Being a mother of five, I am often asked how I manage our homeschooling day. Some are just curious and others are hoping to see if there is anything that we do differently that might help them manage their day. Each family functions differently, and each mother desires a smooth-running home. But the consistant theme that I have seen with unhappy homeschool mothers is that they cant keep up with their work load.
Managers of Their Homes is a time-proven method that helps homeschooling families schedule their God-given priorities so that they can accomplish all that they set out to. It is particularly useful for larger families, but works with families of all sizes.
The first chapter tells you why you should have a schedule and it dispels the myth that you cannot gain a victory over your circumstances and time usage. The next chapter is about how to have a successful schedule by planning a daily devotion and depending on the the Lord, while trying to accomplish the Lord’s agenda, instead of on our own strength. This chapter is followed by insructions on how to schedule:
- children’s days
- school
- babies
- chores
- kitchen
- priorities
After reading through these chapters you will begin to see the light and probably will be ready to get to work setting up a schedule with all the helpful ideas that are provided.
“My initial investment of time making my schedule has paid off with interest.” Lorrie
“When we are on our schedule, there is much more peace; we get more done and I don’t feel stressed by making decisions all day.” Pauline
The next chapter, Planning for the School Year, is especially helpful as it instructs you in prayerfully assessing each child’s strengths, weaknesses, and goals before you put the pieces of the schedule together.
There are a few chapters next on scheduling the summer, challenges you may face in your schedule and what do you do when you have the inevitable interruption. The chapter on implementing the schedule helps you get it all together and encourages you to tweak it as necessary until it is comfortable. Then there is a Question and Answer section where the families that tested this method asked questions and the answers for every question imaginable is provided.
My favorite part of this book is the section of actual schedules that moms have used. I personally used this section immensely when planning our schedule. Also, another helpful component to this book is the worksheets that you fill out in order to visually see the hours in your day and how you are choosing to spend your time. You quickly realize that there ARE enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that God has laid on your heart to implement in your family.
“It’s so pleasant and easy I find myself thinking, ‘What am I doing wrong; this is too easy!” Robyn
“Making and using a schedule has helped me, and there were people who thought I was hopeless!” Sherri
The final step is completing and displaying your family’s schedule and there is paper provided for you to make a chart with 30 – 60 min. time slots to proudly display on your wall in a central location so each child can see what they are expected to do next.
I look forward to creating my new schedule each year, as we add the next child and need major adjustments, or tweak it a little to add different responsibilities. It always helps me begin school with a good attitude instead of beginning with the feeling of defeat before we even start.
Please visit the Titus 2 site to purchase Managers of Their Homes, and see the other products that Steve and Terri Maxwell have written.
Written by Brenda, Classically Eclectic mother of 5. You can find her writing about her homeschooling journey at Tie That Binds Us.
Brenda is a homeschooling mother of 5, who has a wonderful husband encouraging her to be the best woman that God has created her to be. Together they are very intentional about spending time together as a family. She considers her daily life with her children as her ministry and has found many avenues to encourage others to live a lifestyle of learning. She is the founder of a curriculum review site authored by a group of well-known homeschool bloggers, The Curriculum Choice.
I have most all their books. I appreciate their consistency and commitment to Biblical living. MOTH is a goal for me but I have trouble with such a tight schedule. I know if I follow it I will be more productive but getting there is not so easy for me. The book is full of wonderful advice and tips. And even though it is consumable, the refill packets are less than $10 with shipping, so it’s not too pricey every few years.
this sounds like some medicine that i need to take. 😉
Kris, from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers sent me over here to read this review, since I am considering using this product. Thanks for taking the time to post about it!
I learned a LOT from this book – purchased about 3 years ago along with their “Managers of their Chores” book. I first tried a very structured day – but because I live next door to my sister’s family and my parents, something always threw us off schedule.
Now we have a much looser schedule that has more flexibility for surprises built into it and this is working much better for us. I still refer to the book whenever I set up a new schedule or something isn’t working – but I don’t get worked up over every 30 minutes being structured.
I did take the 3 schedule boards to an office supply store and had them laminated – which makes it so much easier to move the sticky stuff around when we are working on how a schedule should run. I do make a detailed schedule twice a year to make sure that the tasks actually will fit – but when we execute the schedule the school areas all become “school” in two big blocks instead of lots of tiny blocks.
Yes, I just bought this book and have been reading it. I feel very blessed to have the information…and I plan to use a schedule. Whether or not we meet it (daily)…at least I have a guideline—which is the something I wanted and needed help with. This book provides that! 🙂
Thank you for posting this. It is helpful to hear people say they have used it and benefitted from it even if they use it more “loosely.” I have debated about purchasing it for a couple of years, feeling that as with other things, it will be too overwhelming and I won’t use it and it will have been a waste of money. But we are getting to the point of desperately needing what this sounds like it will provide.
I took the plunge a couple weeks ago and bought this book. I honestly believe that this is the tool I need to gets things straightened out for us. I’m not very organized naturally, so I need some help.
I love the book and am now working on putting together the schedule. Thank-you for the review and all the comments! I have been reading over a lot of reviews of this book and I think they have all really helped me to understand that I have to be flexible and use the ideas and schedule and not let the schedule rule my life.
Thank-you!
.-= Annie´s last blog ..Managers of Their Homes =-.
I have also learned a lot from this book. I highly recommend it and am so glad it’s stayed the course of homeschool publications. It helped me to articulate what has been most important to me and to rework my schedule accordingly. Good stuff!