Backwards Calendar Planning

So I have started what I call backwards Calendar Planning. So many folks I know plan day to day, or week to week and fill in scheduled dates as they go. When they get to the upcoming week they work everything around all their appointments.

For me, that method always means changing scheuldes, moving something on the calendar, or wondering why I don't have enough time in my day.

As a result, I started to think about what things have to happen in my life for me and my family to function and with it came the realization of needing to look at my calendar from a whole new perspective. I have changed my approach to time management and our calendar planning.

I now look at the big picture and divide it into things like MUSTS, NEED TO, WANT TO.

I look at all the things I MUST do in order to manage my home and our life and take them out of our number of hours in the week.
Total hours in week 168
MUSTS:

1. Sleep 56 hours in week
2. Eat (includes cooking time, grocery shopping, food prep & kitchen clean up time) 18 hours
3. Laundry 3 hours
4. General housecleaning, sweeping vacuuming, bathrooms 3 hours
5. Morning/Evening Routines with Paul 6 hours
6. Personal Time (workout, quiet time, shower etc.) 7 hours
7. Church 3 hours
8. Date night 2 hours
9. Homeschool 25
10. Margin 1.5 (I try to leave 1 1/2 hours each week for unexpected things)

After taking those all away, I am left with only 43 hours in the week.
I then look at the NEED TO's. NEED To's are events we feel are important enough in our life to say we Need to go to them and don't want to schedule anyting else in their place.

1. Bible Study, Small Group etc.
2. Appointments: Doctor, Dentist, Hair, etc.
3. Paul's events (any sports, 4H, church activities, music lessons)

So for us in September we will have Monthly events: 4H, Homeschool Co Op, and weekly we will have Bible study weekly, music & swim lessons. Weekly things will take up 5 hours each week and monthly will take up 8 hours. I take the monthly hours and divide them over the weeks so in this case it would be 2 hours taken away from each week.

This would bring my weekly available hours down to 36. If divided over each day that is about 5 hours a day remaining for the rest of our events, field trips, errands, etc.

I lump the rest of my things into the WANT TO's. I want deep clean my house more but if I can put quarterly cleaning into my remaining hours that works for me. I want to have a night out; but if that week we have 3 need to social events I can better say no to the WANT To. etc.

This has been a huge help and taken off massive amounts of stress when I know the real time frame I have available.

A New Focus for My Home

While on our road trip, which will be blogged about later, I was able to attend the Illinois Christian Home Educator's Annual Conference. I heard some wonderful speakers and affirmed our decisions about homeschooling.

In that process, however, it was made very aware of my role as wife, mother and teacher. How each thing done in my home will be passed onto the next generation. On the flip side of that, how each thing I learned growing up, plays into my being.

I had a great mom who always did things for others, we always had people over to our home, we always helped when there was a need. She started slowing down when I was 13 or 14 due to emphyzema. As a result my sister and I were handed much of the domestic work at home - cooking, cleaning, laundry, food shopping and such. I was never really taught but more expected to figure those things out. I realized how that manifests itself in the ministry of my home. I am not cheerful when it comes to homemaking, I struggle with clean up and organization but am a fairly decent cook. Certain tasks are always a chore instead of done with a joy and an understanding of how it serves my family. I know others too who share similar struggles, when they grew up their responsibility was school and school work and as long as that got done that was their "job." They did not learn many things from a household standpoint but became very academically smart and one friend imparticular really struggled with what some would think of as basics like housecleaning and meals; it took her nearly a year to learn it all but again not without feeling like it was a chore.

The art if discipling our children into their roles for the future so plays into the ministry of our home. If we desire our boys to be hardworking men not just educated men, we must instill that value at home as early as we can. If we desire our son to be diligient in God's word, it must start now. If folks desire their daughters to be keepers of their home in a way that is honoring and pleasing and one that brings delight to the family and to the daugthers, we must our selves be the example and teach the process.

I now need to begin each day with asking God for a renewed vision of a wife, mom, and homeschool teacher allowing that vision to be filled with joy and a heart filled with kindness and compassion; eyes that see the big picture of what we do now matters when our son marries or goes off to college, ears that will be ever listening for God's direction and hearing the needs of my family, hands and feet that will be diligient to work, and a mind that will focus on my home.

Almost A year

Well I just returned from Vail where I was able to visit with a cousin visiting from PA and her family. As we were reminicing, it dawned on me that in 10 days it will be one year since my dad passed away. It is amazing how quickly this year has gone. It is also amazing that I have not taken a trip with PW back to PA in that year. I had one quick trip for a wedding but went solo.

I am exicted to go back in May with him. This year we will be able to do things like Sesame Place, Dutch Wonderland, the beach and the boardwalk. We will be driving to that will make for an even more interesting adventure.

It will be fun to see what changes everyone else notices after not seeing him for a year.

