Wakato Academy

Free LA Download

I'm on a special project at work and as a result I keep finding all these great online resources that I can use in my Homeschool.  Todays gem is a site called Weekly Reader, its designed for classroom use but could be easily adapted for homeschool use.  But best of all they have downloadable freebies, currently there offering a downloadable card for helping kids develop characters for there stories.  Take a look and see if it could be helpful for you.

Here's there website: http://www.weeklyreader.com/teachers/

Micro-Fiber the newest toy for toddler

Ok well I never thought of it this way until discovered my dd (16 months) "cleaning the bathroom".  I keep a spray bottle of water under the sink and a micro-fiber cloth for my oldest ds to clean the mirrors and wipe smudge marks off of cabinets and doors.  He uses baby wipes for the dirtier surfaces, toilets and sinks. 

She was so cute standing there with her spray bottle, "spraying" it at the bathroom cabinet (she was actually just pointing it, she hasn't discovered how to use the spray function yet) and then wiping it up with her cloth.  I only wish I had a camera closer by to show you all a picture of my little helper, now if only she could convince her brother to do as good a job.

You might wonder why we use baby wipes and water in a bathroom.  The answer is simple, there safe for little people.  I go in once a week with pinesol and wipe everything down, but for day to day cleaning the baby wipes and water do the job, 

Taming the PAPER MONSTER using the computer

This seems to be the a really big problem in my house and I know it is in others as well.  I am not very good at filing, never have been unless I was in an office where things were clear-cut, at home things are never clear cut.  A couple of years ago I purchased a product that gave you categories and sections and files to put all your records in but the problem was by the time I got it, I was already drowning so getting it set-up has never actually happened.  I've worked on it here and there but never got it going.  I'm sure if I would have had this product 10 years ago when I was first married and just starting out with all the filing that it probably would have worked wonders and I would still be at least semi-organized but I didn't and can't go back only forward.  So what is the answer to taming the PAPER MONSTER?  Truth is I'm not sure myself but I've recently come across a plan that I think will actually work.  I am going to try it and I'll let you know how it goes.  Here's the plan if your interested.

The first step is making sure you have the right equipment:

You need a computer and scanner.  Depending on what you need to file a simple flatbed scanner can work or you might want one with a document feeder so you scan a whole stack at once.  You might also want to consider whether you need to file legal sized documents although if your scanner won't do legal it is rare that most people scan legal sized documents and on the rare occassion that you had this type of document a couple dollars a the office supply store would probably do the job. 

You need a software program.  Its possible to create file folders on your computer yourself but for the price I recommend checking this out...Its called OrganizeMY Electronic Filing Cabinet http://www.org-matters.com/.  This program has filing cabinets already set up as well as a spot to manage financial matters and can link to outlook for setting up reminders of things you need to do.  If you have a palm pilot you can take this one-step further to having it automatically transferred to your daily schedule.

You'll need something for back-ups.  This can range from a cd or dvd burner (dvd's hold more data) to an external hard drive.  One person I read about used a Maxtor One Touch external hard drive that automatically backed up his data daily and then he manually burned a DVD back-up about once a month. 

Once you have the equipment setting up the files is easy.  Just set aside 15 min a day and start scanning, with the software you can choose to scan a set of documents as 1 document or individual documents so if you have a stack of 1 page bills you can scan those as individual documents and then scan a multi-page document like a contract as a single document.  When you set up the scan you just tell it which file to send it to and your done.

The best part about this system is that it also manages all your electronic documents as well, you can use it to file e-mails, word documents, everything you do so that everything is just a click away, neatly organized in one spot and the PAPER MONSTER can go find another house to live in :-)

Extra-Curricular Activities

Well its that time of year when the sign ups for all the extra curricular activites starts and for some reason this year is more difficult than past years.  I have always kept things to a minimum but this year my son is finally finding interests of his own.  As a mother I want to foster his interest but I also have to make sure that I am not spending every day toting him around from act5ivity to activity.  So where's the balance?  Well, my honest answer is, I don't know.  With young twins I have in the back of my mind this vision of multiple children all wanting to go in multiple directions but at the same time my oldest is still well an only child in a sense.  He's the only one old enough to do anything, sure there's a baby sign class a the parks and rec I could sign them up for but thats about it.

