Summer Schedule Tips
July 2007
Each family has their own unique way of spending their summer months. With the normal school year ending we look forward to a change of pace and to the wonderful summer activities we all enjoy.
Some families will take a complete break from any kind of structured learning and schedule. Others will have some light “school” to do over the summer for their children, as well as maintaining a normal chore and work schedule. Some continue to school through the summer with a full and regular schedule in both school and home. We have been home educating our children for the past 18 years and we have found that it has greatly helped our children if we maintain order and semblance for the day with having regular daily chores. Also, while we do take a break from regular schooling a few weeks during the summer, we still have plenty of learning going on. We found years ago, that taking the complete summer off from regular schooling was too much. It created large “gaps” in their learning and it gave too much room for their flesh to thrive and for them to become lazy and undisciplined. It ended up being too hard to regroup come fall and it always felt like we were starting from scratch.
While we were young parents we found that each year also brought a huge change to our family whether it was a new baby (there have been 23 years and 8 children worth of new babies!), or addition’s and remodeling to our home (3 huge ones), or sicknesses (too many to count!), or a cross country move (to Idaho, yeah!) My point being that we began to realize that we needed to factor into our yearly schedule that there was always going to be something that would come up that would hinder our productivity and or our school schedule enough that I would feel pressured if we took the whole summer off. So…Mark and I decided to just take a few weeks off during the summer. This helped me sooo much to never again feel “behind” or pressured if something big should arise during the school year. We had already factored in this “down” time and were usually way ahead of schedule by doing it this way. Also, we usually take a couple of weeks off during December. If we’re way ahead, we can take the whole month off. This gives us time to really enjoy this special season as we make gifts, visit, bake, and do special family things together, as well as celebrate 3 birthdays in our family in last part of December. We don’t feel pressured and if for some reason we feel like we can’t take the whole month off, we can still take the last two weeks off and this greatly helps us to be more relaxed and refreshed during this busy holiday season and truly feel we can enjoy and celebrate our Savior’s birth.
One of the key areas for a summer schedule is to help our children manage their free time properly. We cannot just leave our children to themselves day after day. They will quickly get into trouble without direction and planning and organization. Children will tend to get into things and to choose activities like TV and video games if left to their own devices. These things in small doses will not hurt them, but it has to be monitored. If mom does not have a schedule or a plan, she may be tempted to just let the children go…and then she will find that they are surly, irresponsible, lazy, undisciplined and she will regret having not paid enough attention to what they were doing.
It takes time and effort from mom to think through ahead of time and put together a summer schedule but then all she needs to do once it’s written down is to look at it and do it! I believe children like having a schedule as well! I have had many mothers whose children are home for the summer and who have made a summer schedule say, that their children were thrilled! They enjoyed knowing what was expected of them and when they were doing each thing during the day. When it is written out, and posted children can see that there are established work times and established play times. And at our house…our children often feel that work is play! They enjoy working alongside us and we enjoy working with them as well. When you have a schedule you will find that you are more productive and diligent. You will also be very surprised at how much “free” time you all have! You will also not feel guilty for what you do during your “free” time, because you will have accomplished sooooo much during your scheduled work times!
While we want the summer workload to be a bit less busy and a bit more relaxed….we do still want our family to maintain a certain level of productivity. Chores still need to be done and the house still needs cleaning. The schedule we have for this makes keeping our home always relatively clean and neat easy to do because we do small chunks daily and because everyone helps. Also during the summer we have two main chores that take time and effort from the whole family….veggie gardens and canning, so we have to make adequate time in our daily schedule for these two important things.
Basically our morning schedule of Bible reading and morning chores never changes. This creates consistency and it helps us to put first things first. Also, we have found that the more routine it becomes the easier and quicker the jobs can be done. The children KNOW what they are to do and they get very good at doing them without having to be told and they become quite adept at the jobs.
