subject for 50 minutes; my 13 yo works with me on some subjects and on her own for others. But I am always finished with her and my 8 yo by the time dh comes home.

 

After we talk for a while, dh will go downstairs and workout, and I'll workout upstairs. After that I make dinner. On a REALLY good day, dinner will be in the crock pot or at least the meat will be cooked at lunch time so all I have to do after working out is put the rest of the meal together.

 

We have co-op on Tuesdays, so that's also library day. I use library elf (http://www.libraryelf.com) to keep track of what's due when on whose card. Makes life SO much easier! (NO MORE LATE FEES!!!). I pre-order books I need on the library website so they're ready to be picked up when I get there.

 

dd has a riding lesson every Friday. I drop her off and go to the food store (I can't stand shopping on Saturdays. YUCK!).

 

dh and I have disciplemaker training every Tuesday night at church. Wednesday at 4:00 is prayer meeting at the farm where my dd rides; Thursday at 7:00 is praise team practice. If I go to disciplemaker training, then I don't go to prayer meeting (I participate by phone), and vice versa. This way, I'm not out of the house 3 nights in a row every week. I couldn't do that to my kids. :-)

 

One more thing: I shower at night, after Jeopardy, on the nights when I'm home. Otherwise, I shower right after my workout before I leave the house (much to everyone's relief) :-)

[CLHCO]

I'm DOOMED! :eek: Most of you actually seem to function in the morning. I can't get out of bed most mornings. I've tried since my youth but I have all the will power in the evenings but it goes away in the morning. That is one area where my will seems terminally weak. It seems when one doesn't get moving in the mornings when the day is fresh, it sets the tone for the day.

 

"Well begun is half done." Isn't that what Marry Poppins said?

 

Honestly, the difference is amazing though. It seems for many of you the morning hours are the most productive. There really must be some way to turn that around.

 

I can't live on 4 hours of sleep a day. Sorry, not happening. But 6-7 isn't too bad.

 

I need to do better about not scheduling things during the school day. It's so tempting because we're homeschoolers, right? I don't hang on the phone much anyway but I admit emails distract me. :rolleyes:

 

I swear the key must be in the mornings. That's where my day falls apart and the one thing I seem to have most trouble conquering. But I suppose that is at least one place to start. The rest may just fall in line all by itself if I can do that.

 

This is a help. Thanks.

[melissel]

that I've become chunky from sleeping approx. 4 hours a night for 10 years! You are a rail and a runner with so little sleep! Is it a natural thing? Do you get tired or need caffeine?

 

Huh, I've been thinking the same thing. I always tended toward extra weight, but since I've been sleeping so very poorly since September, I've put on a little over 10 pounds. I can see a marked difference in my appetite on days following the nights when I've gotten 7-8 hours of sleep (rare, but it occasionally happens!). I don't think you're way off base there.

[melissel]

I'm DOOMED! :eek: Most of you actually seem to function in the morning. I can't get out of bed most mornings. I've tried since my youth but I have all the will power in the evenings but it goes away in the morning. That is one area where my will seems terminally weak. It seems when one doesn't get moving in the mornings when the day is fresh, it sets the tone for the day.

 

<snip>

 

I swear the key must be in the mornings. That's where my day falls apart and the one thing I seem to have most trouble conquering. But I suppose that is at least one place to start. The rest may just fall in line all by itself if I can do that.

 

This is a help. Thanks.

 

I am SO right there with you. Every day I tell myself I'm going to bed early and getting up early the next day. Then the night comes and I'm like, "I'm so close to finishing this work!!! I'll just stay up and finish it so I can submit to the analyst in the morning..." Next thing you know it's 3 a.m. and I've fallen asleep on the couch trying to finish, only to move to the bed later and sleep until 9. By then the kids are up and crazy, I never got to shower, we're all off-kilter, and the day has gotten off on the wrong foot AGAIN.

 

You would think that, if we KNOW the solution, we could make it work, but I just cannot seem to get up early even when I have gone to bed on time. I can tell you from experience though, that the few times I've managed to do it, our days have gone incredibly well. Like you, I just don't know why I can't seem to conquer the getting up early problem. It doesn't help that my DH can't be trusted to actually rouse me before he leaves for work, and the alarm clock is on his side of the bed :rolleyes:

 

*sigh* Anyway, you're not alone. If you figure out the secret, will you let me know?

[Old Dominion Heather]

Ha, I sleep right through the alarm clock every single day. I have not heard it in years...One sound from the kids and I am wide awake, though. Weird.

[Karen sn]

Mrs. H

I love this scedule.

[melissel]

Ha, I sleep right through the alarm clock every single day. I have not heard it in years...One sound from the kids and I am wide awake, though. Weird.

 

Me too! LOL!

