How about an update? Some of you have asked how the kids are doing in school – wh0’s still at home – what I’m doing now, etc.. Things have finally fallen into a routine that I’m content with.
My oldest son has been happily married for over a year now. We get to see him and his beautiful bride every other Sunday afternoon. She has a gluten allergy, so I’ve entered that world twice a month which has forced me to see how challenging it can be to come up with meals that are gluten free! But I’ve found that if I use a gluten free flour and cook from scratch, we can do almost anything. She makes some mean gluten free desserts, so that helps.
My second child is 19 now and lives at home, takes online classes, and works fixing iphones, ipads, and Mac computers. He drives an ancient vehicle, and I think it’s a miracle that he gets home every day. I had to drive it to Walmart last week when my car’s battery died, and wow. WOW. I was glad to give it back.
Five of the kids attend a small private school nearby and are doing well there. My 5-yo son who I thought would be doing cartwheels between the desks all year is reportedly excelling and paying attention. He’s even coloring in the lines now. I used to think all that would be so stifling, but I love the self-discipline it is building into them.
I have an 8th grade boy at home doing school. He’s in a coop we both love, and he played football this year for the local public school and had a fabulous experience.
Then there’s my 3-yo, recently diagnosed ASD son. He’s in a special needs preschool two hours a day, four days a week getting help with speech and other skills. He’ll start ABA therapy in our home three hours a day, five days a week in a few days. I’m thrilled with his progress already though. I used to think I could do this parenting and teaching thing by myself. Now I see how much I need the cooperative help of other dedicated people who have much to offer my children by way of example, giftedness, and wisdom. It has been exciting (and relieving) to rest in this provision from God.
I sat down at the beginning of this fall to figure out what my priorities were going to be for the next few months. I wanted to:
- Exercise
- Have time with Jesus
- Write
- Work on my business
- Learn some new skills related to my blog/business
- Read more
- Focus on the here and now
- Be thankful
- Get organized
So here’s how my days (mostly) go:
5:30 wake up and listen to the daily reading of the Bible while I get ready for the day. Then I go to the basement with my planner/journal and sit quietly, meditating on a verse from the reading. I will write any thoughts down. And then I use a prayer guide to pray for my kids. My favorite one is Setting Their Hope in God, and it’s only $.99 on Kindle.
7:00-8:10 – I get the kids up and ready and take them to school.
8:10-12:00 – I take care of David, my sister comes over to work (I run a business out of my home), and I work too. This is my time to do laundry, pick up the house, work on my business, run errands, etc.. When David starts ABA in a few days he will be working with the therapist during this time.
12:00 – I take David to his preschool, and then I go to the nearby Target, grab a sandwich, and write. That’s what I’m doing now. I don’t allow myself to do anything else during this time. No emails. No Facebook. No errands. No phone calls. No reading blogs. Just write.
2:00 – I pick up David, load him up with snacks, pick up my 10-yo from speech therapy right across the street, and then swing over to the kids’ school and grab the rest of them.
We’re all home by 3:00, and the cacophony begins. I help the kids with their homework, deal with sibling rivalries, and make dinner.
5:00 – we eat dinner and clean up the house. I run errands if I need to. I make soap. I catch up on email. I put out fires. (We’re all firefighters, right?) The kids have different things going on. Gymnastics or church youth group meetings or piano lessons or playing with friends. Miscellaneous chaos.
7:30 – I put David to bed – and then I wrangle the rest of them and we read. Right now we’re working our way through the Patricia St. John books that I loved as a child. Tanglewood’s Secret is our current adventure. You can get all six books for only $15.33 on Kindle. They make great read alouds.
By 9:00 they’re all in bed, and my 15-yo daughter and I watch something together. Right now we’re working our way through Revenge. We’ve done Downton Abbey, Sherlock, various Jane Austin movies, etc.. Call the Midwife is next on my list. Leave me more ideas in the comments section.
This is when I exercise. I just can’t do it in the morning. And exercising while watching helps me justify the watching (and keeps me from getting bored silly.) I’ve recently started doing Kettlebells. I bought mine HERE and use the DVD that it came with. I put the DVD in my computer and mute the sound so I can watch the show while still seeing what I’m supposed to do with my kettlebell. My doctor recently told me that the way for us older women to keep our metabolism up is strength training. Kettlebells accomplish that along with getting the heart rate going.
When I’m done – I go to bed and read on the Kindle app on my phone. This helps me fall asleep, and I plow through books this way. I’m currently reading Necessary Endings by Henry Cloud. SO good. I’m going to write a little bit about it this week.
Saturdays are for grocery shopping and running errands. Sundays are for hanging out with family, and on Sunday nights I’m working my way through the Ultimate Journey with two close friends. It’s one of the highlights of my week.
So has anyone tried Periscope yet? I’m thinking of scoping live once in a while. Or maybe a lot. Video is one of the mediums I want to learn and get good at (it terrifies me to think about it though), and what better way to get comfortable with it than broadcasting LIVE?! We could connect in real time, and wouldn’t that be lovely?
My writing time is over. Your turn!
Question: Was anything helpful here? Got any schedule tips for the rest of us? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Hi! I’m interested in starting with a kettle bell….what size did you start with?
Thanks.
7 pounds, but I wish I had gone higher. It’s good most of the time, but I wish I had started with the 10 or even 15.
