Tuesday, December 8, 2009

WFMW - Household Routines



There are untold ways of organizing your family's time.  We are currently in a system that is working very well for us.  It is more relaxed that scheduling, but still gives some structure and routine to our day.


I have divided our day into specific Time Zones.  

The best part?  They are color coded!  I have printed each Zone's title on the appropriate colored paper.  One color at a time is displayed on the refrigerator.



We start each day with our Morning Red Zone.  Red Zones are a.k.a. "Taking care of business."  In addition to Morning, we also have an Afternoon Red Zone and an Evening Red Zone.


Other time categories are:
Yellow Zone: School

Green Zone: Play Time
Blue Zone: Rest Time


 I can schedule our day in any order I need depending on what we have to get done, or other things that may be going on.  Part of my plan with Time Zones is in preparation for having a newborn in the house soon.  Hopefully our day may not feel so interrupted or unproductive if


#1 - we are in the mind-set of being in a time zone instead of on (or off) schedule
#2 - we can switch zones at any time - just by changing the paper hanging on the refrigerator


Our most structured Time Zone is red.  Here is an example:





The Green Zone simply says "Play Time" under the heading, and The Yellow Zone lists basic school subjects we want to cover every day, like Bible & Math, and then blanks to write in extra stuff.


After a trial period to make sure the details were working for us, I laminated each sheet so we could check off what has been done in the Red and Yellow Zones.


This system is great for keeping not only the kids, but also us parents on track as we go throughout our day!


For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, visit We Are That Family.

4 comments:

Kristin said...

I could use a few red zones in my day.

Erin said...

I LOVE this idea! I'm a scheduling fanatic, and I've never come across this method - very unique! Thank you for sharing :-) And congrats on boy #3 soon to come - boys are such fun!! Many Blessings!

Unknown said...

Great idea. I may pass this idea along to some of my parents. I also wanted to recommend a book site to you. It's called beginningwithbooks.org. I highly recommend it. I would love for you to join me for Crock Pot Wednesday whenever you can. It's a great way to share and get new ideas for the slow cooker. Come post a favorite of yours.

Unknown said...

What a great idea! :) I have a good routine down that works for us...now just to keep it going! :P