Make A Plan

For a long time, not wanting to pass up any great opportunities that came up, I resisted following a daily schedule. I had this crazy notion that if I planned out my time, all the fun things in life would pass me by and I (along with my children) would be stuck in this never ending gray abyss of *the schedule oriented life*. It took me years to realize that a schedule set me free! It allowed me the time to complete all the things that I needed and some things that I wanted to do, while still prioritizing our school work. This doesn't mean that I don't rearrange the schedule as needed! We take days to do fun things like field trips and activities (skating and bowling or play dates with friends) often! Making a daily plan (or schedule, whatever you want to call it!) is easy. I have seen them laid out in time blocks-

6am-8am Morning Routine (get ready, breakfast, start laundry)
9am-12noon School Work
12- 1pm Lunch Break/Cleanup
1pm-2pm School Work

I personally prefer to plan within half hour time slots. Now, this does mean that there are more times when we have to adjust some things, but it lets me plan better for when I can do more labor intensive activities, with my baby in mind.
I not only break this down by half hour, but also by person. So my daily plan will show what we goal for each person to do at any given time. Now, as I said, it doesn't necessarily get followed to the minute, but it gives us an excellent guide.