Wow! What A Week!

Our Homeschool Week In Review

New things for Kylee (and her baby doll)

More work with cylinders-

I enjoyed giving this presentation to Kylee & Caleb together.

A quickly developing reader-

Working on encoding & decoding.

Working on a research poster on plants.

Mommy it snowed!

Well, not exactly but we did have one heck of a hailstorm.

The mountains after the storm were just beautiful.

Household Time Savers So You Actually Can Do Less

In no particular order, feel free to add your own in the comments! If you haven't had the chance, be sure to read my post on being content with less!

*Pick a day or time for deep cleaning. Do not do non essential cleaning outside this time. Tim and I like to work together for about an hour on Saturday mornings to make the house look really nice and then sit back and enjoy it over the weekend before doing a second quick clean on Sunday night before bed. The only chores we do on Saturday and Sunday outside those times is cooking and dishes.

*Redefine non essential cleaning. Your sinks and toilets probably do not need to be washed daily. Dusting is not a weekly or daily job (or even monthly at my house!). You do not need floors you can eat off of, although if you have a mobile baby vacuuming may be more essential than if you don't! For me, essential cleaning is the cleaning we need to do to be clothed, fed, and room to move around comfortably. I try to keep the floors & counters clutter free, but I try not to get too wrapped up when they aren't! Accept your definition of a clean enough home and try hard(er) not to compare yourself to others.

*Sam's Club Click & Pull or Online Groceries. I use both. Most of my gluten free groceries come from Amazon with free shipping (and I subscribe and save 15% on things I need regularly) and I do a Sam's Club order roughly once/month for things like frozen veggies, shredded cheese, and a few other things that are better prices there. The service is free you just have to order before 5:00 the day before.

*Kids trained to do the job right. Yes this involves time upfront, but kids can do many MANY jobs around the house just as well as we can if we show them how. After lunch every single day we spend about 20 minutes picking up. I do the lunch clean up & the kitchen, Aidan picks up & vacuums the living room & dining room, and Caleb cleans the kid bathroom. I could not do that work in 20 minutes on my own!

*Duplicate cleaning supplies. I have a set in every bathroom and in the kitchen, with extras of everything in the laundry room. If I see a sink that REALLY needs to be wiped down (and I admit they usually have to get bad before I notice) then I can do it on the spot in under 5 minutes instead of going off to find the right equipment and hoping I make it back!

*An extension cord for your vacuum so you can do an entire level without changing outlets. I actually am lucky enough to have a centrally located plug that reaches all of the common areas.

*31 day dinner menu & 7 day breakfast rotation. Helps with meal planning & prep, grocery shopping, and pantry management. New recipes and celebration dinners can be worked in monthly to keep variety, although we find with an entire month between dinners we don't really get sick of things.

*Keep lunch and snacks simple. At our house lunch is always leftovers, sandwiches, salads, or soup. Snack is yogurt, cheese, crackers, fruit, vegetables, or dry cereal. We use coffee filters for napkins and everything is in bigger kid reach. The boys know they get one snack in the morning and one afternoon snack and they can choose when it is.

*Centralized message board. I joke that this is Mom's Brain. When I need something, think of something that needs to be done, hear about an event we want to attend, etc. it all goes on the whiteboard. I add and erase constantly throughout the day. Taking all of those lists out of my head improves my functioning 100 fold, especially on days I haven't gotten much sleep.

*Written or picture job lists for kids. No need to keep repeating something they can go read for themselves. Works for everything from morning and night routines, to cleaning instructions, to homeschool schedules ad assignments.

*Keep special activities in an easily accessible place for when you need to get something done so kids aren't hanging on your while you work. They will be happier and you will work faster!

*Egg timers are not just for cooking eggs. Challenge yourself to spend no more than a set amount on housework each day and then keep yourself accountable! You will learn that you can indeed do more with less. Challenge yourself and see if you can get household maintenance tasks to under an hour per day!

Some Logany Cuteness For Your Evening Enjoyment

Charlotte Mason Motto (with some fun and games on the side)

Charlotte Mason had a motto for her students, "I am. I can. I ought. I will." This past spring and summer I had the opportunity to do the All Day Charlotte Mason Seminar put out by Sonya Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason.com. She (Sonya Shafer) talks about how in her house they matched each of these phrases with a bible verse.

I really liked the idea and I added a little bit of a twist for our family. The short motto is the same, but we also have an expanded version.

I am a child of God. I am capable.

I can do many things with God's help. (Phillipians 4:13)

I ought to treat others and myself with love and respect.

I will do my best in all things.

We have been learning about one line each week and each line also has a memory verse with it (not the exact same one's Ms. Shafer uses).

I could just tell you the verses, but really...what fun would that be?

Here is the deal. I want you to guess the passages. Some of them are obvious and others probably are not (I think I will is the hardest to figure out). For every 10 valid guesses (not just starting in Genesis and working your way forward) I will give you a clue. It is collaborative, so talk amongst yourself.

I will let you know as you are getting close and when you get one of them correct.

IF you can successfully figure out all 4 verses, I will give away a $25 Target gift card in a drawing of everyone who participated. Get your mothers, brothers, smart husbands, and friends and start talking. You may come up with better verses or verses you may want to use for yourself! Who knows, maybe next year we will learn the verse you found.

This contest is open until there have been no comments on this post for 1 week. International readers are welcome, although the prize may be awarded a little bit differently (Kylie email me if you have any ideas or know what will work).

Have fun!

August 29

It's August 29.

Again.

For the 3rd time since the day became significant.

I actually find myself without a lot to say about it this year, but it's not the kind of thing I can just glaze over either. If only it were that simple. I heard from many people who told me that the first 3 years were the hardest, that after that point I would have somehow magically integrated the experience or something.

In many ways this is very true, it certainly doesn't hurt like it used to. I'm not thinking about it all the time like I used to. I'm not sad about it like I used to be.

But it still hurts.

I still think about it.

And today, I'm still sad about it.