Routine... we have one, but do we use it???

"I am sure some of you are still getting into your homeschool routines. I know some people are very routine oriented while others may be more “day-by-day”, and it all depends on your family and what works best for your life-style. This week please post what your planned homeschool routine is. The theme banner should give you some ideas on how to do that. I had fun making that and adding in real info (except for the times! lol).
When you’re done posting your routines please share your prayers for this school year."

A few years ago, I bought and read Steven & Teri Maxwell's book, "Managers of Their Homes" and worked up a schedule for us. I update it yearly, when I'm working on the next year's lesson plans. It looks fantastic on paper... but, do we follow it? Honestly, for the school hours, we do, well at least, we follow the order of it. The times might not always coincide with the schedule. Once school is done, I usually forget that I even have a schedule and don't give it another thought. I bet life would run better if I used it, though, so, thanks to this week's theme... I'm going to give it a solid try next week when we resume school. We've taken this week off.

Here is a copy of our schedule for this year. I tried to post it last week when we were talking about Agenda's, but I couldn't get it legible, so I gave up. I took it over to paint and saved it as a .jpg file, so let's see if it can be read in this post:

Yay! It's legible! I'm learning! In real life, it's colorful, each of us have our own colored font, but that wasn't showing up well as a picture on this post, so I edited it.

I also have a written routine for keeping up with the house. I haven't actually been faithful to that, either, but have high hopes that beginning next week, I'll start being more diligent. We had company stay over on Sunday night, so our house is in pretty good shape. It will be easier to start a weekly cleaning routine when I'm beginning with a house in relatively good state of cleanliness. That weekly routine is here:

If I could just stick to them, my life would be so organized that I wouldn't recognize it. I guess that's one of my prayers for this school year. That I would be more disciplined about using these schedules and routines and that I can get the things that have to be done accomplished so that we have time to have fun. Another prayer is that we are able to enjoy learning more this year than any other. I don't wanat it to be all about what we get accomplished during the year as much as memories of how we got there. I want my kids to enjoy school, and not feel it's just a required part of our day and we need to hurry up and get through. I'm thankful God is my principal, so I can bring my troubles, fears and frustrations to him for guidance. I'm also thankful that I have the opportunity to teach my children at home.

Thanks for letting me share these with you, and as always, I hope you have a Blessed Day in your homeschool.

Lisa