It’s the first day of Lent. Here’s day one of my Lenten Meditation for Children.
Parts of this experiment were just one big giant fail. I can’t not multitask. I can’t. I’m a mom and it’s such a habit for me that I just couldn’t remember that I was trying to focus on one thing at a time. It took at least 6 days for me to get through most of a day only focusing on what I was doing.
It helps that I have 2 extra kids in my house now several days a week. They’re older, and just need a supervised place to do school work while their mom is at work but they still need help with their work and supervision. Apparently 6 kids to supervise is the point at which I stop feeling bored with what I’m doing and like I’m idle. So I don’t have that urge to go off and find something else to do. So mornings started to go pretty well. I don’t even open up my laptop until after lunch. I teach school, check work, stay on top of chores, and to keep myself busy I remember things like putting a load of laundry in before lunch time, and hanging it while I listen to a child read to me. I’m such a good homemaker when there is no internet or work to distract me.
It’s harder to focus on just work in the afternoons, because I still have to supervise children and work. But I’ve been doing that for years, so it’s second nature now. But it’s horrible for my blogging. I used to blog in bits and spurts as thoughts came I would run over and type them out before they escaped and then get sucked in and forget something else I was doing. Making myself finish something else before writing means that it gets to be 11pm and I’m so tired and Hulu is mighty tempting when I’ve only got an hour left before bed time.
Speaking of which, after I spent so many days sort of finding a stride in not multitasking, and going to bed on time, I had a grant proposal opportunity come up for The Charis Project. I had 3 days to get the package together. I pulled an allnighter all Saturday night to finish it, and that was after 2 really late nights. It completely wrecked me for a day.
Real life wreaks havoc with my plans.
However. Not multitasking has reminded me that I need to assign times for everything, and not feel guilty if I use up all the time for one thing and switch to another before actually finishing. It’s the only way to fit in a few of the things I love but lack time for.
So this week’s project is to make a new schedule/routine/fit everything in where it will actually fit sort of deal.
I’ve been putting this off for a while because our old schedule was impressive, but needs tweaking and doesn’t allow enough time for somethings with the toddler situation brought into consideration, not to mention the extra children. So I will sit down and do it this week.
If you have any schedule tips and trick that work for you PLEASE share them with me in the comments section. I’d love to read them.
If you did a simplicity project and would like to link up please do so. Grab the button here.