The Importance of Systems

I remember learning about Ford, and how he revolutionized the car industry by creating an assembly line.

{True confession:  I haven’t taken a history class since my Jr Year of High School in 1992, and I’m grateful for it}

Ford is my kind of people.

I love an assembly line.

I love that each person can perfect their task, do it quickly and move on to doing that task again.

I love that each person is moving effectively and that things are moving forward.  It gets me excited.

And I love systems.

In fact, I love this course picking areas of your life to refine your routines and make life simpler!  It is ALL about systems that you can create in your family to help your days, evenings and nights

I love it.  That book and the things in it is what I cling to when things get ugly.

… and believe me — my life gets ugly.

Just like yours. 🙂

At one point in time, I had kids in 3 different schools, I was the PTO president, worked part time as an L&D nurse, taught prenatal classes, ran this blog, and ran the children’s group at the church.

I almost died.

And believe me — that was dumb.  I haven’t been that dumb since then. 🙂  That’s called a life lesson.

Anyway — back to systems.  We’re all going to have moments of time that are putting us over the edge.  Having these types of systems (which you set up when you’re not over the edge) make a big difference.

Today I want to focus on a few back to school systems that you can implement today.

Sort of put your life on an assembly line.

Keeping in mind that all of life is unpredictable.  You want these systems to be your baseline.  Things will happen.  Systems might not always work.  But, when they do they’re going to make life SO much better.

Lunches

For us, we make a LOAD of sandwiches at once.  I seal them in air tight containers, and my kids haven’t complained that they’re dry or anything.  They then just take one/day to school and mornings go SO much smoother.

I have containers like these.  The big compartment gets their “main” lunch (sometimes they take hummus/crackers or cheese/crackers instead of sandwiches), one part gets a fruit or a veggie and the other spot is for their treat (chips, dessert — whatever they pick).

**I have given up on my kids eating things they don’t love in their lunches.  I’ll just throw away those carrots.  Every day.  And that doesn’t feel good.  My oldest is a senior in high school — about 8 years into his school career I stopped.  I do require a fruit or a veggie gets taken and I really try to have something they like on hand.**

It’s the same 3 things each day.  Easy peasy.

Also, my kids mainly pack their own lunches.  Often I’ll pre-portion large bags into smaller ones or help with sandwiches, but after 1st-grade kids should be able to make their own lunches — for the most part.

Make that part of your assembly line.

Homework

My daughter hates homework.  It’s tough when you have a bright kid who truly doesn’t need what is being offered.  I walk a fine line about completely not caring about homework and feeling like I should push her responsibility.

So, I finally came to the decision that homework is her problem.

I do office hours about 1/2 hour after she gets home from school.  That means I sit at my kitchen table with my laptop.  I’m available for questions, or even if she’d just prefer to have a buddy with her at the table.  I stay there for 1/2 an hour and then I pack up and do something else.

It’s ended the power struggle.  I really don’t care if she gets it done.  I point out the poor remarks from her teacher and move on.

I also tell the teacher my plan.  I ask them to talk to my child if they’re not doing their homework.  🙂

I also try to spend extra time working on real life skills with her.  Cooking, crafts, reading.  We’re all about that.  Worksheets, not so much.  I’d love for her to play, play, play when she’s not cleaning my house. 😉

Morning Routine

Having lunches under control helps a LOT in the morning, but I still have 3 kids to get out the door.

A few things have really helped our system

1.  Each kid has their own alarm clock.  That way they can’t blame me for “not waking them up” (I do tend to poke my head in their doors to make sure they’re up).
2. Our Alexa goes off at the time I expect them to be downstairs.
3. Five minutes later the Alexa goes off again and if they’re not down by then, they lose computer privileges in the afternoon.

**We also have a Nucleus device that allows me to intercom into their rooms — love this device!

Anyway – if these types of systems could be helpful, check out the full course:

Don’t miss my After School Checklist totally free:

Liked this post, check out my other posts all about making school easier:

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