We always begin each day with God’s Word. Our children who can read well on their own, have their own individual quiet times in God’s Word, and then we still have family time in God’s Word each morning. *We also have a family devotion time in the evening. During our morning family devotion time right now, we are studying the book of Proverbs, and memorizing Ps. 119, and the Westminster Cathecism.
After our time in God’s Word and breakfast, chore time begins.
By continuing to do our morning chores everyday throughout the year, even in the summer it helps our home to be neat and clean and ready for the day.
Our home is not perfect. We are though striving to always have it relatively neat and clean and organized. Having a daily schedule helps to give us a steady pace and direction for our day. It is a wonderful tool that helps us to walk out the important things that we feel the Lord would have us accomplish. A schedule helps us to be good stewards of the time the Lord blesses us with each day A schedule and purposefulness to not grow weary and quit, had brought so much peace and joy to our home. Our home is a much more pleasant place to be for our family and hopefully for those who come to visit with us. We also feel that having a well thought out and planned schedule has helped us to have “margin” in our day that is built in and purposeful. This margin has helped us to keep our marriage flame burning brightly and to have wonderful relationships with our children.
I also wanted to mention that I am glad to share what the Lord has shown us and what has worked for our family. But I would whole heartedly encourage each of you to seek the Lord and your husband before establishing anything new in your home or before making a schedule for your family. God will faithfully help you and your husband know what is right and what will work for your individual family and for the commitments you may have. I would encourage you to be faithful to pray before establishing anything.
By 9:00 a.m. each morning we’ve:
1. Had time in God’s Word (individually and as a family)
2. Sorted/folded/put away 2 loads of laundry (each child folds their own, Katie folds mine and hers, Mitchell folds Marks and his, Emily does her clothes and bath towels, Zachary folds his clothes and hand towels, Jacob folds his clothes and washcloths)
3. Spruced all the bathrooms (clean hand towel, toilet paper refill, wipe sink, toilet and counter, dust bust floor, straighten and pick up, empty trash…do what needs done each day. This makes the day we scrub the bathroom sooo much easier to do!)
4. Kitchen is cleaned after breakfast (little ones put away silverware, throw away napkins, put away the milk and cereal or other things that go in the fridge or pantry.) older children: wash soap dishes, load dishwasher.
5. Beds are made and bedrooms straightened (under beds, in the closet, dresser tops etc. what you don’t inspect they neglect!) *Make sure that you de-clutter and organize so that you can hold your children accountable and so that they know exactly where everything goes and can easily do what you’re asking.
6. One child straightens the living room
7. One child straightens the family room
8. Garage is straightened daily by 3 of our boys
9. Check the gardens. This takes about 15 min. We pull weeds, trim basil, take care of the tomato plants, harvest any ripe veggies.
All of this is done by 9:00 to 9:30. We don’t make any doctor’s appt. before this time throughout the year. We don’t ever need to leave before this time to go anywhere, so by making a commitment to not leave before this time, our home is always relatively clean and neat everyday. If we do leave after 9:00 a.m., we won’t have to come home to a home that is chaotic and out of control. How wonderful that is!
*If you have to leave before this to take your children to school. I would highly encourage you to still have a quiet time yourself, and to read at breakfast to your children from God’s Word and try to at least have the kitchen, and bedrooms straightened and in order before you leave. I would suggest not allowing any TV in the morning. Instead if there is time, try to have your children fold and put away their laundry (if you’re doing this daily, they will only have a few pieces of clothing or towels to do each day!) this is a 5 min. job and if possible allow them to spruce the bathroom…again this is a 5 min. job!
We home school so we try to not leave in the morning. But If we do need to leave our home during the day…it is always after our morning schedule so we never have to come home to a house that is messy, cluttered and dirty. When we come home, it is to a home that is orderly and neat…and if we aren’t able to do anything more that day, it is fine. But we try to just jump back into the schedule wherever we are when we get home. So….if it’s rest time, then we just pick up our schedule there. If it’s past rest time, and it’s time to start making dinner…then that is where we jump back into the schedule.