Aaron on the other hand has become a bit of a problem for me.  He loves the outdoors so were looking at boy scouts or royal rangers.  He has developed a love for basketball and for an 8 yr old boy he's pretty good, no Micheal Jordins here but he has fun doing it and works hard and isn't that what its all about anyway.  So I am thinking basketball team in the winter...that will be a practice during the week with a game every weekend for a couple months.  And then there's his new found passion for Karate.  The cost is up there for this one though and that has my brain spinning, Karate and Gymnastics seem to be the 2 most expensive sports you can get involved in.  And then there's the time committment from what I've found were talking 2-3 days a week of practices.  Luckily this one is also the closest to home less than 1/2 a mile walk from the house but still I'm not sure about all this stuff.  I want him to be getting out and getting involved but on the other hand I need to keep it reasonable.  So where do I draw the line and say ok thats enough?  I just don't know the answer to this one right now. 

Hiking in Arizona

Lately my best friend has been asking me about hiking in Arizona.  I use to be an avid hiker and hope to get back to it soon, hiking with twins is just no easy task until there old enough to carry themselves.  But since my brain is full of good information on hiking I thought I would share some of my insight on here to help others who might have some older kids they would like to introduce to the wonderful world of hiking.  I have so many fond memories of hiking as a child that its something I desire to give my children.  We never had much money growing up and one of the cheapest ways to get out of the house is to go on a hike and see nature.  So with that said here I go....

First I want to mention 2 wonderful books about Hiking with Children that are invaluable for both experienced and non-experienced hikers alike.

Best Hikes with Children in Arizona By Lawrence Letham

This is by far my most favorite hiking book for children.  It has tips in the front for hiking with children including first aid information and tips on keeping them interested.  The hikes are listed by region (north, central and southern areas).  Hiking information includes difficulty level, best seasons to hike and other information.

Arizona Trails for Children By Eileen Moore

This book has a wealth of information for hikes all over the state of Arizona.  It is not my absolute favorite but it has good information on hiking with children as well as information on various hikes seperated by region throughout the state with geological and historical information about the hikes.

Lorrea's List of Hiking Essentials

1. Water...lots of it!  Its recommended that the average adult drink a gallon of water a day, depending on the length of the hike you are planning I would plan double what you would need.  So if your hike is a half day hike,  I would plan a gallon of water per adult and 1/2 gallon per child.  This allows for extra water if you get lost.  Its better to have more than you need than not enough of this valuable resource.

2.  Extra Food...Bring healthy snacks the kids will eat.  It is important to keep energy up so if you have to go a little less healthy to get the kids to eat it then do it.

3.  Extra Clothes...in the desert its best to dress light but bring a heavy long sleeve shirt to put on if it gets cold or if you end up out after dark.  A good flannel shirt works well for this.  Its best to wear long pants, preferably jeans as they are more durable with socks and hiking boots.

4.  Sunglasses/hat...and don't forget the sunscreen to protect against the harsh Arizona sun.  Hats should preferably have a brim around the entire head not just a baseball cap.

5.  Pocket Knife...this once saved my life, ok probably not that dramatic but I break down in the middle of the desert with no help in site for miles, unfortunatly for me I hadn't been smart and had extra water in my car so I ended up hiking out for help.  With my pocket knife I was able to forage cactus fruit along the way which helped me to keep hydrated and my energy up at the same time. 

6.  Firestarter...something to start a fire with if need be, please just be safe with this fires should be contained inside a ring of stones and completly extinguished with dirt or water before you leave we have lost too many acres of beautiful forest to idiots who didn't play nice with fire and started entire forest on fire.  My favorite of those idiots was the one who burned down thousands of acres becuase she lit a bush on fire to signal help.  PLEASE BE SMART WITH FIRE>>>>

7.  First Aid Kit....in my adventures both as a child myself and as a parent I will say the most important part of this kit is an antisceptic, bandaids and a comb and tweezers or pliers.  Everyone asks why a comb, the answer is simple, jumping cactus...the best way to remove a jumping cactus is with a comb its more like to get most if not all the needles out and keeps you from touching it.  I still remember well the time I got one of these on my leg and stupid me it hurt so bad that what did I do, I reached down to grab it and take it out, can you envision me walking around screaming with my hand stuck to my leg and a cactus as the glue.  I was not a happy camper.  Keep a comb in your pack.  The tweezers and pliers serve a similiar purpose but are for the smaller thorns that can be picked up along the way.

