My Simple Morning Routine

As a busy homeschooling mom, I am learning how important it is to have a morning routine in place.

I've never been one to enjoy strict routines – variety is the spice of life!

But, I am having to learn that winging it every morning is just not conducive to a smoothly flowing day.  If I'm not careful it will be 11 am and everybody is still in their pj's.

I know some people may say that's the beauty of homeschooling – to spend all day in your pajamas and get school done when it's comfortable for you – but I personally just find it frustrating.  It will end up being a beautiful day outside, but we can't go out because we're just getting started on school.  It also makes me feel stressed because I feel like I'm one step behind all day and can't quite catch up.  Finally, I feel that allowing things to just “happen as they happen” is not really teaching my children good habits of personal discipline and that it won't be doing them any favors when they're grown with households of their own.

We certainly have days that are more relaxed and we take things slowly, but in my household I'd rather not create a habit of every day just being sloppy and thrown together.

But what is a creative, freedom-loving personality to do?  How can a mom nail down a routine and stick to it when it goes against all of her natural inclinations?

The answer I've found is to keep it super simple.

My morning routine keeps the household on track, while at the same time being totally doable.

Here are the 4 things I do in pretty much the same order every day:

1. Eat
2. Make bed
3. Read Bible
4. Get dressed

These are all basic things, but they are my special morning time.  If the kids are awake before I am, they know not to come out of their rooms until I am finished.

If I don't have a chance to complete these basics before the kids get up and around, things seem to fall into chaos pretty quickly.  Who knows what they'll find to get into in the time it takes me to get dressed?  And reading my Bible with everyone up and around?  Forget it.

So I guard this little routine carefully.  It doesn't take me long, but when I'm finished I'm ready to face the day, and I'm available to properly supervise all the little people in my house and take care of their needs.

A little more about the things in my routine:

1. Eat

This one is first on the list because I am working through some issues with hormones and blood sugar right now.  I often wake up too weak to get out of bed, so I have to eat before I ever get up.  My nightstand right now is a little mini fridge that I keep stocked with things like yogurt, homemade granola bites, cheese, and fruit.  I can just roll over and eat before I ever get out of bed!

It sounded crazy when my husband first suggested, but now I think it was a great idea.

And I'm finding there's an extra perk to it – I don't have to try to tiptoe out to the kitchen and hope I don't wake up the kids.  It's beautiful!  As crazy as it sounds, I think it is a great idea for any mom.  I've heard the complaint often about moms not being able to be up before their kids because any movement wakes them up.  Not having to go out to the kitchen would solve a lot of that!

This mini fridge from Wayfair is very similar to the one I have:

2. Make bed

I try to not to get too busy with housework until after we are done with school for the day.  Otherwise there is always something else to do and we can't ever get started on school.

But I do like to make my bed and straighten up my bedroom.  It gives me a small sense of accomplishment as well as a relaxing place to escape to if things get a little stressful during the course of the day!

I love my quilt set, which makes me happy to get my bed made so I can enjoy it.

Here's a quilt set that looks a lot like mine:

3. Read Bible

If I haven't had a chance to sit down and have some quiet time with the Lord before the noise of the day begins, things are probably not going to go very smoothly.  I need to focus my mind on the right things instead of mentally stressing about everything I need to get done.

My quiet time usually consists of reading my Bible, praying, and sometimes journaling. (Read: Why I Don't Do Bible Journaling, And What I Do Instead.)

I'm wanting/needing to get my things for this organized a little better, though. Everything is stored in different places around my room right now, and because of that I end up not using my prayer list or journal as often as I should.  I'm thinking just a basic basket where I can stack my Bible, journal, prayer lists, pens, and maybe a devotional book would be great:

4. Get Dressed

Finally, I get dressed for the day, including shoes.  Wearing shoes just seems to keep me moving faster throughout the day!  Plus, though I like the look of our wood floors, it seems like the dust and dirt just stays around no matter how often I sweep.  I don't really enjoy walking on it, so that's another reason I wear shoes all day!

One thing I'm trying is to get everyone into the habit of taking off their shoes at the door to reduce some of the dust and dirt coming into the house in the first place.  I am just using a big basket for now, but I'd like to get something that looks a little nicer.  I like this shoe storage bench because I think those little cubbies would help the kids put their shoes in their neatly instead of just tossing them (maybe?)

We are still trying to get into the habit of remembering to take off our shoes, so I don't know for sure exactly how much it will help, but the dirt issue does seem to be a little better when we do remember.

Those 4 simple things don't take much time at all and aren't too terribly restricting for someone who likes freedom and variety, but yet they make all the difference in how our day goes!

Do you have a morning routine?  I'd love to hear what yours looks like!