So, here we are at the start of another week.  Monday’s are so important to me.  In my opinion they set the tone of the week, and it’s a make-it-or-break-it deal.  So, I generally try to do everything in my power to make sure that if we only have one smooth, well planned day a week–it’s Monday.  To help facilitate that goal, I set aside an hour or so on Sunday evening  for some one-on-one time with my planner.

I love planners and lists.  There’s very little as satisfying as making little checkmarks on the ‘to-do list’.  A daily to-do list that changes with the day and what we have planned, as well as a weekly to-do list with the larger goals of the week are my steady favorites.

Daily: Declutter floors, clean kitchen, craft/coloring with Sophia, practice violin, write a blogpost, or work on the stack of books that I’m reading, study something educational, and write on the ever-progressing novels.  Everything on the daily list doesn’t always happen, but it’s what I aspire to.

Weekly: Library day, shopping day, clean bathrooms, vacuum/mop floors, dust, wash linens

Today, it looks like the weather is going to be fantastic, so I’m going to focus on the cleaning.  Throwing open all the windows, maybe a door or two, and scrubbing the house down.  Laundry, dusting, floors, the works… all while blasting some music way too loud 🙂

The other days of the week are similar but with key differences, mainly in the mornings.  From about 10-2 is when we go out if we have errands to run or people to see, so the schedule will reflect that.  My goal is to limit our running around to two days per week, so that we can accomplish other goals like doing an educational craft 3+ times per week, baking, painting, and all that jazz.  I try to keep it looking something like this.

Monday: alphabet activity + craft Tuesday: alphabet activity + baking  Wednesday: Library story-time Thursday: alphabet activity + playdough and painting  Friday: Shopping

It’s really a constantly evolving system.  Sometimes it seems like the needs of the kids shift from week to week.  We certainly don’t stick to the schedule perfectly all the time, but it helps me to have it so planned out so that when (inevitably) something throws us off-kilter, I can look at the schedule and instantly know where I can jump in and get back on track, rather than just letting the day melt into Netflix and naptime 😉

I’ll have to do another post detailing Sophia’s plan/schedule.  A lot more thought goes into her little periods of scheduling funnily enough, not to mention the hours of *ahem* research on pinterest searching for just the perfect assortment of classes and projects to keep her happy, busy, engaged, and learning.  I think kids learn the most by watching and participating with us, so she is always an active participant in “my” schedule, from cleaning the kitchen, to baking and writing, she is generally happy to follow me around and help or mimic.  When she’s ready for a break she’ll wander off and play on her own for a while.

Klaus is the tricky one right now, but with a little extra thought, he’s fairly easy to keep entertained throughout the day.  He “helps” in the kitchen by pulling all the kitchen utensils out of the drawers, etc.

Anyways, that’s it in a nutshell.  Our life trying to master all trades, haha.

Have a great Monday!