We have a “big” chore that is scheduled each day. Again, we do this all year long. During our “off” time from school, we may do this big chore right after our morning chores if we’re home…if we need to leave then it would be done in the afternoon. If we are gone all day and into the evening…then that chore would just get added to the next day, or dropped until the next week. For instance Monday is our dusting day….we only dust once a week. If we are gone on Monday and aren’t able to do it…then we can either decide to add it to Tuesday which is vacuuming/wash floors day or just wait until the following Monday.
Big chores:
Monday – dusting (each child does their room and one other room) If you only have little children have them go room to room with you. They can help you by picking up and putting away the clutter, or by giving them a swiffer cloth and assigning them a table or area to dust. We use a feather duster and swiffer cloths to dust. A five year old and up should easily be able to dust his own room and at least one to two more rooms…after he is trained. If you have only little ones and no big helpers and if you have a large home, you might consider dusting the upstairs only every other week. Or the upstairs one week and the downstairs the next week. And see if this is enough to keep it looking nice.
Tues./Thurs. – vacuuming/wash floors *Little ones can go with you. They can help to put things away so that you can vacuum. They can sit down in the room with you and watch you or look at a book. This way you’re able to watch them. They are learning to help too, by picking up so that you can vacuum. Again, a 6 year old should be able to vacuum his bedroom and one other room if you have a vacuum that he can manage.
Wed. – scrub bathrooms, clean out car, mowing and yard work, clean doors and windows, wipe down woodwork and kitchen appliances and cupboards. *Scrubbing bathrooms: little ones can help you by putting things away that don’t belong in the bathroom, putting out a clean hand towel, filling the toilet paper, emptying the trash, dust busting the floor for you. *Car cleaning with little ones: They can help you clean out the car by climbing under the seats and cleaning up the trash for you while you wipe down the dashboards and vacuum it out. We take plastic, grocery sacks to put the trash in and a plastic laundry basket to load up with the things that need to be taken out of the car and put away in the house like shoes, books, water bottles etc. I allow the children to either put away the items that need to be or help me if they are too little to do it by themselves. Yard work: little ones can pick up leaf piles and put them in the plastic garbage bag or trash or compost pile for you. They can help weed with supervision, you can trim and they can pickup the branches and sticks or leaves and bag them up. For kitchen appliances: little ones can be given a clean, wet dishrag and they can help you wipe down the fridge, stove, dishwasher and cupboards. For woodwork and doorknobs: again, give your little ones a clean, wet rag and allow them to help you.
We do not do any scheduled big chores on Fri., Sat. or Sunday. We get everything done for the most part during the week…Monday through Thursday. On Fri., Sat. and Sunday we only do the morning chores that are before 9:00 a.m. Dad sometimes has big yard projects or cleaning projects that are not on our normal schedule.
After our morning Bible time and chore time… (9:00 a.m.)
Our children do their music practice. (45 min. for the older children, 20 min. for the little ones) Since we only have one piano and they all take piano…they have to take turns practicing. While one child is playing the others do delight directed things. Reading, jewelry, biking, painting, drawing, etc. They have about 1 ½ hours to take turns and rotate the piano. While they are waiting, they need to still make good use of their time doing something worthy and productive. They do not sit and watch TV or play video games.
For our little ones (Emily 9, Zachary 7, and Jacob 6) We are scheduling their free time, in ½ hour increments. We will choose one of the below activities for them to do for ½ hour. We set the timer and they don’t move on till the ½ hour is up. If they would like to keep going on a certain activity they may…but they may not stop before the ½ hour time limit is up. They may either sit quietly or do what we’ve scheduled for them to do. This has trained them to stay focused and to not flit from one thing to another, not really accomplishing anything.
Ideas for other activities:
Playdough outside (we have a huge bucket of fun tools, gadgets and lots of playdough)
Painting outside (less mess, can house children and table down. Our children love to be sprayed in the summer J)
Drawing in nature notebooks
Playing a board game
Coloring in coloring books
Doing puzzles
Drawing with chalk
Bug collecting (we bought tools to do this with: butterfly nets, bug boxes, tweezers, magnifying glasses etc) They also have field guide books to look at to see what the bugs are
Playing a card game
Building a fort (they usually take all summer to build one and then play in it as they go) One year it was up in one of our trees…they had sooo much fun!
