Picture of our new schedule

I was looking at the Titus2 website this morning and thought I would probably really benefit from the Managers of Their Homes book, but because of some other school and home resources I have purchased recently, I can't order it right now. I'm hoping someone at our local homeschool convention will have the Maxwell's products there so I can look and maybe purchase then, it's in early May. Anyway, it got me to thinking about the schedule we have now and how we aren't following it (at all)! So while in town this morning I ran by the dollar store and picked up a poster board and got busy making our new schedule. I got it all plotted out with names and times and little squares (I am wierd, I like doing that kind of thing) and then explained my plan to my children. I gave them a list of the things they had to accomplish during the day and how long to expect each task to take, either 1/2 an hour or a full hour. I also explained certain things needed to be done as a family and I wrote those in on the schedule. Also which ones needed done in the morning and which could be afternoon, etc. However, they were allowed to put each task at whatever time they wanted on the schedule. For instance, child A might put math at 8:00am while child B has it at 1:00pm. This was the part that was really different for us, always before I had made the schedule and just told them when they would get up and when they would do this and that. It's funny though because if I told them they had to get up at 7:00am they would squawk at me but they all chose that on this schedule!! They all really enjoyed mapping out their day and were excited to start it tomorrow. Several made comments that they thought this would work really well (can you see my smiling mama face:). They have never been excited about a schedule and were moaning when I told them we were going to be making a new one today, but then after realizing they had some control over their own day, they loved it. I cannot wait to see how it works and if it lasts for awhile, most of my new ideas flop rather quickly. I have high hopes for this one though. Here is a picture of it; it's hanging on the side of our fridge which is very open and visible to all.

The paper wasn't long enough for our entire day, so morning is on the left side of thick black line and afternoon is on the right side. The times are listed in the far left column. I have a column along with each child, it all fit perfectly. The colored tabs are just mini stick it notes so that we can rearrange if we see something isn't working. The squares that look blank actually have pencilled in things such as meals and clean up, Bible time and ball practice. Hopefully all of this made sense and you understand what I was trying to explain :)

I know that there are alot of tips and good advice I would get out of the Managers of Their Homes book, so I would still like to have a copy, but this might work until then.

Blessings,
Rashel