Customize a Home Management Guide Part 2

Here is a description of sections 5-7 of my journal. I refer to these several times throughout the day to make sure the important things get done each day.

5) Cleaning- I use the Fly Lady's Detailed Cleaning List for this. With three small children around, our house gets really dirty so I do a zone a day. For example, page one in this section of my journal is Zone 1: Living Room/Front Porch. There are 10 jobs to do and I have 4 of them in bold type so I can remember to have the boys complete those tasks (wash windows, sweep porch, etc.) It takes about 45 minutes per room to get it good and clean. It takes about 45 seconds for it to get messy again :-)

6) Meals- I have a regular meal plan based on daily and evening activities. We eat an early dinner on Monday to make it to Cub Scouts on time, so I make sure it is a quick and kid-friendly food (tacos, spaghetti, etc.) Wednesday we are gone all day so I schedule a crock pot meal. This section of the notebook has a list of meals in different categories (quick dinner, pack lunch, breakfast on the go, crockpot, etc.) and I just plug the foods I want into a weekly schedule and print it out. Besides the master list of meal options and the weekly schedule of meals there is notebook paper for grocery lists based on the meal plan.

7) School- This is the most important section in the journal because our day revolves around learning at home home. Page one is a weekly schedule including columns for five days of the week and each column is divided into Morning, Afternoon and Evening. Morning activities include all three children (Spanish, Scripture Memory, etc.), Afternoon activities are done while the baby naps, and Evening activities include Cub Scouts, PE at the Y, and music practice.
Pages 2-6 of this section are for the days of the week spelling out exactly what lesson we are on in each subject and what materials I need to gather ahead of time. The next 8 pages have a subject listed at the top and a place to record what lessons were completed each day and any comments for future reference.