by jphilo | May 7, 2012 | Different Dream, How Tos and Resources, Time Management/Organization
Welcome back to Part 2 of the DifferentDream.com series about time management. In Part 1, guest blogger Melissa Gamble shared her three best time management tips. In this installment, guest blogger Amy Stout shares some of her strategies. Amy says it’s easy to keep herself organized, but things are trickier for her daughter Kylie, who experiences autism. Amy finds organization, routine, and proper expectations are keys to managing time and a child with autism. That said, here are five strategies Amy uses.
Strategy 1: www.cozi.com
Amy uses www.cozi.com to organize schedules of 2 respite providers and 7 respite caregivers who service her family. Cozi allows her to color code each one of them, put their specific information in her calendar, set up repeating appointments and also send them email or text reminders a few days/hours in advance of their work schedule! It is awesome!!
Strategy 2: Routine, Routine, Routine
If Kylie’s routine – remember routine is so important to kids with special needs – has to change or if Amy’s introducing something new, then she utilize a schedule. For an example, look at the x-ray example Amy included in this previous guest post. Amy says social stories can also be applied to this scenario.
Strategy 3: Remain Flexible
Amy tries to keep a proper mindset regarding flexibility. She doesn’t consider her own expectations as set in stone. Instead, her daughter is the most important priority. If she cant handle what is required to complete Amy’s to do list for the day then that item gets moved to a new day. (Example: If Amy need to pick up a few groceries but the lights and sounds in the store are really bothering Kylie that day, then Amy doesn’t go. Nothing is more important than her daughter’s comfort.)
Strategy 4: Work When the Kids Sleep
Amy does a lot after Kylie goes to bed and before she wakes up. Amy calls them her golden hours.
Strategy 5: Multitask
Amy multitasks as much as she can. She never just watches TV. Amy will provide examples of how she multitasks, along with five more strategies she employs, in the next post in this series. In the meantime, you can read more time savers at Amy’s blog, www.histreasuredprincess.blogspot.com.
Share Your Time Management Strategies
Now it’s your turn to share your time management strategies. Or leave a comment about which one of Amy’s tips you’re going to try or how you’ll modify it for your situation. Rest assured, your idea will help other parents trying to organize their time without losing their minds!
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 1
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 3
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 4
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 5
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by jphilo | May 4, 2012 | Different Dream, How Tos and Resources, Time Management/Organization
When I read Cheaper By the Dozen in junior high, I totally identified with the father’s desire to organize his saintly wife and children into an efficient, time-saving machine. However, he had much more success with his 12 kids than I ever did with my 2, but my interest in time management never waned. To this day, I love to organize and write to do lists. If it wasn’t such a waste of time, I’d spend hours in the planner aisle at Staples or searching for templates on line.
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 1
From Day Dreamer to Day Planner
My sister and brother find my transformation from day dreamer to day planner hard to believe. Of course, they remember me as the middle sibling with her nose constantly in a book with no idea of time or place, perpetually late, and very disorganized. Their jaws dropped when they heard I presented a time management workshop for parents of kids with special needs at the Accessibility Summit a couple weeks ago.
If I wasn’t aware of how the transformation took place, my jaw would be dropping, too. But I know that God placed several mentors into my life who showed me how to become organized. One was my best friend Jane, who moved to town the summer before we were freshman in high school. She taught me to complete worksheets on time, organize and turn them in, and to complete read assignments before class began. (Bless you, dear Jane!) Other mentors were the head of the nursing home kitchen where I worked as a dietary aid in high school and college, the teacher who supervised me during student teaching, and several other teaching colleagues.
Special Needs Organizational Mentors
When I began writing about special needs a few years ago, many of the parents interviewed for A Different Dream for My Child and Different Dream Parenting became mentors, too. They shared amazing ideas for managing life with kids who have special needs. Many of them are now guest bloggers here at DifferentDream.com. So when it came time to prepare for the workshop at the Accessibility Summit, naturally, I asked them to share their time management tips. Their tips were so good, I decided to pass them along to you as part of a time management series.
Without wasting any more time, let’s get started!
Melissa Gamble’s Managing Your Mind Without Losing Your Mind Tips
Melissa and her husband Brant are parents of one daughter Ginny. She gives the following 3 tips:
- Weekly Calendar Time: Schedule a weekly calendar time to discuss the upcoming week’s events, appointments, etc. (We usually done on Sunday night before bed.) We also have a shared Google Calendar* that we sync to our phones to keep track of appointments and other things.
- Make Lists: List making is crucial to getting stuff done. I carry a large spiral notebook with me everywhere. Without a list nothing gets done for me. I try to keep a long term list, medium term, and immediate list in this spiral notebook.
- Meal Planning: We couldn’t survive without it. I do it once a month. This helps alleviate multiple trips to the store.
*Jolene’s husband seconds the Google Calendar idea. He says the calendar/phone options keep him organized.
Share Your Managing Your Time without Losing Your Mind Tips
Thanks, Melissa, for sharing your time management tips. If one of those tips solves a problem for you, leave a comment about how it helped. And please, leave a comment with your best time management tip if you like. And come back tomorrow for tips from another guest blogger, Amy Stout.
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 2
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 3
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 4
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 5
Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the quarterly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop up box and the second at the bottom of this page.
