Starting the week off beautifully {goals/menu}

It is no secret that I love to have goals for directing my days.  These past few weeks of busy life goings-on have left me little time to think over goals.  Ask any of my friends who have been around me the last week and they will tell you that I have been quite scatter-brained.  I do believe there is a direct correlation between the no thought-out goals and the scatter-brainedness. 

This week, I want to write some goals for the week so that I won’t feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants everyday.  I need some direction and focus.  To me that makes for a beautiful week.

Normally I write monthly goals.  Since the month is almost half-way over, I’m going to just go with weekly goals.  By the way, I am totally borrowing this idea from Mandy over at Biblical Homemaking.  I love the way she writes weekly goals and I love her goal headings so I’m going to copy-cat her idea.  She has a great blog so be sure to pay her a visit!

Goals for the week of April 16

Do: 

• drink 90 ounces of water a day {and only one soda a day – getting there…}
• walk 3X
• weight training 2X
• send out birthday invitations for Abby’s party
• make to-do and need to buy lists for party
• rearrange toy/shoe areas
• paint mantel/doors/trim in living room & dining room
• declutter linen closet
• clean out pan areas in kitchen

Read:

• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

Learn:

• Memorize Psalm 139: 1 – 3

Be:

• Sharing with others through hospitality – planning/preparing for a birthday party

Showing hospitality (cooking for others, opening our home, etc) is pretty hard for me to do.  I feel so inadequate in this area and always worry about what I have to give not being enough.  This month I am getting to practice showing hospitality.  I’ve all ready hosted Bunco for my friends (all though I did it at a friend’s house) by fixing the food, buying gifts, and organizing the game.  Later this month, I am hosting a birthday party in our home.  There have been other instances where we’ve been called out of our comfort zones to minister to others through hospitality this month also.  It seems to be getting easier the more I do it.  And the reward from serving and sharing with others, even if it is by simple means, is wonderfully fulfilling.

 

Menu Plan ~

• Chicken tostadas, salad, corn & pinto beans
• Slow cooker pork chops, rice, veggies
• Chicken fajitas with veggies, refried beans, fruit salsa
• Teriyaki chicken, rice, stir-fried snow peas and swiss chard
• Eat out night {busy night}

 

I hope you have a beautiful week! 

Menu plan for March

I have a confession.  (Don’t you love it when blog posts start like that? {smile})

So my confession is this:

I do not like menu planning.

And I haven’t a clue why.  But it is just not one of my favorite homekeeping duties.  I would rather clean toilets, fold clothes, and wash dishes instead.

But…

I love having a menu plan! 

Kind of ironic, isn’t it?

And since I love menu planning so much I tend to procrastinate doing it. 

But no procrastinating this month.  I went ahead and planned the whole entire month.  And boy, do I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!

Not only did I actually plan the whole month of menus, I am trying a new approach. 

Last week I saw this menu planning post in my reader and I immediately loved the idea. 

(click picture to enlarge menu plan)

I like the flexibility of this plan.  I really like the blog author’s adorable printable that she made for her menu plan.  I just need some colored ink.  {smile}

So how does this plan work?

Instead of planning one meal for Monday, another one for Tuesday, etc., I am using categories (like the ones at this link) to plan different meals for the month.  These meals can happen on any day that I chose.  For us, some days need to be slowcooker days so there’s a category for that.  I decided that the Make One/Freeze One category would be a good one for us too.  Here are all of the categories that we have on our new plan:

• Slowcooker
• No/Less Meat
• Chicken
• Pork or Tex-Mex
• Make One & Freeze One
• Beef
• Freebie (Eat out, leftovers, or freezer meal)

 Most of these categories have 5 meal options.  I don’t have food for all of the menu items yet so I chose which ones would take us through the first two weeks of the month and bought for those meals.  I just try to make sure that I have about two meals per category for the two weeks between shopping trips.

At night, I look over the menu, decide which meal will work for us.  (Is it a busy day tomorrow?  Then I pick an easy meal.  A day at home?  I can chose a harder to prep meal or do a make one/freeze one meal.)  I pull from the freezer the needed foods and the next day’s meal is underway!

