One of my main pet peeves when homeschooling is not having a lesson plan for the day. It's much easier to get the kids motivated to work when I look like i know what I'm doing. Lately I have been spending a lot of time on working on our YouTube channel which is a project in itself. Not to mention all of the social media stuff that comes along with running it and this blog. Plus housework and cooking on top of that. So I have decided to give myself a schedule and try to get myself organized. So here is how I am attempting to get organized to make more time for writing lesson plans for the upcoming 2015-2016 school year.
Making A Weekly Meal Plan
I used to loosely plan a menu before grocery shopping a long time ago, then I realized that it was much cheaper to shop the circulars and buy what is on sale in bulk. It has never occurred to me to combine the two concepts to save money and time at the grocery store. The first thing I did was organize my pantry and make an inventory of everything that I already have on hand. I found snacks I had forgotten about in the back of the pantry, including an entire box of Snack Pack Puddings and FIVE large bags of chips! Score! I also realized that I was buying things on sale and not using them, including the 15 bags of dry pasta. Luckily they don't expire until 2017 so I will be able to put them to good use.
After perusing the interwebs for much too long I stumbled upon several sites with meal plans for examples, then realizing that some of them were just too gross for my tastes or too expensive I decided on some blank sheets I found HERE to write my own. I sat down with my weekly circulars to see who had the best deals on meat and dairy, which are typically my most expensive purchases. Then with help from my family (one picky kid and one even pickier hubby) I wrote down all of the meals that they liked. Once I had that I was able to write out a weekly meal plan.
Using A Spiral Notebook to Brainstorm
Thanks to all of the back to school sales going on right now spiral notebooks are super cheap and really come in handy here around our house. We use them for school and for just about everything else, from tracking our family budget, drawing books for the kids, and keeping a collection of video game codes (for Sonshine). I recently found that if I have an idea and reach for my laptop I end up getting too distracted with other things and sometimes don't even get my ideas noted down. So I have turned to a spiral notebook where I keep all of my craft ideas, blog article topics, to do lists, homeschool lesson plans and now our meal plans in. I keep everything in one notebook because let's face it, I am far too scatterbrained to be able to keep track of more than one!
Keeping it Clean
Every so often we entertain at our home, and you know what that means...cleaning like a maniac until the house is so spotless everyone is afraid to sit down. When this happens, I try to encourage the family to keep the house as clean as possible for as long as possible so there is less work for us all to do. The kids each have a couple of chores they are responsible for, and help out with other chores as needed. Maintaining the deep cleanings make regular clean up a snap to where I only spend about 30 minutes a day tidying up (that is not including the kitchen which I clean 2-3 times a day after meals).
Scheduling Social Media Posts
I have FINALLY figured out how to schedule blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter and Facebook so that I can pre-write or pre-film and not have to stress about getting things posted. This has saved me so much time and sanity, now I finally know how the pros do it all!
I am always eager to hear from other SAHM's and WAHM's on how they get it all done in a day.
What are your favorite tips for keeping up with life?