8.  Flashlights....perferably at least 1 for every 2 people.  I can't tell you how many times we went out on a trail as a child and thought we would be home before dark and ended up still trying to make it back to the car as the last little bit of light set out.  Here's another of my hiking stories...we were out and this happened, only no flashlight so your wondering how we stayed on the trail?  Luckily it happened to be a horse trail and we followed horse dung all the way back to the beginning of the trail.

9. A map...or better yet a GPS, does this really require more explanation.

10. Compass...if all else fails and you get lost knowing which way the road is can mean the difference between getting totally lost and just being temporarily disoriented.  Ok and there good if you have a topographical map of the area or gps that can help you find you way.

Other things that can be fun for kids are binoculars, nets, hiking journals and books to help identify different species of plants or animals.  Of course the most fun is in the exploring itself, so go have fun on the trails and make some memories together.

Homeschooling Critics...

This was the topic of the Homeschooling Minute this week.  I really enjoy skimming this, sometimes I read it completly but most days I only have time to skim it for gems.  This topic struck a chord with me though becasue over the past year I have had to deal with a lot of critics.  When I found out I was pregnant with twins it was the question of the day, so are you going to keep homeschooling?  How are you going to do that with twins?  Your brave!!! 

Brave, I mean really brave has nothing to do with it, perhaps a better description might be insane.  But if I am insane I am insane over making sure that my children recieve the best possible education, they they develop values and character that they will be able to use throughout there lives and if thats insanity than I guess I am insane.

Basically though I have adopted an attitude that if you disagree with me thats ok, because there not your kids and its not your choice.  I do what is best for my family because I feel its best just as many of those same critics have done what they felt was best for there family.  My dad once said to me, well we sent you kids to public school and you turned out fine.  And yes thats true, I went to public school and I turned out fine but only becuase my mother made sure that I did.  She went to everything, volunteered every week in my classrooms, helped me afterschool with homework (she basically after-schooled me in a lot of subjects, she wasn't one of those moms that gave me the answers, she taught me how to do it and made me do it myself even when that meant staying up till midnight everynight to get a project done.)  I turned out fine but not becuase of a public institution, becuase my parents cared enough to make sure that I turned out fine.  I feel like I have found a better way...skip the whole dancing act of going to school and get straight to the heart of the matter. 

At home my children learn to take responsibility for themselves, how to find information on there own, how to love one another all alongside there academic endeavors and they still have time to enjoy life and share in life with a variety of people of different ages, cultures, economic backgrounds.  They get to be a part of life iinstead of just going through the motions.

Site for Arizona Museums

This is a great site for finding Arizona Museums and Historical Sites to visit during your studies.  It has sorting functions to sort the museums by location, type and name to make it easy to find what your looking for.

http://www.azcama.com/museums_location.html

Science Excursion

I went to convention this year in search of a hands on science curriculum that my ds could accomplish 90% on his own.  With toddler twins and a baby on the way I really feel its important to incorporate science but I have to be realistic about the time demands of whatever program I choose.  I was totally thrilled when I came across this program.  Here is my review from my thorough perusing of it at convention.  The only thing I would change would be that I would have had another $100 in my budget to have actually bought it at convention instead of having to wait a month and a half for it.

I found this program at the Arizona Convention and I love it.  Its $110 for a 3 yr program.  The first one is designed for grades 1-3 with a lesson a week there are 108 lessons total 36 for each school year and the 2nd is for grades 4-6 with a lesson a week and is $155.00 also 108 lessons total.  That includes the text book/activity book for each level. 

I spent most of my time perusing the first book as that is the program I will most likely start with.  This book has a short text followed by a science activity.  There are some activities and experiments that would require my help but most do not and are easily done by the student.  It covers a broad range of topics from Earth Science, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  This program was definatly designed to encourage indpendant learning in the student.  The text is written at a 2nd grade level so younger students would require more assistance then older students.  Each lesson is designed to take about 30 minutes total.  15 min for the textbook and 15 minutes for the experiment or activity.