We are five days into this plan and it has really been great so far!

Want to know what we have on our menu plan?

Slowcooker meals

• Honey BBQ chicken wings
• Roasted chicken
• Roast
• BBQ meatballs
• Savory Baked Chicken w/carrots & potatoes

No/Less Meat

• Potato Soup, BLTs
• Taco Soup
• Manicotti
• Chicken and sausage gumbo
• Chili w/ hot dogs or baked potatoes

Chicken

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes
• Garlic parmesan chicken legs
• Monterey chicken quesadillas
• Chicken fajitas

Pork or Tex-Mex

• Sausage with peppers & onions
• Pork chops and rice oven dinner - 2X
• Roasted pork loin (if I find a sale)
• Stir fry pork (will depend on that pork loin being on sale!)

Make One/Freeze One (recipes from the book Fix, Freeze, Feast)

• Chicken Parmigiana
• Pecan crusted chicken strips
• Teriyaki Chicken

Beef

• Beef stew
• Shepard’s pie
• Spaghetti with meat sauce
• Hamburgers
• Sloppy joes

Freebie

• Nothing planned.  This is for nights we eat out, eat leftovers, or eat a freezer meal.  (One night we did a breakfast for dinner in this category.) 

It feels so good to have this done for my family.  And I could even see just using this same menu plan next month with a tweak here or there to get us through another month. 

 

 

 

Simplifying to organize

The other day I read that to truly organize your home, it is easier to just simplify what you have.  The author (and I can’t remember where I read this) said it much better than I did but the gist was this:  instead of repeatedly organizing stuff, just simplify the amount of stuff that you have.  I believe that the author was talking especially to the stuff that we don’t use or that we are holding on to use one day – the stuff that takes up space but gives us little return because it’s not likely to be used.

Since our family lives in a small house, it seems that we always have to organize.

Always.

Seven people bring in a lot of stuff.  And it seems to easily get out of control and take over our home.

We seem to always be organizing our stuff.

Always. (I seem to be repeating myself too…)

It’s time to end the cycle.  Time to quit just putting stuff into a new container, box, or whatever and just leaving it there until the next time we organize {again}. 

This month I am starting a purge of the extra stuff and have started small.  I decided to simplify and organize my recipe binders.  If you look at them here, they don’t look so bad – just a little untidy and well-used.

But then you open them up and

It’s crazy chaos that’s quite hard to use.  Who has time to leaf through pages and pages of unorganized recipes?

So what steps am I taking?

• Purging recipes that we aren’t likely to try or recipes that we didn’t enjoy. (I am being very ruthless with the culling and am going to keep those that we know we like…this step is in progress)
• Reorganizing recipes into useable groups {main dishes, side dishes, desserts, canning…}  (coming soon)
• Making a section for recipes to try (these are recipes that I want to try before I put them into the binder.  If the recipe is not well received then it will meet the recycling bin.)
• Setting a budget for how much to spend on the simplifying/reorganization project  (I’m going to try to keep it at $10 for a new 3 ring binder and some scrapbook paper.  Planning to try to use dividers that I all ready have)
• Setting aside some time to make new, functional, and pretty recipe binders (still to come)

I’d like to have this project finished by the end of this week because the next area up for simplification is a biggie:

 The closets and the clothes!

Now you know that I’m keeping it real around here because I just showed you our messy master bedroom/craft/sewing/catch all closet.

(Can not believe I just showed you that! {smile})

In addition to the recipe binder and closets, I am trying to clean out and organize one drawer a day.  By choosing just one drawer a day, I am not quite so overwhelmed with the task at hand.

Before I go, I’d like to tell you about a great book that I am reading.  I have wanted to read this book a while and the other day it ended up being a free Kindle download.  The book is Organized Simplicity.

I’ve not completed the book but so far it has been quite an inspiration to continue on the path of simplifying in order to organize. 

Unfortunately, the free Kindle download version of this book seems to not be available anymore. 

