Schedule? What Schedule?

So, it's been a month now, with my ambitious schedule of the new year. Have I fallen off the wagon? Am I getting up in the morning, feeling listless, as I blow off my scheduled events, or has my life turned into the intense order of the Captain Von Trapp family, pre-Maria? Am I totally stressed, trying to pack in too many things in one week?

Worry not, all is well. I have yet to wake up and feel disappointed with myself, and the job I'm doing entertaining and educating my children. We're using the schedule as a sort of reminder, but basically do what we feel like doing. Turns out, what we've put on our schedule is what we want to do, anyway (except housecleaning and laundry, of course). We do French, but not in the traditional sit-down-and-study way that I had envisioned. We sometimes sit down and do an arts and crafts activity that ties in with a lesson, but more likely the lessons happen like this: While I'm making supper, doing laundry, or some other task of that sort, the kids (who are forever by my side when in the kitchen, wanting to "help") get miscellaneous French. Example: this week, they've been practicing how to politely order their own milk, in French. We're going to Quebec, for Winter Carnival , and it would be fun for them to practice there. I know, I need to find a cool book that tells me how, in an organized way, to teach youngsters French. All in good time.

Hiking every Tuesday? More or less, we've been hitting the trails with some regularity. Some. If the weather has been too harsh, we've gone out with my husband on the week-end. Yesterday, we blew off nature (and that was just fine) to prepare the house for a birthday party for my father. We had to bake a cake, make his requested supper (yikes - Swedish meatballs), blow up balloons, and bake our bread, which dovetails nicely to...

Tuesday Bread-baking. We've been pretty faithful with this activity. The kids LOVE this one, so we just don't skip it. And once the bread is rising, it's pretty low maintenance. We've been eating homemade bread all month. My sister will be so glad to hear this - we haven't purchased a single loaf of the soft "wonder" type bread in 2006. This was a secret goal I thought I wouldn't be able to make happen. No one has even asked for it.

And the last bits: Storytime: we go every week. The kids love it too much to skip it. We visit my parents every week, but not specifically on Thursday, due to inclement weather. So, long story short, we have a nice schedule, although it's VERY flexible. And to my husband's credit, he doesn't say a thing!

I want to add a few more things, one of them visiting the museum on a regular basis. We are a short walk away from the Farnsworth Museum, and have a family membership. I've wanted to start taking the family there...but the days just slip by. So you see, I do need something of a schedule to keep me doing this sort of stuff with the kids. Maybe every other Friday should be our museum day. I wholeheartedly endorse having a flex-schedule. It's nice having stuff lined up to do, and at the same time, it's just great if something different spontaneously happens on your cleaning day! Do I have any schedule converts? Has anyone else started up a loose schedule of their own?