The back of the book lists additional reading for any topics that your student wishes to explore further.  A big plus for those who have voracious readers or are in love with science and would like to have some additional information over the course of the week.

The set comes with a complete kit with everything you need for the experiments except basics likes scissors and crayons and there are about 5 lessons with other requirements the one that stood out was the one lesson that asked for 2 baby food jars or small jars, most of the other ones were still things that were very basic like a large spoon you would have in your kitchen anyway and 85-90% only asked for scissors and/or crayons that were not included in the kit.  You can choose to purchase the kit or not depending on your budget and time and what you have around your house.  For me the kit makes this program a real bonus with everything included I can open the bo get what I need and close it back up, no time searching for weird supplies or trying to plan weeks in advance to make sure that I have everything I need.

I am thoroughly in love with this program and am planning to purchase it in the next few weeks for Aaron to start on in September.  I will post more information once I have it in my hands and we have a chance to use it.

Check out there website for more information: www.scienceexcursion.com

"I'm only one..."

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” ~ Helen Keller

I copied this quote from my best friends weblog this morning, 3boyz.  It said everything I have been feeling lately.  Life has just been really tuff lately and I want to be super-woman, but honestly I can't fly, I can't duplicate myself to be in 2 places at once and I can't make days last for 48 hours instead of 24.  Of course lately that seems to be the consensus that I am actually super-woman and I can do these things.  I've been getting a lot of pressure from others and admittedly myself to cram, cram, cram and do it all.  But the reality is I am only one and although I try so hard my body just can't keep up with the schedule I want to keep.  So I have finally put my foot down and said to myself, becuase I am really the only one that matters, that I do not have to do everything.  It's nice to have high expectations and all that but I just don't have 48 hours in the day, I do, however, have 24 and I WILL do what I can do in 24 hours in line with my priorities for what is important for myself and my family and not based on someone elses plans for me. 

So I have adopted the Dave Ramsey philosophy for Time Management (he doesn't know about this philosophy by the way).  When you listen to him he talks about a time when he had more bills than he had money, so what he did was to make a list of bills by priority and as the money came in he paid the bills by those priorities he listed.  At the end of the month when the money ran out he drew a dark red line and everything below the line just didn't get paid that month.  I have decided to apply the same principle to my time management. 

I have my priorities: Time with God, Time with my Children, Homeschool, a healthy home (note I didn't say a clean home) with basic needs met (ie: food on the table and clean clothes to wear) and time with my husband.  These are the basics, the things I have to accomplish every day.  Below this list are the extra's like a clean home, neat and tidy with everything in its place, time to scrapbook or go to the gym basically things I would like to do but if I don't we will still be a happy family.   At the end of the day I draw a bright red line and thats it, I have done what I could for the day.  The next day the priorities start over at the top. 

The stuff I didn't get to will just have to wait for another day when there is more time.  I guess I am just at that season of my life when the children are small and there is more to do then there is time to do it although I'm really not sure that there is ever a season where we can really get done all that we want to but I know that some seasons are better than others for now my red-line helps me to stop feeling guilty for what I can't do and instead I can feel successful for what I can do.

Brain Bin Math

Well my box just arrived and with it my much anticipated Brain Bin Math.

A while back I did this thing with site words where we would go over them each day and move them to a new bin whenever ds got them right, when he got them wrong they moved back and when he had gotten them right 5x they were considered mastered.  This worked really well for us so when I seen this product which mimices my plan for math I was thrilled.  I ordered at the convention and it just came in the mail today.

Its not expensive about $10 per level not much more than a set of flash cards which is basically what it is with a 5 bin box.  Its meant to be worked on everyday for 5-10 minutes.  I got both level 1 and 2.  Level 1 because I just don't think he's fast enough with his basic 1-20 facts and Level 2 becuase were moving on to bigger math problems and I wanted to have it when he's ready for it.

I am just as thrilled now that its in my hands as I was when I read the reviews and ordered it.  Level 1 starts out with basic number recognition, too basic for my big guy but will be good to have when the little ones come around and then moves up to addition and subtraction facts.  It presents them in multiple ways which I love.  First practicing them the normal way and then practicing them with the missing numer  (8+___=10) they also do number triangles and math houses as well to further get the facts down.  The end of the deck works on practicing how to add money and tell basic time to the hour.