[HomeOnTheRanch]

I really appreciate all the input to this thread. I was just thinking how much I get done when I have a schedule. When I don't, it seems like nothing gets done at all.

[6packofun]

is more important to me than having time segments blocked out too rigidly. But when I decide in the middle of the afternoon to run out to the store or run another errand when I *should* have done it first thing in the a.m. (I know a.m. is better from experience) then I really pay for it later and we all seem to get off track.

 

Anyhow, on a very good day, things go like this:

 

I get up around 7:30. (This is adjusted, obviously, if I've been up reading late, which I do quite often, and wake up closer to 9. LOL) The 2 oldest are up already and working on the 1 or 2 chores they usually do. I will often start a load of laundry or get something prepped for lunch and/or dinner so I'm not rushing to do it later.

 

I bring up our Pageflakes page on the kids' computers so that their schedules are right there. The oldest ones begin sometime between 8:30 and 9 after having breakfast. The younger ones are usually up or getting up by now. If I need to run to the store for anything, NOW, before 9, is the time to do it! Older ones are almost 14 and 13 so they can watch the kids for an hour or so.

 

I've had the news on and my Dr. Pepper to get me up and running so by 10 the 3 younger kiddos are ready to start school. We continue on until 12 or 12:30 and break for lunch. Little guy goes down for a nap right after lunch which is perfect!

 

We do our Math, Geography, and English/vocabulary in the morning...more if we can fit it in. After lunch, maybe 1 p.m. or so, we do science, history, writing assignments and the other stuff. School is over around 3:30. Everyone gets a much needed break for an hour!

 

Starting at 4:30 to 5 we do a quick clean up and maybe some assigned chores like feeding pets, etc. if needed. Dh is home by 5:30 and I start dinner.

 

I'm trying to fit in exercise at the Y again but it's really hard! We have activities on Sun., Mon., Tues. nights and Saturday mornings right now and as summer approaches, more sports.

[Rebecca in GA]

I get up at 7 with DH, shower and do quiet time.

 

Kids get up about 8. Morning chores, breakfast, grooming.

 

9 a.m. - Bible.

 

10 a.m. - math.

 

11 a.m. - snack.

 

11:30 - 11 yo independent work, 8 & 6 yo read alouds and notebook pages with Mom.

 

1 p.m. - Lunch and cleanup.

 

2 p.m. - 2x/week, library run, errands, homeschool group, etc. Rest/reading time on stay-at-home days.

 

3 p.m. - Free/outside time. (I do school and meal planning, phone calls, paperwork, cleaning, etc. here)

 

5:30 p.m. - Evening chores, showers, etc. (I cook dinner here.)

 

6:30 p.m. - Dinner and cleanup.

 

7:30 p.m. - Jeopardy. :D

 

8 p.m. - Dad goes over math with 11 yo. Littles play or listen to stories.

 

9 p.m. - Dad and Mom work out while children play or watch video.

 

10 p.m. - Bedtime for everyone (Mom and Dad "talk," :o watch TV, read, etc.)

[Colleen]

I've always slept a lot less than most people. I think in large part it's mind over matter: I really don't like to spend time sleeping, so I don't.:p I don't get tired very often. Well, I do feel sleepy when I'm reading aloud to the boys in the afternoon, but that's the case no matter how much I've slept. I don't drink caffeine, either. I always assumed people who slept less weighed less, I guess just because I am on the lighter side. Who knows!

[Colleen]

What if your children were enrolled in school and you had to get up in the morning to help them get there? What if your financial situation was such that you had to work outside the home, and you were required to be at a job first thing in the morning? If you really had to, you'd do it, you'd be there. So think of it in those terms. You have a job to do, so get up and do it.

 

I hope this doesn't sound harsh. I truly do want to encourage you to change this pattern if you really want to do so. Believe me, I can identify with your lack of drive in the mornings. I'm definitely a night owl, always have been. But I know if I let things slide in the mornings, especially day after day, I'll be frustrated with how little I'm accomplishing. You can do it, Cheryl!:)

[Scarlett]

What if your children were enrolled in school and you had to get up in the morning to help them get there? What if your financial situation was such that you had to work outside the home, and you were required to be at a job first thing in the morning? If you really had to, you'd do it, you'd be there. So think of it in those terms. You have a job to do, so get up and do it.

 

I totally agree with this. For years, my job required me to be at a desk at 7:30 a.m. every day. I was never late. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. then and I just kept that habit even when I quit that job 3 weeks before ds was born almost 8 years ago.

 

I am most productive from 6-2. Then I feel a crash which I usually force myself to work through. Then the dinner/cleaning kitchen/bath/reading to ds begins around 4:00. By 9 p.m. I am exhausted and usually go to bed. Oh, how I wish I could stay up until 2:00 a.m.! That is another work day almost. Wow, I could get sooooo much done.