Homemaking is about more than just house cleaning.  It's about making your house a HOME.  As mothers, we are each the heart of our homes. We set the standard for how we are supposed to love and care for one another.

Dandelion Seeds has encouraged each of us to celebrate the life of Missey Gray today. Missey truly understood the importance of heart and home and has touched so many of our hearts.

Here's how Missey explained HeartSchooling ~

It is more than just "schooling" -- more than imparting academic knowledge to our children.  It is so much more.

In all our homeschooling efforts, let us not forget our children's hearts.  Let us tie many heart-strings -- the more the better -- through daily interaction, creating special memories, binding our children to us through love and caring.  And let us not forget to guide their hearts toward the Lord, to set their hearts and minds on things above.

The academics are important, but the heart-set is even more so.  That's why I like to say that we are "HeartSchooling" -- it puts my focus back where it ought to be and helps me keep my priorities straight.

Keep loving on your little people!

So love on your husband and children a little extra today. Take the time to tell them how much they mean to you.  Enjoy some special time together. Make memories. Tie many heartstrings, as Missey would say. 

We love because He first loved us.  1 John 4:19

Homeschooling.  It requires a lot of stuff.  Books. Notebooks. Games. Art supplies. Pencils. Paper. The list goes on and on...

How do you deal with all of the "stuff"?  Do you keep most of your school stuff together in a certain area?  Do each of your children have a place where they keep their homeschool things?  What do you do with curriculum that you are done using, but want to save for a younger child?  Do you box it up in the attic or leave it on the shelf? Do you organize your stored things by grade level, subject or topic?  How many times have you been looking for a book that you can remember having, but had a hard time putting your fingers on it?!  Share your suggestions for how you organize all of your homeschool stuff!

The first five to comment will receive the "Featured on the Front Porch" button. To make it quicker for us to award you your button, we'd like to ask you to include your email in your comment in this format (so that it will not easily be grabbed up by those email-seeking programs) - yourname-at-yourserver.com ... or you can email me letting me know you commented (my email is below: just replace the -at- with the @ symbol!)

~Nancy Carter

Public Relations Assistant

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine,LLC

www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/PRMama

NCarter-at-TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

As someone who doesn't especially enjoy housecleaning, I want to use the best products that will clean effectively and quickly. I want to do the job and get it done ASAP. Or have my kids do it.

I read Nancy Baetz's suggestion for praying while you clean and I think that's a pretty good suggestion to take some of the drudgery out of the chore.

I have some friends who clean houses on the side and they have pointed me towards some products that have made cleaning easier. But I want to know what your favorites are! What do you use to clean your shower/bathtub? What do you use to clean your floors - wood, linoleum or tile? What do you use to clean counters? Do you have a favorite window cleaner? Do you make your own? What time saving tips do you have for cleaning?

We want to hear from you! Remember the first five commenters will get the Featured Blogger button for their blog. To help us get the button to you, please leave your email addy in your post in this (spam proof) format - ncarter-at-thehomeschoolmagazine.com. If you don't leave your addy, then we'll assume that you already have the Featured button.

Have a great day!

Nancy Carter
Managing Public Relations Consultant
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/PRMama
www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter

One of my good friends is flying with the Flylady. She's been working on developing her control journal.  Do any of you keep one of those?  I have kept something similar over the years before I knew that there was a name for it.  I just had a 3 ring binder where I put any of the kids phone lists or schedules from sports or clubs, along with a paper where I listed my online passwords, important papers,calendar, etc... Pretty much if the boys need to know a number or check a date, they can go to that notebook and find out what they need to know. If you want to learn about the Flylady's official control journal, click here.

Another friend mentioned that she has a master calendar where they have listed all of their home maintenance tasks so that they can keep up with things like changing air filters, oil in the cars, maintaining the mower, etc...

What about you all?  What do you use to keep up with important phone numbers, dates and routines around your home?  Share with us on the porch!

