Happy Labor Day to my American friends, and an apology to everyone for the lateness of this post! It’s been a full weekend and a long day, with four of our five children plus our “bonus kid” (my niece) starting school tomorrow. The house has been buzzing with activity and nerves all evening; but now the backpacks are stuffed, the first-day clothes are laid out, all heads of hair are washed and five sets of fingernails are clipped, and the last child left awake has received his last tuck-in. Finally time for this mom to sit down, heave a big sigh, and think about this week’s Mindful Monday intention:
WHO: All of us.
WHAT: Re-establish and fine-tune our school-year routines.
WHY: Summer is very relaxed around here, but the extra activity and obligations of the school year demand a lot more structure in our day-to-day lives.
HOW: Over the next week I’m going to work to establish routines for activities like doing homework, packing lunches, and a nightly “Kitchen Hour” (I’ll write more about the kitchen hour tomorrow.) I’ll add one new routine each day, starting with lunchbox-packing time.
What are you focusing on this week? No worries if you aren’t seeing this post until Tuesday or later; you can still join in the Mindful Monday for this week. Tell us about your intention for the week, why it’s on your mind and how you’ll work it into your life!
This week, I’m working on getting the responsibility chart in order for my oldest, and I’m also working on giving myself a weekly routine for house cleaning and projects. 🙂
Figuring out how to get to school on time without relying on four-letter words.
I will be figuring out how to manage our time well since my daughter just started kinder and I’ll be starting a part time job! 🙂
I’ll be focusing on being consistent with our chore times (morning, mid-day, evening).
I just wrote my Mindful Monday a few minutes ago. We’re focusing on spending time in the Bible!
Trying to keep paperwork that comes home from school organized… it worked for the first week!
This week I will be working on getting organized with the new school schedule. My oldest started middle school the other week, but my 3yr old starts preschool today :-)! So my mind is racing with everything I want to accomplish in the two days a week he is there for a few hours. Guess I am expecting a miracle with just two of the four kids at home during that short time frame. Have a great week!
Routine is good. I spend a lot of time tweaking ours. Good luck re-establishing yours.
This week I’m working on allowing myself time for the things I want to do. I’ve got so many things going on, it’s easy to forget that I need to make time for my activities in all the crazy.
I am so looking forward to helpful hints on organizing and streamlining school time routines!
I am going to keep things as simple as possible for this week. I am not going to take on anything more than the basics this week because that will be enough….and I am NOT going to feel guilty about not getting 101 other things done. First things first….clean up from breakfast, do a load of laundry, make some beds, figure out what dinner is going to be and go to the store and buy it. I have to remember that a disciplined life is liberating! Good luck everyone! xxoo
First things first is a VERY good rule to live by! Sometimes I try to jump to second or third things first, so thanks for the reminder 😉
Sounds nice, For me i am not going to take on anything more than the basics this week because that will be enough, Thank you for this wonderful info.
Sometimes it really difficult to balance our schedule,specially when you have 2 kids who studied at different school. I’m glad that their grand ma is welling to help.
I’m enjoying the last week of 4 with my eldest: http://anotherdayanothermom.blogspot.com/2011/09/mindful-monday-relishing-my-4-year-old.html#comments
We are in our third week of school, but first week of nice weather (highs ONLY of 90) since, oh last May I think. So my weekly intention will be to work on our after school routine – particularly getting the kids outside playing again. Not sure how/where/what we’ll be doing, probably mostly poking around in the back yard, but I hope this makes for more pleasant family afternoons.
I’m glad I read these comments before I officially started getting waaaay to hard on myself!Thank you Barbara for helping me also, to remember to keep it simple this first week. I feel like I should have everything perfectly organized in every room and every closet and every pantry just because tomorrow is the first day of school. I’m just not there yet!- I’m going to concentrate on getting all of us in the routine of getting up early, packing healthy lunches at night, and getting a healthy dinner on the table. Oh wait…I forgot about the laundry…
TOTALLY not going for perfection here, myself. I’m really more trying to set aside time each day for different things…and we will work on actually getting those things DONE next week, and the week after. Oh, and organizing? Not touching that this week at ALL, though it desperately needs it. Baby steps!
AAHH!! Thank you Meagan-I’m glad we are not going for perfection here…so glad. I am finding your blog to be a great source of inspiration and comfort as well. 🙂 Keep on doing what your’e doing and I’ll be with you all the way! My husband wanted to know why I wasn’t making my daughter a salami and cheese sandwich for her first day of school!! I told him about your Lunch Challenge and he watched as Grace helped me make tuna salad atop some arugula!! Yes SHE picked ARUGULA instead of bread…now I will be making double the amount and eating a healthier lunch myself. Thanks again for sharing a part of your life with everyone. Happy first week of school!
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