Jumping on the trampoline (we’ll assign this to them sometimes…helps get the excess energy out and they love it!)
We’ll take walks or bike rides
Roller blading on the driveway with an older sibling watching them
Jacks and balls
Jump roping
Bubble blowing
Playing with the bunnies (we have the sweetest dwarf, lop eared bunnies! We have extra’s should any of you want to purchase some! J)
Playing dirt kitchen (a friend allows her children a summer mud kitchen. This is GREAT fun for children. Sometimes we do a mud kitchen and sometimes just a dirt kitchen. The children dig dirt and play with dishes (bought at the thrift store) pretending they’re cooking. Let them play in bathing suits and then just hose them off or give them a bar of soap and let them wash and then hose them off! J
Our older children: ride their bikes, play with siblings, watch younger siblings, sew, paint, read, build with wood, do puzzles, play games, draw, garden, etc….inbetween playing piano. Our older boys have yard work, bike repair, car things to do, and jobs their dad gives them as well.
Our older children still do typing, reading, music, and chores through the summer. Also all of the children help with any big projects we have going on. We usually save painting, big furniture moving, and organizational projects and things like these for the summer months when we’re off from school. We take the morning time that we would normally be schooling and we will tackle a big project that we’ve been waiting to do. We try to organize every closet, at the beginning of summer to get ready for the summer clothes…and in the fall to get ready for the winter clothes and to see what fits and what we need to purchase for the children.
Our children really enjoy picking and canning fruit and from June to August this is something that we do off an on. It usually takes about a week to get most items canned completely with the amount that we do for our large family. In between the harvesting and canning though we do other big projects that we’ve been wanting to tackle….such as the closet cleaning out and room reorganizing, furniture moving and painting etc. our children will help spend some dedicated time to these with us. We usually are doing these projects as a family.
A priority for my summer schedule will be organization and cleaning projects that I am not able to tackle during the school year. I have an ongoing list and I try to use these summer months and this “free” time to accomplish them. We have such an amazing work force that the Lord has built in our home…and it becomes more and more of a blessing with each passing year! I am always amazed at what we can do with concentrated time. Almost any huge project can be almost done with just a couple of hours. I don’t usually have a couple of hours…most days it is only one hour….but with a couple of days of 1 hour blocks of time….we can knock out most jobs! If I don’t have them scheduled though and written down and if I don’t purpose to do them….and make time for them in our schedule….they just won’t get done! So I include this time block if not every day…at least 3 days out of the week.
Some of the projects are:
1. Cleaning out and organizing all closets/dresser drawers
2. Cleaning out and organizing all food pantry’s (we have 3 of them and someone is assigned the job of keeping them tidy during the year, but summer is when we go through them and completely clean and organize and get rid of things that we need to.)
3. In May we clean out and organize our freezers before we begin to freeze the fruit we’ll pick over the summer. We usually use all the fruit, salsa, and pesto that we’ve frozen from the previous year. May is when our freezer is the most empty and so it’s the easiest time to completely clean it out. We also go through the veggies and meat that are frozen and make sure that they are still in date, and then we get rid of anything that is no longer good. *write the date on your frozen items, that way you’ll know if they are good or not.
4. De-cluttering all bookshelves (again there are MANY of these in our home!) Someone is in charge of daily making sure the bookcases are neat and straightened and cleaned up and tidy. In the summer though, We go through the books, making sure that we are using all the books…we select some to read for the following year and throughout the summer. We also look to see what we might need to purchase for the coming year. We get rid of any that we feel that we are no longer going to use, to make room for new books. J
5. Washing all the windows in our home. We don’t do all of them but once a year. Throughout the year we do weekly washing of some key windows and the two sliding glass doors that are always getting finger prints and doggie ooze on them! J
6. Cleaning out the fireplace and having it professionally checked and cleaned if needed, to prepare for the coming winter.
