Several months back I read of a homeschooling mama who took a couple of hours every Sunday evening at a local coffee shop to plan her week.  This concept sounded like something that would be ever so helpful, but alas, where would I find the time to sit at a coffee shop and organize my life? 

You are probably thinking the same thing.  There just are not enough hours in the day for me to take time out to leave the house, let alone by myself!  But what if I stayed home?  What if I asked my husband to sit with the children and watch a movie downstairs while I stayed upstairs at the dining room table planning the coming week?  Couldn't that work just as well as sitting at a coffee shop?  In fact, for me, it would work even better since I am forever running to the homeschooling closet to see what resources I might need.

So, I asked my dear husband to do just that this past Sunday.  He herded all the cats downstairs to watch a Western (not my favorite anyway!) and I gathered up a mountain of books, some notebook paper, and a cup of coffee (so I could pretend I was at a coffee shop!) 

Another thing I gleaned from this woman's weekly planning session was that she also planned other things like what to blog about, people to call, items to buy, things to do.  So, I decided to make 5 separate divisions for my plans:  Meals, School, Homekeeping, Activities, Miscellaneous. 

Next, I took a piece of scratch paper and I wrote down every single thing I wanted to accomplish this coming week.  I wrote down people I needed to email, I wrote down websites I needed to visit, I wrote down all I wanted to accomplish school-wise, I wrote down places we had to be and people who were coming to visit.  Both front and back of the page were covered in frantic scribbles.  It was wonderful to see my week pouring out in front of me.  I felt as though I might manage to remember all my to do's, I might manage to get a full day of school accomplished, I might even manage to scrapbook a bit!

Then, I transferred everything to their correct section.  Lest you think I had some fancy scheduling template, let me reassure you, my pages were notebook paper--nothing fancy there! 

On the Meals page I wrote out only a couple of days worth of meals since life is rather unpredictable here.  I'll fill in the rest as I go.  For School, I wrote down all the things I would like to accomplish each day.  I also added to this section books I'd like to buy, books I'd like to sell, and projects I've been meaning to have the children work on.  On the Homekeeping page, I wrote down our daily cleaning routine and added things to be decluttered and reorganized.  On the Activities page I wrote a day by day listing of any places we had to be or things we would be doing.  The Miscellaneous page I left for those to-do's that didn't fit anywhere else.  This included things to blog about, thank yous to write, people to call, etc.

This morning, I opened the notebook I had put these pages in and laid it out on the counter where I could readily reference it throughout the day.  I could also add to it or subtract from it as needed.  It worked wonderfully!  I felt better prepared than I have in months..maybe even  years!  And you know what, that little cup of coffee and my dining room table worked just swell!  I'm looking forward to enjoying this time again next week!