Today was Cooking Day!

As you've probably noticed, I am in a constant quest for better organizing my time, home, meals, children, and life in general.

I recently re-read (well, re-skimmed) a popular book called Side-Tracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise.

Mostly, it irritated me.

It irritated me for several reasons, but the main one was this:

The core of their plan is to have a weekly schedule. For example, one day should be Errand Day, when you run all the errands for the week (including any your husband needs done). Another day is Heavy Cleaning Day, where you clean for 4-6 hours.

Why does this bug me? Because they do not spend a single sentence discussing what to do with, or how to manage, your children when you are doing these six hours of cleaning (or several hours of errand-running.) At least one of the authors had three children under the age of six when she discovered and began implementing this plan ... and yet, she says nothing (that I can see) about how she went about pulling it off.

Well gee, Pam and Peggy, I know I need to clean. If I knew how to clean for hours and hours in spite of my kids, I wouldn't be reading your stupid book!

What does all this complaining have to do with Cooking Day, you ask?

Well, one thing they said was to have one day a week be Baking Day, and to only agree to make cookies for the PTA -- or whatever -- if it fits into your Baking Day schedule.

I liked that idea. And then I had a sudden, brief flash of genius of how to do it: Why, use the principles from Managers of Their Homes, of course!

So, this morning I set the timer for 35 minutes while I cooked with Rachael, while Benjamin and Becca played together in another room. Then, 35 minutes cooking with Becca while Rachael and Benjamin played together, then 35 minutes cooking with Ben while Rachael and Rebecca played together.

It was very cool. I felt very smart. Nobody was fighting over who got to measure the sugar or who got to stir. Nobody was getting in each other's way. Nobody got bored with baking before we were done. Everybody (believe it or not) enjoyed their limited time with one sibling.

Here's what we made:
- Two pans of lasagna
- A double batch of Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins, from The Sneaky Chef.
- A double batch of Cocoa Chocolate Chip pancakes, also from The Sneaky Chef.




I actually was hoping to make more, but I'm still pretty pleased. Keep in mind that this was all accomplished before lunch. I do still have to make dinner for tonight though. I'll quickly do that by myself when I'm done typing this.

I hadn't planned this, but we had the muffins for lunch. They were pretty cool; there's a blob of jam "hidden" inside the muffin. Since they have also have peanut butter, sweet potatoes, carrots, wheat germ, and wheat flour, it was probably the healthiest lunch we've had for a while.

YES!!

I apologize. I really do.

But I so, so, so love it when I feel like I've had a productive day. So please, let me talk just one more time about how helpful Managers of Their Homes was today.

We had not been doing the "MOTH schedule" for a few weeks (intentionally) because we had VBS and dance rehearsals and doctor visits and some other things. But today we got back on it, and again I am just struck by how much we accomplished.

It is 6:15 pm as I type this. This is what we did today:

- Washed all bedsheets in the house and got them all back on all the beds;

- Rachael did one math worksheet and one phonics worksheet

- Rachael and I did both All About Spelling and Easy Grammar together

- Rachael read her American Girl magazine

- The girls and I read two books that we had done Five in a Row unit studies with earlier this year (Gramma's Walk and Miss Rhumphius)

- The girls and I later finished reading The Doll House by Rumer Godden (I liked it more than they did; perhaps they'll like it a bit better when they're older)

- The girls put away two loads of clean laundry

- The kids and I went to the pool for about two hours

- Rebecca and I worked with Perler beads (aka "fuse beads")

- Rebecca, Benjamin, and I played Candy Land (well, uh ... our version of it ...)

- The girls and I made a noodle kugel for dinner (yes, I know that's a strange dinner, but it's like that Bill Cosby routine: "Eggs! Eggs are in kugel! And cottage cheese! And wheat!")

