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Have you ever…?
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O.K., I know that there have been a lot of posts over the years with people asking for advice on how to fit everything in that needs to be done in a day. Or at least something along those general thoughts. My question is this though, have any of you EVER in all your homeschooling careers, had a single day in which balance between all of the various areas was achieved? Meaning, a good “schoolday” (for lack of a better word) had been accomplished in a reasonable amount of time, the laundry had been done from start to finish, the whole house was in a reasonable state of order and cleanliness, the family had been fed three healthy meals (plus snacks), the errands and appointments were not all piling up waiting to be made or taken care of, all the dishes had been washed, you had time to put work into needed/wanted projects, there had been time and attention put into family/children and you had been able to reply promptly to phone messages and e-mails that needed to be taken care of?
*NOTE: I am not referring to perfection in any of these stated areas, just balance. I am not talking about gleaming polished floors, clostes that look like you are staging for a magazine shoot, gourmet meals and perfect children. Just a reasonable amount of balance between ALL these areas at once.
Can it happen? Is it possible? Has ANYONE had even ONE day that looked like this? Remember, I am NOT referring to anything being in a state of perfection. I know that is not possible to have. But I have been trying for YEARS to achieve balance between all the areas of responsibility in my life. I would like to know if anyone else has been able to get it.
If you have…um…PLEASE, tell me what you did to achieve that day! was is just luck, a blessing from above, or did it happen on purpose? I need to know if a balance between all these areas is a reasonable and sane goal to have or if it is simply to many things to balance and I need to figure out what I am willing to let “slip” a little.
Thank you to anyone who is willing to share their experiences! : )
-Miranda
Miranda – I HAVE had one of those days. A few of them in fact. It is possible. Which is why I get so frustrated with myself that I can’t have more of them. I don’t know what I did right those few times. If I did, I’d do it every day!
Well thank you, crazy4boys, for restoring at least some of my hope! ; ). If it can happen once, it can happen again…right? I hope so!
It just seems to me that if I happen to manage to do well in one or two areas, there are at least one or two (or more) OTHER areas that then suffer. So then, I take care of those areas and “get them back into order”, but then the ones that had previously been managing well have now deteriorated and need to have focused attention once more. It’s a vicious cycle! LOL!
So if you ever figure out what you did you have those days of balance, please share! I would even consider paying you! LOL! : ). That’s gotta be some valuable information, right there! ; )
-Miranda
Yes, I too have had a couple of those days! They are so wonderful and I feel like I have accomplished so much! Unfortunetly, it seems like the “stars have to align just right” for it to work.
I too would do it every day if I knew what made it work. Maybe someone else on here might know?I think some of it may be not trying to expect to much from your day. I make a list every day and if I can’t cross off at least some of it every day I feel like nothing is going right. Lately, I have been saying “o.k. tomorrow I am getting this done and that is all.” and then if I get more done it is a bonus. But it doesn’t seem to be helping much. . . and something I know I do ALOT is try to get too much done in one day. Also, our schedules are always changing. Not so much from day to day but from year to year and as the kids grow different rules and things need to be added and taken out to create new/better balance. I think that is a part of it also.
This is a great question!
Oh, yes I have and i think I wish a camera was here to help me look back at those days and say “Oh that’s how it happened”! LOL wishful thinking. But it for me I think boils down to everyones personality and desires. If for that day they mess things happen, if they don’t fit together just right then it will not happen. Add a child under 5 into the mix (or more than one in my case) and it’s not always easy to do. But then add in older ones who can help with those littles and amazing things may start to show.
For me it’s all about scheduling and letthing everyone know what I want out of our day. At breakfast when we are eating and everyone is quiet and able to listen to me all at the same time (so HOPEFULLY I do not have to repeat it again 7 times) I can tell my family what our day is going to look like.
Give yesterday.. I wanted to clean the entire house as we hadn’t in awhile, and we are so busy for the next 3 days. Then I wanted time to go to the farmer and get milk as we had been out for 3 days, then I needed to stop at the library and drop off books and pick up some more before they send my ILL books back. I needed to be home to get everyone down for naps by 1 and I needed to show and be ready to go with my mom for the night. That was a tall order. Did it all work out yes, but I was not the nicest cleaning mom in town. So I treated (and it was a BIG deal for our family) our boys out to a quick lunch. that made a big difference in my time.
