I really need to get back into the habit of using the 3 in 30 challenge to focus on specific tasks and get things done around here. Habits, projects, you name it. I decided I was going to do this again and even though I haven’t gotten around to write a post about it before now, I’ve already been working on some habits for this month.

What I’m saying is.. I intended to write this post at the first of the year and get right down to business working on my goals.

And then I got sick. Actually I got sick even before the new year began. New Year’s Eve eve found me holding my head in the fetal position while dosing up on allergy meds and decongestants. Apparently cedar pollen is going crazy here and my sinuses were screaming in opposition. I didn’t need weather.com to ME there was something in the air…

But despite the assault on my senses, I managed to pick out three goals for January and actually start working on them a little.

The first one is a “gimme.” Kind of a cheater, I think. But it’s a legitimate goal.

1.) Bring back all the habits that have gone before…

There were several habits we worked on and added into our routine during the year last year that for one reason or another fell by the wayside. I like to blame the holidays. Okay sure, some of them may have disappeared before then, but can I pretend it was just the holidays? Blaming aside, they need to come back. WE need them to come back. So this month I’m gathering the good, harnessing the helpful, rallying the routine. My first goal/habit this month is getting up by 7:30, getting in some quiet morning time and bible study, and starting our bedtime routine at 7:30 to get the kids in bed by 8:30 for a story.

2.)  A new format for an old habit…

Morning family devotions is something we’ve been working on for a while. Last year we tried devotionals individually at the same time. This year we’re using The Jesus Calling Devotional for Kids and the Gospel Story Bible (along with some journals) and doing it together. Right now our morning routine is shot, ruined by too much holiday time and too much tv. My goal for this month is to cut off our morning tv time, and develop a daily morning family devotional time.

3.) A little self maintenance PLEASE?

Okay, I’ve NEVER really been very good at washing my face every night before I go to bed or using moisturizer each day (let alone anything with sunblock in it.) I’ll do great at keeping my nails trimmed for a while and then realize they’re terrible. One of my goals for 2012 is to take better care of myself and that starts with the small stuff, right? This month I’m starting small. Yes, I’m also trying to drink more water and make some diet changes but that’s outside of this goal. This goal is all about self-maintenance. One thing I decided to do to make that easier was put everything in one place. DUH, RIGHT? So this week I reorganized the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, removed some less used items to under the sink and made sure all of my regular items are together.  Hopefully keeping these things all together in one place will help a little bit — when I’m in the cabinet for my deodorant, which I DON’T forget, I’ll see the moisturizer and remember it. Sounds good in theory right? So the first part of this goal was to set up the medicine cabinet – Done. The 2nd part is to USE it and develop a better daily (or weekly for nails, etc.) habit of taking care of myself, starting with the small things. Little things matter, too.

So those are my 3 goals for this month. And even though I’m only just now getting the post up I have been trying to work on them already. Can you believe we’re already a 3rd of the way through January?! Yep! So I’ll check back in at the end of the month and let you know how it went! What about you — working on any goals this month? Or new year’s resolutions or something?

Check out the 3 in 30 Challenge here.

You homeschooling moms.. you already know where I’m going with this.

It’s a never ending battle..

The laundry grows when you’re not looking, the dishes breed in the sink, the dust bunnies are gathering under the couch plotting a full scale onslaught while you sleep! *insert scary psycho music here*

One of the hardest things for me is balancing housework and homework — how do I get it all done? And from the conversations I have with other homeschool moms.. I’m not the only one in this boat. You with me?

And stop me if you’ve heard this one:

“But you’re home all day…”

Exactly! We’re home all day! We use stuff… all day! The kids use dishes, discard clothes, play with toys, drop pencils.. all day! Sometimes it seems like the mess grows just as quickly as we clean it.. do you have the same problem at your house?

So how do we balance the housework and the homework? Well, I’m not perfect but I have found a few things that work for me and I’m hoping that as the kids get even older we’ll get even better at it. =)

First, it’s about priorities.

