Spring Has Sprung

With spring comes sunshine and beautiful flowers. Open windows and a desire to clean. That's what I've been doing these past two weeks. How about you? I feel like I could be cleaning all day every day and not really make much progress. It takes almost all of my energy just to maintain our household, let alone add in some closet cleaning and pile dumping. But I'm tired of the clutter and ready to get it out of my house. And I wanted it done yesterday.

My kids are good helpers for a little while, but eventually they need their attention turned to something else. So, I'm stuck doing most of the work myself while my kids are playing and messing up a recently cleaned up bedroom. I'm reading a new book right now and a phrase keeps popping out at me: "It should be harder to take out than it is to put away." I'm trying to figure out what that means in my home. The example given is to use a tub for books instead of a shelf. Kids need to flip through the stack until the find one they want, then they just slide it back in when done. We have tubs for the kids toys- small ones for cars and wooden blocks and larger ones for kitchen toys and baby dolls. I thought that these were easy enough to put away. Maybe it's hard because they tend to use the blocks to make buildings and roads, then they each have a couple dozen cars and animals out as well. That's a big job to clean up no matter how easy the work is!

I love reading books about cleaning and organizing. My favorite so far has been Sink Reflections. I'm reading another one right now that's looking really good. What are your favorite resources for keeping your home in order? How does your spring cleaning system work? What jobs do you wish you had the time and energy to tackle?

School Time

A couple weeks ago I shared about our morning routine. I think that doing the same thing every morning has offered my children some stability. Every day looks a little different, but we try to start out the same. Here's a peek into our school time.

I found a great resource from World Book of what they should know at each grade level. I would love to be the kind of mom who could take that and teach my kids very naturally throughout the day. Unfortunately, I no longer have the brain power to be able to do that. There are plenty of resources out there, though, to help me teach my kids in a manner that fits us.

Reading/Language- I think it's pretty important for kids to learn how to read. Once they can read, they are able to find out anything they want to. But my boys hated sitting still long enough to get this very basic knowledge into them. I read a great book by Ruth Beechick (A Home Start in Reading) that helped me to see that reading is not the all there is. It's more important to teach kids about the world around them (science) and allow them to build a thirst for knowledge. Once I stopped pushing on the reading, things really improved.

Math- I am perfectly comfortable teaching my kids their math without needing a text. We do word problems in the van while running errands. We play counting and simple math games while setting the table. But math is so sequential that I was afraid I would miss something. So, we have a text, but it's more for me to see what they should be learning than it is for them to work from. I'm discovering that while my method is teaching them their math skills just fine, they don't really understand the written equation- we'll work on it :)

Each of these topics takes about ten minutes per child. Usually the kids are all playing on the floor. I'll call one over to me and we'll do a lesson from their book. Recently, Zachary's language lessons have involved drawing pictures of each season, so all the kids did that with him. Or I'll be working on patterns with Veronica, and the boys will want patterns, too. More often than not, I'm even folding laundry during this time, as well! It's pretty laid back, but I like the structure that the books we have chosen give us. For these lessons, there's little to nothing to prepare ahead of time. This makes it easy for Daddy or Grandma to do a lesson, as well.


Bible Study- We're always doing something different for this. Right now we have a Character Building curriculum that we're really enjoying. Sometimes we just read through a whole Bible. Other times our unit study is more Biblically based and we have a lot of projects that we're working on. Our favorite of all time was reading through the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Unit Studies- What about everything else? Science, history, geography, etc. We have chosen to immerse ourselves in one topic at a time and study it from all angles. There are many great programs that offer unit studies. We are currently using Konos. The units are based on character traits and are multi-level. All the kids study the same thing at the same time. Many times during the school year we don't do this part and just check out stacks of library books. It serves the same purpose- to introduce the kids to a variety of topics and to enjoy the learning process. Using Konos is my way of being intentional about choosing the topics and projects and the other method is the kids picking out what they're interested in. Both are valid methods of teaching and we utilize them both.

Right now, Bible study and unit studies are done altogether. Crafts and science can be done by all the children- each to their own level of skill and understanding. Some things we've already covered twice and I anticipate covering them again. The baby needs to learn about Adam and Eve and how weather works, too!

Add in a little playtime and doing a couple chores and it's lunchtime! My how the day flies by. How do you structure your day? Do you do any structured activities with your kids?

Resource Review- Managers of Their Homes

Are you scrambling every day to get things done? Do you get to the end of the day and wonder if you did anything of importance? Do you have a lot of things on your plate to pack into a day? Is your family going every which direction? Have I got the resource for you! Managers of Their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell is a book about scheduling and priorities that will change your life.

This book is designed with the Christian homeschooling mom in mind, but is useful for everyone. The book starts with a couple chapters on scheduling in general. This is enough to whet your appetite for the meat that is to come. Interspersed throughout the book are quotes from people who have used this method and how they have found it helpful to them.

The next several chapters tackle key scheduling challenges. Scheduling school and chores top the list, but a mom also has to prepare meals. Many moms also have babies and toddlers hanging out while they attempt to do school with older kids. This book is packed with encouragement to go ahead and schedule the younger one's time and has ideas for making it all fit together.

The last chapters of the book cover some more general scheduling issues, including a question and answer chapter. There's even a chapter for dads! The appendix is also extremely helpful. The Maxwell's include several of their previous schedules, with kids at different ages. They also have schedules from other families for you to look at and draw inspiration from. The book comes with a scheduling kit, so you can lay out your own schedule using their method. Also available are Managers of Their Chores and Managers of Their Schools. Check out their website at titus2.com for more info and many other resources.

