Becoming a SAHM - Waconia,MN

I highly recommend ECFE classes. I live in the east metro so we've always had memberships to the Zoo, Science Museum and Children's Museum. I see you are in Waconia ( I lived there until 4th grade). I would highly recommend a membership to the Arboretum. That is a great place for kids to run around and blow off steam and they offer classes for kids too. We never had a set schedule, but I always tried to get home for nap time and to adhere to that. My kids weren't great nappers, but I always tried to keep them on a nap schedule.

You will get lots of responses to this one!
Relax and find your way. Different moms have different styles, you'll need to figure out which one works for you and your kids.
Some moms thrive on daily schedules and having fully planned days. I was not one of those! Here's what worked for me:
-never had a schedule, I liked flexibility
-we got out of the house almost every day, usually to a local park (we are lucky to have MANY parks around here) and once a week or so we'd go somewhere special, like the zoo*, the pool, etc.
-I did NOT play with my kids very much, I never felt like it was my job to entertain them, they had each other & they played well together
-I met other mothers through classes I took my kids to, like kindergym, swim lessons, etc, I found it really important to connect with other moms, it's much more fun to go to the park or whatever when you have some adult companionship
-my kids' favorite toys and activities were dramatic play (dressing up, playing house, etc) making forts (save any large boxes you get your hands on, that keeps them busy for hours!) and sand and water play outside
-I never tried to "teach" them academically, but I made sure they had a good supply of paper, markers, scissors, glue, etc. (those are the skills they need to be ready for kindergarten)
-we read lots and lots of books, and I always tried to include them in cooking and housework, when appropriate
Those are my tips, congratulations and enjoy!!!
*zoos and kid's museums usually have family memberships available, we spent $80 for a full year to our local zoo, it was SO worth it, we went all the time!

Go for walks and take nature hikes, go to museums, go to the movies, create or paint clay figures, make forts, go rollerskating. There are a ton of things that you can do, you just have to think of days that you want to do them. Tuesdays are park days and Wednesdays are painting days. The zoo is saturday. While the kids take naps, clean or read a book. Create a schedule and a chore list and then have fun. Once you know what your groove is you will have a great time enjoying your wonderful little angels.

K., I work three days out of the week as a registered nurse. My schedule runs drop off my 3.5 yr girl at prek 3, then work until about 2pm then go pick her up again and spend time with them when I get home to my 3 month old. My mom helps me babysitt my 3 month old three days M-W only These days I just do the basic, washing dishes, taking out trash, sweeping, mopping if I can. the other 4 days, including the weekend. I take care of my 3 month old. my daughter continues to go to private school full day, But during this time as a SHM, I try to schedule my cleaning and activities . while the baby is asleep, I do swepping and mopping. and laundry if possible if not it goes for the weekend. I also make sure I have cooked a warm meal before I pick up my daughter, after picking her up I do errands like minor groceries or the post office. no major errands so we get home and eat.. because when I have both kids at home, I designate quality time with them. reading a book, making sure they eat, shower time,. and I only do quick kitchen clean up. I guess it depends ifyou are a clean freak or not. How old are your kids?? you can do quick errands with them after picking them up from school or after the bus dropps them off and then swing by to chick fillet or barnes and nobles to spend time with them at least one day out of the week. This could be like your free day! no major cleaning. I get together with my neighbors alot. we do stuff on saturday afternoon just a bbq and my kids have fun with their kids,, We also try to enjoy the outdoors on weekends. we travel to state parks it's cheaper and you are enjoing as a familly or go to the zoo, always keep in mind your budget, since you will not be working from now on..

Depends how old your kids are. This will be my third summer being a stay at home mom. The first one I had high hopes, but spent most of the summer fighting with the kids, frustrated at the mess and ready to pull my hair out over their fighting with each other.

Since then we have discovered a routine. Every morning everyone has 10 chores to do. Theirs mostly involve brushing their teeth and making their beds. This gives me time to do my chores which is doing the dishes and laundry. Then I make up a picnic lunch and we get out the door. I try and get out no later than 10 or an 1-2 hours after they wake up. The big thing is before boredom sets in getting them out of the house.

Schools and daycare's have kids on a schedule. A pattern to their day that they can anticipate. I had to create the same thing for my kids. Most days we spend at the pool or beach. Rainy days we do the indoor things. In the afternoon their friends are home so we go home and they play with them while I make dinner. After dinner we take an evening walk with my friend and her kids to a playground. After bed I spend about a half hour/hour cleaning up and then I get to relax. It makes for long busy days and great memories.

The most important thing for my kids is telling them the night before what we are doing the next day. My son has to know the schedule. I can't cram to much in one day especially new things. I can say, OK it's our swimming time, but lets do it here today instead, then it works really well. Usually on the weekends I can get away with chucking the schedule altogether, because it's the weekend. I just say it's Saturday, don't you want to watch cartoons and play with your friends? Making Friday a little special seems to help with that. Time for pizza and a movie. Mommies sleeping in tomorrow.

