Darling (daughter) and Dearheart (son) need some direction this summer and what I was doing (Random Intermittent Micromanaging) wasn't working, so after
blatantly ripping off borrowing inspiration from
Pinterest, I created Summer Notebooks for each of the kids. (And myself. Evidently my earlier RIM method doesn't work on me either.
Darling loves hers. I mean is over-the-moon happy about knowing what to do each day and getting to check things off--nirvana! Dearhart? Well, he's 15. Let's leave it at that. I've made his notebook short and to the point and explained to him that this is the less objectionable way for him to be productive this summer and get to his free time.
For each of the kids, they have 4 categories of tasks. I labeled them "TAG" (time alone with God), "Grow", "Play", and "Do."
TAG is for their worship time. Darling is reading through the Psalms (her idea) and listening to
The Bible in Living Sound. Dearhart has a devotional book he's reading and
a Bible Study at for his class at church. They're to journal after they read/listen. There's a corresponding tab in the same color as that particular task's category marking where their journal begins. Darling is also keeping a journal of feelings, and I'm keeping a separate prayer journal.
The other post-it categories are as follows: "Grow"--Enrichment activities (reading, outside play, practicing instruments), "Play"--free time ideas and limits (screen time limits for computer games and television), and "Do"--tasks and regular chores.
The "Play" post-it is for when all the other three post-it tasks are all done. And, of course, there are opportunities to earn money doing extra things around the house if they finish up early.
The little arrow tab at the bottom this particular week is a little love letter from God (memory verse promise). Last week the tab was a reminder that VBS was each night that week. The arrow gets reused for the whole week. Some of the post-its can be reused from day to day or week to week if the tasks haven't changed.
To be completely fair, I created a notebook for myself too. (Darling makes sure I keep up with it, so I can't slack!) I'm finding I like the cheery colors and and the structure it gives to my day. I'm also using it to keep up with my food intake and adding a memory text to work on.
One of the things I really like about this system is it's flexibility. If we're taking a spontaneous vacation day, I can modify the plan easily!
We've been using this system for about 10 days now and it's really improved things. I'll probably adapt this when school starts and continue using it for myself and Darling; Dearhart will be off at school and he's got structure aplenty built into his day there!
