Okay, so I know we work 10-12 hours a day, so how do I have trouble getting everything done? Specifically, it is difficult in the winter.

I live where it's cold, and we are expected to go outside every day. When I asked my licensor what "weather permitting" meant, she said every day that the windchill is above 0. Okay, I LOVE going outside...but it takes a LONG time. So how do I get it all in?

Before winter, we had breakfast, did circle time, art, centers, story circle, free play, lunch, nap, more centers/free play, books, and they went home. I ran a fabulous preschool curriculum with fun activities and had busy, fun days.

Now that it's winter, we have so much less time because going outside takes 1.5 hours. Here is our schedule now:
8:30-10:00 breakfast (I have a late arriver who eats and I'm not going to mess with this-it will correct itself soon)
10:00-10:30 breakfast dishes, diapers, potty
10:30-12:00 outside (25-30 min. outside + dressing/undressing)
12:00 give baby bottle, start lunch (cooked or prepped in am before kids come)
12:30 diapers/lunch prep
1:00 lunch
1:30-3:30 nap
3:30 diapers
4:00 snack
4:30 diapers/clean up
5:00 books
5:15-5:30 organized activity while kids are picked up

We have lost all time to do anything but the basics. I miss running more preschool activities and have two 4 year olds that enjoy it very much. I don't want to skip it all winter, but what do I do? I enjoy being outside, but I feel like it is overtaking my life! How do others do it? I have 6 kids, 4.5 need help getting winter gear on, I have no assistant.

Today was so nice because it is too cold to go outside. I feel so much less stressed and rushed. We had a great morning, I feel like they may have "learned" something, we were busy, we had lunch and nap at a reasonable hour. There has to be a way to do this, and I know you can help!

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