Schedules

5 Disciplines~Week 2 – Time Management

April 15, 2012 by Courtney 37 Comments

First let me begin with a Week 1 update: My “Body Challenge” goal was to lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks. As of today, I have lost 1 1/2 pounds and I think if I eat one jelly bean I will gain this pound back. lol! So this means I must continue to skip my after dinner snack and exercise 20 minutes, 3+ times a week to maintain this loss and continue to lose more. If you took the week one challenge and have an update – please leave it in the comment section – this is your accountability !

Now let’s move into week two’s Discipline – Time Management!

One thing I have realized this week as I’ve tried to add in exercise is that it’s hard for me to find time. Basically, it appears that I’m using all my time doing something I want or need to be doing – which means I have to stop doing something in order to add in exercise…which I really don’t feel like doing…so it’s easy to just think “I don’t have time.” I have it – it’s just not how I want to spend it!

Elizabeth Elliot says in her book Discipline-The Glad Surrender: “Time management, a highly developed science today, begins for the Christian with time set aside for God. Other things cannot fall into a peaceful order if this is omitted.”

Here is why time management begins with our time spent with God…how will we know how to spend our time – what we should commit to and what we should say “no” to, if we are not in communion with God?

As God’s children we should be praying “Thy will be done” but often times we are praying “my list be done.”

The mistake here is that we may put onto our own plate more than God would put on our plate – and as a result raise our stress levels to extremely high levels.

Jesus says – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”~ Matthew 11:28,29

When our stress levels are high – it is nearly impossible to be kind, patient, gentle and in tune with our husband and children. We are too busy to stop to care and there is absolutely no room for error in the day. We need to guard our time so there is room to breathe – room to kiss booboos, read a mind stretching-soul inspiring book, soak in a bubble bath or linger long with your husband in bed. These are gifts that God has given us to enjoy.

What gifts have you turned down from God because you are over-committed or pursuing the wrong things?

“There is always enough time to do the will of God.”~Elizabeth Elliot

I love schedules. God created us as creatures of habit and we see in creation a natural rhythm as the sun sets and rises day after day and the seasons change one after another every.single.year.

There are some things set into our weeks that we can’t escape. We all have to cook, clean and do laundry. So why not create a rhythm in our homes to accomplish the mundane, so we are free to enjoy fun, family and fellowship! Here’s an example of my cleaning schedule:

This schedule guarantees that everything gets done at least once a week…truthfully…some of these things need to be done twice a week. By about day 5 – the house looks like a tornado I know this schedule cannot work for everyone (especially doing laundry just one day a week for large families) BUT it’s a good place to start. And it’s time to be pro-active and think through what DOES work.

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. ~ Zig Ziglar

Week 2 – Challenge:
1. Sit down and look at your calendar. Think about your priorities.
2. Pray and ask God to give you wisdom as to what you should be doing with your time.
3. Write out a list of what you need to get done this week – don’t forget to write in time with God! (you can use the free printable below as a guide !)
4. Every morning this week, look over your to-do list. Pray and ask God for wisdom. Add, take away or move things on your list accordingly.
5. Continue this discipline next week and the week after. Soon you will find order and rhythm to your days and weeks.

5 Weeks 5 Disciplines – Time Management

Here’s last week’s printable if you need a fresh one for the new week:
5 Weeks 5 Disciplines – Body
Are you taking the Time Management Challenge – tell us in the comment section?

If you have any time management tips, please share them!!!

If you are a blogger – write about it, post this button in your post or side bar and then link-up below!

Walk with the King,

Filed Under: 5 Weeks 5 Disciplines Mind-Body-Spirit, Goals, Homemaking, Schedules, Self-Discipline, Stress

My 2011 Schedules for Cleaning, Meals and School

August 22, 2011 by Courtney 56 Comments

I recognize that not everyone enjoys living life on a schedule. God has made us all unique with different personalities and preferences. I personally thrive on a schedule as does the rest of my family. But if this sort of thing makes you gag lol! know that God made you differently for his purposes and that is what makes the body of Christ beautiful!