As my kids are now entering their school years, and we still appear to be having babies, this book is becoming more and more of a lifeline to me. We have our kids home for a reason, and I don't want to waste the opportunity we have to fill their heads with knowledge and build character into their hearts. Yet, it's so easy to let a day slip by and not pick up a school book, or be intentional about doing a project. This book helps me to focus on our priorities and put down on paper what I hope to accomplish in a day or a week. It helps me to take into account the toddler and the nursing infant. It makes me think about how much time things will actually take, and make the tough decisions about what's just not going to fit. It's an invaluable resource to me as I make plans for a semester's schedule or think about new commitments.

Homeschooling is a commitment of time and energy. Having a schedule laid out gives a rhythm and routine to our days. I know what's coming next and the kids know what's coming next. Some days are really hard and I struggle just to get through the day with minimal loss of impatience. But then there are the times when I "catch" the boys reading sweetly to their sisters, or they're playing a chess/checkers/dinosaur game and are snuggled in sleeping bags making up new rules for it. That's why I homeschool. For my kids to have the opportunity to love and grow together, to have time to use their imaginations, to learn that God and family are the most important. Managers of Their Homes is a resource that helps me take my vision and make it a reality.

Resource Review- A Woman After God's Own Heart

One of my very favorite books in the whole world is  A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. I read it every year and am blessed each and every time. This book will help you discover what God's heartbeat is about. It will help you look at your life and put your priorities in order.

From the back cover: "Let God fulfill His greatest desire for you. Allow Him to transform you by preparing your heart and mind to embrace His incredible work. You'll find lasting joy and peace in a life of prayer, a life of priorities, a life as A Woman After God's Own Hear."

I think of this as my "go-to" book when I'm making any plans or considering a new commitment. First and foremost we must love, honor, and obey the Lord. Then George identifies five areas that are on God's heart, and should define our lives: our husbands, our children, our homes, our friends, our ministries.

Understanding these priorities and how they should fit into our lives is truly foundational. Saving some money and getting great deals is awesome. It's good stewardship of our money and taking care of our families. But what about the times when we pursue the deal to the detriment of our families? I have spent hours reading blogs and ads and searching coupons sites and organizing my shopping lists and coupons. Some times it does get a bit out of control and I need to set it aside because enough time and effort has been given to the pursuit of a good deal. I need to be okay with missing out on something that doesn't matter quite so much. We need to keep our lives in perspective- everything we do is important, and it's good to keep a focus on how God would desire for these priorities to fall and how they interact with one another.

Have you read this book? Let me know what you think!

Planning My Life

I love organizing and planning- a fresh new calendar, a color-coded schedule, a well organized to-do list. I'm a little strange, I know. It's easy for me to sit down and plan. The tricky part is implementing that plan into real life! I'll share a little about my planning methods. Most of it has come from some great books I've read- maybe you'll add them to your 2010 must read list!

Priorities

What's really important to you? What do you want your time and money to say about you? I've learned that each of us has a most productive time of day. Into that time slot is where we should put the activities that fall high on our list of priorities. For me, my high production is in the morning. If it's after lunch, the day's over! So, it's into the morning that I put spending time with God, school work with the kids, and one chore that HAS to get done. A great book that helped me sort through my priorities is A Woman After God's Own Heart®by Elizabeth George. I read through this every couple of years to keep myself on track.


Daily Schedule

There are some things that you know will happen at about the same time each day- meals, car pools, work, etc. These fall into a schedule with very little thought. But now it's time to add the other activities based on your priorities. Think about your most productive time of day and start from there. Don't fill it all up with things to do. Remember to add "transition time" (putting coats on the little ones), and down time- when you can just play with your kids or get out a book you've been meaning to read. the day should have it's own ebb and flow and the more days of your week you can get to look like each other the easier it will be to follow. I loved Managers of their Homes by Teri Maxwell for helping me figure out a schedule that works for me. I've also enjoyed the FlyLady website for cleaning help.

Calendars/Planners
There are so many out there to choose from! I love a calendar that gives you lots of space to write things. This year I'm going to try the Mom's Plan-It Calendar It divides the grid into space for each family member and retains the calendar look.


A planner is important for the times you're standing at the clinic trying to schedule the next appointment. Essential for me in a planner is a week at a glance, space for a to-do list, and a monthly view. I'm really enjoying Amy Knapp's Christian Family Organizer which even has space for a menu plan and a "tearable" grocery list. The Christian version also has a space to record prayer requests.


Budgets
Our monthly budget is put together in a similar way as my schedule. What are our standard expenses?- house, utilities, insurance, etc. The rest of the money is then alloted according to our priorities- food, gas, clothing, savings, giving, date night, babysitter, fun money, etc. There are times in life when there's no room for fun money, and that's a season that must be gone through. There are a number of computer programs out there that can help you track your spending. If you've never done a budget before, I recommend keeping track of all your expenses for two months. You'll see how things fall into a pattern. Once you can see where your money has been going, it should be easier to figure out how to allot it intentionally. Maybe you don't really need to eat take-out twice a week and you can put more money towards something else. Or you can turn that second take-out meal into the date night you didn't think you could afford and let the kids eat mac and cheese! We went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and loved it! Envelopes are a great method of controlling your spending.

Every time something "new" starts up I re-evaluate all of these things. The start of a new calendar year has many people looking around themselves desiring to make changes. Being intentional about how I spend my time and money means that I'm more likely to make it happen in real life. These are the tools and resources I've found particularly helpful in the past few years. What are your favorite tools? Do you have a favorite resource? How do you make it all work?