A lot of it depends upon your budget and the age of your children. Plan to do housekeeping chores in the morning. Toss in a load of laundry and clean one room supper well, or one day do windows, the next clean floors, the next dust and run the vac ect. Look into story times at the library, and activities hosted by the park and rec department. You can also plan a day trip once a week to muesums, nature centers ect.
Just because you are losing your job, doesn't mean you will not be employed. Look into companies like Tupperware, Mary Kay, Lia Sophia ect. You can fill your time and make money all while taking care of your children.

I'm right there with you. In two weeks, I'll be a full time SAHM instead of a full time working mom. I'm hoping to get my two girls and I out of the house two to three times during the week for activities - Childrens Museum, story time at the library, etc. And we'll run errands one of those days too. That will leave two or three days to be fully at home. I'm also planning to give myself one task to accomplish each day (laundry on monday, bathrooms on tuesday, weeding the garden wednesday, etc.). And, I'm scheduling in 30 minutes of "me" time when the girls nap so that I have time to read, relax or do whatever. We'll do playdates with other families once or twice a week in the afternoons.

I am a stay at home mom, and have been since my first was born. It will be a transition for you!!! It was hard going form full time work to full time home. We live in the middle of nowhere, so we don't have lot o choices for activities that we can do easily/regularly without disrupting the whole day. So I am a pretty laid back/old fashioned stay at home mom.

We pretty much stay at home. Period.

Day to day, I have plenty to do with feeding them, cooking all our meals at home, playing outside in our yard, or at the local park ( 1/2 block away), doing laundry, dishes, basic cleaning, and some kid-crafts. Sometimes we go to the library, sometimes for programs, sometimes just unscheduled for getting books. I read to them at least 2-6 books each, every day - at nap time and bed time. They help me do stuff around the house, and I help them play for little blocks of time, but I also make sure most of their play is independant or with each other.

I know lots of moms put their kid in classes and are worried about socialization, and stuff - but I have the philosophy, they are only this little once, the whole rest of their lives are going to be scheduled and organized, lets just relax and enjoy each other in peace while we can. They get plenty of socail interaction form us, each other, and oour extended family and friends, when we go to holidays, family parties, and church. My kids are 2 and 4 and are very well mannered and know how to behave in many different situations. We also go on a few long car trips to see family from IL to WV and TN, and WI multiple times a year, they know how to behave in the car, and at other's homes as a guest.

AS for YOU as an adult, especially coming out of a full time job with other adults around, you will probably miss that type of interaction, I used to have a part time evening job 2 days a week,and I LOVED that, got me some more adult interaction and a little break form the kids. Unfortunately I no longer have that. I would suggest getting into a mom's group, and maybe joining some local organizations, like Women's Club, or PEO, so you have something for YOU for adult time!

Have fun, and ust remember, YOU are their example of how to treat others/socailize, use good manners with them and with others and they will model that behavior! Walk the walk you want them to follow!

Updated

I am a stay at home mom, and have been since my first was born. It will be a transition for you!!! It was hard going form full time work to full time home. We live in the middle of nowhere, so we don't have lot o choices for activities that we can do easily/regularly without disrupting the whole day. So I am a pretty laid back/old fashioned stay at home mom.

Most of the time, day to day, we pretty much stay at home. Period.

Day to day, I have plenty to do with feeding them, cooking all our meals at home, playing outside in our yard, or at the local park ( 1/2 block away), doing laundry, dishes, basic cleaning, and some kid-crafts. Sometimes we go to the library, sometimes for programs, sometimes just unscheduled for getting books. I read to them at least 2-6 books each, every day - at nap time and bed time. They help me do stuff around the house, and I help them play for little blocks of time, but I also make sure most of their play is independant or with each other.

I know lots of moms put their kid in classes and are worried about socialization, and stuff - but I have the philosophy, they are only this little once, the whole rest of their lives are going to be scheduled and organized, lets just relax and enjoy each other in peace while we can. They get plenty of socail interaction from us, each other, and oour extended family and friends, when we go to holidays, family parties, and church. My kids are 2 and 4 and are very well mannered and know how to behave in many different situations. We also go on a few long car trips to see family from IL to WV and TN, and WI multiple times a year, they know how to behave in the car, and at other's homes as a guest. When we go on these trips, is when we go to attractions - zoos, special parks, museums, etc. So they do get those experiences, but not super often.

AS for YOU as an adult, especially coming out of a full time job with other adults around, you will probably miss that type of interaction, I used to have a part time evening job 2 days a week,and I LOVED that, got me some more adult interaction and a little break from the kids. Unfortunately I no longer have that. I would suggest getting into a mom's group, and maybe joining some local organizations, like Women's Club, or PEO, so you have something for YOU for adult time!