Over the years, we’ve been back and forth about whether or not we should get up and eat breakfast and then immediately start on school (like they would if they were in public school) or have a time period of morning chores to do first (since we ARE home all day and we need to be able to take care of our space as we go.) James tends to lean toward the first option but I really, really NEED the second one, I really need a morning routine. And I think we all do, the kids included. Even if we don’t spend a lot of time on it, I think it’s helpful to get dressed, brush teeth and hair, clear the food and dishes from breakfast and tidy up the living area at the very least. By the time you add in making beds, feeding the cat & a myriad of excuses, morning chores can draw out much longer than I’d like them to, so it’s also important to set a time limit and a starting time for school so that school doesn’t become neglected. Whatever doesn’t get taken care of right then can get taken care of later, but it’s important to do SOMETHING first so that we don’t have to do it ALL later.

Second, it’s important to clean throughout the day.

Oh if only once a day cleaning were enough. Alas, it is NOT. =( We need to tidy after lunch, after snack, after supper and whenever else we can fit some cleaning in between the eating, school, bathing, playing outside, sleeping and spending time together as a family. We’ve tried all manner of chore systems, chore charts, daily chore checklists,..the list goes on and on. The thing we use now, that we like the best, that works the best for us is our “20 minute clean up.” We can use it at regular intervals throughout the day, or spontaneously as the need arises and we can knock out a huge amount of work in one fell swoop. I love it! And it involves everybody, the 5 year old included, which I think is important. Also, it’s a funny thing.. it seems like cleaning more often actually makes the work load lighter and easier. HUH. IMAGINE THAT….

The third thing we do… a big Saturday work day.

I know, I know.. Saturdays are supposed to be fun, right? A long, lazy, do nothing kind of day? Or maybe a go out with friends and do something kind of day.. isn’t that we all grew up thinking as kids?? Well, I did and let me tell you, I grew up and found out that it’s a big FAT “no.” God gave us 6 days of work and 1 day of rest because he knew that was a good pattern. He knew that one day of laying around and being lazy can undo all the work you’ve done over the past five days. He knew that if you were going to rest on that 7th day you were going to need to get some extra work done on that 6th day. There’s just a lot of reasons to get some housework done on Saturday, much to my children’s chagrin. But let me also tell you that the better the job you do of cleaning regularly throughout the day throughout the work week, the easier your Saturday job will be. And if you get started early and work hard and quick on Saturday morning, you can be done by Saturday lunch and THEN guess what you get to do? You get to relax! My children really aren’t in favor of a Saturday cleaning day, but as a homeschooler who doesn’t want the housework overloading the homework during the week… it’s a necessary evil. And if we do it right, we truly get to rest and enjoy our Sunday and that makes it even better.

Fourth and finally… good habits are important.

Keeping good habits are so hard for me.. I fall out of them so easily. It’s important to work hard to keep the good habits that work for us. Morning routines, morning chores, regular cleaning, regular breaks are important also, picking up after ourselves (staying on top of the kids when they set things down and walk away from them is a hard one for me,) picking up before bedtime, cleaning on Saturdays. We need to make sure that we keep all these habits in place. We can also cut down on the amount of dishes used in the middle of the day by using paper plates or napkins, sharing a big platter and eating finger foods. We can cut back on laundry by not changing clothes unnecessarily and being careful not to spill or dirty what we’re wearing carelessly. Cut back on vacuuming by not eating in the living room and reduce the amount of work it takes to wash dishes by rinsing them before food hardens on them. There are so many little habits that make our day go smoother.

I can also tell you what doesn’t work.. Getting Behind!