It can be done. Good luck finding the magic way though and if you do please share I also would like to have a bout 2 or 3 of them at least a week!
I was about to say we had a few…until I read the laundry bit. I just can’t seem to get a hang of the laundry. I also have a problem where one day everything goes wonderfully, then the next day, I’m so tired I can’t keep up. It’s like I use too much energy to get it all done and nothing is left to get through the next day. I’ve noticed I have more energy when we are eating better, so I’ve tried to make that a bigger priority.
I often feel like one of the plate spinners, trying to balance a dozen spinning plates at once. Between school, housework, laundry, cooking, excercise, spending quality time with the kids and DH, my spiritual life, etc. it’s so hard to get to it all like I should. I’m glad we have God’s grace when we fail…which is often for me!
Yes, I have. I only have two kids though. DD6 and DS2. I have the MotivatedMoms app and follow it so my house is usually in decent order. You could stop by and I wouldn’t be embarressed. I have CMO and follow it so schooling moves along at a good rate. We just don’t have much in the way of appointments, errands, emails, or phone calls, that need to be taken care of. All of those things generally happen well enough unless I made a concious decision to scrap something for the day. My personal challenge is reading a devotion for myself every day (it just isn’t a habit yet) and getting down to play “with” the kids instead of just setting up something for them to play and keep busy with. I need to be more intentional about getting them involved with chores and then getting myself involved with their play.
No one is perfect and we will always be working at it. 🙂
Well, thank you all! So, it seems that the general consensus is that it DOES happen, but not consistently, or even often. BUT, now I know that this is NOT an insane goal to have. LOL! So, thanks for that…I now know I am not insane! LOL!
@HollyS. You reminded me about excercise…I forgot to add in exercise to the list! I also was thinking about putting something on that list about a personal spiritual life, but I have been trying to REALLY not keep thinking of that as something on my list to be checked off and “done” for the day, if that makes sense. So, yeah, that part IS something that is MORE than important in a balanced day. But for my own personal struggles in how I think and view things, I didn’t want to “put it on a list of things to do”. I guess I am trying to not segregate that part of my life. O.K. I have no idea if any of that made any sense, so I will just stop trying to explain it! LOL! And yes, God’s grace IS sufficient. Thank you for the reminder.
@eawerner, I have thought of doing the Motivated Moms or something similar to that for housework but I am nervous about it since discovering a personality quirk about myself in the area of schedules and lists. As in, as soon as I have a list for myself down on paper, I seem to get a little bit rebellious towards it! LOL! As in, now that there is this piece of paper telling me what I have to do, I all of a sudden DO NOT want to do it! And then I have to force myself and I feel grumpy towards it, etc. it’s like I crave that aspect of “anything may happen” and it somehow helps me feel more motivated to actually WANT to do the work. But, I have a problem finding balance (there’s that word again!) between everything at once. I guess I am just a little scared of that feeling of drudgery that I seem to get when I have a list. HOWEVER, I do use the CM organizer for school and it seems to help, but we don’t always get everything done off of it, and then I feel kinda anxious about that. It does help keep all the schoolwork straight for three kiddos and family work, though. Maybe I will check into the MM app and see if I think I can have it work for me using the iPad.
Thanks again, ladies. I think I just needed the encouragement to know that I have not been trying to do the impossible here all this time!
God Bless!
-Miranda
LOL… Ok I bet it was a day when someone had a maid over or hubby brought home the dinner in a box. Tehe he..
I had a couple of good days like that but I don’t know if I made all the meals or if we ate PB&J for lunch and cold cereal for breakfast. Maybe a frozen pizza for dinner. LOL ….
NO maid here or cook (unless I count my hubby). So, I must say No, to everything getting done. I have alot going on though so I am lucky if I get what needs to get done, done.
I am glad to hear there is hope though! 🙂 Maybe it is just me?