7. Going through the school cabinet and organizing it for the coming year. We take an inventory of any supplies that are needed and purchase these. We also look at any school materials that we have and see what we can put into use in the coming year. If we haven’t used something for several years, we pray about selling it or giving it away to make more room for what we really need and use.
8. Go through all the children’s artwork and school papers and save and portfolio those we want to keep and get rid of the ones that we feel we can. We have to keep purging or we’ll drown under all the paper! We have found that making a portfolio of each year with art work, school papers, field trips and pictures from sports or other memories helps our children so much to have something to show grandparents and to look at themselves. We have had to learn how to let go of the rest….it’s hard, but truly we have not missed it and neither have they. If you have a child who has an especially hard time with letting things go and purging….this is a wonderful opportunity for training them and for helping them mature!
I use the time off in the summer to get all the children’s school books ready and prepared and organized for the coming school year. Mark and I think through and pray about what character qualities we feel we should focus on in the coming year (this is done all year…but we try to look ahead and prepare as much as we can)…we also think and pray about our schedule as needs change with the ages of our children. By doing this when we’re off school, I feel soooo much more prepared and ready when we do begin to school again. This would be helpful to all parents those who home educate and those whose children go to school outside the home. By doing this I am physically, mentally and emotionally ready for the coming school year! J
The main thing that we do during the summer that is sooo helpful to the rest of our school year is to re-evaluate our chores schedule and move our children into greater and greater roles of responsibility. We use the summer months to revamp our chore schedule and make any necessary changes we feel need to be made. Then we take time to properly train our children on any new jobs that they are getting. Our older children help train our younger ones on new jobs that they are getting. This takes time and effort. Mom will need to also train, and inspect and encourage! J After each job is done the child needs to come and tell mom, so she can go and inspect. There are several reasons for this…she can help the child should they need more instruction, she can help them see anything they need to still do, she can encourage them, and praise their godly character. Also, by checking each chore and telling our children when they are finished…it gives them a sense of being released and there is a freedom that comes in their hearts knowing they’ve done a job well done! If we do not check, then often we will call them back hours later to finish and often we’re angry or frustrated and this embitters our children. They need to know we care enough to check and inspect and when we’re encouraging in our tone and attitude and release them when the job is completed…they know they are done with that and that we won’t be coming back later. They feel a peace and joy in their hearts. This takes time for mom, and so that is why you will want to do it when you’re on break from your normal school schedule. We do this during the summer so that by the time we get back up and running with a full school schedule our children know how to do their new chores and are well on their way to becoming accomplished at them. J This is less stressful for them too! If it takes them some time to learn a chore they have, none of us will feel pressured that we need to get on with school work. Or if your children go to school outside your home, training them in the summer for the schedule and work they’ll have during the school year will greatly help those early mornings before school to go much more smoothly!
As you can see by this type of schedule of work/play/work/play throughout the day, the children’s scheduled activities nicely fill several hours each day. This still allows them to have a great deal of time to play, help others, or pursue their own interests. By some simple scheduling though, we avoid too much free time left to their own devices and foolishness. We never hear “I’m bored!” and we hardly ever have any fighting. J
Summer is the perfect time to schedule in those activities that you always want to do with the children but never have time. We read aloud all year long several times a day…we just make a point though to continue this throughout the summer. Sometimes though we’ll choose fun summer books like Swiss Family Robinson, or Hive of Busy Bees. J
We make a point of spending one on one time with each child. Normally we do this by Mark and I alternating a child to take with us every time we leave the house to run errands. But summer when we’re off of school, is another wonderful opportunity to try to schedule in a small blocks of time with individual children. We may work on something that this child enjoys or needs help in learning to accomplish. We might tackle a sewing project. Emily and I are making a quilt this summer. Mark is trying to help the boys on their computer skills. Katie and I are working on her bakery catering business called Katie Cakes. J
Summer is a great time too to work on academic skills that a child might need extra help on that the school year is just too full to tackle it. Like math skills, writing skills, computer skills. A little bit of time spent daily or several times a week during the summer months could really help your child so much in the coming school year. J
You wouldn’t believe what can be accomplished through the course of the summer by simply tackling cleaning and organizing for an hour a day…especially when your children work alongside you! J You will easily get through your “to do” list by the end of the summer. Try to stay on target and on schedule though. Some of us don’t like the step by step method…we want to start a project and finish it all at one time! This often creates a burn out and a very overwhelming feeling…also it cuts into other activities that we have scheduled. Stick to the schedule….cleaning and organizing for an hour a day and staying focused and concentrated on it….working with purposefulness and not allowing yourself to become distracted with the phone or other things…you will be AMAZED at what you can get done. Stop when the hour is up! Keep on schedule and do the next thing on your list.