- The girls and I made Monkey Bread -- It's ready to be put in the oven first thing in the morning

- The girls and made pineapple upside-down cake (from scratch -- ooh!) I'll put that in the oven while we're eating dinner

- I read a Mother Goose book to Benjamin before his nap

- I washed a load of towels (although I have not put them away yet)


Not to mention that I also took a 30-minute nap, and got to play the piano for about 10 minutes.

And don't forget, I don't even wake up very early -- usually around 7:30 pm.

After dinner, I'm hoping to whip up some homemade play-doh with the kids -- ya know, the kind where you add Kool Aid to give it color (and a nice smell). I've never done that with Benjamin yet. We'll see. I would love to work out after the kids are in bed, but I think that may be asking too much.

Yes, I feel good. Today was definitely a good day.

And the MOTH schedule keeps ticking ...

Well, it was another productive day with our Managers of their Homes schedule. Rachael said this was "the best Monday ever!"

I cleaned out two dresser drawers. Each girl had a private music lesson with me, we did Five in a Row, math, spelling and phonics, and Rachael read out loud to me. The kitchen is clean. Laundry was done and put away. In a few minutes the girls and I will watch the first part of Anne of Green Gables while I cross-stitch.

We did lose some time at around 2:30 when I was getting sidetracked trying to figure out what to make for dinner ... which is interesting, because in the book it even suggests having a weekly menu which stays the same (at least parts of it) so you don't waste energy making decisions about it.

The nice thing is that it doesn't bother me to get behind a little, because we're doing so well otherwise.

I still haven't opened Managers of their Chores yet ... maybe tomorrow.

So, HOW did you do it all?? (More on MOTH)

I'm flattered; a few people asked me how I managed to get so much done in one day using a schedule I created after reading Managers of Their Homes.

The two points I found most helpful were:
1) Stopping after a set time, even if everyone seems happy and things are going well.
2) "Assigning" kids a place and activity for a set amount of time.

For example, here's what parts of my day on Friday looked like (not exactly in this order), and yes, I used a timer for much of it:

30 minutes -- Rebecca has "piano lesson" with me in the living room while Rachael plays with little brother Benjamin in Benjamin's room

30 minutes -- Becca and Ben watch Blue's Clues on downstairs TV while I give Rachael her "piano lesson"

30 minutes - Girls play together in playroom, Benjamin naps, and I nap on couch

30 minutes -- Girls continue to play in playroom, Benjamin continues to nap, and I run around trying to see how much housework I can do in 30 minutes

30 minutes -- Becca and Benjamin play together in Benjamin's room while I work alone with Rachael

30 minutes -- Becca plays with stickers alone in her room, Rachael works independently at the kitchen table, and I do puzzles with Benjamin in his room

See how much got done in less than three hours?

Here were some of my previous objections to a schedule like this:

How horrible for the kids! Don't they get any freedom? How would you like to be ordered around all day? How will they ever learn to make decisions if every minute is decided for them?
Actually, the kids seemed to like it a lot. I'm sure Benjamin loved getting so much one-on-one time. Rachael was very excited when I told her that she would get "play time with Benjamin" every day from now on. Rebecca has been wanting piano lessons with me for a while now and finally got it. In other words, the schedule includes many things they love, so of why would they object to a day filled with those things?

Moving things about like that kept things fresh. The kids weren't restless or complaining about being hungry or tired. They didn't fight much at all. They weren't asking when things would be over, or asking about other things they could go do.

And as far as not making decisions for themselves, they still got plenty of choices. I didn't tell Rachael exactly what she must do with Benjamin. I didn't tell the girls what they had to do while they were in the playroom for an entire hour. Becca and Ben got to choose which TV show they would watch.


That sounds so stressful and exhausting, scrambling around and constantly trying to get stuff done every minutes of your life. Isn't rest important? What about those special moments that you can't plan for? Who wants to rush through lunch knowing you only two minutes left before you have to rush off to the next thing?
I scheduled a 30-minute nap for myself, and was able to actually take it because I didn't feel the need to pop up and try to get something done at that time, which is what often happens when try to nap.
If lunch (or anything else) is rushed, just adjust the schedule to give yourself more time.
I felt like we had more special moments this way, because I wasn't trying to do 2-3 things at once, and I wasn't getting annoyed at the kids and feeling like they were keeping me from getting things done.