I feel like I’m in a constant state of two steps forward, one step back. On the other hand, I used to feel like it was two steps forward and two or three steps back so at least there is some improvement. =) I feel like I have enough experience in the “getting behind” department that I can safely say this: “Getting behind does not work!” It’s not good. Avoid it if you can. In fact.. do not come to my house right now. Doing so might cause you to seriously doubt everything I just said. Because right now? Right now we are behind. My house was looking great over our three week Spring Break. I was cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.. the kids spent nearly all day outside instead of making messes inside… it was great! But then… we got out of so many good habits during Spring Break (bad, bad, bad!!) and we were gone a lot helping my mom unpack and just having fun spending time with her so we got behind on the house work (bad, bad, bad!!) and when you put those two together it’s just a recipe for disaster. A house sized one. So now we’re catching up on housework and re-establishing our habits. And it’s a lot of work. And we’re still doing school at the same time because it’s not Summer break for us yet. So how do you get caught up when you get behind? Just dig in. Just do it. Work around the room. Do some school, then some housework, then some more school and some more housework. Piece by piece you’ll get caught up. And while you do that, put those habits back in place so that you can keep it clean as you get it clean.

Balancing housework and homework is always going to be an issue. The circumstances may change a little.. it will look different when you have a child that can wash dishes and mop the floor verses a child that can’t even tie his own shoes. But there will always be school work and there will always be housework and learning to balance the two now will only be a great benefit to your children when they need to manage their own homes and their college work or their employment work or maybe even their own homeschooling later. Time management, prioritizing, good work ethic… these things will benefit your children regardless of where they end up in life later. Good habits start now! (Trust me–it so much harder to start good habits as an adult!)

What about you–how do you manage to keep the house work at bay while the school work is being done?

This post is a part of the ABC’s of Homeschooling series at 5 Kids and a Dog.

You can find my previous ABC posts here:

• All Year
• Books
• Choices
• Differences
• E & F ~ “Everyone Together” and “Flexibility”
• God

Okay – REALLY?! The March 3 in 30 has only just begun and the first check in was yesterday. WOW.

I’ve made it pretty clear that it takes several weeks for me to develop good habits so obviously I haven’t been at this NEAR long enough to have any kind of progress to report yet.

Still.

It’s been four days. I should have at least something to show for it, right? Well. Here’s what I’ve got:

1.) We’ve been turning the tv off at 9 (or close to – a couple of times breakfast was late, my fault, and we were still eating.) After there was a lot of asking about the tv during the first couple of days, I’ve been covering the tv with an afghan the last couple of days. There are a lot less questions now.

2.) No tv and school til 3? Welllllll… this has been an off school week. No, not a week that we’re off. A week that is a little off. My MIL picked the kids up on Monday and Tuesday for the afternoon while I worked on taxes. Yesterday I schooled from bed all day. We pretty much did do school-ish things until 3, for the most part. Next week, being a more normal schedule, will help bring structure and cement to that habit, though.

3.) Regular 20-Minute Clean-Ups after each meal? Um, sorta? I think we’ve gotten at least 2 out of 3 meals each day. It’s a step closer.

So that’s about it. Unimpressive. Yet promising. What about you?

And once again it’s time to make some new 3 in 30 goals. A couple of days ago I told you how happy I was with our February goals and I’m really hoping to build on that success for March! This month, as I mentioned, the girls and I chose the goals we are all going to work on together. We’re picking more daily habit/routine type goals and I need their cooperation on these. I have high hopes. =)

Without further ado, our goals for March:

1. Turn the t.v. off at 9 a.m.

That may sound really lenient.. and in a way it is. On the other hand, if they get up at 8, that gives them an hour of tv, breakfast, getting dressed and whatever before we’re supposed to start school. The problem is that if they turn the tv on… THEY DON’T LIKE TO TURN IT OFF. … I’m sure you can relate.

We all agreed that it’s important to our day to start school at nine and one of the ways that we can help make this happen is by making sure that the tv goes off at 9 am. Recently when the 5 year old was having a particularly hard time with tv addiction I would actually cover the tv with a table cloth during school hours as a visual reminder and it’s AMAZING how much that helped!!

To accomplish this goal: I have an alarm on my phone that goes off at 9 a.m. to mark the beginning of the school day. We can use this alarm to develop the habit of turning off the tv promptly at 9 a.m. We can also cover the tv with a tablecloth during the day if we need to.

