Mom is Just a Nickname

I’m not sure what possessed me, but a few days ago I decided the kids and I needed a schedule to follow this summer. It had to be flexible enough to be spontaneous, but firm enough to guide our actions in the day to day.  I dedicated Mondays to sticking around the house, Tuesdays are grocery shopping day, Wednesday we go to the pool, Thursday to the library, and Friday is our Adventure Day, where we go somewhere exciting around town and explore. Adventure Day should mean the zoo, or a museum, or the beach. But, I’m still trying to recover from our late night Wednesday so I wanted to to stick close to home.  So we followed Monday’s schedule more than Friday’s, yesterday.

Here’s what we did:
7-8am: read in bed, watch TV, or check email
8-8:30: breakfast and get dressed
8:30-10: Gardening: planted the rest of the iris and started some seeds in containers
10-10:30: Shower/change clothes, have snack
10:30-12pm: Craft Projects (I was collaging our summer schedule, J was doing a sort of engraving project and X was painting)
12-12:30: Lunch
12:30-1:30: Chores (Clean up lunch dishes, clean kids’ bathroom, scoop cat litter)
1:30-3: Shopping at Home Depot and CVS
3-4: Quiet time
4-5: TV watching

About that time, J got a phone call from a friend inviting her over for the evening. So we dropped her off for that and then went out to eat, instead of eating at home like we were going to. Ooops.

So far, the schedules are popular with the kids, and I liked it too.  I feel like I was more productive today than I normally am, and this made me happy. I felt like the kids enjoyed their day. There was enough time for them to go off on their own and do their own thing, but not so much free time that they were whining at me about boredom. They got to do fun things (gardening and crafts) but it was balanced by getting things done that we needed to get done (chores and shopping).  Jillian especially seemed to appreciate being able to look at the schedule and know what was coming.

I really hope that we can keep up this schedule. I’ve never been one to stick with things like this, except when necessary. But I really think we NEED this structure to our days this year.

So, if you’ve got kids, what do you do to help tame the wild days of summer? How do you keep from hearing “I’m bored” all summer long?

I want to start by thanking Lori for letting me interview her for this new blog.  I know she stays busy with her kids and with making necklaces, so I really appreciate her taking the time to work with me.

 I learned a lot more about home schooling after talking with her.  Socialization is the big thing that caught my eye, as you probably noticed.  I’ve always had tucked in the back of my head the idea that school is better for socializing our kids and much of what I read on the topic challenged that idea.   I’ve always had great respect for parents who choose to home school, since I know it takes organization and dedication to their children.  I watched my aunt home school her children for many years and saw how they thrived and how much energy she gave to them in the process.  Now I have many friends who home school and I continue to be in awe of the commitment they make to helping their children reach their potential.

 Another occupation that takes organization, dedication, and commitment is that of freelance writer.  I’m just stepping out into the writing world in a serious way, and I have been fortunate to have a friend who is already working as a freelance writer.  Her name is Lynn and she’s becoming very well known for her blog, Virtual Wordsmith, thanks to her author interviews and book reviews.  My interview with Lynn will be coming soon!