Kortney Garrison

Homeschooling With Ease

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The Time Budget

5 October 2015 by Kortney

I first heard of a time budget from Jessica Fisher from Life as Mom…and really, I wasn’t inspired to create one!  I mean budgets in general speak of limits and hard choices.

Homeschooling and Working from Home with Ease

But last spring when my work hours increased, it became clear that I could use some help making a rough outline of my day.  This isn’t a moment-by-moment schedule; it’s simple blocks of time.  I could know at a glace where my attention should be during the day, and I could make a place for everything I needed to include at any given time.

Making a time budget was essential to help me to see the hard lines of my day.  I followed Jessica Fisher’s advice and read Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews.  She walked me through thinking through who I am, what my priorities are, and where they fit in the day.  Here’s my (simplified) time budget:

5-6:30–work

6:30-8–morning routine

8-12–homeschooling

12-1–lunch/clean up

1-3–naps/work

4-5:30–chores/outside

5:30-6:30–prep/dinner/clean up

6:30-9–hangout/bedtime routine

A key to successfully working with a time budget?  Blocking off more time for each block than necessary.  We don’t have 4 hours of school to complete each day.  But blocking off all that time means interruptions don’t derail us.

When I went to copy this from the time budget I made in May, it was all off.  In only 5 months, things had changed enough that I really needed to update the budget.  This is a practice I’ll need to revisit every so often as work responsibilities change and kids’ ages and stages change.

brandymystieOn Friday at 1:30, Mystie Winckler from Simplified Organization and Brandy Vencel from Afterthoughts will be presenting a free webinar called Work Your Homeschool Plan, all about

  • creating a workable plan for homeschooling
  • brainstorming solutions for hard days
  • doing the work of showing up

It will be a great time to be inspired, get fresh ideas for the rest of Fall, and ask questions about specifics.  Come join us!

Homeschooling and Working from Home with Ease

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Filed Under: thirty-one days

Comments

  1. dawn says

    5 October 2015 at 7:53 am

    Underplan for the time? Crazy talk. lol

    I need to learn this.

    Can’t wait for the seminar on Friday.

    • Kortney says

      5 October 2015 at 4:16 pm

      I think the webinar is going to connect some dots for me…the planning, the homeschool, the homeschooling planning!

      And really? I think under-planning is my most valuable tip! It helps me sooo much to not fill every minute. It’s also sort of the opposite of what Mystie does because she likes having options to choose from.

  2. Mystie says

    5 October 2015 at 10:39 am

    Great minds think alike. How funny that we both posted about time budgets on the same day. 🙂

    • Kortney says

      5 October 2015 at 4:19 pm

      Wonder where I got this idea? It won’t be the last time this month that I’m sharing your ideas 😉

      • dawn says

        5 October 2015 at 4:24 pm

        I’ve already linked Mystie twice …

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