day 222: organization—personal organizational strategies: prioritize your work day iv of iv

Today is the last day of “dailies and weeklies.” Tomorrow we will move on to more organizing strategies.


For now—a look at a daily and weekly list for a different season! I again want to emphasize how different people’s dailies and weeklies will look different from each other—and how one person’s will look different from year to year and in various seasons of life.


When I had seven kids fourteen and under, my “daily” list (for weekdays) consisted of the following “categories” (too much to list each task here!). Under each item there were usually sub steps or multiple items (i.e. Meet with Kayla for writing; Meet with Kara for reading; etc.).






School—


-Check on high schooler’s checklist/school chart


-“Tutoring sessions” with each child in various areas (i.e. language arts; math; etc.; lengthy list)


-Overseeing all kids’ school charts


-Two reading sessions per day with new reader


-History read aloud






Kids General---


-Morning Bible/character training


-Story time


-One on one time with one child


-Littles’ one on one time


-Feed baby many times!






Household—


-Chore chart check ups


-Maintain daily schedule with kids (i.e. keep kids on task with our daily schedule)


-Work with one child on evening meal preps


-Oversee Chore I


-Oversee Chore II


-Oversee Chore III


-Work with kids on chores/train/etc.






(By this time, we had adopted the practice of giving children daily jobs, such as dishes, laundry, trash, etc.; we had (and still do) most of the daily work divided among the kids during their chore sessions, and Ray and I do few “daily” household tasks but many more weekly, etc.; overseeing the children’s daily chores is a chore in itself!)






Personal—


-Devotions


-Reading


-Correspondence (email, etc.)


-Grooming/hair, etc.


-My lunch break (very important to me—thirty to sixty mins when I ate and read homeschooling/parenting books with nobody needing anything!!!)










Evening—


-Family dinner


-Family dinner clean up


-Family devotions


-Husband-wife meeting


-Time alone with one or more kids


-Time with teens


-Reading with Ray


-Reading alone


At this time, my weekly list still looked very similar to several years before, though the kids and I did the weekly cleaning together now (instead of my doing most of it).


I’m telling you—I did the same things over and over and over every day for many, many, many years. But it was worth it! Sure, I sometimes felt that I was getting nowhere. I often felt discouraged. However, I tried to remind myself of my priorities, of the eternal value of what I was doing, of the long-term rewards of all the time I spent on my children and home.


Fast forward many years later, and my daily and weekly lists look much different. We only have three children at home—and they are teens and young adults. I seldom (if ever) do daily household jobs as the kids have those rotated through their chore lists each day. We work together on the weekly cleaning. And we each take turns cooking dinner or use freezer meals that we have prepared during big cooking times.


Today the majority of my “dailies” involve organizing school, school meetings with the boys, read aloud (always!), writing some; editing some; correspondence and other ministry tasks; spending time with our teens; talking to our young adults (on the phone and in person); and overseeing the boys’ daily jobs. It is a drastic change from twenty years ago when there was so much household work—and so few helpers to do it.


Now I get to do projects! And I am good at projects now—efficient, diligent, resourceful, organized, and speedy. Guess how I got that way? You guessed it—through years and years of faithfulness in my “dailies” and then my “weeklies.” Smile…


Tomorrow: the abc’s of organizing tasks. Don’t’ miss it!