Renee Emerson

I just finished reading The Time Saving Mom by Crystal Paine (which I plan to review for my October substack); I’m in a place where I feel like my routines are pretty smooth, but it always helps to get new ideas and see where things can be improved. She encourages you to write out 6 priorities, an evening routine, and a morning routine, among other worksheets (I’m a worksheets kind of gal).

Right now this is what I have on my plate:
Writing
Adjuncting two classes (For two separate universities!)
Homeschooling my five kids (ages 3 – 12)
Teaching at a co-op 2x a month
Weekly BSF Bible study

My priorities are:
1. My Marriage
2. My Kids
3. Homeschool
4. Work
5. Writing
6. Health (I include spiritual / mental / physical health in this category–“self-care”)

So once I get my priorities down, then I come up with my routines. I found my routines were fairly in line with my goals, with a few tweaks:

Morning Routine:
5:00 Wake up and work out
5:45 Shower / dress for the day
6:00 Work
6:30 Coffee with my husband
7:00 Bible study (with kids as they wake up and come downstairs)
8:00 Begin Homeschool / Breakfast

What I changed after reading the book was that now, when I’m working out or in the shower, I have begun to pray over my day and everything I have happening that day. I think that will be a good change.

Evening Routine:
7:00 Clean up kitchen, tidy up living room
7:30 Readaloud with the whole family
8:00 Bedtime songs / prayers / hugs
8:30 – 9:30 Catching up with my husband
(Also set out clothes for tomorrow, set out backpacks etc. for whatever activities are going on the next day, start laundry and roomba vacuum)
9:30 Reading OR Working (if I have a lot of grading)
10:00 Sleep

My evening routine is not so very by the clock, that is just a general outline of how our evenings typically go, but what I did decide to change is to start taking vitamins before bed.

The middle of my days are usually a rhythm of homeschooling, a break for lunch, then work for a half hour or so during quiet rest time, then activities / play time with the kids in the afternoon. As my kids have gotten older, we have more outside the house activities, but I keep them to the afternoon so we can have a consistent school day (Except for bible study–that does intrude on one of our mornings, but we feel it is worth it).

I also do my writing either in the early morning (if work allows), or in the quiet rest time, or in the afternoon–right now it is kind of getting squeezed in. It isn’t ideal–during many seasons in my life, I had writing in that 5AM workout spot–but I’ve just been committing myself to make sure the writing gets done everyday, even if it isn’t happening first thing. When my classes are out for the semester, I’ll put writing in that morning slot for work.

Besides adding prayer in the early morning and vitamins before bed, I’ve also decided to cut out my second cup of coffee in the afternoon to see if my sleep improves.

What are your daily rhythms like? Have you read this book? If not, I 100% recommend it!