What Do I Want the Kids To Leave the House Knowing/Able To Do? A Game Plan.

Over a year ago, I sat down and thought out: what do I want my kids to leave the house knowing? In a perfect world, if I got to choose. I've added a couple things to that list, and dropped a couple others. But here's what I'd like my children to leave the house armed with the knowledge of.

How to clean
How to cook (basics, at least)
How to work--effort praised, rather than intelligence (watch this video, it's fascinating)
Healthy eating
Also, eating what's put in front of them
Exercise (healthy lifestyle)
Social Skills
Gospel Study
Service (or, Acts of Love)
What love and respect looks like, and how to treat others
(Along with that) Manners
Journal writing
Delayed gratification (Look up the Walter Mischel marshmallow experiment, and outcomes later in life)
Creativity: how to entertain themselves, and pursue hobbies and interests
Love of Learning
Patience/anger control
Some understanding of politics, finances

That's quite the hefty list, eh? Still. I was thinking: raising my kids will be the most important thing I do in my life. But I've been really lazy about it, as of late. It seems like I've just been...you know, existing. Not really moving in any direction...which I think means I'm probably moving in a negative direction. But when I was a young teen and a babysitter, I was awesome! I was so creative and engaging and seriously, just loved the time I got to spend with young children. I want that back, to be more like that. I also want to start treating parenting more like a job, than just...doing it. I mean when I taught pre-school for a short period of time, every day I had to have a lesson prepared, a craft ready, etc. I'd like to be more like that.
So here's my goal, of what we're going to be doing on days when we're home all day:

 I printed off eight different things that I think would be worthwhile ways to spend our days, and stuck them on the top part of the fridge: creative time (art stuff), active, 'intellectual' (numbers and letters for right now, mainly), acts of love/service, social time (I just called it friends, for Jori's sake), music time (singing), cleaning, and tv time (because if it's not a planned part of our day, it'll happen anyway and replace something else, and I'll feel guilty every day). Not all of them will be done each day--for example, Jori won't be playing with friends every day (I'm way too much of an introvert to arrange play dates for every single day). Some of these I'll just be happy with if we did them that week. But I'm trying to take into consideration what I want them to leave the house knowing/able to do, and start now. Because I don't think I can just put it off till they're 17 and then hope I can cram it all in and somehow, their habits of the past 17 years will disappear. But of course some things have to wait (politics comes to mind).

 I also have a small one for baths, and plan to stick it at the end of the day on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights.

 Then I have each hour, from 8:00 AM (when we start our day) to 8:00 PM (when I want Jori in bed by) represented on the bottom half of the fridge, with room for all those top eight items to be placed in where they're done that day with magnets. That way, we are allowed some flexibility: we can do songs at 9:00 one day, at 5:00 another. Or we can do three of the activities in one hour one day, like intellectual, service and creative time, and do none of them for the next two hours. I'm not really setting a time limit, but I'll be satisfied honestly even if we only do these activities for five minutes each, each day. Or SOME of them for five minutes each, each day. I know it won't be perfect because I'm not, and change takes time.

A few things, however, are supposed to be at certain times and are taped there. These are mainly eating times (breakfast, lunch and dinner, with two snacks in between), and our getting up and going to bed routines. So I'm hoping in the morning, we will eat breakfast and read the Book of Mormon together as a family during it (that's what we're currently doing). Then we'll be dressed for the day by 9:00. So I have pictures to represent each of those things. Then, in the evening with Jori, we will clean up any messes starting at 6:45, change into pajamas, write in a journal (since she's two, we'll just ask her about the day and write down what she says for her in her journal/write any things she did that day that we want to remember), read stories, brush teeth, say prayers and sing some songs, with her in bed by 8:00. That's the goal anyway.

I know this isn't covering all the ground that could be covered, as far as teaching them what I want them to leave the house knowing. Like there's nothing in here that will necessarily teach them cooking, and healthy eating isn't necessarily addressed yet in here, either. But I've gotta take baby steps. If I try to do too much at once, it's going to fail. The hardest part starting out I think is going to be creative time--we don't have that many art supplies, and trying to plan crafts usually just gives me anxiety (if you've searched it on pinterest, you can see how overwhelming it can be!). So this is my first attempt. We'll see how it goes.