Have fun, and ust remember, YOU are their example of how to treat others/socailize, use good manners with them and with others and they will model that behavior! Walk the walk you want them to follow!

I am a stay at home mom, and have been since my first was born. It will be a transition for you!!! It was hard going form full time work to full time home. We live in the middle of nowhere, so we don't have lot o choices for activities that we can do easily/regularly without disrupting the whole day. So I am a pretty laid back/old fashioned stay at home mom.

We pretty much stay at home. Period.

Day to day, I have plenty to do with feeding them, cooking all our meals at home, playing outside in our yard, or at the local park ( 1/2 block away), doing laundry, dishes, basic cleaning, and some kid-crafts. Sometimes we go to the library, sometimes for programs, sometimes just unscheduled for getting books. I read to them at least 2-6 books each, every day - at nap time and bed time. They help me do stuff around the house, and I help them play for little blocks of time, but I also make sure most of their play is independant or with each other.

I know lots of moms put their kid in classes and are worried about socialization, and stuff - but I have the philosophy, they are only this little once, the whole rest of their lives are going to be scheduled and organized, lets just relax and enjoy each other in peace while we can. They get plenty of socail interaction form us, each other, and oour extended family and friends, when we go to holidays, family parties, and church. My kids are 2 and 4 and are very well mannered and know how to behave in many different situations. We also go on a few long car trips to see family from IL to WV and TN, and WI multiple times a year, they know how to behave in the car, and at other's homes as a guest.

AS for YOU as an adult, especially coming out of a full time job with other adults around, you will probably miss that type of interaction, I used to have a part time evening job 2 days a week,and I LOVED that, got me some more adult interaction and a little break form the kids. Unfortunately I no longer have that. I would suggest getting into a mom's group, and maybe joining some local organizations, like Women's Club, or PEO, so you have something for YOU for adult time!

Have fun, and ust remember, YOU are their example of how to treat others/socailize, use good manners with them and with others and they will model that behavior! Walk the walk you want them to follow!

There will be a transition and then you will create your own routine. You have been working but you still know your family, their needs and their wants.

My only suggestion would be not to try to do everything on your own because you think you have all this time. You won't have as much time as you think. It's okay to save some time for yourself and to have fun too!

We love our local library programs. Also got a zoo pass on the cheap through groupon. I'm on the planning committee for a moms' group though my church, which does activities for moms and kids. I like the toddler busy book and a friend recommended "Unplugged play." I usally find the days go by too fast, rather than too slow (not that it's always easy, just fast!).

This year was a big change for me. Last school year my son was in school and my twins were at home except for a couple of hours for preschool then this year all 3 are in school so that was a big change for me. I also go to school (this summer and in the fall will all be online classes so I don't have to go anywhere!!). Schedules helped me out at first just so I could kind of manage time that I had during the day and see the things that I could get done during the day versus at night.

What ages are your children? That will be a big determiner re: what people will recommend to you.

I love my flexible schedule as a SAHM. I have a general idea of what we'll do each day, with the flexibility to change it if needed/desired. Monday and Friday I give myself a quick 1 hour whole house clean-up. I don't play with the kids during that time or help them with much of anything - I just tell them this is mommy's cleaning time, I'll help you when I'm done. I do 15 min dust, 15 min windows, 15 min pick-up/put away, and 15 min vaccum. I don't obsess or do it all perfect, but it helps get everything refreshed. I also wipe down my bathroom everyday, cause it gets alot of use when we're at home all day. I also do laundry on Mondays and Fridays - everyday was too much for me, but some people like to do 1 load everyday. See what works for you.

So, basically Mondays and Fridays are home days - I do my cleaning, play with the kids, and plan something special to do at home (make a fort, dressup, paint, crafts...). Tuesday and Thursday we go to storytime at the library and stay to check out books. Wednesday is groceries and other errands. I also try to plan something to do out and about during the week, either T,W, or Th, like a stop at the park after library, or a trip to our local museum before grocieries. Something fun/interesting for the kids. We're always home for lunchtime, which I serve around noon, and we read books, and the kids have quiet time where they play quiety, look at books, or nap, depending on their age and the days events. That gives me a little down time that I use as my break - it's the only one I'll get until I go to sleep at night. I love to read and do crafts, so that is also my time to do those things I enjoy and rejuvinate myself for the afternoon.

After quite time, I prep dinner and play with the kids. Depending on the day we'll go on a walk in our neighborhood, do a puzzle, or whatever. sometimes we have a playdate. Then, I prep dinner and try to have it ready when my hubby gets home from work. Our evening are spent doing stuff around the house, playing together, or out doing special events (like lessons, watch dad play softball, or church).

Good luck! You'll figure out your own niche and routine - it really does help to have a little bit of a plan rather than a free for all all the time. And, I think you'll find your kids are better behaved if they have a general idea of what their day will be like.