Each deck has a total of 240 cards.  Level 2 starts out with double digit addition and subtraction to 100 for the first 1/2 of the deck or 120 cards and then moves onto multiplication and division for the remainder of the deck.  It is presented in the same fashion as the single digit addition and subtraction in deck 1 where it starts out with normal problems, moves into missing numbers, then math triangles and math houses.

We'll be starting next week and I will let you know how it goes....

Arizona Convention Recap....

First I want to say that although this was not my first convention, convention is always overwhelming.  My brain is only finally starting to clear from the fog a week after.  For future reference start researching the vendors more than a week in advance and definatly plan 2 days, 1 to get overwhelmed and the sencond to bring yourself down from the high and actually see what you need to see.  I didn't get too many of the workshops I am hoping next year I will be able to get to a little more in this arena.  There was one imparticular that I was sorely disapointed that I missed but it couldn't be helped.  The main reason for going this year was the curriculum anyway.  With my 2 little angels or are they devils, I'm not sure some days...wrapped around my ankles I needed to plan a year that was more hands off for me but still fun for Aaron.  So I was on the search for fun, hands on curriculum that Aaron could do with minimal help from me.

I found some really great science programs.  Science Excursions is my favorite, Real Science is wonderful but not a complete program and Exploration Education has great projects.

I found a really neat program for teaching HTML but Aarons not ready for that yet, but again its very hands on and student centered.  Its made by School Tech Bytes and is called Recipes for HTML. 

Brain Bin Math is a system for teaching math facts. 

I found a great reading system, if only I had known about it when Aaron was younger.  Scaredy Cat Reading.  Well at least I know about them know and I will be checking them out more as the twins get older.  But in the mean time they have some great books for writing that were having fun with. 

And I got a ton of information on some great field-trip and co-op ideas.

I will write more on all of this in seperate posts. Where I can write a detailed review as well as add other information I gathered from convention as I sort through everything.

Narnia School

Homeschooling with Toddler Twins

Have you ever done a search for how to homeschool with toddler twins running around your house.  I have and you know what I found...nothing.  I found a good blog from a family with a bunch of kids with a set of twins in the mix but they had several older children before the twins arrived not just one and there answer was to share "baby" duty.   I found some good sites for homeschooling with toddlers in general but most of the tips seem geared towards the 2 and ups.  So what do you do when you have an older child to homeschool and 2 little one year olds running around the house and no other children to switch out "baby" duty with? 

The answer, I don't have a clue but I will definatly let you know when I figure it out.  School starts next week for us.  We're starting out really light partially becuase I am helping out my best friend who just had surgery and is still recovering, I go over 2x a week to help with the kids and clean up her house a little and partially to give us time to ease into this and work out the kinks as we go. 

So far I am approaching this dilemma from both ends.  I have carefully evalutated my curriculum choices and made a few changes to encourage independant learning in my very hands on learner.  It was tuff finding stuff that would work but I think I have finally come up with some good alternatives that he will be successful at doing mostly on his own.  I have set up the school day in 15 min chunks this is supposed to be the attention span of a 1 yr old.  I teach for 15 min then he does his work independantly near me so he can ask questions but so I can be dealing with the twins. 

On the other side I am containerizing.  I started out with them just having big bins of there toys but I am finding that #1 they just have too many of them, #2 they get confused about what they want to play with and subsequently get mad because they don't know what to do and #3 they make a big mess pulling everything out.  Oh and #4 they spend a lot of time fighting with each other over a toy that there is 2 of but they can't find the other one so they fight over the one they can find.  So were making baskets of toys by category that I can rotate out throughout the day.  I am purchasing some special "school" toys for them to play with during school time and keeping them only for school time so they remain special.  I am also containerizing them...I have gated off my entire family room and am planning on purchasing a special fence type gate to go across the kitchen so that the family room is completly blocked off from the rest of the house to keep them contained.  They have a t.v. that I can put on some educational videos if I choose to, they do enjoy signing time a lot as well as plenty of room to run and play.  Aaron can sit at the kitchen table where they can't bother him and I can easily maneuver between them and him to help him with his school work. 

