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Courtney
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| Posted: March 07 2005 at 4:14pm | IP Logged
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I have a copy of MOTH and I even made a schedule in August based on the book. I couldn't use it b/c it was too tight for me. I do admit just going through the process was good for me though.
I guess my question is (still!) how do each of you fit it all in? I am amazed at how you all do it b/c many of you have several children and I have only 2! I think part of my problem is feeling guilt when I feel like we haven't done enough formal lessons in one day. However, I do feel like cleaning and grocery shopping are life skills that my children need to experience and learn from.
I'm also struggling with finding time to do hobbies of my own. I love to sew and have taught my dd a little as well. I just don't seem to ever fit it into the week. I end up either staying up too late or doing it on the weekend.
My dd is 7 and my ds is 4. We typically do bible/religion first thing after breakfast, then math, then reading about whatever we're studying (FIAR). While I'm working with my ds on phonics, dd will do something on the computer. I do give them 30 minutes or so in there to go play. After lunch I usually read aloud to them. I try not to get too rigid in our plan but find that I let things fall apart if I don't stick fairly consistently to a schedule.
Today we went to the creek/wooded park near our house right after breakfast. We were there for about an hour. When we came home it was still so nice out that we did math outside. I let them play a long time outside and eat lunch out there. After lunch it was time for my ds to go to art and dd and I ran errands. There goes the day! I haven't even worked in exercise yet! 
I guess I'm just wondering what a typical day looks like for you all. Thank you all for this wonderful board! Courtney in Texas 
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Mary G
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| Posted: March 07 2005 at 5:53pm | IP Logged
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Courtney:
Either I'm lazy  or you're doing way too much! I have 5 kids (at home) and a husband, one huge van, and we fit it all in. One of the things we DON"T do is a whole lot of co-curricular (the politically correct term these days for all the extras) or outside sports or activities. Each child has their own thing (except the 2 yo) and we all have church and homeschooling or parochial schooling.
I don't think you can plan every second of every day. I think you have to be flexible, especially the younger they are, because of all the rabbit trails (or tangents) we go off on.
With my littles (6 and 5) with the 2 yo in tow, we "do" school for about 2 hours and then just live -- read alouds, videos that apply to what we've done (for example today we're doing Jim Arnosky's nature books -- first they watched Bambi while I got laundry started and dishes done, beds made, etc. Then we read books, did table time math etc, went to dance class, had them color a nature picture (rabbit and deer -- get it, Thumper and Bambi) after we had read up on them a bit) while they watched Wind in the Willows. After lunch it was naptime/quietime and then outside play.
Does this help. I think maybe you're worrying too much about getting it all in -- you soulnd like you've got all bases covered.
"Don't worry, be happy"
Blessings
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Molly Smith
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| Posted: March 08 2005 at 4:20am | IP Logged
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I read MOTH a few times a year, spend hours over the course of a couple of weeks making a schedule, and then throw it all away before using it even once  . However, I enjoy the process and gain a lot from it and will continue to do it over the years, I'm sure.
With this last reading, I gleaned getting Patrick's day a little more routinized. He's only 6 months old and nurses on-demand, but he now has both naps and bedtime at a predictable start and end time. Wow, that has freed me so much!
Regarding getting it all in, we start at 9am with the Rosary and usually a short read from either the Children's Bible or saints book or something similar. Then we read our FIAR book together and do whatever FIAR subject I'd planned for that day. We also are working through Behold & See 3 science as a family--only Jeanne does the written work, but everyone participates in the rest (I love that program, by the way, but that's another post...) Then we do our seat work, which my 7 year old boy does in about 10-20 minutes depending on what it is. He and his 5yo brother usually take off after that and I don't see them until they get hungry . Jeanne continues with lessons until lunch. She loves seat work and is very pokey, so it takes her a long time.
We read picture books at lunch and chapter books at tea time. Little Sarah (2) doesn't stray far from her big sister most of the day. She has a work space set up for her "lessons" which lately consist of coloring, cutting and play doh.
Back to MOTH, though, this is the first time that I feel like I've got my day "pegged" (I think that's Leonie's term?). Our pegs are meal times (3 plus tea), nap times (2), and the 9am rosary. So I have six things that happen at the same time every day. It helps me and the children to know what to expect from the day. They have hours of free time and, technically, so do I . MOTH helps me see how much more I could be fitting in, but frankly, I'm too tired and would rather sit, sip tea and mess around on the computer than clean anything or sew anything .