**I also want to say that I am an Amazon affiliate.  I’m not entirely sure but I think if you purchase an item from Amazon through a link on my blog posts, I will receive compensation.  I’ve put a little note on the sidebar about this.  All money made will be used to support our homeschool.  I would still recommend this book even if I were not compensated for it in this way.  {smile}**

Do you have any areas in your home that you feel would be more organized if you just simplified the amount of stuff in those areas?

 

 

Wednesday is Laundry Day

Let’s talk about an area in our home that I truly believe is the nemesis of my days as a mom…

Let’s talk…laundry!  ~smile~

(For the record, I am not complaining.  I am extremely happy to have clothes to wash and a family to wear the clothes.  Laundry is just an area that I sometimes let myself get a bit behind and things pile up rather quickly.)

Truth be known, I can not do all of our laundry in one day.

For our family, I must wash 2 – 3 loads a day.  Our laundry schedule looks a bit like this:

• Monday – sheets and towels
• Tuesday – permanent press clothing
• Wednesday – towels, rugs, and special items
• Thursday – any special items not washed on Wednesday
• Friday – permanent press items
• Saturday – towels

So why do I have a laundry day if I wash all week long?

One reason is that I make sure to focus on the laundry area on that day.  The washer and drier are wiped down (and wiped out if needed).  The floor is swept (our laundry is in the garage so it gets dirty quickly).  I take inventory of the laundry detergents and such to see if we are running low. 

A second reason is that I need a day to focus on things that I don’t wash often.  Some laundry days, I will wash the shower curtains or certain window curtains.  Every other month, I will pick two children and wash their comforters and air their pillows on laundry day.  Then the next week, I will pick another 2 or 3 children so that the kids all get clean comforters and pillows every other month.  Every laundry day the bathroom rugs and small kitchen rugs will be washed. 

Since I sometimes get behind on the folding and putting away, I try to make sure that all laundry is folded by Wednesday night before I go to bed.  We all work to put it away the next morning. 

Sometimes Sunshine Girl likes to wash her doll’s clothing too!

Other posts in this series:

Monday is Cleaning Day

Tuesday is Kitchen Day

Tuesday is Kitchen Day

 

In the Little White House, Tuesdays are Kitchen Days.  Well, except for this past Tuesday which turned out to be get-a-phone-call-and-get-together-with-new-friends day!  Sometimes a Mom needs a day like that so Kitchen Day was a little different than normal. 

So this list…

will have to wait until next week.  (Except for the things that just can’t wait.  Those are being squeezed into Laundry Day.)

My main goal for having a Kitchen Day is to get some freezer cooking done so that it will be easier for me to get dinner on the table at night and avoid going out to eat.  I don’t know about you but once I’ve finished a hard day of work in our home and homeschool, sometimes the last thing I want to do is stand over the stove and whip up a meal.  And some days, I just don’t have time because we may be heading out the door. Mornings are also a lot easier for all of us if there are some breakfast meals in the freezer. 

Last week, kitchen day consisted of me taking inventories of our pantry and our freezers.  I used printable forms from Organized Home to help me inventory what we have on hand.  From these lists, I am planning meals using what we have and will use the forms again on Thursday as I plan our shopping lists on Office Day. 

Speaking of shopping lists, this “World’s best” grocery list is hanging on our refrigerator.  As we run out or get low of certain items in the kitchen, we simply mark what is needed for the next shopping trip.  No more forgetting what we need to buy! 

Next Tuesday (and probably another day too) will be a “fill the freezer” day as we prepare for school to begin the following week.  For more information on freezer cooking or once a month cooking, here are some great sites to visit:

• Once a Month Mom
• Life as Mom talks about the basics (tons of freezer cooking info on her site)
• Money Saving Mom

Other posts in this series:

Monday is Cleaning Day

Monday is Cleaning Day

I love to start the week with a clean house. 

One thing that I really like about using Motivated Moms is that the chores are broken down into a little bits and pieces over the week.  I remember at one time being able to clean our entire house in one day but those days rarely happen anymore.   