So if you have any other suggestions appropriate for 1 yr olds I am open to anything you have to offer.  Thanks in advance and I will let you know how things go.

My personal Chore Plans

I posted before about chores and my philosophy on chores but I just decided that perhaps sharing my plans might help someone else who is struggling.  For the past month chores have been on the top of my list of family needs.  My twins are almost 16 months old now and up till there birth I only had 1.  My son was 7 1/2 when they were born and could do most things for himself and other than his bedroom didn't make too much of a mess.  Keeping house wasn't that hard.  When the twins got here I did really good for the first 9 months, afterall other than extra laundry and diapers they didn't make too much of a mess.  But then they started moving and that all changed, by 12 months we were sliding down-hill fast and by 15 months my house was a disaster area.  I was actually told by a brutally honest young man (you know the ones too young to have learned how to phrase things so there not so offensive) that my house ought to be condemned.  I cried the whole night after that becuase I had spent a week and a half just trying to dig out my kitchen with little destroyers following behind me taking everything out just as I had put it away and finally had managed to have a clean kitchen, ok honestly every other room in the house was a giant disaster area and he was probably right ought to have been condemned but really I was trying really hard to get out from under it and get under control.  My dh is working 2 jobs and I am basically a single mom, he doesn't have time or energy to help and I had never trained my ds to help and quit frankly in the state my home was in my ds couldn't have helped anyway.  I was drowning and drowing fast.  But I decided that I would just keep going.  I had a plan and the only way out of the hole was to work the plan.  So what was the plan....

The plan: Clean the house room by room even if it takes a whole week just to clean a room, get the dirt cleaned up and the clutter picked up.  Once the room was clean teach Aaron to help keep it that way by establishing routines and simple tasks that he can accomplish.  Were still working on it and my house is far from clean but I can say it does no longer fall into the needing to be condemned category.  I would still be embarassed if anyone besides my best friend walked through my door but at least its coming up out of the ashes and were finally getting a handle on it.  So far what we've done:

1) The kitchen: I cleaned it top to bottom, literally and dissenfected it.  The maintenance plan: During the day I am teaching Aaron and myself to put away what we take out.  In the evening after dinner, we work together to clean up the kitchen.  We clear the table together and then Aaron picks up the toys on the floor while I wash the dishes, he rinses the dishes and transfers them to the dry towel while I finish washing the dishes and wipe down the counters.  I dry the dishes while he cleans the high chairs and wipes down the table and then I sweep the floor and leave.  It takes about 30 minutes after dinner and when I am done I end the night with a clean kitchen.  By then the twins are getting tired and they don't have the energy to mess it up and we head up stairs for bed-time routines.

2) The bathrooms: I have 2 1/2 of these.  Again I first cleaned it top to bottom and dissinfected it.  The maintenance plan: I have little ones so avoiding chemicals is important to me, I don't want any trips to the ER becuase they got into something.  So what I did was put a package of baby wipes under the sink, a micro-fiber cloth and a spray bottle with water.  The micro-fiber cloths will clean your mirrors without the need for chemicals.  I took Aaron in and showed him how to clean the mirror and wipe down the sink and toilet and check for "boy" messes.  The baby wipes are used for the wiping jobs.  Because I have boys, cleaning the bathroom daily is a neccessity I don't want company coming over to dirty bathrooms.  So he does his daily check and wipe down first thing in the morning.  It only takes about 10 min and keeps me from having to clean up those nasty "boy" messes :-)  I go in once a week with dissinfectant and clean the room but by then its only a 10 min job for each room because he has gone in every day and cleaned up the dirties so it didn't pile up for me.  

The next room were tackling is the living/dining room but that ones still in progress.  I am still in the pick up the clutter and clean up the dirt mode.  Its starting to be uncovered but since this is the first room everyone comes into, it is also the place that gets the most stuff, everything gets dumped here from mail to shoes to toys anything someone might bring out of the house and then need to bring back in.  So far were 1/2 way through week 2 and it looks promising that I might actually finish by the end of the week but there's still a ways to go to accomplish that.

