Scheduling and being present with my kids: Related?

(I am going to start posting random pictures of my kids with every wordy post. They just sit in my pictures folder and I know some people would like to see them.)

This is related to my Home(school) Improvement posts. I just read the first two chapters of Oak Meadow's Home Teacher's Process Manual. Remember how I said the other day I was going to do a loose routine and NOT put specific times on things? Well, now I'm not sure how that's going to work. According to the book, a large part of staying focused on an activity is clearing your time. It says:

"Keep a daily schedule in which you provide time for everything that must be done. This relieves your mind of the pressure of "all those things I must do." Once you see how you may accomplish all that is necessary to be accomplished, then you are more able to focus on the required activity during the time you have set aside for that."

This is a good point; I frequently worry about getting things done and am distracted from what I'm doing with my kids. So I am going to make a schedule schedule, with times and all. The thing about a schedule is that a baby will blow it out of the water. You think it's time for reading... until the baby screams through a whole story because he doesn't want you to sit down while you hold him. You think it's time for singing and doing fingerplays... until the baby requires you to keep both your hands on him. It's frustrating. I'm thinking I'll just have to do the best I can, schedule extra time for things, and know that Robert will sometimes delay what we are doing for a few minutes. I know lots of successful homeschoolers have five or six kids. It'll work out somehow.

But I am going to make a schedule, and plan it around the regular playdates we have. I hate to miss out on an opportunity to be with friends, but I'm probably going to have to skip impromptu meetings a lot from now on. Oh well, that's what mothers who have their kids in group schooling have to do.

I'm not sure about the specifics of our schedule yet. I think I'm going to look at some other people's, try a couple of things out, and post what I've got so far within a few days.