My inspiration for my schedules is the Proverbs 31 woman. Proverbs 31:27 says, “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idlenss.” My schedule helps me to watch over all the affairs – or happenings – in my household. And it keeps me from wasting time on things that may get in the way of my priorities.

Everything in nature has a rhythm – seasons flow from summer to fall to winter to spring and then back to summer again. The sun rises and sets and the tides come in and out on a rhythm. But even in nature there are storms, tornados, and hurricanes – unexpected happenings that interrupt the expected. I know that my family will face storms and moments when the unexpected happens and our flow will have to flex.

So I have discovered a tool that I am using for the very first time this year called “Managers of Their Homes” by Steven and Teri Maxwell.

The Maxwell’s say ~ “Scheduling will not be the power of energy in your successful home management…any success in our homes comes from Jesus Christ around whom everything must revolve…We do not rely on the strength of our schedule but on the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ.” pg2

So let me begin by sharing with you my weekly cleaning schedule that I’ve used off and on for 2+ years. I have found that if the children and I do an hour or two of housework a day, I can maintain a fairly orderly home all week long without feeling like I’m cleaning all of the time. (side note- if guests are coming this schedule changes and I clean the entire house top to bottom in 1-2 days so it is all clean at once) I love the alliteration of this schedule which makes it easy for everyone in the house to remember what the tasks of the day are!

Cleaning Schedule:

Mondays – Menu and Market (we grocery shop in the late afternoon)

Tuesdays – Toilets, Tubs, Towels (Bathroom day!)

Wednesdays – Wash Day (we run and fold 6 +/- loads of laundry)

Thursdays – Dust

Fridays – Floors

Next is the meal schedule (did you realize you are going to potentially cook 1,000 meals this year! Might as well have an efficient plan right?) - which is similiar to the cleaning schedule with the alliteration:

Meal Schedule:

Mexican Monday

Tomato-ey Tuesday

Wild-Card Wednesday

Thrifty & Thankful Thursday

Fancy Friday (sometimes Fish Friday)

Soup and Sandwich Saturday

Simple Sunday (We usually eat lunch out - so dinner is light)

And finally there’s my personal daily plan that squeezes in exercise, devotions, homeschooling, blogging, social media, hubby time, real life ministry, friends and housework! Here’s a sample of a typical day (but we all know that rarely are days typical!)

Weekday Schedule

6am – Wake, head to exercise at my local YMCA 1 minute away, come home and clean-up

7am – Devotions

7:30 – Email my Good Morning Girls and check social media

8am – Breakfast and Bible Reading with the Children

8:30 – Oversee Chores

9am – one on one time with each child doing phonics while the other child showers

10am – Classical Conversations (History/Science)

10:30 – Handwriting and Grammar

11:00 Math

11:30 – Computer Time for me, piano practice for Lexi

12 – Lunch

12:30 – Cleaning for me, free play for the children

1 – Classical Conversations Memory Work (Latin, History)

1:30 – Reading

2 – Computer time for me, craft or game time for the children

2:30 – Roomtime, Rest, Read, Write

3:30 – Cleaning for me, TV Time and snack for the children

4:30 – Dinner Prep, Children are my helpers where needed

5:30 – Dinner

6 – Dinner Clean-up as a family

6:30 – free time

8 – Family Reading, talking and prayer time

8:30 – Time with my husband

9:30 – Post Blog post for the next day, social media

10:30 – Read or rub hubby’s back

11:00 – zzzzzzzzzz

This is my ideal day and week – but we all know that life does not fit neatly into 30 minute boxes. Daily there will be things that change the schedule such as homeschool group, gymnastics, football, Karate and piano lessons. So we enter the school year in prayer and trust that God will be our ultimate guide each day.

Do you have any new fall schedules you can share with me? I’d love to hear about them!

Walk with the King,

*High Fives to Nikki and Denice for sharing your schedules with me that I now use !

