Scheduling our time...never been too good at it!

I have attempted yet another routine for our family. I thought New Year, so a new routine is needed :) But up until now I have not kept our routine very easily. I enjoy routines because I accomplish more but I soon lose the rhythm and fall back into unroutined ways!!! But so far, so good :)

Here is our day - to- day plan. Note though that I have forgotten all about personal hygiene!!! lol There is no bath or shower scheduled! Oh my goodness....maybe we will just give them up then!!! :) Only joking!! I'll fit it in somewhere.

Time:	Activity:
7am	Quiet Activities
7.30 am	Breakfast (Damon is on clean up straight after!)
8am	DaIly Grooming and pick up room (see your guidance sheet)
8.30am	Family Bible/ Prayer time
9 – 10am	Walking time/Nature Study/ Morning Tea and sketching
10.30 – 12.30	School Activities
12.45	Lunch (Adele is on cleaning up straight away)
1 – 1.15	Private Devotional time
1.15 – 2	Quiet play time
2	Pack up rooms
2.30 – 3.30	Outdoor Play and afternoon tea Mums’ time to clean.
3.30 – 4.30	Family time
4.30	Dinner preparation and evening chores (check guidance sheet)
5.30	Dinner (Avril and mum pack up)
6.30	Storytime for littlies (Adele tv time)
7	Littlies to bed
7 – 7.30	Storytime with Adele (Damon tv time)
7.30	Adele to bed
7.30 – 8	Time with Damon  and at 8 it is bed!

I have decided that a nice way to start our day is to first have Bible and prayer time, then go out into God's marvellous creation for some play and discovery. So this is what we aim to do before school.

This year I want to try to limit our school day to 2 hours, as last year we were doing 3 - 4 hours a day, which I have decided for my 8 year old is too much.

Something that I want to encourage is some family quality time as quite often this gets sacrificed for other things. I want this time to be just focused on enjoying each others company.

This year I have split the kids bedtimes, this way I am getting some quality time with each of them before bed. 

Another thing that I want to be better at is keeping a good cleaning routine. This is something I struggle with, so I have decided to schedule it in, whilst the kids go off and play.

Day	Job	Notes
Monday	Bedrooms/ Laundry	Vacuum, dust, mirrors, windows, reorganise, wash sheets. Wash, dry and fold.
Tuesday	Study/Dining room	Vacuum, dust, windows, reorganise. Reorganise, wash walls, table, cupboard and floors.
Wednesday	General tidy	Drama
Thursday	General Tidy	TW and Nature studies.
Friday	Kitchen/ Loungeroom and hall.	Wash windows, sides, utensils, oven, sweep and mop. Tidy and reorganise. Sweep and mop.
Saturday	General tidy and family day.	Focus on family things. No computer!!!
Sunday	Church and family day.	Focus on family things. No Computer!!!

Jobs are scheduled in for all the children. I believe it is important to teach the kids to help keep the home as well as teaching them skills for when they are living in their own homes in the future. They each have laminated cards that make clear what I expect. Pink for Adele and blue for Damon. Avril doesn't have a card but she is scheduled to help me clean up dinner. Josef just helps tidy his toys.

Here is Adele's card:

Day:	Job:	Task:
Monday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch Wash Up Loungeroom	Wash your hair, teeth Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor, and bring out wash basket. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Tidy, sweep morning and night. Wash Windows.
Tuesday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch Wash Up Loungeroom	Teeth Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor, and wash your windows and windowsill. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Dust tv cabinet and wash glass. Tidy and sweep morning and night.
Wednesday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch Wash Up Loungeroom	Teeth Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor, and wash skirting boards. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Tidy and sweep morning and night. Mop Floor.
Thursday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch Wash Up Loungeroom	Teeth Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Tidy and sweep morning and night. .
Friday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch Wash Up Loungeroom	Teeth and wash hair Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor, and vacuum. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Wipe over skirting boards and window sills. Tidy and sweep morning and night.
Saturday	Daily Grooming Pick Up Room Lunch  Wash Up Loungeroom	Teeth Make Bed, Open window, Tidy Floor. Gather all dirty dishes, Wipe over table, Put away breakfast items, Wipe over bench, wash up and sweep floors. Tidy and sweep morning and night.
Sunday	The same as Saturday.

So far this has been working well. But only time will tell :) lol.

Here is our week in pictures...

On my birthday Damon decided to surprise me and wash my car :) Adele baked me pancakes for breakfast and Avril confiscated my birthday present until the day!

This week we went on a nature walk collecting interesting items. Josef enjoyed chasing butterflies and picking flowers. Avril was frightened by some very loud dogs :) And Adele looked for interesting items to bring home.

When we got home we pulled out our nature journals and began sketching.

 Fern by Avril

Vase of Carnations by Adele

This week I bought some new chalk so the kids decided to decorate the house!

 Adele's Tropical Island

Success!!! They are eating my yoghurt!! Yay!!!

Josef decided he wanted to pull Adele on the swing as I pushed him :)

 That was our last week of holidays. Back to school Tuesday!!

Friday Favourite Finds

1. Vanilla Homemade Pudding


I was glad to find this recipe as I made some from a packet the other day and it was really bad!




Found on  The Creative Princess via School Adventures on Pinterest.

2. Banana Split Brownie Pizza


I can never pass up a dessert pizza :)


Found on Jam Hands via School Adventures on Pinterest.

