Getting Organized

Warning.

This is a boring post.

Despite my friend Insight's lovely compliment, there are some subjects that no amount of snarky comments on my part can liven up.

Schedules are one of them.

I have a love/hate relationship with schedules. I love the sense of control and calm order that they bring. I hate the dose of cold hard reality I have to swallow when I'm first forming them.

We start school on August 8. I spent some time last week making my final curriculum choices and patching together a basic weekly schedule.

All the experts I have read on organization and home and time management have said that one should have a basic plan for the week in place. Women who have their act together recommend a day for errands, a day for laundry and housework, a day for desk work, a day for baking, etc. Women who have their act together also recommend a basic menu plan that dovetails with the basic week plan. Since my act more often resembles mayhem at the circus, I'm trying to heed the advice of others.

Here's what I got:

...	Main Focus	Afternoon	Dinner	Evening
Sunday	Church & Family	moderate cleaning	big family dinner	pack for co-op
Monday	Co-op	library	casserole or crock pot dinner	counseling or family night
Tuesday	School	Home Ec Class	new foods and recipes	Tae Kwon Do
Wednesday	School	grocery shopping	quick and easy meal	Church
Thursdary	School and Laundry	Deep Cleaning	breakfast for dinner	Tae Kwon Do
Friday	School	something fun	family favorites	more fun stuff
Saturday	Free Day	free	leftovers or dinner w friends	free

Now, here's the problems with this schedule. Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi.

1. Home Ed Class is the day BEFORE my grocery shopping day. This is going to be a problem, cause I'll need specific ingredients for the cooking part of this class. I would prefer to switch those two days, but I'm co-ordinating with another mom, so it's not all about me.
2. No, I can't switch library and grocery shopping. We're at co-op from 9 am till 3:30 pm. I can't try to tack a two hour grocery trip  on the end of our co-op day. It's just not happening.
3. I've got a deep cleaning day on Thursday, which is sparring night at Tae Kwon Do. I'd rather have some easier activities on the afternoon before sparring night, so I'm not exhausted before I even get to class. But, I don't see another day to switch it to, so?
4. I'd love to have some time to blog and write during the week. I usually don't feel like blogging or writing on Saturday. Friday afternoon is a possibility, but a slim one.
5. I don't have a whole lot of time between the end of school and dinnertime on any day. I'm worried that the activities I do have slated for the afternoon are going to be totally unrealistic and I'm going to be frantic and getting dinner on the table late three nights of the week.

Here is my basic school day schedule. Click on it to enlarge the image. I'm finished with my teaching part by 3pm, but I need to have dinner on the table by 5pm. See the time crunch problem with the afternoon activities?