Challenges: The five year old is going to be the biggest opponent to this new rule — but it will do him good. And he didn’t throw a fit the other morning when I did this so maybe that’s a good sign…. *fingers crossed*

2. School until 3pm.

This has less to do with “the action” and more to do with “the mindset.” Lately (and this will get worse when spring fever sets in) my children have been pretty bad about asking to do other things in the middle of the school day. “I’m done with my math, can I draw?” (Math is first, so, um, no –let’s keep going.) “Can we take a break and watch a movie?” (Again, um, no.) I am ALL. FOR. drawing and playing games and playing outside but there needs to be some kind of order to our day and that’s why we’re here working on these things.

So the girls and I talked about this, too.. we need to adopt the mindset that from 9 to 3 is school time. Even if we finish all our basics before lunch (and we should be able to) we can fill our afternoon with projects, art, music, games, nature walks, journaling, you name it. Things that are educational AND fun. So you see, this is less of a “we need to be working hard at books every single minute” rule and more of a “there are better things we can do with our time than turn on the tv” habit.

To accomplish this goal: There’s an alarm on my phone that goes off at 3 p.m. for snack time. This can also serve to mark the end of our school day. The snack time habit is a solid one, so we don’t need to develop that habit, too, we just need to add the habit of working on good things up until then and not wanting to turn the tv back on or do something else.

Challenges: Being prepared ahead of time to work on projects for history and science is one area I struggle in, but preparation will help make sure we get enough projects and activities in. I need to develop some kind of system. I’ll see if I can work on that too, but right now we can at least work on the habit of staying busy (with SOMETHING) until three. I bet we see some future planning and “system” 3 in 30 goals. I open for suggestions. =p

3. Tidy after lunch, breakfast and supper.

The other day I told you about our new “20 Minute Clean-Up” that we’ve been using to get chores done and how well it is working for us. I started it just to get some cleaning done when it needed to be done…and now I want to make it a regular part of our schedule three times a day. I kind of tried to do that at one point last month, but it wasn’t our main focus and it hasn’t really become habit. So it’s going to be our third habit to develop for this month.

After breakfast, lunch and supper, each of the kids will have an assigned room to tidy and clean while I do the same in the kitchen. (They’ll each take a turn in each room so that by the end of the day they’ve each had a hand in keeping the whole house picked up.) I want this to help us develop the habits of cleaning up after meals immediately AND keeping the house picked up throughout the day.

To accomplish this goal: You guessed it – alarms. On my phone. Yes, my phone has become my personal assistant. I already had a bell for breakfast time at 8 and for school at 9 (and similar for other meals.) I *thought* I could just remember to call for a 20 Minute Clean-Up “whenever” everyone was done eating. …And here’s where I take a minute to laugh at myself… Since THAT never happened I’ve added bells to go off and remind me. I think I have a dozen bells on my phone now.. but hey, it’s working.

Challenges: Only resisting the urge to not want to follow it through or ignore the bell. Or also, if a meal is late for one reason or another, it’s too tempting to want to skip the clean-up after. But seeing the benefits of getting it done makes it worth it and encourages me to press on.

SO THERE YOU GO.

Three more habits to develop to help our day run smoothly. Three more habits to work towards our 2011 “Well-Functioning” goal. Three more ways to train ourselves to be good stewards of our time and things. What will you work on in March?

Linked to the 3 in 30 March goal linky.

Photo Credit: Some rights reserved by digitpedia

Every now and then I come up with something that’s REALLY good.

Most of the time I come up with good ideas and they’re good for a little while and then our needs and abilities change and we need a new idea. (Sometimes I come up with ideas that seem good at first glance but really aren’t feasible but that’s beside the point..)

But every now and then I think up a real golden nugget of an idea.

This is one of those golden nugget ideas. I really think so. I give you our:

20 Minute Clean-Up

The basic idea is simple, really. Set the timer for 20 minutes and clean. But it’s bigger than that. The rest of the idea (the golden nugget part) is that you give your children, and yourself, a specific task or tasks to do during the 20 minutes– and then whatever time is left before the timer goes off is theirs to keep. To read or sit or whatever. I cannot assign more tasks or anything until the timer goes off.