That's our typical day! Sorry to have dragged on so long...
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Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
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tovlo4801
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| Posted: March 08 2005 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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I can relate to your wonder about how others "get it all in". I'm always wondering about that. I only have 2 (5 and 11) as well, but I do have a part-time at home job that takes up about 3-4 hours a day as well. My biggest struggle is trying to manage social things for both myself and my family. I guess we are blessed to live in a wonderful area with a strong parish and many Catholic homeschooling families in the area. We also have a nice neighborhood with good kids (not Catholic, but good kids) for my dc to play with. The problem is that all the social things that go along with that blessing just DRAIN me!
A regular school day for us goes like this. I get up around 6:15. I pray and go to the gym. After showering and getting ready for the day I begin getting my husband's lunch ready and breakfast for the kids around 8:00. We listen to Catholic radio in the morning and they do the daily gospel and meditation at 8:25 so after that is done, we turn off the radio and begin school. Mostly I school my ds 11 and fit things in for my little one when there is time. We begin with math for 45 min to 1 hr. After Math we do language arts. This rotates between grammar, composition, vocabulary and spelling. At about 10:30 we move on to either History or Science. We do a 4 day school week so we do two days of History and two days of Science. I have to go to the business where I work at about 11:00 to pick up my work for the day, so my dc do independent things like practice speech (they get speech TX), practice piano, do some chores, or have some play time then. After I return from getting my work, I take a few moments to go into my room to pray quietly and then I make lunch. After lunch ideally, we'd have a more relaxed schedule until 3:00. There are several subjects that I need to get to on a regular basis, but can't fit in every day or week. So government/civics, nature study, art appreciation, art skill, music appreciation, more directed religion (most of our religion comes from the way we live our lives) and others I just can't think of right now rotate through in the afternoon. We also try to play math games, watch movies, and do other hands-on things in this time. Thursday afternoon we're driving several hours to a speech appointment so we listen to stories in the car to and from the appointment and I count that as read-a-loud time. After 3:00 they are pretty much free. I then get my chores done (bills, laundry, picking up, planning next school day and recording grades etc) until about 4:00. I usually begin my work then and work through until supper. I take a short break for supper and then pick up work again. My husband typically takes over caring for the kids in the evening and puts them to bed. Once I'm done working, I clean up the house a little bit, get ready for the next day, and take about an hour to relax in a quiet house before sleeping so I can begin the next day again. Friday we have a Catholic homeschool co-op every other week. So we don't do official school on Friday's. We do co-op and usually some friend playdate in the afternoon. The opposite Fridays should be relatively free for errands or field trips that we'd like to take as a family, but somehow they always seem to fill up too!
As you can see our schedule is pretty tight! The problem is that we do have such a wonderful community and we're always needing to ditch this or that in order to fit in some play date or event or volunteer commitment that someone wants us to take on. I hate to say no because I know what a blessing it is to have such a wonderful community. I already say no to quite a few things. I for the most part say M-Th until 3:00 is off-limits. It's pretty rare that I let anything interupt that, but it's still all just soooo tiring! I think it's good when kids (and moms too!) have unscheduled free time. That's when creative thinking and exploring really takes place. I think my kids actually have an acceptable amount of this kind of time, but I wish I had a little more of it. I think if your schedule allows for you to have some unscheduled time to just sit quietly or perform some quiet hobby you enjoy - DON'T feel guilty about it. Keep it there and don't fill it in with something you think you should be doing instead. I believe that is incredibly important time for Moms too!
Hope something in my schedule helps and thanks for giving me the opportunity to vent a little about our overscheduled lives. 
God Bless,
Richelle
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TradCathMom
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| Posted: March 12 2005 at 8:45pm | IP Logged
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Great topic! What is MOTH?
I'm amazed at everything we *can* do in a day's time. Our day is jam packed from the minute we get up to about 4pm.
We don't watch TV and rarely a movie so that frees up quite a bit of the day. My biggest time gobbler is the computer though for Lent I've been working on prioritizing in that department.
I have found I have more time with more children because I'm not the one and only one who entertains the children. They entertain each other and love to play together. If it is a consolation to you, I found 2 dreadfully hard and time consuming. I am even able to squeeze in a little time here and there to read a little (something more for adults ) and do a little scrapbooking or something.
