Large Families: Making an Active Schedule Run Smoothly?

[TracyR]

Anyone have any tips for making an active schedule run smoothly?

Right now, this is what our "permanent schedule" looks like.

Monday-Tutoring til 4:30 for JJ, Wrestling and Cheerleading Practice from 6-7:30
Tues - Only day with nothing permanent.
Wed - Same as Monday
Thursday- Tutoring for JJ til 4:30. Cello lessons at 7:30.
Friday - Same as Monday and Wed minus the tutoring.
Sat - We are scheduled for wrestling tournaments on several Saturdays (though not every Sat.
Sun- Wrestling matches every Sunday starting 1/8 all the way through March.

Add in to this equation things that aren't regular like play dates, orchestra concerts, choral concerts, school book fairs, etc..., and things that are like homework and studying.

A typical day here... I spend 2 hours in the morning cleaning house, doing laundry, laying out clothing for practices, and preparing dinner so it's ready to throw in the oven and be done the moment everybody is in the door. Afternoons are spent in therapy with Bren (at home) with short breaks. I pick JJ up from tutoring, walk in the door at 5, hurry to feed dinner, have kids change, and run out the door to practice. Get home at 8, then bath, snack, homework, bed.
Since we have nothing on Tuesday's, that's our "work together chore day". Kids have to clean their rooms, the animal cages get cleaned, etc...

It sounds like it runs smoothly, but it's really not.

[venus_flower]

Sure sounds good to me! We don't have nearly that many things to pack into our week and we still don't get things done smoothly. I'm trying to just be consistant and let the kids know that they have their responsibilities and part of that is getting ready to go. They tend to forget that, however and we end up late. For sports I've learned to do like you mentioned and lay them out. In fact, for our early morning soccer games I would put each child's clothes and equipment on the couch in the exact formation they would wear them. So the shirt would be draped on the back of the couch, shorts on the seat, socks hanging off the front, etc. Looked funny, but it sure was effective. The kids couldn't lose things and claim I never gave them to them.

[Tami C]

You schedule looks a lot like mine-
Monday - nothing permanent
Tuesday - dd GS mtg 5-6:30(I am her leader), ds's BSA mtg 6:30-8(I don't stay), once a month BSA district committee meetings
Wednesday - rotating Cub Scout events- something different every week- roundtable, pack leader meeting, pack meeting, one week off (HA!), ds's basketball
Thursday - nothing permanent, but basketball is just starting
Friday - Cub Scout pack meeting parties, nothing permanent, but dh leaves to go get his boys on their weekends
Weekends- always something Scout or sport related. I had 3 weekends free in the upcoming spring, until I scheduled cookie booth sales for dd's GS troop.

My strategy- do not try to make every night a picture postcard, Norman Rockwell, happy-as-pie event. Once baseball season starts in May, we are at the ballfield 2-3-4 nights a week. When both kids have games on the same night, we buy the teams sodas and we eat at the concession stand. For right now, on those crazy nights, it's McDonalds drive thru or something easy like pasta from a can. Chef Boy-Ar-Dee is my Martha Stewart!

On the nights when there is a break between things, I have something started ahead. Spaghetti and frozen meatballs goes together quick and easy. My kids love a chicken/rice dish, but it takes a while, so we do that on the nights when we have no other plans.

Another thing I don't panic over is a bath every night. My older kids either shower as soon as they come home from their thing, while I make supper, or they jump into the shower in the morning. The little ones get their baths during the day when dh is working, or in the evening when he can help on his nights off.

There are times when I just can't be everywhere at the same time. Like tonight- Kaylee's GS troop is having their Christmas party, which is likely to run late, and Jeff's BSA troop is carolling at a nursing home outside of town, starting when I will still be at GS. I will have to see if I can arrange for him a ride to the nursinghome with either someone else from the troop or my mother. Other times, I make arrangements with another mom from one of the troops to take over while I run him around. It's all part of being part of a group. A few times one of my GS moms have run Jeff to his Boy Scout meeting! And way back when Kaylee was in little league but Jeff was still stuck on t-ball (age based), I had one at one field, the other was at the other field, 5 blocks away. Ugh! I had friends who had kids at each place, so I would watch Kaylee play an inning, then have a friend keep an eye on her while I ran across town to watch Jeff play an inning. The coaches all knew my predicament, so I never got those "How dare you just abandone your kid" stares. My dh worked nights back then, so he couldn't help me with any of it.

As far as running anything smoothly, I don't know if there is any such thing. It definitely helps if you have an older kid who can pitch in or a partner who can tag-team for some things. We have set for our kids a 2 program limit. Jeff does boy scouts and a sport per season. Kaylee does girl scouts and baseball. Both went to scouts summer camps in the summer.

I am really looking forward to things slowing just a little as the kids get older. It's true that they get easier when they get to highschool, right? Right? Anybody....?

[1Dawn]

Once a month cooking helps so meals are easy and thought out before hand. (I have to get this going again over the Christmas break!)

Organized landing zone by the door. Place for the stuff everyone needs when they leave for each thing. Having a place and a bag for each thing really helps keep people organized with the stuff they need.

Each person has a color. No one can have the same color backpack. I don't care what color it is but I need to know what belongs to who.

Dawn