What?!

I know. Sounds crazy. But stick with me, okay? Don’t give up on me yet.

Here’s why this is so great:

• Manageable Pieces – 20 minutes is a manageable chunk of time for children to clean without overloading their brain and inducing resistance and whining.
• Manageable Tasks - specific tasks suitable for their age and ability allows the child to focus only on the task(s) at hand, not the whole list of everything that needs to be done that day.
• Time Management – HOW MANY times a day do you find yourself saying, “If you’d just hurry up and get it done it would be over with.” ? My children are actively learning that the longer they spend on the task, the less time left over at the end of 20 minutes, the faster they get it done the more time they have to themselves.
• Work Ethic - The kids are encouraged to do their best and work hard first, then enjoy a rest after. They’re learning how to mop, vacuum, fold, etc.  They’re working together for the purpose of keeping our house picked up – just because it’s the right thing to do and not for reward of money, bribery, or threats of punishment.
• Built In Breaks – If you need to repeat back to back 20 minute clean-ups, the kids have built in “breaks” with their leftover time so they feel ready to begin the next 20 minute session — again with no whining.
• Work gets done faster – It really does. The kids and I, working in the four main living areas simultaneously, can completely tidy the house in 20 minutes. We can clean the house well in one hour (3 sessions.) The lack of whining, feet dragging and bickering that normally slows us down helps us get more work done in less time.
• Kids work independently – Before this method, the kids did not work well without my husband or I standing in the same room, micro-managing. I despise micro-managing. I ADORE knowing that they are working, really working, in one room while I’m getting work done in another.

Can you see how good this is?! We’ve been doing this for about six weeks now and IT IS BEAUTIFUL. I can’t tell you how good this has been for us! So far I’ve used this tactic at random times here and there. At least once a day most days. 2 or 3 times a day on Saturdays for work days.

I’ve been trying to add the 20 minute clean-up to our regularly daily schedule — after breakfast, lunch and supper. I haven’t been able to stick to it, so for the month of March we’re going to be working on that habit. I’ve added alarms to my cell phone to remind me. Now we’re not only training ourselves to clean quickly and efficiently but we’re setting good habits of cleaning up immediately after meals and keeping the house picked up throughout the day.

More beauty.

Here’s how we implement this plan here at our house:

• Call for 20-minute clean up (this was explained beforehand, what I expected, how it was going to go, etc.)
• Assign tasks.
  • For random clean-ups I look around to see what needs to be done and assign things to do. I give tasks that I expect to take about ten-fifteen minutes, less if they hurry, longer if they dawdle.
  • For regular after meal clean ups I have zones assigned. They rotate zones after each meal so that by the end of the day everyone has cleaned each zone. (Except me, I do the kitchen each time.)
• Set the timer.
• Work on your task while the kids work on theirs. Feel free to call out time remaining a couple of times, or call out and ask your kids how it’s going. Or you may actually need to step away from your task and teach a child how to do something. It’s fine! Teaching is good. Then get back to work. Lead by example and work hard.
• Expect, require, good effort. When they kids say they’re done with their tasks, I run and check. If it’s not good enough, I point out what’s left and ask them to finish. This prevents rushing through with sloppy jobs to earn more free time.
• Expect, require, participation. Younger children who throw a fit, older children who want to be lazy, need to be gently reminded that we all have to work together and that it’s not optional. I’ve only had this happen twice! I reminded them that the earlier they finished the more time they would earn. I also informed them that if they didn’t finish because they didn’t try, they would have to keep working until it was done, however long they made it take.
• Discipline for defiance/disobedience – ONCE. One time I had to discipline the 5yo for defiance and refusing to clean in the middle of a clean up session. I gave him a 5 minute time out right then. That means he also lost 5 minutes of cleaning time and as a result had no leftover time when he was done with his task. The next time he started to complain I reminded him and he has worked with us ever since.
• “Reward” hard work - The kids are not penalized for not finishing their tasks in 20 minutes if they really did work hard. It doesn’t happen often but it has a few times. I don’t require that they keep working once the timer is up, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my kids a few times when they stuck with the task until it was completed, despite the empty timer. =) When this does happen, though, I give a 5 minute break before starting another 20 minute clean-up (if we need to.)
• Encourage and praise your children. You have an opportunity here to TEACH your children (how to clean, how to have good habits, how to work hard.) Make the most of that. Wrapping that up with a “Y’all did a good job, the house looks great!” or “We got that done so fast without whining, I’m so proud!” will really help to seal the deal.

