Goodbye Summer

Sadly, it's time to start bidding goodbye to summer. Did yours fly by as fast as mine did? It makes me tired just thinking about it. So here we are, on the brink of fall. DH started back to school this week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights he will be occupied elsewhere. Thus, I thought it time for us to get back onto a household schedule. Elijah is 4 1/2 and ready to start learning some preschool fundamentals. Grace is a sharp little cookie and loves to learn, so I'm giving her the same material as Elijah. Emma is walking and learning to play a little bit more on her own. Though most of her playing is destructive, if you know what I mean (think rolls of toilet paper unrolled and drawers of clothing dumped out).

This week, we have started roughing out a daily routine that incorporates the kids doing some preschool work and Mom keeping up with daily chores and weekly projects. The ideal schedule will balance cleaning, projects, school work and play time. So far, it seems like things go along pretty structured until 2 or 3 o'clock, and then picks up again at bath time (7:00). It goes something like this:

5:20--7:30 Mom up,
switch out load of laundry,
make coffee,
get dressed,
have morning devotions,
make breakfast for DH,
fix DH lunch.
7:30--Kids up,
eat breakfast,
get dressed,
brush teeth,
make beds (they are learning to do this on their own)
8:30--Kids work on preschool work sheets and then color
9:00--Morning walk
Outside chores
Outside play time
10:00-Emma morning nap
Kids' computer time (preschool learning game)
Mom starts on daily chores. Each day I complete an assigned housework duty, i.e., Mondays wipe down kitchen appliances and oven, clean out fridge, Tuesdays, dust and clean all windows/doors, Wednesday clean bathroom, Thursday sweep & mop, Friday vacuum).
11:00-nothing specific here. Emma is usually waking up hungry by this time.
12:00--Lunch
12:30--clean up after lunch and ready for naptime
1:00--2:30--naptime for kids, 20 minute naptime for Mom,evening project time for Mom
3:00--prep for supper (thaw out meat, frozen veggies, etc)
5:30--suppertime
cleanup
7:00-8:00--bathtime, storytime, prayers, and bedtime.
8:00--laundry, bath for Mom, computer time, bed by 9:30 (goal).

We are also starting a winter garden soon, so I will need to incorporate the work of that into the day.

What do you think? Any suggestions for the "empty" hours? I'm thinking of starting a craft or activity for one day of the week, and maybe reading time another. Usually this time is filled with the kids playing on their own and me working on something or visiting Facebook :).

I found this awesome site for homeschooling: http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/k_1.htm
There are great worksheets for reading-readiness, which is what I am using for the kids this week. Next week, we will start on our letters and numbers, and that will require a little bit more time in the mornings, thus our schedule will adjust. I find myself wondering if I am putting a little bit much on them, but then I remember that next year I will be starting Elijah on kindergarten material full time and Grace on pre-K, so it will help me to establish a routine now rather than pulling my hair out next year wondering "How am I going to do this?"

You can probably see why we do not get out much, it's just easier for us to stay at home, and any kind of outing takes careful planning ahead of time. Spur-of-the-moment things are NOT good for us!

How is your fall "falling" into place?