Finally! A Schedule That Fits Us All

This in no way reflects on Leora's schedule because she doesn't really have one & we kind of work around or w/ her, but after a month of frustration, experiments & research, I have found the school schedule that fits us all. At least until someones needs change, lol. As far as I know, this only works if I wake up on time. SO.

5:30 or 6:00, I wake up by alarm & change her diaper. I nurse her to top her off & wake up by second alarm at 6:30, because I cannot stay awake in a nice warm bed while nursing. I get up & dress & fill up the sink to wash a load of diapers or laundry. While sink fills, I'm either putting up my hair, drinking coffee, cleaning what didn't get done the night before if applicable or folding/ putting away the previous load if dried. I also put together their oatmeal & boil a diaper to strain the milk. To clarify, this diaper has only ever been used for milk, I Sharpied a purple M in the corners to keep them separate from regular duty diapers.

I wash until 7:30 & depending on the size of the load, it's only washed & scrubbed if large or I might have gotten in a rinse or 2. The goat starts yelling at 6:30 though (she can hear the alarm too) so 7:30 I pause & go out to milk, taking the diaper out of the water to cool it & turning the oatmeal on low first.

After 15 min. she's given all she's got, so I move her back to the front yard & put the babies out w/ her. Victor is outside too, handling the chickens, their water, putting broody chickens in the broody box (sunny cage), & watering the tomatoes in the Earthboxes. Charlotte is out in the garden picking whatever is ripe & Miranda & Leora are still usually in bed.

8:00 I wake Leora if she's still down & start serving up oatmeal. Bathroom jobs by V & C must be finished before eating or else they're completed after singing. We sing a hymn before we eat & they eat while I nurse & check my email.

We're less time conscience after this; I eat whatever they've left & pulled up a wikipedia & youtube video on the same subject for Victor's science-ish headline. We use CLP Sunrise math & second graders don't have science, but there is a theme & it branches out in the title bar. "Fall" is the theme of this Lightunit & each title has something like cranberries, woodchucks (called whistle-pigs around here), Taurus the constellation, migrating geese, etc. He washes the breakfast dishes & does his computer segment while I have a reading lesson w/ Charlotte. When she's done, I read to her & Miranda. Leora has been nursing non-stop except to be a little social.

After reading we head to the kitchen where C does a page of her letter practice & her & M do a workbook. Sometimes they do a color sheet after that. V has an Italics handwriting sheet 2x a week that he does whenever he's done on the computer before us.

We go into math & usually get a start on language arts before the Hungries strike. I generally tell the Hungries to suck it up; I make lunch at 11:30 & don't give out morning snacks. L has fallen asleep a couple of times & has been laid down for a couple of times. She'll stay down in some false starts in 5-10 min spurts. I am usually trying to finish up laundry or do food prep while directing & answering questions in those spurts.

DV, Victor has completely finished w/ both subjects before lunch; it is certainly w/in the realm of possibility depending on focus & attitude. He has a fondness for staring at the wall & telling me all of the things he hates, but that doesn't get his work done. After lunch C washes the dishes, V sweeps the floor & they run out to play for awhile. I read a history story at 1:00 & we'll have an activity along w/ it most days which everyone enjoys.

After that it is about 2:00, free/ quiet time. Whatever work that wasn't completed is finished in this time. I hand out a snack at 3:00, something cool if the day is hot, & start supper prep at 3:30 or 4:00, depending on what is planned so we can eat around 5.00.  4:00 is their toy cleanup & egg collection.

After supper there are games, lots of stories, hygiene, & game cleanup. Bed is at 8:00 for girls, V gets until 8:30. We shoot for this 4 days of the week w/ 1 variable day to help & run errands in town. Some days Mike will want Victor's help w/ a project & scale back book work considerably on those days & consider it "Man Training." When everything is done, the day is great & everyone is so happy! Everyone likes the results but some days they want the results w/out the work. That doesn't always work so well. How does it run at your house?