Daily routines in our house

Tuesdays are church activity days.  I take the kids now that I'm in the YW and Mike stays home with the girls.  He gives the girls a bath (except for the nights Piper goes to activities at church as well) and puts them to bed.  It is actually really weird to be the one going to youth activities now because with all the bishoprics and YM presidencies he's been in, he has spent more time going to the church during the week than not.  So, it feels weird to be the one going now.  Thursdays are gymnastic days for the girls.  They go to a homeschool class in the morning.  That is changing to Friday soon.  Wednesday is the day they all go to their respective homeschool/online school.  They meet in the same building but have different programs.  Felicity and I often volunteer there for lunch.  On days when we don't go volunteer, I use that time to do cleaning.  I generally clean things that I can't easily get to during the week.  I choose a bathroom and clean it well or things like the fridge or microwave or mopping.  All things that need to be done but maybe don't get the deepest scrub or get put to the side.  If it's warm outside I take Felicity to a park.  We sometimes run errands or go to the library.  It's a quiet day and gives me time to read my scriptures or exercise or write in my journal.  I like Wednesdays pretty well.  The other days are open for appointments.  

The pictures below are kind of a snapshot of those days.  Felicity likes to help me do my chores on Wednesdays.  Will is tired after seminary and depending on how busy his workload is, he might take a nap.  He's not ever been a good napper so it happens rarely but it's funny to catch him with pillows over his head in the living room.  Will is taking a culinary class this semester.  He enjoys it but really enjoys baking more.  He doesn't love cooking mainly because he is picky and doesn't like any of the food he has to cook for the class but so far his food has been good and I get to eat it since I'm not picky.  

Our homeschool days are not as structured as I'd like.  It isn't necessarily a bad thing.  I think sometimes it is easy to get stuck in the public school mindset of how things should be structured and how they should go but that isn't really a good thing all the time.  The fluidity of homeschool is good and allows you to adjust to the needs of your home and children.  I find that I love the flexibility of homeschool but also really like structure.  Now that the big kids don't need my attention as often, it is nice to give me time to work with Piper and get some other things done but it also means I am not always as involved with their schedule and work and I feel a little disconnected with it all this year.  I guess I've come to the conclusion that this is how it is for us this year and they aren't suffering and it's okay to just have a meh year.  I think they are doing fine and letting them be self-starters and is a really positive thing.  It will allow them to be prepared for when they are on their own.  Anyway, they kind of just spread out over the house and do their thing and find me when they need my help or have questions.  Piper gets a lot of my attention but she is starting to be able to do more on her own as well, so that's nice.

Finally, when Mike was deployed, I realized I could not do everything on my own.  I probably wrote about this awhile ago but honestly, I don't keep this blog updated regularly enough to remember what I've written from one time to the next!  Haha.  Anyway, I instituted clean-up time after dinner.  They have daily responsibilities.  I make them clean their school/computer area every day.  They also have to clean their rooms and do a quick pick-up of their bathrooms (put toothbrushes away, pick up underwear, hang up towels).  They also have to empty the dishwasher as many times as I need it emptied (depending on the amount of times I need to wash dishes that day) and put all their laundry away.  They have Saturday chores which include vacuuming, scrubbing the bathrooms, taking out all the trashes, etc.  That still leaves me with a lot to do and I can't do it all so every night they are required after dinner to help clean.  Whatever I decide needs getting done they have to clean but usually it's just the same things each time.  We put food away, wash the counters and table, sweep (or vacuum if it needs it), take out trash and recycle, and do general clean-up. Sometimes we add in cleaning the loft or spot cleaning the kitchen floor or switching laundry or cleaning up the basement. I usually wash the dishes because I dislike it the least of everyone else.  We used to have one person in charge and they got to decide what needed to be done and could make assignments but now we generally all just choose a job and do it.  I like that even though our house can look like a disaster for the majority of the day, at least for a small moment, most of the house gets clean.