In the Groove

We are now 3 weeks into the school year and it feels like we are getting in the groove of things. My household runs better when we have structured days. Summer, while it has it’s perks, tends to make us feel somewhat crazy and myself unmotivated a lot of the time. I wasn’t entirely sure how things would change this time with the school year starting because I just started working and started my Masters program all at once.

Having things structured allows us to have better use of our time. It makes it easier to plan things because we typically know what days we have things going on. It gives us a reason to get up, move our bodies, and really thrive as our best selves. I personally have a lot of goals that I am working on and having structure helps me pursue them more favorably.

For the sake of pretty much my future self, and any curiosity that you might have, I thought I would share what a typical week looks like for me now. What better day to start with than Monday?! 😅

Monday – Up at 6AM, luckily, I don’t work Monday’s and can use this time to do whatever I want before waking up the kids for school. Usually it involves changing into leggings, sports bra, and tshirt, eating my breakfast, and checking my emails/notifications. I also feed the dogs and let them outside. I get the kids up at 630AM, sometimes they are up quick, othertimes they take their sweet time. We leave for school at 735AM. My youngest [he is 3] and I come back home. I make him breakfast. I do the dishes if needed and start on the laundry. I vacuum the floors, couches, and pillows. Clean the bathrooms if they need it. By time I am done we are usually ready to eat lunch. After eating and cleaning up the lunch mess, if there isn’t any pressing things like homework that needs done, I hang out with my little buddy. Maybe watch a movie or play with cars. Next thing I know it’s 2PM and we head to the school. We wait for an hour before the kids get out. I try to read if I can while waiting. We get the kids and head home. The kids do their chores and I start figuring out dinner if I haven’t already. I help with homework if needed and make our lunches for the next day. We try to get as much of the bed time routine done as we can early since movie night usually runs right into bed time. Chris gets home. We eat dinner and then we do movie night. After the movie, we finish the bed time routines, and then it’s lights out. If I have homework that needs turned in, I have to get that finished before going to sleep as it is all due on Mondays.

Tuesdays – Up at 6AM, get ready for work, eat my breakfast, feed the dogs and let them out. Get the kids up and get them ready for school. We leave around 705AM, drop my youngest off at my mom’s, take the kids to school, and then I go to work. I get off work in time to pick the kids up from school and then pickup the little guy from my mom’s. We head home. Kids do their chores and I figure out dinner if I haven’t yet. Our daughter has dance class on Tuesdays, so I have to get her ready for that. Usually Chris takes her and I stay home with the boys and make dinner. When they get back we eat and hang out for a bit before bedtime routine starts [usually around 730 is when we start the routines]. Bed time is at 830. I look at the weeks homework and start on it. I am usually ready to sleep around 11PM.

Wednesday – Nearly the same as Tuesday, just we don’t have dance class.

Thursday – Nearly the same as Monday, but homework isn’t due so I don’t have to check or finish anything in a last minute frenzy.

Friday – The same as Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but some Fridays after work I have a work meeting. So once that is done, I go pickup the kids from my mom’s or meet them at my house, whichever they decide to do that day.

I never have been a morning person, but I realized I do so much better with it when there is a structure in place. Even on the days during the week when I don’t work, I still get up at the same time. Not only does it help maintain the habit of a sleep schedule, but it also allows me the time before the kids have to get up to do whatever I want to do in peace.

As for weekends, those are not as structured and yes we do sleep-in if possible. We try to spend time with our families and get any errands done. Sometimes we have events going on or something “fun” we want to do on weekends. Other than that, we are just usually hanging out at home with no agenda; which is always needed!

And there you have it! It has been somewhat challenging for me to get in the groove, especially coming out of an insomniac phase that lasted pretty much all summer. But, if there is a will there is a way! That’s what I believe anyway.

What about you, do you function better with a structured schedule? Let me know!

👩‍🏫 🎒 jenn