This is really the most simple idea ever, isn’t? But yet so laden with great things for my kids to learn and practice.

I’m starting to feel a bit like an infomercial: “Yes, YOU TOO can get your kids to clean! Act now and never listen to a whine again!”

Well.. at least not a whine about chores. =p There’s one more thing I want to give you. The next question to ask is:

“What kind of tasks are age appropriate? And what about littles?”

First, YES, your littles can do this, too! 2-5 year olds can help mom with her tasks, or even an older sibling. Give them something specific to do. Here are a few suggestions:

• Cleaning off light switches & doorknobs with a step, a cloth and a small spray bottle of your favorite preschooler safe cleaner–kill those germs! (We use Nature’s Source)
• Wiping down the front of stoves/dishwashers/lower cabinets.
• dusting the tv screen
• checking under furniture for ‘lost’ items
• wiping down dining chairs

My 5 year old is often assigned many of the above and also:

• cleaning off the dining room table (yes, he takes dishes to the sink and returns stray items wherever they go!)
• cleaning under couch cushions
• tidying and wiping down the bathroom sink/counter
• cleaning in his room
• he’s learning to sweep (but needs a little help)

The 7 year old is given tasks such as:

• Cleaning sinks and mirrors
• Sweeping and mopping
• Cleaning the microwave
• Vacuuming
• Starting/switching loads in the washing machine/dryer
• Folding clothes

The 10 year old is given tasks like the above for the 7 yr old and also:

• Scrubbing toilets and tubs
• Organizing and other tasks requiring more attention to detail
• Putting dishes away and other tasks requiring more height (and more care)
• Cleaning/oiling wood furniture
• Sacking up and emptying trash

How do I decide to assign tasks? For regular clean ups, as I mentioned, they have assigned zones (rooms). If a zone still looks clean and picked up since the previous clean-up (which you’ll find happens A LOT when you do this regularly throughout the day.. HUH.. IMAGINE THAT..) I can assign a couple of  ‘other’ tasks for deeper cleaning, like dusting, vacuuming and toilet scrubbing. I just pick some things that need to be done.

Our house is staying CLEANER than it ever has before!

Messes still happen. Things still get left out from time to time. I’m working on cleaning up messes right away and reminding kids to put things away but at least once a day we have a REAL,  ‘Good Effort’ clean up that makes a whirlwind of a difference in just a few minutes.

It still surprises me how much work we can get done so quickly.

Yesterday we cleaned for an hour, 3 sessions back to back (because my Dad was coming so we did yesterday instead of today.) In ONE HOUR we: tidied the living room, vacuumed (under the furniture and couch cushions, too), cleaned off & wiped down the dining room table and chairs, swept & mopped the dining room, tidied the bathroom, cleaned the mirror and sink, scrubbed the toilet and tub, swept and mopped the bathroom and hallway, unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher, washed hand dishes, cleaned the stove and counters, scrubbed the sink, swept and mopped the kitchen, emptied the trash and the kids cleaned in their bedrooms for 20 minutes.

Maybe that’s normal for your house but up until six weeks ago that could have easily taken us the majority of the day.

Gone is the whining. No more nagging, begging, threatening or bribing. For the first time ever I have what I have always wanted — chores getting done JUST BECAUSE it needs to be done, family members working simultaneously in different rooms, everybody working together.

