Busy School Night Schedules and Sanity

Posted by Robyn | 0 comments

As summer comes to a close and public school systems are back in school, school nights have become busier than ever. From football to scouting to church youth group, our afternoons are spent rushing from home to an event and back again three hours later for a hurried dinner, bath and bedtime.

Our first week back in this hectic routine was a nightmare. Football pants not ready for practice, water coolers long forgotten the evening before, scouting uniforms left without new badges affixed, and thoughts of dinner left to the nearest drive thru. I knew we just would not survive another week like this, much less the full season. Something had to change.

Have you ever been there? Excited for all the opportunities you and your family were able to experience, but drowning in them all? Repeatedly hearing how your homeschooled child needs socialization, but feeling like there must be a better way?

My answer came in the form of organization. For me, my week felt as if it were falling apart because I was not prepared to keep it together. And then, I made a plan.

Tip 1. Make a Meal Plan. Planning my meals for the entire month helps me to know exactly what we are having each night for dinner. Seeing the plan allows me to make a few meals ahead of time to be warmed up as soon as we get home in the evening. Within minutes, I am able to provide a warm, homemade meal for my family without feeling rushed or pushed to just pick up fast food.

I utilize the free meal plan template provided by Organized Home. There are plenty of meal planning guides available on the internet and I have recently learned that some people simply use a Google Calendar for planning their meals. Regardless of the method, the act of writing it down helps me tremendously. And don’t worry, if planning meals for a whole month seems overwhelming, start with planning for the week.

Tip 2. Cook for a Crowd. Extending on using the meal plan, I learned to cook in bulk. For instance, if I am cooking chicken for tonight’s dinner, I will cook a double or even triple batch to use in other meals.

My one afternoon of cooking quickly produces at least three or four meals to put in the freezer for later enjoyment. From roasted chicken and vegetables tonight, the additional roasted chicken is used in Chicken Macaroni and Cheese, Cheesy Chicken Burritos, and Chicken Pot Pie to name a few.

Tip 3. Keep it in the Laundry Room. Getting control over dirty practice uniforms that need to be worn the very next day was a chore. After running up and down the stairs to gather the pants, pads, socks, jersey, and undershirt, I finally realized there had to be a better way.

Now as soon as my son walks in the house from football practice, he goes into our laundry room and takes off his uniform. From there, he heads straight to the shower, then he puts on his pajamas and back down for dinner.

In the amount of time he’s handled his bath, I’ve had time to pop dinner in the oven and warm it for our meal and throw his uniform in the washer. The next day, he simply goes to the laundry room to get dressed for football, right where everything is clean and ready for him.

I still struggle with controlling our clutter as we rush from here to there, dropping this schedule on the table and those Scout projects on the floor. But for now, making sure my family has a home-cooked meal and my son has a clean uniform have been my major focus. I’ll tackle the clutter another time.

Robyn Stone is a wife, entrepreneur and homeschooling Mom to one very energetic little boy who is not quiet so little any more. She shares about her journey in life on her blog Our Homeschool Home. She loves a good cup of coffee, photography, and a great conversation.