Resource Review- Managers of Their Homes

Are you scrambling every day to get things done? Do you get to the end of the day and wonder if you did anything of importance? Do you have a lot of things on your plate to pack into a day? Is your family going every which direction? Have I got the resource for you! Managers of Their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell is a book about scheduling and priorities that will change your life.

This book is designed with the Christian homeschooling mom in mind, but is useful for everyone. The book starts with a couple chapters on scheduling in general. This is enough to whet your appetite for the meat that is to come. Interspersed throughout the book are quotes from people who have used this method and how they have found it helpful to them.

The next several chapters tackle key scheduling challenges. Scheduling school and chores top the list, but a mom also has to prepare meals. Many moms also have babies and toddlers hanging out while they attempt to do school with older kids. This book is packed with encouragement to go ahead and schedule the younger one's time and has ideas for making it all fit together.

The last chapters of the book cover some more general scheduling issues, including a question and answer chapter. There's even a chapter for dads! The appendix is also extremely helpful. The Maxwell's include several of their previous schedules, with kids at different ages. They also have schedules from other families for you to look at and draw inspiration from. The book comes with a scheduling kit, so you can lay out your own schedule using their method. Also available are Managers of Their Chores and Managers of Their Schools. Check out their website at titus2.com for more info and many other resources.

As my kids are now entering their school years, and we still appear to be having babies, this book is becoming more and more of a lifeline to me. We have our kids home for a reason, and I don't want to waste the opportunity we have to fill their heads with knowledge and build character into their hearts. Yet, it's so easy to let a day slip by and not pick up a school book, or be intentional about doing a project. This book helps me to focus on our priorities and put down on paper what I hope to accomplish in a day or a week. It helps me to take into account the toddler and the nursing infant. It makes me think about how much time things will actually take, and make the tough decisions about what's just not going to fit. It's an invaluable resource to me as I make plans for a semester's schedule or think about new commitments.

Homeschooling is a commitment of time and energy. Having a schedule laid out gives a rhythm and routine to our days. I know what's coming next and the kids know what's coming next. Some days are really hard and I struggle just to get through the day with minimal loss of impatience. But then there are the times when I "catch" the boys reading sweetly to their sisters, or they're playing a chess/checkers/dinosaur game and are snuggled in sleeping bags making up new rules for it. That's why I homeschool. For my kids to have the opportunity to love and grow together, to have time to use their imaginations, to learn that God and family are the most important. Managers of Their Homes is a resource that helps me take my vision and make it a reality.