In the above picture, you can see the chores that were scheduled for Monday.  Normally, those chores take me about 30 minutes to an hour.  (Our flooring is wood so our house requires a mopping instead of just vacuuming.)

 

Since I’ve set aside Mondays for my main cleaning day, I made a list of the things I prioritized as most important from the list and then added a few extras that I noticed needed to be done today also.

My Mom told me a long time ago to put only six things on my daily to-do list (besides the everyday stuff like making beds, wiping counters, etc.).  She told me that most of the time, that is all that you will be able to get done over the course of a day.  I have found that to be true. 

In our home, my priorities are (1) a clean kitchen, (2) clean toilets, (3) clean floors, and (4) clean laundry.  I can live with dust but the above four things I need to keep clean.  ~smile~

H 

After lunch, all of the Motivated Moms list was accomplished.  I delegated the cleaning of the chicken coop and run to the guys in the family.  The mopping of floors usually waits until the kids go to bed.  (Or the wet floors become skating rinks.)  And the pots and pans cabinet never got cleaned out.  Sometimes there just isn’t enough time.  But I did get to hang out with the kids while they swam, took a nap with my Baby Boy, and did some bedtime reading with the kids.  They are why I am at home so I try to make sure that they get their time too.  ~smile~

Here are my tips for a cleaning day:

• Prioritize what is important to you in your home and focus on cleaning that.
• Only put six things on your list and don’t sweat it if you don’t finish.  It will be there tomorrow (as my sweet Mom always says).
• Delegate as needed.  Everyone can pitch in and help.  Just make sure the chores are age appropriate for the kids.
• If you homeschool, you will have to work cleaning into your day.  On Mondays, I usually start school an hour later so I can do some quick cleaning.
• When you finish cleaning, step back and smile knowing that you just showed your family some love.  Consider bringing in some flowers or lighting a candle. 
• (Talking to myself here…)  Don’t stress if the kids come behind you and track in dirt or make a mess right after you have cleaned.  Simply have them clean up after themselves.  ~smile~

Since Tuesday is Kitchen Day, I started a list of things I wanted to cook on Tuesday to make sure that I prepped what needed to be prepped before I went to bed.

More on that later.  ~smile~

Starting well

 

The other day, I showed you the big mess in our living room as we prepare for school.  I have been organizing, purging, and cleaning like crazy.  (Now I’m down to only one box to organize and then it’s the fun stuff ~ planning the school year and making our school areas all cute-like.)  

I’m doing so much now before the school year even begins because I want us to start well.  If we start well with an organized home, routines & systems in place, and an organized school, then my hope is that our school year will go more smoothly.  In my mind, starting well = peace of mind + happy mom + happy kids + happy husband which ultimately equals a peaceful home. 

There will be more on our organized school later but first, I want to start with our organized home.  All summer, I’ve been working in our home to de-clutter and organize.  I’ve been trying to start routines and cleaning systems.   Besides the daily cleaning that is assigned on my Motivated Moms chart, I’ve assigned each day a task to be done or an area of focus. 

You may remember Ma Ingalls doing this in The Little House on the Prairie books.  I’ve also seen it around the web (at the old Large Family Logistics blog and my friend Salinda’s blog).  I’ve also assigned each day a focus for our home.

Sunday is the Lord’s Day

Monday is Cleaning Day

Tuesday is Kitchen Day

Wednesday is Laundry Day

Thursday is Office Day

Friday is Homeschool Prep Day

Saturday is Grocery/Errand Day and Garden/Yard work Day

This week, my plan is to blog how I incorporated each of these days into our home.  I would like to show what I did on those days, how I planned for those days, and maybe some resources that I used. 

I will see you Monday evening with a look at our Monday is Cleaning Day. 

Do you have any days assigned as a particular focus day in your home?  If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

I {heart} binders

I have an obsession with binders.  They just feel so…official.  ~smile~

  

Here are the two binders I’ve been focused on lately.

First, there is the “Little White House” Binder.  I had thought about revamping my old home management binder but when I saw Salinda’s binder, I was inspired to pull my binder out and rework it.  There’s still quite a bit of work to do on it but I have a good starting point for getting our home under control.

