It’s time for the final post on scheduling. I will try to wrap up with a few more explanations of things that may not be clear. If you look at my schedule, you’ll see that I have very few times for to-do’s throughout the day. As I have previously stated, this is mainly because my children are more important than a perfectly cleaned, organized home, so there are few times I get to work on these things. I have heard it said that the most important things to have ready for your family are food and clothes; therefore laundry, menu planning, and shopping are always my first priorities each week. Once those are done, I begin to work down the list of other priorities, doing as much as I can. Usually on the weekend, Bill and I will work together to finish up what was absolutely necessary.
After a little outing I nurse Ariana, and Liam has quiet time. This is comprised of him sitting on the couch listening to a Bible story C.D. and looking at the pictures in one of his Bibles. He then has blanket time for 15 minutes (I set a timer so he knows when he can get up) where he gets to sit on his play mat and play with a toy he usually doesn’t get to play with. I have heard of many people using this for their younger children while they are homeschooling. I then put a gate up to keep him in his room where he plays while I prepare lunch. Ariana plays in her crib during this time.
After lunch, we all take a nap. Yep, me too! Because of my early morning start, I need this power nap to make it through the rest of the day. It’s amazing what 15-30 minutes can do. When the kids get up, Liam and Ariana both eat and then Liam watches a video for 15 minutes. We are very careful about the videos he gets to watch. For instance, he never gets to watch something where the kids are always outsmarting the parents. It’s a poor view of the Biblical family and can teach children to disrespect their parents and elders.
When Bill gets home, we have 15 minutes of couch time. We sit and talk while Liam plays (usually with Ariana), and Liam is learning he is not to interrupt. It’s important for our children to know Mommy and Daddy’s relationship comes first, so we feel this is a good way for us to catch up after a long day.
We have family worship (and family clean up) during the dinner hour. We actually are revamping this a bit. We are now teaching Liam songs that teach him about God (our favorites are songs from the Awesome God C.D. by Sovereign Grace), and Bill is teaching him Biblical truths. Then we all play as a family and Bill reads to the kids (one of the most anticipated times of the day–it really is entertaining).
After the kids are in bed, Bill and I read together (currently When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper) and pray. Then it’s beddie-bye for us. Yeah!
Hopefully, this has been of some use to some of you. It was definitely helpful for me to evaluate once again why I do what I do throughout the day. Again, I am always changing things to meet our needs at the time, and I am always open to suggestion from those much wiser than me.
P.S. Bill is still going to post his follow-up on humility. He had to come home early yesterday (yes, our anniversary) and play nurse to me and babysitter to the kids since I was sick. This has been one of those crazy weeks where nothing has gone as planned. Can anyone relate? 