There are days that I feel my head whizzing around that is for sure. But the more we stick to our regular routine the better. I might also add I have zilcho social life (I mean "in real life") so I'm a home-body. We aren't involved in any out-side activities either, except of course what we do "outside" .
Part of me envies those who do outside activities but then after we do something on a rare outing I'm more than happy to stay home for a very long time With all my children so young (under 9) it's a big project to go anywhere so I prefer staying home!!
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Courtney
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| Posted: March 12 2005 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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Thank you all. I do think I tend to think I need to be doing more. I still haven't let go of the "school" mentality. The days that are the best is when I don't try to cram too much in. Up to now I have planned the week with each day filled in for each subject. I like the idea of just planning an entire study, such as Ping/China, and then hitting each thing whether we do it on a certain day or not. When I get too scheduled, I tend to get frustrated by rabbit trails. The rabbit trails are the best part! This is our second year homeschooling and just like last year, I realize I learn so much about what works best for my kids as we go along. I really like hearing about what you all do through your day. Thank you for all your input! Courtney in Texas
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TradCathMom
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| Posted: March 12 2005 at 9:34pm | IP Logged
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Courtney wrote:
| Thank you all. I do think I tend to think I need to be doing more. I still haven't let go of the "school" mentality. |
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This is how I feel sometimes too! I think it is more outside influences than anything.
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Julie
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Mother of 11
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Molly Smith
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| Posted: March 13 2005 at 4:01am | IP Logged
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MOTH is Managers of Their Homes by Steve and Teri Maxwell. It is, in my opinion, a great book about prioritizing and scheduling. I think the author does a great job of showing moms how to fit it all in and where to find time in the day. I prefer the approach of a natural sequence to the day, i.e. rise, eat, morning chores, prayers, lessons, lunch, etc, rather than tying everything to the clock, but I've found that those things do happen at roughly the same times every day! I will sometimes print out a day broken down into 15 or 30 minute increments and fill in the "pegs" and I usually discover that I waste a lot of time  .
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Molly Smith in VA
Mom to seven beautiful children, ages 1-14
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teachingmyown
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I had MOTH a couple of years ago and sold it. It probably would have been smart to hang on to it and review it periodically like you do Molly. I remember being very "commited" to the idea of getting my babies a little more scheduled, at least as far as sleeping goes. But here I am with an 19 month old who still nurses on demand and sleeps irregularly and with me at night. It is hard to schedule a day when so much depends on when Kateri is sleeping.
I have the problem of really Hating schedules. I also have a child who thrives on the schedule. We made a new schedule a couple of weeks ago and my 9 yr dd has been the "schedule Keeper", at times risking life and limb to make sure her siblings are out of bed on time or ready for the next "switch"! This drives me crazy! I have a hard time switching gears (the ADD part of me) and I feel pressured and tense when trying to follow a schedule.
I like the "Peg" idea. I just worry that I would let too many things slip, especially with my older kids.
A while back, probably a couple of years?, there was a discussion of Pegs on CCM. There was a link to a product to help you implement a pegs system. Does anyone remember what it is? I remember it was expensive, especially for a large family, but I would like to look at it again.
I am always curious to know what your typical day looks like, especially those of you with lots of children. I really feel, mor often than not, that I am just not cut out for this job. We always seem to live in chaos! 
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Oney
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| Posted: March 15 2005 at 4:38pm | IP Logged
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Hi! I'm new to the 4Real Learning forums but wanted to chime in here about scheduling.
About a month or so ago I bought the MOTH book. I took my time reading it even though all I wished to do was just put my head on the thing and absorb it all as quickly as I could.
I've had a semi-completed Master Schedule Workseet up on the wall for about 3 weeks and slowly I've been adding to it as I see just what really goes on around here.
I'd like to "peg" a time for me to do the daily housework --- like making the bed, throwing a load of laundry in and one other household chore. I'm not too keyed up about a totally clean house (as much as I'd like one). I figure if DH has clean socks in his sock drawer and the dishwasher runs after supper each night then the rest can wait until this season in my life changes to another.
Besides, can't you count writing spelling words in the dust as part of the school day?
I too, find it awesome that families with more blessings (children) can flow smoothly. It's out of necessity. It's getting easier around here.
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Oney
Happily married and mother of 3
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: MOTH, Scheduling and fitting it all in