Some good links on home management binders are:

Salinda got her printables from Clean Mama.

I’ve found information at Homegrown Mom, Household Management 101, and Organized Home (thanks to Salinda for telling about that one).  I bought a cleaning chores system at Motivated Moms.

Salinda and I are also going to be working through the Holiday Game plan this year.  I have dreams of an organized, less stressful Christmas for our family.

This binder, let’s call her “Bertha”, has been my recipe binder for over seven years.  She’s about to receive a major face-lift and re-organization. 

I may even let her model for you when she’s done.  And I’ll have to tell you how I use Bertha in conjunction with that little black binder in the picture at the top of this post.

You know I love to garden but that’s not in a binder.  For gardening, I have journals.

I like to add pictures from Country Living magazine, bits of ribbon, and scrapbook paper through out my gardening journal. 

Weren’t we talking about binders…

Oh yes, we were.

 

What about homeschooling? 

Yes, I use binders for homeschooling too.

How many you say?

Well…

 

a lot of binders!

And that will have to be a future post!

Tips for living in a little house ~

We live in a little house.  Our house is almost 1200 square feet…and that’s for 7 people.  This week I’ve been doing some organizing and de-cluttering.  I thought that I would share some of the things we do to make this small space work for our larger than normal family. 

• Get rid of clutter. 

This is probably my number one tip for living in a little house.  The clutter needs to be controlled.  In a small house, clutter can take over quickly.  For me, if my home is cluttered I become very irritable and stressed out.  That’s not fun for anyone. 

However in a home with seven people, stuff starts to build up.  Usually about twice a year, I clean out clutter from all rooms.  ( I do this during the summer and right before Christmas.)  We throw away anything that can not be repaired.  We also donate items that are gently used to various charities or we have a garage sale. 

These are not the only times we de-clutter.  On occasion, I will give the kids bags and tell them to put 10 items into it that they don’t really play with anymore/can’t wear anymore or to put ten pieces of trash/broken toys into it.  This helps control the clutter on a smaller scale in between our big de-cluttering celebrations.  {smile}

• Have a place for everything.

There a very few items in our home that were not purposefully put there.  (Unless we’re talking about the floor when the kids have been playing.)  Knowing where things go makes it easier to put it back when you are done with it.

• Keep the house tidy.

We try to keep our home tidy… especially the main living spaces.  In our small house there is not much floor space, so if the floor is messy it is hard to walk.  Our house is not tidy all of the time due to the kids playing or a project we are working on.  So twice a day we all pitch in and tidy the main living spaces. 

• Find creative spaces to house items.

Living in a small house has really made us put our creative energy to use.  For instance, our kitchen is very limited on cabinet & drawer space so we use baskets on top of the refrigerator to hold plastic container lids, kitchen towels, mixing bowls, and a few small appliances.  The key is to be creative with storage but to not let it looked cluttered and we do that by…

• Use baskets and other containers for storage.

We use a lot of baskets.  ( I love Target’s basket and have found many on sale.  The thrift store is a good place to find baskets too.)  Canning jars are also good for holding smaller items. 

Here are some other posts that I’ve written on living large in a small home. 

 

Do you have any tips for organizing/living in a small home? 

 

This post is linked to:

Organizing the home ~ library books

I have been in an organizing mood lately so I’m probably going to bore you to tears with posts on organization!  Sorry!   A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I am on a quest to organize our family and home.  I really need this.  Ever since the birth of our fifth child, I have felt like I am drowning and can’t get on top of this household.  I really don’t like that feeling.  (And I don’t want it to sound like it has anything to do with my baby boy either.  I just need to learn how to better manage a larger number of children.)

Since we are approaching the third birthday of our child who made us a “large family”, I figured that it was about time to get this home under control!  I decided to tackle the areas that felt most out of control first: homeschool, morning/bedtime routines, laundry, and menu planning/grocery shopping.  There are posts in the works for those areas but today I thought I’d share about organizing our library books.

