MOTH/Scheduling update (keeping our large family/homeschool on track

I shared here that we had been going through a rough patch and what we were doing to get back on track.  I thought I'd update how things are going and what seemed to work for us.

Something I had learned from past attempts at scheduling was to be realistic.  One can put all sorts of wonderful plans down on paper, and it can look REALLY good....but would it truly work for your family?  Being realistic about what I planned not just for our family as a whole, but for individual children really helped out.  Remembering that while a job/activity should only take x-minutes so-and-so really needs y-minutes.

I used Schedule Breeze which made customizing for each day very easy.  While some may choose to have just one chart they go by I found that having the details of each day on its own chart really helped me, and the kids, stay on track.  We hung the charts in the dining room, this is a central location in our home so everyone could easily check the charts regularly as they were going to and from their activities.

Consistency is huge.  I think that combining the above tips with the consistency we've been better able to stick to this schedule.  While we do not want to become slaves to our schedule resisting the temptation to get side tracked on other things is very important.

I also made sure I planned things into our days that the kids looked forward to (and me too!).  Things that I knew they wanted to do (and we wanted them to do) but it had just been hard to find the time for.  This made us all much more excited about our days and more likely to WANT to stick to our schedule.

I'll be continuing to pray that God would open my eyes to what He wants us to be doing.  I'll also be asking my husband for input and suggestions as he sees what we are and are not accomplishing or is seeing character issues.  I'll also be revisiting our schedule regularly (maybe every 6 months or so?)