I’m Sally Niemer and I represent a mother with children in school. My 6 year old son Ross attends Lowcountry Christian Community School 3 days a week and we home school 2 days a week. My four year old son, Dugger, attends Kid’s Day Out at East Cooper Baptist 2 days a week and is at home 3 days a week.

I am a choleric /sanguine. Choleric is the gentile way of saying that I am a bossy, demanding woman with a to-do list. Unlike Connie’s sanguine side that allows her to be cool, crazy Connie and chuck the schedule for fun occasionally, my choleric/sanguine temperament simply knows that my way is the fun way and I want everyone to have fun doing what I say! I struggle with selfishness. I want what I want, when I want it! (on a side note – I believe that this is also a by-product of the child-centered way I was raised!)

Due to our unique school situation, our schedule varies each day. We have a “get up & out to school day” schedule, a “home school day schedule”, and a “Ross school, Dugger home” schedule. I took a week-by-week planner and scheduled each day accordingly. Actually the skeleton (meaning the morning and evening hours) of our schedule does not vary that much day-by-day, but the middle is different.

A schedule has helped me make sure that the truly important things, the eternal things, the goals of our family are put in first. Otherwise, I would bulldoze over them with all types of other “productive, good, fun things”. We want our children to love Jesus, but what am I doing each day that will foster that relationship?

Having a routine has brought peace to our home and order to our day. It has been freeing to a certain degree for me. I have peace knowing that the huge pile of laundry daunting me from the laundry room will “get done” on Monday, the scheduled laundry day, so I can rest on the Sabbath with my family. In addition, I don’t tend to “boss” all the people around me to “do” everything at once since home management tasks are evenly spread among the family members across the week. I like to move fast…..Although I am really bad about doing the kids’ chores. Like when the dog is whining for food, I sometimes think it is easier to just do it and get the dog to stop than to wait for Ross to do his chore. The schedule reminds me that this is Ross’ job and a chance to teach him responsibility.

A schedule has helped me have realistic expectations. Ever double scheduled yourself? A schedule helps me fit in what is necessary and important first (like quiet time with God, church, sleep for the kids, and regular, healthy meals as a family). It helps me to evaluate what I can do and can not add to my life. Say for example, someone calls me to substitute an aerobic class or chair a service program. I can look at the schedule and easily tell if that would be possible or even best for our family.

A schedule helps keeps me on track. Even though I may wake up at 5:30 or 6 am, I can still be late getting the kids to school because I am trying to get one more thing done…finish the dishes, start one more load of laundry, etc. However, looking at my time slotted schedule helped me to see what was really realistic. You see, I thought that since it takes 10 minutes to get to Seacoast from my house, I can leave at 8:20 for the 8:30 service. There was no wiggle room in my plan- no consideration for loading into the car and walking from the car (with kids you know this can take 10 min for sure!).

There is flexibility in my schedule. A schedule, for us, is more of a guideline than a rule and my schedule is slave to me, not me to the schedule. I cannot go by the clock exactly. It is unrealistic for me! Instead, we have series of routines that we perform in generally the same order. Some days chores take longer than others. Sometimes room time extends a bit longer because I am still working on the computer. I have the freedom to be flexible!

God bless the fruits of your labor in creating and implementing a schedule for your family!