You see, today we made it to the library which happens to be one of our favorite places to visit.  We had a blast.  And I even have pictures on my phone that I’d like to share but I don’t have know where to find the cable to do that.  {Ahem…organize the computer cables…wink}

But back to the library…

We had not been the library in a long time.  A very, very long time.  And why?  Because we owed the library money for overdue books and a lost movie.  Ay yi yi!

Today we paid our fines and have set a system into place that will hopefully keep us from having to do that again.   Here’s what we did differently today:

 

• As soon as we walked into the house, we put all library books in a designated spot.  Each book is supposed to return to this spot when the child is finished reading it.
• We wrote the child’s/parent’s first initial and the number of books checked out on the calendar on the day that we will return the books.  I limit my children to five books each except for the two little ones who usually only check out two books.  When it is time to return books, the children will find their books and we will make sure that he or she has the same number as written on the calendar.
• Movies are returned earlier than books, so we wrote those down on the appropriate date.  The movies were placed on a little shelf by the TV.

• Our library includes printout library checkout cards (receipts) in the back of each book.  I removed all of the cards and clipped them to the calendar.  When it is time to return the books, if there are not the appropriate number of books for each person, we can check the books against these cards to see what is missing.  Maybe knowing the name of the book will help the child remember where the book might be.  Hopefully, the books will make it back to the designated book spot and we will never need this step. 

We’ve not tested this system to see if it will work yet.  I’ll let you know if it doesn’t. 

How do you organize your library checkouts? 

I’d love to hear your ideas!

Tuesday is kitchen day ~

If you’re a fan of Little House books like I am, then you probably know that Ma Ingalls had each day of the week organized to focus on a particular task.  Years ago when I would read the old Large Family Logistics blog, the author, Kim also had her days of the week scheduled in such a way.  I had also ordered my days in a similar way but had gotten away from it.  So I decided to give it a try again.

Since I am in need of a day in the kitchen to help do some cooking ahead, I figured that Tuesdays would be a good day for me to do this.  I was hoping that I could make Saturdays my kitchen days so David would be home to help with the kids.  However, I tend to run errands and do outside work on those days.  It was really hard to fit in a day of cooking too.  Tuesdays tend to be stay at home days for the most part so I knew they would be good days to spend in the kitchen.

Today was the first (second time around) kitchen day around here.  I did some prep early this morning before school such as setting out ingredients and making sure that meat was defrosting.  Most of the actual kitchen work didn’t happen until after school while Baby Boy was napping. 

Here’s what was accomplished in the kitchen today:

• roast for tonight’s dinner (put this on to cook first so I wouldn’t get too busy and forget!)
• a second roast cooked and sliced for Thursday’s dinner
• 6 pints of chicken broth
• 2 quart bags of shredded chicken  (1 for this week’s lunches and 1 in freezer for a future meal)
• 2 loaves of applesauce bread for breakfasts
• prepped dinner and spices for tomorrow’s slow cooker meal
• black beans soaking to cook in the morning
• refrigerator cleaned out (did this second so I’d have room for the food)
• swept/mopped kitchen

I even enjoyed a little outside coffee break in the middle of it all when Baby Boy woke from his nap and wanted to enjoy the lovely weather outside!

It doesn’t look like that much now that I’ve typed it but it has at least made meal preparation a little easier for me this week! 

I just enjoyed a slice of that fresh, still warm applesauce bread while typing this little post.  Now this momma is off to enjoy a relaxing soak in the tub!  Goodnight y’all! 

The snow day that didn’t happen and organizing a home ~

Our area was supposed to be hit with snow, ice, and rain today but it didn’t happen. Well, the rain happened but nothing of the frozen kind.  I can’t say that I’m really all that disappointed.  I’m really ready for spring.  My kids are too.  They had all ready said that they didn’t want it to snow today.

The area schools even canceled school last night in an effort to avoid any accidents today.  Since we are homeschoolers, we carried on.  I’d rather get our 180 days in now so we can be outside when the weather gets nicer.