3. Banana Split Pie




Found on Big Red Kitchen via School adventures on Pinterest

4. Caramelised Banana French Toast


My kids loved this :)



Found on Simmer Till Done via School adventures on Pinterest


5. Caramel Wrapped Marshmallows





 Found on Not So Humble Pie via School Adventures on Pinterest


Now onto Home school: 

5 Great Games to teach you child the books of the Bible.



Found on Scripture Lady via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest

Can you be a Christian Structured Unschooler?



Found on Doves Rest via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest.

Giant Solar System Sugar Cookie




Found on Almost Unschoolers via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest

Painting with Tissue Paper- A Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers Art Lesson

Found on Classified Mom via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest

Learning About Blood

Found on Spell Outloud Homeschool via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest.

Free Homeschool Planner

Found on Donna Young via Homeschool Adventures on Pinterest

Autumn Leaves

Found on KPOKOTAK via School Adventures on Pinterest

We have linked up to Finding Joy In My Kitchen.

Menu Plan Monday: 21st January to 3rd February.

Following is our menu plan for this week. We have linked up with orgjunkie.com and At Home with Mrs M.

 Here is what I have planned...

Saturday - 

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - BBQ in the park. Bring along a Pavalova.

Sunday - 

Lunch - BBQ at church.

Dinner - Chicken and bacon cannelloni.

Monday - 

Lunch - Home made raisin toast

Dinner - Dinner at Julia's.

Tuesday -

Lunch - Visiting with Trichelle.

Dinner - Crab cakes, salad and fresh home made Bread.

Wednesday -

Lunch - Little pitta pizzas

Dinner - Fry pan pizza

Thursday - 

Lunch - Picnic for Australia Day (easy cheesy Bread rolls)

Dinner - Pan-fried pork chops with apple sauce.

Friday -

Lunch - Waldorf Salad

Dinner - Thai Chicken.

This week for breakfast the kids decided they wanted some Weet-bix. I have also made some raisin bread.

Snacks: Banana muffins

Dessert: Strawberry whip.

Homeschool this year...2012

This year will be different. I do love Heart of Dakota but as I am new to homeschooling I want to try something different this term. I am heading toward a Charlotte Mason approach. This is how it looks:

Damon - 

Math - We are continuing with Math U See. This is a brilliant multi-sensory programme and the kids love it as well as understand it :)

English - We will return to Intermediate Language Lessons as I am more relaxed about this book now. Last year I wasn't too sure about it. I like the short lessons and different style of lessons. There will be variety in their week and appropriate challenges. It includes literature studies, letter writing, correct forms of speech and words often misused, vocabulary exercises, creating outlines for writing and talking, composition, reproduction and original work for oral and written work, observation lessons and much more. It is interesting and appeals to a child.

Bible - Scripture memorisation. Family bible study. Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt. Bible journal.

Science - Considering God's Creation. Science Journal.

Spelling - Dictation

Typing - BBC Dance Mat typing

PDHPE - Make brothers and sisters best friends. 

Picture/ Art study - Vincent Van Gogh (have to find a biography). Art journal.

Music Study - Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia by Judy Wilcox. Music Journal. Guitar.

Nature Study - Outdoor Secrets plus guide and weekly outings to observe and enjoy nature. Nature journalling.

Literature - Swiss Family Robinson

Free Choice: I have asked the kids to follow their inquisitiveness and interests for this. Incorporates all subjects including Australia studies. This is their personal project time.


We will not do all of this every day. Most of these lessons will be short and will be on different days, except for english, math and Bible as these will be done every day.

Adele - 

Math - Math U See

English - Primary Language Lessons

Bible - scripture memorisation. Family bible study. Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt. Bible journal.

Science - 106 Days of Creation

Spelling - Copywork

PDHPE - Wisdom of the Millers

Picture/Art Study - Vincent Van Gogh (have to find a biography). Art journal.

Music Study - Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia by Judy Wilcox. Music Journal. Piano

Nature study -  Outdoor Secrets plus guide and weekly outings to observe and enjoy nature. Nature journalling.

Literature - Narnia series.

Free Choice: I have asked the kids to follow their inquisitiveness and interests for this. Incorporates all subjects including Australia studies. This is their personal project time.

I am still considering what to do with Avril but I have enjoyed using Lesson Pathways and Starfall.com.


This term we are also doing drama workshops with the homeschool community.

A week to remember.

This week was spent learning from God's word at our churches evangelical holiday program. I enjoyed joining in the adults cafe where we had great inspirational talks/workshops, we heard wonderful testimonies of Gods' greatness and connected over a yummy morning tea.

The kids enjoyed bible teaching, games, singing and fellowship with others. The team was wonderful and they were so dedicated to spreading God's word and love.

At the end of the week they had a dress-up day. Adele dressed up like a lost sheep. She made a sheep mask. Avril was to dress like an explorer. She made some binoculars and a drink bottle. Josef thought it looked like fun and dressed up too. Damon put on a pirate eye patch! lol

Damon was thrilled this week as he thinks that he found his frog Liam who escaped his tank :)

Adele has become inquisitive about kites and has spent the last few days exploring different ways to make them. Firstly Adele and Avril used felt to create a diamond design. 

They next took them outside to test them out :)

Avril was very kind and let Josef try out hers.

Adele also decided to test out a plastic bag kite, which she thought was brilliant as the wind picked it up!

This week we had a wonderful invitation to gather with some good friends in the park for a BBQ. It was wonderful gathering with friends and watching the kids take off and play.  

 'Go on Julia strike a silly pose!'

It was a busy week for us out every morning at the church but we have connected with so many people, learning and spreading God's wonderful love. It was certainly a week to be remembered :)