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Schedules Tagged With: Cleaning Schedule, Homeschooling Schedule, Meal Schedule

Summer Bible Reading Plan For Moms

May 13, 2011 by Courtney 14 Comments

John Piper writes: Don’t let summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute.

If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman. That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come—”things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

It is easy in the midst of summer fun to let our time in God’s word slip. If you are in need of accountability, I want to invite you to join me as I follow this summer reading plan for moms.

This reading plan follows the “S.O.A.P” method and I will be using it alongside Sally Clarkson’s book The Ministry of Motherhood.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE SALLY’S BOOK TO JOIN ME!!!! Reading God’s word is first priority. There will be videos over on Good Morning Girls.org that accompany this reading plan. We’d love for you to join us – come alone or come as a group!

What is the S.O.A.P method? The S.O.A.P. Method stands for:

1. S- Write out the scripture passage for the day. (I have a shiny new notebook where I will be writing out the verse/s of the day.)

2. O- Write down 1 or 2 observations from the passage. (After I write out the verse, I will write what I learned from the verse.)

3. A- Write down 1-2 applications from the passage. (Then I will write out how this verse applies to me if it is applicable.)

4. P- Pray over what you learned from today’s passage. (Then I will pray this verse over myself and my family.)

As you go through this study, if you come across a verse or passage that you don’t understand, I recommend Crosswalk’s Bible Study Tools found here: http://www.biblestudytools.com/ On this page in the lower right hand corner, you can find links to Bible dictionaries, commentaries (I like Matthew Henry’s and John McArthur’s), concordances, and other Bible translations, etc.

I need accountability. If you need it too just print out the summer reading plan here.

And if you are a blogger and would like to share this with your readers – feel free to copy and paste this little button and link it too http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/

If you don’t have a blog – I invite you to spread the word to your family and friends – share the link to this post or Good Morning Girls.org with your facebook, twitter or email friends.

Walk with the King and let him knock your socks off – he loves you so!!!!

To make sure you don’t miss a thing – follow me on Facebook or Twitter!

I am linked to Raising Homemakers, Titus 2sdays, We Are That Family and A Holy Experience.

Filed Under: Book Club, Good Morning Girls, Parenting, Quiet Times, Schedules

Our Daily Homeschool Routine and Curriculum ~ Part 3 of 5

February 16, 2011 by Courtney 67 Comments

This is my children on the day all their boxes of homeschool stuff arrived this past July!!! It was a VERY exciting day!!!This video gives you a peak inside a typical homeschool day in our home. Every home will look different based on the ages of your children. Some of you will have little ones that need managed during homeschool time, others will have teens who are self sufficient. This is what our home looks like right now in this season of life. (and please, if you are a homeschooler – share in the comments about what your day looks like! I’d LOVE to hear about it!!! And if you have a blog post about it – pretty please link it up below!!!!)

I will share with you our curriculum choice in the video below. Some of you will be disappointed with our family choice – you will be surprised to find that we do not use Christian curriculum. This is one reason I hesitated to do this series…this post is sure to upset a few of my faithful followers who I love and care about. In July, I shared about our curriculum here and the comments were ugly.

(updated note: – since this post – we have changed curriculums and we now use Classical Conversations, Saxon Math and the Rod and the Staff Resources for the 2011-2012 school year.)

There are tons of awesome choices for curriculum out there – we each must do our homework and choose the one that works best for our family. One reason we chose this one is because my oldest sister – who I adore – used this curriculum for 7 years with her 3 boys and she loved it. She currently works as a virtual High School Math teacher for our on-line school. Be assured, there is no shortage of spiritual teaching in our home. I will talk more about this on Friday. But for now – here’s part 3!

I mentioned above my chore pack system. If you’d like to see the video covering that – click here.

Today is Women Living Well Wednesday! It’s a Link-Up Day!!!

Join the fun, do a little blog hopping and don’t forget if you join below -please add the Women Living Well Wednesdays button to your post so your readers can find us here! (posts can include the topics of marriage, parenting and homemaking)