The first five to comment will receive the "Featured on the Front Porch" button. To make it quicker for us to award you your button, we'd like to ask you to include your email in your comment in this format (so that it will not easily be grabbed up by those email-seeking programs) - yourname-at-yourserver.com ... or you can email me letting me know you commented (my email is below: just replace the -at- with the @ symbol!)

~Nancy Carter

Public Relations Assistant

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine,LLC

www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/PRMama

NCarter-at-TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

As homeschool families, we spend the majority of our time at home (well at least in theory).  Therefore in some ways, it becomes even more important to have smooth running systems to keep our homes in order and enjoyable. And since none of us are superwomen, we need our children's help.  Besides it's important for them to develop the life skills needed to take care of themselves and others!

Sometimes. it's hard to figure out what chores are age appropriate though or how to be a good manager of our hard working blessings!  What ages are your children and what chores do they daily or weekly?  How do you keep the children from dawdling and wasting time when doing their chores?  Do you pay for chores or are they just part of their responsibilities or some mixture of both?  What kind of chart/reminders (if any) do you have for the children?

We want to hear about how it all works in your homes!  Remember the first five commenters get the Featured Blogger button!

To make it quicker for us to award your button, we'd like to ask you to include your email in your comment in this format (so that it will not easily be grabbed up by those email-seeking programs) - yourname-at-yourserver.com ... or you can email me letting me know you commented (my email is below: just replace the -at- with the @ symbol!)

Nancy Carter

Public Relations Assistant

The Old Schoolhouse, LLC
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter

www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/PRMama

NCarter-at-TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

It has come to our attention that there is a new blog on our site that may be of interest to many of you! So, the theme for this homemaking post is going to be FOOD (which just happens to be something I love, especially chocolate ... isn't that one of the main food groups??)

Connie of wardssward sent in the following email:

Aligirl has another blogsite named "chefmommy" that I thought others could benefit from.  It is a recipe exchange blog geared toward the busy mom.  She wants others to contribute their favorite recipes to it.  The more people who put in their recipes, the better the recipe exchange will work.

I went over and checked out ChefMommy and it looks like a lot of fun! All you need to do is find the correct category and post one of your favorite recipes to share with everybody. Now, how simple is that? So, if you are one of those bloggers, like PepperySleuth or Lynan, who posts recipes on your blog or Marcus & Me who posts links to recipe sites, maybe you can do a quick copy and paste and also share it on the ChefMommy blog, too!

What I'd like for you to comment on today are your favorite sites for finding recipes on the web and/or your favorite site for finding weekly menus. Remember, the first 5 commenters get the "featured on the Front Porch" button! To make it quicker for us to award you your button, we'd like to ask you to include your email in your comment in this format (so that it will not easily be grabbed up by those email-seeking programs) - yourname-at-yourserver.com ... or you can email me letting me know you commented (my email is below: just replace the -at- with the @ symbol!)

See you tomorrow for Tuesday's Tips!

Kris Price
Assistant to the Publishers
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
www.homeschoolblogger.com/ClassicalEducation4Me/

kprice-at-thehomeschoolmagazine.com

I know that I am NOT the only person in the world who battles the laundry and loses!  Realistically I know that I should be able to come up with a working plan and stay on top of it.  I've read Managers of the Home and followed the FlyLady.  The fact is I just haven't found what works for me and the crew here.  I have 3 boys and out here on the farm, they go through a lot of clothes, towels, etc...  I battle the mud.  I try to avoid light colored clothing in fact!

I want to hear about your laundry system.  How do you keep up?  How many loads do you (or your children) do a day? Do you have a certain system for what you wash on certain days?  How do you deal with getting the clothes folded and put away?  Where do you get your best stain removal tips (book or website)?  What are your favorite laundry products?

Comment here with your answers to these questions and share what works for you.  I'm really, really looking forward to hearing from all of you.  I know that some of you have more kids, more boys, more mud that I do (surely) so if you can do it, I can to!  Help me out here!

And don't forget that the first five commenters get the official *Featured Blogger* button!

~Nancy Carter

Public Relations Assistant

The Old Schoolhouse, LLC

www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com