I am thrilled!!

AND ONE MORE PERK – I no longer feel like housework is competing with school work. Which is just such a big, big relief. Twenty minutes after breakfast, or after lunch is enough to tidy up and get right back to school. Keeping the house picked up more throughout the day relieves me of the pressing feeling that I need to be working on housework while the kids are doing school. I can’t tell you how much of a weight that has taken off of my shoulders!

I hesitate to even share this with you because every time I share a golden nugget on my blog it seems to suddenly go bust in my home. But we’ve been doing this for six weeks now. It’s stuck, it’s stayed, and I really hope that it helps somebody else out there. It’s working for us. I hope it works for you, too!

Part of my 3 in 30 journey and also linked to Works for Me Wednesday and Helpful Homeschool Hints.

Image Credit: Some rights reserved by Theresa Thompson

P.S. This post contains amazon affiliate links. Every penny goes toward homeschool curriculum.

A song well played has a steady rhythm, consistent, well timed. The tempo changes, it brings interest, but there is continuity.

Routines don’t just build walls, they bring rhythm to an otherwise off-beat, listless day. Wandering through the day no longer works for me. I crave rhythm, tempo, beat.

I am writing a smooth, steady, Well-Functioning rhythm for our household. The composition is incomplete, rough, but the melody already sings sweet above the tympany and the snare. I feel it. Beat, beat, beat.

Symphonies aren’t written overnight. It takes time. Thought. Intention. Creativity. Determination. Endurance. Follow Through. Inspiration. A song is written note by note, stanza by stanza. I can no differently create order in my home in one day than can I write a symphony in one sitting.

Time.

A good beat requires good habits. Habits are built over time. Time and time and time again of doing the same thing consistently. As we add habits, rhythm, to our day, we must do them today, and tomorrow, and the next day and the next.

Thought.

A beautiful piece of music has harmonies and melodies that are working separately but together. It takes thought to put those in place, in the right place, to add beauty. Habits cannot be added thoughtlessly to our day. The habits we add must aid us in working separately, but together for one purpose.

Creativity.

The age old saying, if you keep trying the same things, you’ll keep getting the same results. If you’re not getting the results you need, you need to try something new. When our children are younger we will need to creatively weave their routines into the routines of the day. As they grow, routines, like key changes, will change and grow as well.

Determination.

A pen and paper sitting on a table no more writes it own routine than a written routine makes you get things done. YOU are the composer, not the schedule, not the children.. You write the sheet music, you must make the routine happen, make the rhythm come. Commit to getting it done, and do it.

Endurance.

We must not give up, no matter how hard it is to fit the beats and the melodies and the harmonies together. If we don’t do it, who will? Endurance requires training, involves failing and getting back up and going at it again. Endurance is something gained over time, as we thoughtfully pursue our goals with determination.

Follow-Through.

To the end. To what end? To the end that we have achieved our goals, the to the end that we have taught our children the melody of order and routine and habit, to the end that we all hum the same tune effortlessly because we have memorized it through practice and practice and practice. To the end that our children will carry the music with them when they leave home and go out on their own.

Inspiration.

Last and perhaps most important.. we cannot do this on our own, in our own strength. We do not have the endurance to run the race at the same tempo forever in our frail human will. We must be inspired, filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the Love of Christ, the strength that comes from knowing God. We must be filled with it. Filled by His word, by knowing Him.

We have begun writing. The rhythm is being hammered out and our day is beginning to take shape with a more often than not consistent beat. The steady rhythm is comforting, the beat is relaxing and refreshing. We’ve added in a little bit of melody in the morning and some harmony at bedtime. I keep writing the sheet music, and as the pieces are added, I eagerly look forward to the music I have so long craved.

I have tried so many times in the past. I have failed. This time,.. this time there is perspective. This time there is determination and inspiration. This time feels ever so much more promising and right. God is a God of order and I pray that He makes me a creature of order and rhythm as well.

Photo Credit: Some rights reserved by Tiberiu Ana