I have to admit, I love daily routines. I’m not a detail person, so having a solid routine keeps me from being stuck dealing with details all the time and leaves me to think big thoughts and make big plans and dream big dreams.

{In contrast, Mr. Fix-It takes “fly by the seat of your pants” and “taking the scenic route” to new and undiscovered heights!}

This year’s school change has been really big for our household. Really big. It’s completely changed up our household routine and made it much more difficult for me to squeeze in the family time I covet for all of us. We’ve got a 20-30 minute car ride to school now. But here’s a few great little love-routines that we’ve fallen into using to fill in the gaps and keep us all connected…

1. Waving goodbye. Yep, every morning I help the crew get up, get ready, and get out the door. Then I stand on the porch in my horrible old-lady bathrobe (thank goodness we live in the country!) and wave madly until they are out of sight. Skipped it one time and they all left for the day thinking I was mad at them.

2. Lunchbox notes. A long-time favorite around here!

3. Backpack notes. New this year since the boys aren’t packing lunches. I paper-clip them to the top of their daily folder for when they unpack at school.

4. Pocket bibles. We just started this and they love. We got them each a little bible for their backpacks and mark a verse in it for each of them. I mark a new one as I feel lead to, depending on what’s going on with each of them.

5. Compare schedules. I keep all the kiddos weekly schedules posted in the kitchen and we compare schedules to stay involved with each other. Oh, you have library today at 10 am–I have a staff meeting at the same time! Or Oh, it’s spaghetti day–I’m having leftover spaghetti for lunch today too!

6. Say 3 things. While driving home, we go from youngest to oldest and they each name 3 things they learned today, or that happened at school today. Anyone that says “nothing” gets skipped and hearing everyone else chattering on usually makes them want their turn back.

7. Ask specifics. I stay on top ofwhat tests are when, what bible verses everyone is memorizing, what the color of the week is, etc. After 3 things, I start asking questions of each one of them. Asking specifically keeps the dreaded “nothing” or “fine” from coming up very often.

8. Pray together! Oh, this one should almost be first on the list–but I’m kind of going in order of execution here. I take prayer request from each of the children and we pray together in the car. Usually our discussions about our day help develop prayer requests.

9. Sing. We’re trying to learn some old hymns together–at least the first verse. Last week we were working on “Holly-lou-la, I’m the glory! Holly-lou-la, Amen! Holly-lou-la, Mine the glory! Revive us again!”

10. Listen to audio products. We’ve been really enjoying our Jonathan Park CDs–they’ve been a huge hit! (As well as very educational, but the kids don’t really know that part!) So I’ve been watching for new discs in that series, but also thinking about some plain audio books like G. A. Hently and Your Story Hour adventures.The radio relaxes me, but I prefer to use our family time for something that’s going to spark discussion later on.

Remember, we have to choose what’s best, not just settle for what’s not bad!