Time flies this year had proven that to me.

Western Stock Show

We are headed out the door to the National Western Stock Show. Who would have thought that this West Philadelphia born and raised gal, would be going to Rodeos and the like.

For those of you not in Colorado, it is the world's largest stock show by number of animals. The annual National Western Stock Show's goal is "To preserve the western lifestyle by providing a showcase for the agricultural industry through emphasis on education, genetic development, innovative technology and offering the world's largest agricultural marketing opportunities."

The Horse Shows at the annual National Western Stock Show are among the largest in the world with more than 18,000 entries in 2006. Our favorite is the Draft Horse pull.

There is a ton of livestock including cattle, horses, sheep, swine, goats, llamas, bison, yak, stock dogs, poultry and rabbits. Sort of like the Superbowl of livestock shows.

Well, I reckon we should get out the door.

PW's Skiing Adventures

PW got to go skiing this year once again; more excited than he has ever been about skiing. His enthusiasm is refreshing.

We spent 6 days in Vail. He did a whole day lesson with kids his own age and loved it. Vail does not use a device to help children keep their skis together, and now, the 5 year old pro, informed us "Guys, no more edgie wedgies; superstars don't need them." I then realized at the end of the day those kids were given Superstar buttons thus the reference to his status!

He then spent a day skiing with Kevin at Ski Cooper. Thrilled that he went down the big hill several times, we're now going to get him out a few more times this season.

I'm hoping my father-in-law took some pictures, and will post them as soon as I get a few.

So What Will Be Different in the New Year

I'm not very good and setting/meeting goals or resolutions that I set in the New Year. I start out strong and within a few weeks lose momentum.

I've decided this year to set monthly goals with a big picture to them instead of big lofty goals.

I'm excited that we will be joining a local Rec. center that has a wonderful climbing wall. When we lived in PA Kevin & I climbed a good deal and now that Paul is older he will be able to climb with us.

I'm hoping that by Easter to have all of our home decluttered. When we moved from PA to CO we moved from a home that was 5200 square feet into a home that was 3380 square feet. After one year in CO, we moved again into a home that is 2800 square feet. In 5 years I've done 64 weeks of travelling and was not able to get through lots of boxes from our initial move. We have made a huge dent in this process but I'm hoping that by Easter that every dresser, closet, shelf, cabinet and box, inlcuding those in our garage, will have been gone through and anything we don't need will be yard saled or donated to a local thrift store. I will greatly de-stressed when this process is over.

We've gotten rid of cable TV in our home a few weeks ago. So in reality we only watch things on DVD since we don't get any stations without cable. I'm looking forward to having a bit more family time for games and such and the chance to spend a bit more time on things like sewing. Plus I'll be glad to not have our son coming up to me and saying "Mom we need this - the TV said so." or "Mom, we need to call your doctor to find out if Boniva is right for you."

I've been listening a great deal to Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace cd's. It is my desire this year to really focus on how I spend my weekly budget. At the start of 2008 I moved from using credit cards, which we pay off every month, to cash. I didn't think it would make a huge difference in my spending. However, I found that my spending went down 28%. Often I would go to put something on the conveyor belt and realize it was Wednesday and I only had $50 left for the week. I'd put it back and think maybe I'll get it next time. Many times I'd forget about the item I thought I wanted the trip before. So often with credit cards, it is too easy to put that item right in the cart and not worry about the extra $10 or $15. When you have to make the money last until the next trip to the bank, you aren't as quick to impulse buy. Unfortunately I ended up going back to credit cards when I went home for my dad's funeral and didn't get back to the habit.

I'm also hoping to do a lot more bulk cooking. For example today, I was making chili and instead of just making enough for today, I made enough to freeze 3 more meals worth. If I do this 2 times a week for a month it gives me 24 meals ready to go in the freezer. When I'm doing bulk meals I plan my recipes based on the great sales that week at the local market. This will put a huge savings on our food budget as well as free up more time for me with homeschooling.

So they are my hopes for this year - get into better shape - physically, home wise, and financial wise.

Resources 2 Homeschool

Well I'm launching a website for homeschooling supplies and resources. I've started to find out the starting at pre-school age there are limited resources compiled in one concise area.

Motivated

Well it has been so long since I blogged, my old ones are not here. Thankfully I only had a few.

Currently I am in a motivated stage. Motivated to get my house decluttered and reorganized by Easter as well as motivated to get in shape for a reunion in November.

My dad will be 89 on Monday. Pretty amazing.

Our New Year started off with a trip to Vail. Our son got to ski again this year and I hope to get him back on the slopes 2 more times before the season is over.

We have no big trips planned for the next 6 months and for those of you who us that is a big deal. Last year our son(PW) & I were away for 14 weeks of the year.

It will be nice to have some sense of routine for the next 6 months.