The list of tasks for a stay-at-home mom is very lengthy, but add on top of that homeschooling and running a consulting business – I might be a little crazy! Here’s some tips I’ve found that help me stay in balance.
- Start Your Day Intentionally – I get up two hours before my kids so I can workout, be dressed and have finished my quiet time with the Lord before I need to be ‘on’. There are days, I’m more tired and choose to sleep in and have to cut something out of my regular routine, but I still make sure I am ready to greet my very punctual youngest child when he comes out of his room at 7am. If I start to let this slide, the rest of the day is off kilter and we all feel it.
- Make a Flexible Plan – You may have heard the old adage “Fail to plan, plan to fail” spoken by both Benjamin Franklin and similarly by Winston Churchill. I make sure that I set aside time each Friday to look at the next week – I write out my youngest son’s schooling schedule and check my other kids’ plans. I also balance the checkbook, make a menu and grocery list, write out the schedule, transfer unfinished to-do list ideas and map out the chores we’ll all complete. I’ve got a spiral notebook I write this all in on one spread so I make sure I know all the things heading into the weekend so I can relax with my husband and kids knowing I’m prepared for the coming week. BUT be willing to flex as needed, that’s real life and I’m modeling to my kids how to take what comes with a positive attitude.
- All is Well – That phrase can reset my mindset and allow me to extend grace in so many situations. I was helping my daughter make a solar system model for her Classical Conversations class, she and I both thought the other one read the instructions and while it turned out wonderfully, it was wrong. It was suppose to be heliocentric and not geocentric, so we worked through her embarrassment on our way into class and we created a work around to the mistake so that at the end of class she could say ‘all is well’. I’ve scheduled my day schooling each of my kids with perfect timing so I can have my little in quiet time when I’m scheduled to talk with a client, but then the client doesn’t show up. I know that teachers have lots of variables in their day, I say a prayer for that person, and find myself with a little unexpected ‘free time’. Find a phrase that can help you recenter your mindset so that as your day ebbs and flows you keep your equilibrium.
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