Tuesday, July 26, 2011

getting on track

We have decided to develop and finally WRITE DOWN a family schedule/routine.  Today was day one of implementing our routines and it went fairly well; the snooze was only hit once I am happy to say.  Breakfast went picture perfect, lunch went well and everything was down hill after that!  BUT today was Cael's birthday so I knew our evening would be spent partying not sticking to a schedule. 
My reason for putting us on a schedule, even a loose one, is to take the guess work out of the day.  Hopefully, this will instill in the boys (and mom) some great LASTING habits and maybe even cut down on the arguing, whining and complaining that I do. :-D
One thing I am learning is that I prefer routines.  A schedule, for us with so many little ones, is so easily blown.  Although, I do like have a written schedule so I know how to get our day back on track if things start getting too off track, but mostly I just want to know what comes next.  So... I am scheduling our routines, (sounds crazy I know) but only as a guide!  Here we go!

Cullen Home Daily Schedule/Routines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 6:30am    good morning mom & dad- begin early morning routine
 7:00am    boys up & breakfast
 7:25am    Sean leaves for work
 8:00am    MWF- walk with the boys
 9:00am    twins nap/school time
11:30am   lunch
 1:00pm    Kipp-nap/Cael-free "reading," nap, or school if we didn't get to it in the am
 2:00pm    twins nap
 3:30pm    begin the dinner process... ugh..
 4:30pm    big boys & mom pick up house (before daddy comes home)
 5:00pm    DADDY is home!!
 5:30pm    dinner
 6:30pm    begin bedtime routine
 7:00pm    memory work & structured reading with daddy
 8:00pm    BEDTIME for the boys!

**This is merely our guideline, except for early morning and bedtime routines I am really trying to stick to those exact times.  Having this written down gives us something to aim for, a goal.  Without a written schedule I feel like we are driving cross country without a map; it is just way too easy to get lost in our day and wind up accomplishing ZILCH!

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