Week 1 Schedule Thoughts

How did the first week of the schedule go?

What Worked

• Mommy's exercise time - I got on the treadmill for about 20-25 minutes on M, W, & F, as scheduled, even when Lance took the train and wasn't around on Friday. This is a bit precarious because it depends on Logan staying asleep and RJ behaving and neither one getting up in the middle of my workout.  It did work this week though, and at least on Mondays, I will have Lance to help because he drives in to work rather than taking the train.
• Getting ready for the day - I left enough time to get everyone dressed, sun screened, and fed.
• Calendar time - RJ really seems to enjoy knowing what day it is and what we'll be doing. We also started creating a picture daily schedule so that he will have a pictorial as well as mental representation of what happens when. Hopefully, we'll finish it up this week so we can start using it.
• Feeding cats and watering plants - the only thing I might change is we should water the outside potted plants in the afternoon after nap when we can stay outside for a while. RJ doesn't like going out for 2 minutes and having to come back in.
• Mommy-RJ time (which will be mommy-directed curriculum time) - Logan has cooperated and either slept or played on his own in the bouncer during this time, so I can focus on RJ. On Friday we even got Logan in on the action by having him put his hand print on some artwork (which involved a bath for Logan directly following).
• Lunch time - good time, left enough time to make and eat
• Dinner time - generally works, although Logan sometimes gets fussy. I don't think there's a way to predict that or to change it - we need to cook and eat dinner and I don't want to spend the kids' nap time cooking EVERY day (although for more involved meals I do have that planned).

What to Improve

• Logan's afternoon nap - we need to have some consistency. He refused to sleep on Wed, Thurs, and Friday. It could be a fluke, but I need to work on establishing a more regular schedule for him, so that I can have some time each day completely kid free.
• RJ's afternoon nap - he tends to go to sleep a good hour after I put him down and I don't want to wake him up at his scheduled time because he gets cranky. This delays EVERYTHING in the late afternoon/evening. I think that if we can get him to bed earlier, he'll wake earlier and thus take an earlier nap. So we need to get out of the rut.
• Clean Up Time - I need to get RJ doing this earlier so that it doesn't run into bath time. I think once we don't have as much free play, and as much clutter from our general house mess (that I need to get cleaned up and organized), this will fall into place.
• Bath Time - I think I'm about as efficient as I can be here, with both kiddos in the bath at the same time, but it always seems to take longer than I'd like and I really want RJ in bed earlier than 8:30/9. Perhaps with Lance taking the train more often, this will change because I will have help. Or maybe it will make it worse because RJ gets really excited to see daddy and starts to act up. We'll see.

What Interfered

• This week, I had to go into work (one last time) on Tuesday for a Thesis Defense and we spent the rest of the day at Krishawn's house hanging out with Krishawn and Erika and Ethan. So we couldn't follow the schedule on Tuesday
• On Wednesday, Logan and Lance woke up with Pink Eye, and so we lost our normal morning playground time and Mommy-RJ time to Doctor and Pharmacy visits. This is par for the course with children.

The next step: Try another couple of weeks.

Also, from this, I made the decision that I will plan 4 days of curriculum, so that if we have a messed up day, we can easily adjust. If we have two messed up days, we can have some of our curriculum on a weekend day instead. If we have more than three messed up days,  I think skipping a week of curriculum would do us good!

Schedule Step I: Getting Organized

Since we will no longer have my income and I won't be working outside the home all day, we have canceled the cleaning service (last cleaning was two weeks ago, so I'm starting with a nice dirty house!) and the lawn service and now I have to figure out how to manage all the household chores in addition to taking care of the children.  That's the one part about this role that I don't like.  I love having a clean house, but I hate being the one to have to clean it and I have no clue how to find the time to clean while taking care of two young children who are too young to do any real help.  For example, RJ wanted to help me vacuum the oriental rug full of cat hair, which doubled the amount of time it took.

Before I can even get into my "Preschool At Home" project, I need to set a schedule for getting things done around the house and set aside time for those preschool activities.  In writing my first draft, I realized that Logan is really the wild card because he still nurses every 2 hours during the day.  Sometimes I can get a 3 hour stretch, but usually over a nap.  I'm hoping that this will change once we start baby food when he's 6 months.  I'm also hoping that RJ will eat better once we're feeding Logan too - since now he dawdles through any meal.

However, this is my first draft schedule, which gives me some time one on one time with both boys and hopefully allows time for the chores so that we don't have to do them over the weekend anymore.  While this looks rigid, I realize that a good schedule needs to be flexible, I just need something to keep me on track, especially in the beginning.  Things will change.  This week, my goal is to see how the daily flow of activities works.  Next week, we'll make any changes to the schedule that we need to.  I plan on starting my "preschool" curriculum the week after RJ's 3rd birthday (6/19).  Most preschool studies examine children from 3-5, so I wanted to stay consistent with the age.  Also, realistically, I won't have any curriculum planned until then anyway!

First Draft:
Summer Daily Schedule

6:00 Wake/Feed Logan/Bring RJ's Breakfast upstairs
6:30 Exercise / Planning time
7:00 Shower, get dressed
8:00 Calendar time, Feed cats, water plants
8:30 Feed Logan/RJ Free Choice Time
9:00 Playground (or extended Free Choice + Mommy/Logan time if too hot)
9:30 Logan Nap/ Snack/ RJ-Mommy Play (implement theme activities)
10:30/11 Feed Logan, Read Theme Books/Talk time
11/11:30 Child Directed Theme Activities/Logan Self-Play/Minor Chores/Prepare Lunch
12:00 Lunch Time
12:30/1 Feed Logan
1:30 Nap Time/ Mommy Free Time
3:30 Feed Logan/ Snack Time / Chore Time/ Free Play/Errands
4:30 Backyard Time (water play) or Errands
5:00/5:30 Dinner Prep/ Playdough/Sensory Play
5:30/6 Feed Logan
6:00/6:30 Dinner
7:00/7:15 Clean up time
7:30 Bath Time
8:00 RJ Bed Time
8:30 Feed Logan
9:00 Put Logan to Bed
9:30 Parent Time
10:30 Parent Bed Time


Also, I set up a 4 week rotation of chores.
Mondays - Meal Planning & Groceries
Tuesdays - Week 1 & 3: Dusting; Week 2 & 4: Clean Bathrooms
Wednesdays - Week 1 & 3: Library Visits
Thursdays - Diaper Laundry, Week 2 & 4: Clothing Laundry
Fridays - Cat Litter, Vacuuming, Sweeping Week 4: Steam Floors
Any Day in Week 2 & 4: Mow Lawn/Weeds/Pruning

Also, I hope to get play dates worked in too, so some chores and curriculum might be skipped or moved to a weekend.

My New Adventure

Welcome to my new adventure.  As I write this, I am in transition from my life as a tenure track Professor of Psychology and Child Development and Director of the campus Child Development Center to being a Stay At Home Mom.  One of the many things that I want to do with this time period in my life is to examine ways to make thematic curriculum work at home.  This is my research area, so it will keep me somewhat active mentally, as well as being what I hope will be a great resource for other parents and small group educators.  This blog is my documentation of both the process and the product of my efforts.  My assessment of RJ's learning will be my case study.