While Flower Girl was reading her book to us, the little ones and I painted with red, white, and glitter. (The silver is actually glitter paint to add to colors.)   Flower Girl joined us in painting as soon as she finished up her chapter.

We painted many red and pink hearts.  The girls have plans to give them away to friends.  I painted this one while planning a little at home date night for my love and me on Valentine’s Day. 

On nice weather days, we usually go outside after lunch and come in for some quiet time of history read alouds while trying to get Baby Boy to sleep for his nap.  Because of today’s rain, we couldn’t go outside so I thought the kids would have fun learning how to crochet.  It is one way to keep hands busy while sitting. 

Everyone tried their hands at learning to crochet.  Baby Boy got so into his crocheting that I had to cut it off of his arm.  {smile}

So we missed out on the snow today but we had a fun non-existent snow day anyway!

 

Now on to organizing a house…

We are really not that big of a family but it seems that since we have added the fifth child that there is a need for improved organization around here.  The need is even more apparent now that I’ve become involved in the music ministry again.  I prayed long and hard about becoming involved in these ministries again.  My family is still my first ministry and I plan to keep it that way.  However, I did and still do feel God leading me to use my talents in these settings.  That’s a whole other post that probably won’t get posted.  {smile}

Now back to organization…

Our family needs improved organization.  I need this home to run on an “auto-pilot” of sorts.  It is exhausting always having to remind this child of this and that child of that.  We need it all written out in a way that everyone contributes to the running of the home and no one has to guess what needs to be done.  I’ve been talking with David about this and am planning to work on it bit by bit, piece by piece until things fall into place a little better.  I think that we will all enjoy a home that runs smoothly and has less stressed parents.

Then, today I stumbled across the blog, Large Families on Purpose.  I truly don’t think that I stumbled upon it.  I believe that God led me there.  She is sharing her organization and it is exactly what I needed to read!  When I shared it with David, I could hear excitement and relief in his voice.  See, we really need some organization around here! 

We are about to enter a HUGE organization over haul at our home and I hope to share it with you!  Look for bits and pieces of it soon.  ~

ABC’s & 123’s Scrapbook ~

One reason that I keep blogs is to write down our memories.  However, this year I decided that I also wanted to keep a preschool scrapbook too. 

Using a spiral bound art book and some scrapbook paper, we (actually Bryce & Abby) wrapped the front cover and decorated with some stick on letters.  I also made a title page.   And I just realized that it would probably be a good idea to date the title page and all the other pages too.  {smile}

We don’t put all of our activities into this book but we especially like to put alphabet art  into it.  Using stick on letters, I try to label all of the pages to help build sight vocabulary.

The plan is to go back and add pictures that I’ve snapped during our preschool time. 

There are even games and activities from our Before Five in a Row books.  (Games and activities found at Homeschoolshare.)

Lots of coloring, scribbling & scrabbling, and writing done by Sunshine Girl go into the scrapbook.

My goal is not for it to be picture perfect.  I just want this book to remind Sunshine Girl of the fun she had while learning how to read and write. 

She has enjoyed looking back over her work from these last few weeks.  {Can you believe that I don’t have a picture, either?}

 

Scheduling Our School Day

For the past five years of our homeschooling, we have mainly used a routine type schedule.  I would schedule things to be done within certain hours of our school day.  For instance, our daily schedule might have looked like this:  Eat breakfast and do school from 8:00 – 12:00, naps & quiet time from 1:00 – 3:00, prepare dinner & evening chores… and so forth.

One reason that I did this was to keep myself from becoming burdened by a schedule that said “so and so must be done at 9:30”.  Sometimes we would have those days when what should have been done at 9:30 AM might not be completed until 9:30 PM.  There are just days like that.  :)  This routine style scheduling worked for us for a few years until last year. 

Last school year was a tough year for us as we had 3 school aged children, one preschooler, and one toddler.  I discovered then that a routine was not going to work for us anymore.  Without a more structured schedule, my children didn’t know what they needed to do and neither did I!  So this year we have made a structured schedule and it is working very well for us. 