Often when I was a young mom I would clean, clean, clean and work soooo hard all in one day. Then I would be soooo tired that I wouldn’t want to do anything the next day. Or…I would see the house quickly becoming dirty or messy again and I would allow myself to become discouraged and quit! This is much like the tortoise and the hare. The hare rushed ahead and then quit. The tortoise learned that slow and steady was a much better way of finishing and being faithful!
Having a DAILY schedule that breaks down the work into doable, jobs helps us to be much more faithful. Also, by having a schedule we begin to be MUCH less overwhelmed….we have direction and focus and purposefulness. We are not being bounced from one thing to another. We are able to plan ahead of time what should be done and how it should be done….then all we have to do daily is walk it out!This is only possible if we make a commitment ahead of time to do what we’ve prayed about and decided to do. We will not be successful if we allow how we “feel” in the moment to affect whether we obey or not! We need to go to our schedule and do what it says! We should not go to our schedule and ask ourselves “do I feel like vacuuming?” “Do I feel like dusting today?” The answer for most of us will almost always be “no” because we’re so sinful and fleshy! We are purposing to prayerfully stay on track and not allow the tyranny of the urgent to rule us. A schedule that is year around….ensures that we are able to stay much more faithful and on track. Often we and our children get soooo far off track and we’re miserable! When our flesh thrives with late nights, and late sleep in the morning and the mess and clutter and things being so chaotic…we are not joyful or experiencing the peace that we could be! A schedule is soooo helpful and sooo imperative if we are to be faithful to do what God has called us to do and to count important what HE says is important and to having some order to our home and to our day!
*All of us are at one end of the scale or the other. We are either messies or perfectionists. Either end if not okay and is not balanced. God desires that we be like his Son Jesus and to be conformed into his image. Jesus had all the character qualities in perfect balance and all of the fruits of the Spirit. We gain these fruits by abiding in Jesus and spending time with him and purposing to obey what he is showing us through his grace.
While we will never be perfect, we should be striving to be all that the Lord would have us to be and we should be trusting him to work in us as well to balance us and mature us. He will not do it all for us though! We have to count it important to do our part, to purpose, to obey, to become disciplined and purposeful to pray and seek him and his grace and to count important what Jesus says is important.
If we’re a messy (I sure was) then we need to see our need for Christ and his work in our lives and we need to purpose to be faithful to obey and to have a schedule and to do what is important and make the most of the opportunity we have as a wife and mother and keeper of our home. We need to not quit or be fainthearted. We need to see our sin and our laziness and ask God for grace to do what is right and good and biblical. We need to be willing to allow the Lord to transform us and to not be stubborn and unyielding.