Another thing that was mentioned in the book: If the schedule gets disrupted or you just want to take a break from part of it, it's no big deal because you know how productive the rest of the day has already been.

In a way, I feel bad writing such a glowing review for a system I've only been using for about two days. Maybe in a week, or a month, we will just hate it. Maybe I will discover things about it that are real problems. We'll see.

If you are intrigued by the idea, but not ready to shell out $25 just yet, feel free to ask me more questions about it, and I'll try to answer them.

The apocalyse must be near -- I'm doing MOTH!

If you're not familiar with Managers of Their Homes, it is a Christian book written and published by the Maxwell family, who had seven or eight children and homeschooled them all.


It is about ... SCHEDULING, yes in capital letters and boldfaced, because I'd heard that the SCHEDULING they talk about is so intense and constant that their home sounds like the military.

So I figured it wasn't for me. Back then I was an unschooler, for heaven's sake!

Still, I was intrigued ... I always feel like I could use more help in getting my act together. Also, as you know, I'm always interested in What's Out There, because even if I hate it, it gives me something to think about (and, often to blog about).

But the library didn't have it, and I asked around to borrow it and couldn't find a copy ... and I really didn't want to spend $25 for a book that would probably make me say, "Oh my gosh, no WAY are we doing that! Are they crazy?"

But recently I heard about it again on a FIAR message board, and decided to finally suck it up and order the thing.

Well.

I got it a few days ago, and already the difference has been amazing. Just amazing.

I haven't even gotten to the point where you make the full-blown color schedule and hang it up. I I probably should, and it will probably help if I do.


Here is a list of what we did today before 4:00 pm:

* I washed Benjamin's sheets and put them back on his bed, and did another load of laundry besides -- and put it away!

* I gave both Rachael and Rebecca a private "piano lesson"

* I sat with on the floor with Benjamin, alone, and did several puzzles with him for almost a half an hour

* I finally helped Rachael set up a great birthday present she got, which was a scrapbooking kit with yarn and simple sewing machine. We learned how to thread and use the machine together.

* I brought the trash can back from the curb, got the mail -- and processed it! -- and filed some papers that had been piling up on my desk

* I read two books to the girls, and two books to Benjamin

* I researched and printed off some components for the lapbook we're doing next week

* I helped the girls finish up the FIAR notebook they were doing this week

* Rachael and I had a spelling lesson together, and she read a story out loud to me

* Rachael read the chapter book she's working on, did two phonics pages and two math pages, and we spent time doing some math together with the blocks

* Rebecca did three math pages, much of it with me

* Both girls made some "sticker scenes" from Oriental Trading, which we had forgotten we even had in the house

* The dishwasher was unloaded first thing this morning, and all of today's dirty dishes are in it

* Becca and Benjamin watched Blue's Clues together

* And I took a 30-minute nap, undisturbed



Now, that may not impress you, but it certainly impresses me! And by the way, I did not wake up particularly early -- 8:00 am.

And I still have time to blog before dinner!

The two other things that are impressive are:

1) I think the kids really liked it. They got to spend time alone with me, and they got to do many things that they really enjoy that we don't normally get to. I asked Rachael how she enjoyed the day following a schedule, and she said, "I love it!"

2) Perhaps best of all, the day felt so smooth and relaxed, and I was felt less tense and wasn't snapping at the kids as much. I didn't feel frustrated because I wasn't getting anything done. I didn't feel exhausted with nothing to show for it. Things didn't feel chaotic.

What was really interesting to me was that, with this scheduling idea, the computer didn't even become an issue. I didn't have to "keep myself from getting on it" like I talked about here. We were so busy doing interesting things that I had no desire to go read blogs and message boards or get on Facebook.

I'm hoping to write another post in a few days, both as an update and more detailed explanation of the book and why it seems to work.