Not sure, but I think our grandson, Calvin, periscopes w/his grandpa Herb from time to time. Just last eve. he called, (periscoped) and wanted to see every room in our home. Very cool for him and fun for us to see his adorable face.
I think he Skyped. Raquel hasn’t heard of Periscope. (For other readers, this is my mom – and Calvin is my nephew.)
Hi Natalie–I don’t have any tips for u, but I do want to say that u r one of my heros. U r Wonder Woman. I’m sure ur denying this in ur ur head right now, but it’s true. Every time I ponder ur schedule, it boggles the mind & kinda makes my head spin, but u always make it sound so easy, and u pull it all off with such immaculate planning & grace. I truly m in awe of u. I certainly don’t mean to gush, but I thought u deserved some kuddos for all u do and for all u inspire ur readers to do. Thank u, Natalie, for sharing, with all of us, how u keep a few of all ur many plates in the air each day. U r a truly inspiring woman.
Thank you, Kerrie. This blesses my socks off.
I enjoyed this post. I would love for my day to be a bit more structured. I guess that means I will have to set a clock and get up earlier though.
I want to check out some of your links for quiet time.
thank you for turning me on to the Boundaries books. I am about to finish Boundaries with Kids (thanks to your link from another post) and I’ve discovered several more that I’d like to read. Thanks!
I appreciate your writing.
I’m happy to hear this!
Periscope is so fun! It would be awesome to see you on there. I’ve done a bunch of scopes – the first one is definitely the hardest. Let us know when you’re jumping in
I need a new phone first. My old phone isn’t compatible, unfortunately. Saving my dollars right now.
Wow! You got a lot of energy!
I look forward to your posts and I’m glad you blogged about your daily routine. As for Periscope, I try hard not to get involved in new stuff. :/ I get sucked in. That’s why I don’t do Instagram, Facebook and my blog has been abandoned for 5 months, I think? I got to keep my focus right here right now. 
I did begin using Whatsapp because all my family in Brazil uses it. And it keeps me busy all day. 
I know what everyone is doing around the world. (I got family in Europe, USA and Brazil)
I get up around 8am. And by 8pm I’m in no condition for any more interaction with people. My kids go to bed at 8:30pm. ( said “go to bed”, most of the time they are still talking and reading in their rooms). Dad puts them to bed. It’s his job since he’s been out of the house all day, he gets to read them a Bible story and talk and tuck them in.
I’m usually cleaning the kitchen, then on the computer and then shower and bed. I try really hard to be asleep by 11pm. But I’m not always successful. I like the silence and the web after hours, BUT I know it’s not good for me. So 5 out of 7 days a week, I’m able to shut it off and be in bed by 10pm with a good book to put me to sleep.
I’m learning to be more regimented. I grew up as a military brat and never liked all the discipline. As a Mom now, I realize, it’s just what you got to do. I have a schedule now – just a list of things we got to do every day. No time allocated for it. But by 4pm is free time for everyone! Dinner is on the way and it’s time for slowing down.
Since April, as a family, we have adopted a new lifestyle becoming mostly vegan and exercising everyday. The discipline has paid off (lost 40 pounds in 4 months) thus I decided to extend it to other areas of my life. So now we have a school schedule for every kid and we do Bible studies every day at our house. Slowly everyone is becoming more disciplined, more cooperative and mature. We are talking more instead of arguing. We are communicating with words instead of having temper tantrums. Things are so much better.
Of course, I still have a list of things I want to do. We are all a work in progress. But I got my eyes open for the opportunities the Lord is providing for us. We have been able to minister to others wanting to get in better shape and adopt a healthier lifestyle. It’s been amazing!
I’m so glad that you are finding some peace in the midst of the storm.
PS I added a new exercise to my routine: calisthenics. It’s basically weight training with your body only. When I began exercising in April I could barely walk a mile without huffing and puffing. Now I can run 3 miles in 45 min without stopping. For the new routine, I do squats, push ups, and bar exercises. My goal is to be doing something like what the Bar Brothers do. Check them out on YouTube. It’s pretty crazy!
Wow! this comment was way too long. :/ sorry about that.
SOOOO FUN to hear what you are doing! That’s awesome! I’ve never heard of Whatsapp – and I’m not even Googling it for the same reason you want to run from Periscope.
I’m off to watch Revenge now. It’s nice to lose myself in someone else’s angst for 45 minutes every night. 
I know what you mean about Revenge! I got the series 24, the first season from my library a few weeks ago. That was a no no!! I watched the whole season nonstop for 3 nights in a row. Of course that messed up my sleep routine. Because the library had season 2, I had to get it and do it again! I’m glad they don’t have any other seasons. I can see how people get hooked on watching these series week after week. However, watching one episode after the other, one can see how ridiculous the plots can become because they have to create excitement and suspense in each one of them. :/ Not doing that again. Enjoy your Revenge!
yes, there are some mothers who find a way to ‘do it all’….. a home school family of ten or more seems to manage WITH a down syndrome child….. they seem very happy and live in the country near my parents home. I know they do not use IBLP as far as I know….
home education was originally the only form of education for native american culture…. so cultural sensitivity is good thing to experience…… many elders and grandmas around to assist as the language structure encourages respect for elders…
There are many different structures to home education and one doesn’t need to follow an institutional structure….just a general knowledge and character development structure….
anyhow…. yes, educational assistants were invented like the wheel was invented for good reasons….. we should pray good teachers inspire our children.