Schedules vs Reality

August 17, 2009 by Rieshy
  We start school next week.  I've been working on our schedule with great difficulty for several weeks.  A wise friend pointed out that a schedule only works if it is based on the realities of your life- not based on an imaginary ideal life.

What I can imagine:
6:00 a.m.- Get up and dress, make coffee, have prayer time.
6:30 a.m.-  Greg gets up and we drink coffee together while having a meaningful conversation.
7:00 a.m.- I wake the children, they rise calling me "Blessed" and then dress & clean their rooms.
7:30 a.m.- Breakfast.
8:00 a.m.- I direct morning chores.
8:30 a.m.- I take care of business and personal emails and phone calls.
9:00 a.m.-  The children and I "start" the day refreshed and dressed and with a clean house.

An Amalgam of Recent Summer Realities:
2:00 a.m.- One of the "littles" gets out of bed, I settle them back down.
4:30 a.m.-  3 yo gets in bed with me and asks for milk before falling promptly asleep.  I lie awake wondering about his blood sugar.
5:15 a.m.-  2 yo gets in bed with me and falls asleep but not before waking 3 yo.
5:30 a.m.- 3 yo wakes Greg who gets up to visit the bathroom.  Greg wakes 2 yo.
5:45 a.m.- 2 yo starts talking loudly about juice.  I get up and start coffee and feed the two "littles" their first breakfast of the day.  They look cute at the counter.
6:00 a.m.-  I'm turning on my computer, opening curtains and breaking up baby tussles when 7 yo silently materializes on the sofa asking, "What's for breakfast"?  Startled, I spill my coffee.  I read to the three boys then check personal email.
6:15 a.m.-  Greg stumbles in with his coffee. 3 yo attacks Greg with another book request.  As I attempt to email my father I hear the front door open and close.  It dawns on my that the 2 yo has left the premises.  I fetch him.
6:30 a.m.-  Greg and I attempt a conversation.  7 yo interrupts with, "What's for breakfast'?  10 yo wanders in, trailing an afghan which knocks over 3 yo's lego structure.  Tears ensue.
6:45 a.m.- 10 yo sweetly takes 3 yo to "help her" feed the cat. 15 yo walks in while reading and trips on aforementioned legos.  Greg shows me a shortcut on my computer.  
7:00 a.m.- 7 yo asks, "What's for breakfast"?  10 seconds later 13 yo walks in while reading and asks, "What's for breakfast"?  15 yo begins playing Mozart's "Turkish March" at 3 times normal speed.  2 yo spills my coffee.
7:30 a.m.-  I drink more coffee.  17 yo is still asleep so with somewhat cruel glee I awaken him. 17 yo gets up and swings 7 yo old around in the air.  Greg flees to his office after sharing the last of the coffee.  I give 3 yo his meds. and check business emails while 15 yo starts pancakes.
8:30 a.m.- Breakfast dishes are now mixed with an art project 10 yo pulled out while my back was turned. 15 yo begins a Chopin piece purposely transposed into a weird key.  7 yo is flinging his body around the house "dying".  2 yo, for a reason not apparent to the rest of us, is taking all dining room chairs into the living room.  3 yo has poured out the box of lincoln logs in the den.  I answer the phone while logging onto Facebook, change a diaper, blow a nose not my own, and make more coffee.
9:00 a.m.-  I'm still in the yoga pants I slept in.



 


2 comments:

Melanie said...

I know the feeling!(Except with 3 less kids and no current medical worries) The 8:30 "reality" especially sounds familiar! Schedules are for...people without kids?? :) I'm enjoying getting to know you through this blog...

Betsy said...

We have already started our homeschool year and I can't seem to get anything going before 9 a.m. I have a wonderful schedule that never seems to work.

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