I’m going to share our schedule here but wanted to say some things that I’ve learned about scheduling a school day:

• Look at schedules of others for ideas but do what works for you and your family.

I love to see other schedules but I have made ours for our family.  History read alouds do not work in the mornings for us because my 2 year old can be too distracting.  So we do reading in the afternoons when he is asleep.

• Change what doesn’t work.

This is not the schedule that I set out with on week one of this school year.  This is actually probably more like the third or the fourth.  When something didn’t work, we changed it until we found what fit for us.

• Don’t let the schedule run you.  Use it as a guideline and stay flexible.

Like I mentioned above, there are days when I don’t get to spelling & grammar with the boys at 11:00.  I’ve learned that I must stay flexible.  Things happen…children get sick, household problems arise, etc.  This schedule is just to help make my days go smoothly and not to stress me out when the unexpected happens.  I have found that it also keeps me from having to figure out what to do next. 

Here is our schedule for the 2010 – 2011 school year:

(I should probably say that my children are in the following grades:  Bryce, 7th; Grant, 5th; Emma, 2nd; Abby, 4 year old preschool; and Evan is in 2 year old preschool.)

School Day Schedule2

Any areas marked in green are times that I am teaching.  The blue areas are computer times for math.  You may also notice that my preschoolers are being taught by either me or a sibling.  This is something new that we are trying this year and so far, it has been my sanity saver with homeschooling with little ones.  There will be a future post on that soon. 

Start the day well~

This homeschool year, I am on a mission to make our days go as smoothly as possible.  I have found that one of the easiest ways to have a good day is to start well.  If the morning begins in a frantic manner, the whole day tends to unravel into a mess of frustrated kids and a stressed out mom. 

Here are some things that work for our family to help our days get off to a smooth start and hopefully finish with a happy family:

• Prepare the night before.

At night before we go to bed, we lay out our clothing for the next day.  I also try to make sure that school work folders are filled and ready for the children to sit down and begin their work.  Even some breakfast foods are mixed ahead.  For instance, the dry ingredients of the pancake batter are mixed together and all cooking utensils set out.  When we wake in the morning, we add the wet ingredients and begin cooking. 

• Get up before the kids.

This is a big one for me.  If I wait until the kids are up before I get up, my day starts off in a frenzied manner.  It helps me to get up early and have a quiet time, gather my thoughts, and get dressed for the day. 

• Have breakfast at a set time.

We have tried in the past for everyone to come to breakfast as he or she awoke.  It just didn’t work for our family.  It felt like I never left the kitchen.  This year, we have breakfast at 7:30 so we can eat with David before he leaves for work.  Doing this has kept me from spending valuable morning time in the kitchen when I’m needed elsewhere.

• Clean house before starting school.

Now, I’m not talking about a major cleaning here.  I’m talking about the things you need to have done to keep you comfortable in your own home.  For instance, I have trouble focusing on school if the dishes need to be washed.  So in the mornings, we all spend about 20 - 30 minutes doing the following tasks:  making beds, washing breakfast dishes and wiping tables/counters, starting laundry, and vacuuming rugs. 

• Set a time for school to start.

If I don’t tell the kids (and myself, for that matter) that school starts at a specific time, we all tend to get a little too involved in things around the house.  I have set our start time as 8:30.  After breakfast, we do our few morning chores.  (When everyone pitches in, it doesn’t take long.)  Then, everyone gets dressed and brushes their teeth.  (And if they complete everything early, they have a little free time.) I will start reminding them that school starts in 15 minutes, and then again at the 10 minute mark and 5 minute mark.  This helps us all to stay on task and get our day started in a timely manner. 

• Be flexible.

Ok, time for a true confession.  Ask me how many of these got done around my house today?  Ummmm, that would be…NONE.  Some mornings don’t go as planned.  However, that’s the beauty of homeschooling.  As homeschoolers, we can change our days to care for sick children, late nights, and those days that just seem to never get moving in a good direction.  I can truly say that homeschooling has helped me to be more flexible and just enjoy life as it happens. 

I’ve given my tips for getting off to a good start.  Do you have any tips that help your days start well?