? Alot of my day goes as follows. Hubby off, Kids fed, animals fed.. Oh, other way around.. LOL
Homework layed out. someone calls, (did you get the order in?, did you run to the bank?, I need you to run for a part? help me move this bookcase over to the depot, the carpet is being shampooed at the Senior Center. Oh, yeah that is right I forgot we need to get chicken feed? (Why didn’t you tell me we were out?) I need to get mouse trap they were out!, we should get wood chips before winter it has been wet out and the chickens are going to need some dry ones. It has rained here can’t get them at the usual place… Hubby has number but it is at the shop. Ok, now I need to call them and ask if they have dry wood chips. (MUST GET TODAY) nice day of course. probable last day to get them. Do I have the pickup??? UGH!!! Have to go get that. Hey , while I am at it I should pick up that fencing while I am over there picking up the wood shavings. I need some for my landscaping too. OH, I need to finish that up before it starts to show and covers it all. Oh, the yard also needs to be picked up again. So the snow thrower doesn’t have problems. Need to unhook the electric from the camper and plug it into the chicken coop so we can see in the dark. Oh yeah, forgot to put the insulation back into the window and put the boards back up. I will do this when I get the chips hopefully it won’t be dark out by then.
This was in addition to We caught a skunk in the trap. We have to call Charlie to disbatch it. Hope it doesn’t spray. That was aweful the other night when we all had to take a shower and now I have a ton more clothes too do….. ” Did I mention my washing machine quit working and we have to go shopping for a new one???”
Yes, this is real life. this is not a joke. This is what was going on at my house yesterday….. This was just one day. LOL I was able to get the kids home work somewhat done…. Ok Math and a little self reading… LOL.. So, ask my husband who came home late last night if dinner was done????
We had garlic bread, left over potato soup, left over stuffed chicken, both of which he made the last two nights. Garlic bread I made. Oh, I almost for got to mention that I had gotten some tomatoes that need to be put up today! So, if my house is a little messy and my kids dont’ have everything done homework wise, and dinner isn’t done, and the laundry isn’t finished. Maybe I am doing it as a priority tomorrow. Todays priorities are urgent and need to be done ASAP. Doing things one day at a time… Bible verse that always comes to mind is… Don’t worry about tomorrow…..
Crazy is just a state of mind. It takes a real mom to go there and come back from it sane! 🙂
I know what you mean about not putting the spiritual life/goal on a list of things to do, and honestly, while I am a big list maker, I don’t even put school on the list. That is a given part of the day all throughout the day. I pray while I do dishes, or peel potatoes, or weed the garden or driving in the car; so it isn’t something to be crossed off of a list. Is that what you mean?
I used to but no, with 6 kids now, it just doesn’t happen. There is always laundry to be done, a mess here or there, and food runs out so quickly. We have 2 teenage boys and 1 tweenage boy, and then our 7YO son can keep up with the older boys on the eating some days. Throw in 2 growing girls who eat a lot and … I just can’t keep up. I am amazed at some of you who make all of your food. I think I could if there were 48 hours in a day maybe.
I try to keep a running to-do list rather than a daily one. I try to get at least one thing (or more if they are short in time required) done each day. I keep it on my computer and print it out maybe once a week. I keep a full page with checkboxes. As I mark something off, I’ll add something else. Never more than a page though.
We also have 3 children with on-going medical appointments, surgeris and weekly speech (2 of them for speech). That takes hours out of our days at times, so we adjust and move on. It is what it is. I can’t imagine life without them. I love it when I take all 6 of them to an appointment at the hospital and the receptionist tells me “they can wait out here while you take your little one back if you want.” Now mine older 5 are 14, 12, 10, 7 and 7, so sometimes I do allow it, but the point is that the receoptionists don’t offer this to very many, but they know our children are so well-behaved and that they bring schoolwork with them which keeps them busy and quiet.
Rather than worry about what we don’t get done, I try to look back at a week and look at what was accomplished. I have had to adjust my expectations and see the blessings where I might have seen burdens in some cases before.
I too would do it every day if I knew what made it work. Maybe someone else on here might know?
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