We need to not make excuses. If we don’t know how to clean, or be organized….we can learn! If no one showed us how to clean or how to cook as we grew up…we can learn as adults! Do not use your growing up years as an excuse and do not blame others for what you don’t know. Go to God and ask for his help…he will provide all that you need to do the job that he’s given you! Ask a friend or an older woman you know if they can teach you what they know. Maybe you could work out a bartering system. You could baby sit your friends children, and she can teach you to sew or knit, or bake or decorate cakes etc. Or if you know how to sew and she is good at gardening…help each other! Also, it is really great if you can take a class here or there. I wasn’t able to go to an ongoing class every week. But occasionally I could go to a class that might be for a short period of time to learn something I needed to know. I love to learn…and my learning has continued to today! I learned how to water color paint a few years ago, so I could teach my children and because it’s something I always wanted to know how to do. A couple of years ago, I learned to knit! I love it and have enjoyed knitting and helping our children to knit! I hope to be a lifetime learner, and become more and more adept at learning to be a Proverbs 31 woman! I do believe our learning should be life long! Don’t be afraid to admit you need help or that you don’t know how to do something and don’t be afraid to ask for help. It is a very brave thing to do and no one is born knowing how to do all the things that we need to do…we all have to learn from someone at some point!
If we are a perfectionist…we too need the Lord’s help. We need him to “balance” us. We need to be looking to him and allowing him to show us what is in our hearts and allow him to change us and to help us to become more mature and balanced. We need to be careful to not put “things” (like the house, our furnishings, time, clothes, appearance, cars etc.) above our relationship with God and with others. We will need to learn to be flexible, bearing with others in love, allowing others to help and encouraging them in love. We will need the Lord’s grace and redeeming help in our lives, so that we do not try to control everything. We will need to not be driven by the tyranny of the urgent and to not have a high place in our lives or make “stuff” an idol in our hearts or the schedule an idol or our desires to see things done a certain way become an idol in our lives.
I know it sounds weird to say that a schedule could become an idol…but it can! Something that can be both wonderful, freeing and help us to honor God and be good stewards of the time and blessings he’s given us. Something that can help us to be wise and to focus on things that are of lasting and eternal value. But a schedule is also something that can cause us to become inflexible and rigid. We can allow it to become our idol, without daily looking to the Lord and with all of the things we’re talking about asking God to please search our hearts and help us to see any way that we’ve left his path and are choosing to walk independently apart from him and his way. Ps. 139:23-24.
Pray, pray, pray! You want to make sure that the activities you’ve put in your schedule and in your children’s schedules are activities that the Lord wants for you to do. I want to make sure that I am choosing to count important what the Lord says is important! I want to make sure that I’m focusing on what is of eternal value! I want to make sure that what we’re doing is honoring to the Lord and my husband. The Lord has called each of us to serve him, and accomplish his will in our lives and families….our daily schedule is just a tool for us to be able to accomplish this.
There will be days that we don’t complete everything that is on our schedule. We strive to have the morning chores before 9:00 a.m. always done. But there will be times when we have a spur of the moment trip to the park for a picnic or playtime. Then we will probably use our scheduled time to prepare for the outing and decide what the priorities are for the remaining day when we return home…jumping back in to the schedule where we can…when we can.
Having a schedule that you’re faithfully working, will make these “unscheduled” days more enjoyable because our daily tasks will be caught up and current. Catching up won’t be stressful, because it won’t be completely out of whack or way behind. It won’t take much to get back on track or caught up. Let your schedule help you enjoy that trip to the park, pool, zoo, or visiting friends day. J
I want to encourage you to consider making a schedule to help meet the goals and desires you have for summer and for the whole year through. It is what helps us to redeem our time and to be purposeful in counting important what is of eternal and lasting value. We are actually able to accomplish soooo much both in our relationships, skills, our marriage, and home and family life. Some structure to our summer days and our daily life ensures that our days will be much more peaceful and productive! And that we’ll have a sense of direction to accomplish the GOAL’s (Godly ordained activities for my life and family that we feel are important.
You won’t enter into the new school year disappointed that the summer weeks slipped by without you or your children accomplishing what you had hoped to do. A daily schedule is a productive instrument we can benefit from making and then using. We have the freedom to pray and seek the Lord’s direction and wisdom and also our husbands wisdom and discernment to develop a daily schedule that fits and work for our individual family and needs.
God bless you and may you have a very blessed summer!
With much love,
Lori