Homemaker Schedule

<- I had to cut Hannah’s bangs because we were both tired of trying to keep them out of her eyes all day long.

I’ve been home since the beginning of June, but we had the girls (and all of their appointments) for June and July and then a family vacation at the beginning of August. So, I’ve only been doing the full-time at home mommy thing for Hannah and Benjamin for a couple of weeks. I think we have our basic fall schedule sorted out now. It looks like a lot when I type it up, but it really has a lot of free play and down time built in. We don’t feel stressed about much and just spend our day loving on each other. And obviously each day doesn’t look like this, its just my goal.

A typical day goes kinda like this (times are relative):

– 5:00 AM Nate gets up and goes to do his workout at work (I don’t even register this)
– 6:30 Nate gets back and does his quiet time or other personal time
– 7:00 – 8:00 Benjamin usually gets up closer to 7 and Hannah usually gets up closer to 8. I am usually awake, but like to stay in bed for awhile. Breakfast usually happens around 7:30 so we can eat with daddy before he leaves for work. We’ve been listening to Christian music during this time and its been a great way to start the day.
– 8:00 Nate goes to work, we get ready for the day. Once everyone is dressed with teeth brushed, we do calendar time. This consists of looking at the calendar to see what the date is and talking about what the weather looks like. Most of the time we get hot and sunny. 🙂 The kids love their vitamins, so they get one after we do calendar. Then we do devotions. Hannah works on her verse for the week and we read out of a little children’s devotional and then we say morning prayers and sometimes sing songs. All of this usually only takes about 15 minutes. The kids get the rest of the hour to play and mommy has a little time to check email.

Ben plays with his trains in his ‘new’ room ->

– 9:00 Around nine, we do our school readings for the day. I also get out Hannah’s worksheets/activities. The readings usually only take about 15 min or less and then Hannah has until 10 to finish her other work if she wants to watch cartoons. If there is extra time in there, the kids play. We usually have snacks in this hour too. I ask Ben if he wants to do school too, if he does, we either do a little worksheet/color page or we work on vocabulary with a sticker and seek-and-find book called First 1000 Words.
– 10:00 At 10 we watch Super Why! and Dinosaur Train. We used to have a rule that we didn’t watch TV in the morning, but since we have volleyball practice almost every afternoon right now, we watch some shows in the morning. The kids miss Wild Kratz from the afternoon, but seem to enjoy these two for now. Sometimes I get to have some computer time while they are watching TV, but usually I’m (finally) cleaning up from breakfast or doing laundry or something.
– 11:00 Starting to get ready for lunch, more play time. Lunch happens somewhere in there before noon. They don’t seem to quite make it to noon. More play time.
– 12:30 PM Quiet time! Mommy’s favorite time of day. Not really, but it is my recharge time. The kids usually play video games during quiet time, my children don’t do naps. I take at least the first 30 min for my bible reading or devotion time and then spend the second 30 minutes doing facebook, blogging, checking email and generally getting my techy fix. I also have been using this time a lot to prepare for volleyball.

<- The kids playing Boggle Jr

– 1:30 Kids get ‘released’ and have some more free time.
– 2:00 I’ve been trying to get Hannah to do a little bit of math each day. So this is when we try to fit it in. I also try to get her to read to me. Sometimes we get both of these done, but sometimes reading happens with daddy before bed.
– 3:00 – 5:00 Time to head to volleyball practice/game. Monday – Thursday. The kids have been doing a really good job sitting and playing video games while I’m busy with practice.
– 5:15 Back home for dinner and daddy time. Hannah shows off her schoolwork for the day. Then we love to go to the park and the kids are doing really good riding their bikes or scooters around the block. Sometimes (often) mommy stays home and has some free time.
– 6:45ish Time to get ready for bed. Baths or showers on some days. Picking up every day. 🙂
– 7:00 Pop in a movie for about 30 minutes. It seems to take forever to finish any of the full length stories.
– 7:45 Bible reading with daddy, singing, and praying.
– 8:00 Bed (yay!) Since the kids have been in separate rooms, this has gone WAY easier. They both have little lamps and are allowed to read or play as long as they are being quiet and that seems to be working out great. We usually have to go in and turn out the lights after they crash.
– 9:00 – 10:00 Mommy/Daddy time/bedtime. Nate never used to go to bed this early, but since he has to get up (before the sun), he’s been in bed before me some days. 🙂

Weekly Evening activities:

Ben doing his normal activity – running! ->

Mondays – Nate and Becca have adult co-ed volleyball league or practice on Monday evenings. Games range from 6 – 9 and we try to make this our date night if we can since we already have to get a sitter. We really enjoy playing on the same team.
Tuesdays – This is usually our eat at Cici’s night because its kids eat free day. We may take a break on this during volleyball because Becca and the kids are too hot to eat buffet after practice.
Wednesdays – Lifegroup at our house. The kids watch a movie in one of the bedrooms while the adults do their study thing.
Thursday mornings – Hannah and Benjamin get to go to our neighbor’s house every other week for a music/art class. We’re pretty excited about this.
Fridays – Every other Friday is a special Prayer and Praise service at church. Sometimes, Nate leads worship for this, but it goes past bedtimes, so we don’t usually go as a family.
Saturdays – Every other Saturday is men’s group and craft club. Nate heads to church and some ladies come to our house for craft time.
Sundays – Church and special video chat time with grandparents. We try to ‘honor the sabbath’ by not going anywhere where someone would have to work so our Sundays are typically laid back and stay home days.