Laundry is a whole other story becuase as everyone knows it never stops coming.  I have been trying to dig out of that hole from the beginning and everytime I make some progress it seems like I fall back again.  I still have probably at least 10 loads to do which is better than where I started at closer to probably 20 loads but the progress has been really slow.  Part of it is that I need to go through clothes and de-clutter, particularly the children's clothing.  They go through them so fast that its hard to keep up with the changing sizes and they all have some that need to be moved to storage or tagged for a yard sale because they've outgrown them.  But first I need everything clean or at least almost everything then I can start the tedious process of sorting, storing and tagging and hopefully avoid this quandry again.

Once I get through each room the first time I will still need to go back through and de-clutter some more but at least by then we will have a clean enough home that is easily maintained with simple and easy routines so that I can choose the better part and be ok with it knowing that my home is clean enough.

Figuring out Chores

Chores seems to be the hot topic of the day, everyone is talking about them.  The general consensus is that children ought to do them and there are tons of helps out there designed to guide you to establish chore systems in your home.  If you look around you'll find a lot of opinions on what needs to be done and when and how etc...  But the problem with all of this is that everyone is an individual and every family is different and has different needs.  I have found that the best approach is to carefully and thoughtfully evaluate your families needs and develop routines around those needs that get things accomplished.

The first thing I did when I was wanting to gain control is evaluate what level of cleanliness am I going for and I read this qoute somewhere, I apologize but I can't remember where but it said: "you want your house to be clean enough to be healthy but messy enough to be happy" and that about summed it up, I don't want a spotless home, I want a happy home thats a healthy, safe place for my kids to play and learn.  A sanctuary for them not a stuffy super clean house that they feel uncomfortable in.  Sure I might not appear to the be housewife of the year when company comes over but who cares, the most important thing is having a happy family not being perfect.  I encourage everyone struggling with this to remember this point becuase when you struggle with this you often want your house to look like the pristine model homes you see, you know the ones no one lives in.  REAL PEOPLE HAVE A LITTLE MESS!!! 

Were just starting out on our journey with chores and sometimes its tuff and very slow going but were doing it piece by piece and if your one of the strugglers out there I just want to encourage you that it can be done, just take your time and do it piece by piece and don't expect perfection.  Remember the parable of Jesus and Mary and Martha, Martha was so busy doing, doing, doing but Mary sat by Jesus side just basking in his goodness.  Jesus said Mary has chosen the better part.  It is important to put Jesus first and as moms we need to take time to be with him and bask in his goodness but his teachings also apply to the rest of our lives too.  The lesson of Mary and Martha doesn't just apply to quiet time it applies to everything else we do too.  So remember its ok to choose the better part in every part of our life.  Let there be a little mess and instead choose to sit on the floor with your kids and bask in there smiles as you play with them or leave a couple dishes in the sink to have time to sit on the couch and cuddle with your husband.  But just remember that there is balance, Mary chose the better part but Martha's part was also needed too.  He wasn't saying don't do these things, he was saying Martha thanks for all your hospitality but its ok if the table isn't perfect come and rest with me, the food will still go down the same whether the plates are just so or not....

 Look for more information on my personal chore plans that might help you think about how you want to get a handle on your own home in future posts.  I will be sharing how things are going, what routines we're establishing and how its working out.

Balancing Homeschool with Work and Family

This has been a tricky subject for me lately as I just started a new job about a month ago.  Its a work from home position but still trying to figure out how to get my hours in, get homeschooling done and still take care of the families needs is well challenging.  The job is flexible so I can work as little as 10 hrs up to 20 and sometimes 40 hrs depending on the companies needs and my availabiltiy but in the first few weeks of the job I am finding it difficult to even find the time to get in those first 10 hours while still balancing all my other responsibilities as a wife, mom and homeschool teacher.

After a lot of thought I decided that I needed "mother" hours.  I needed to say that form this time to this time I am mom, that is my job during this time frame.  I also needed "wife" hours the time that was devoted to meeting my husbands needs, you know the little things like feeding him :-)  And finally I needed to find some "work" hours.  So I laid it out, I decided that the best time for me to work was in the early morning hours before the kids got up so I set up my work area so that I could do that.  I wake up and have a nice chat with god and then get to work.  After work when its time for the children to rise-up and greet the morning I put on my "mom" hat and thats when I start my "mom" work.  I am not allowed to do any other type of work during this time, this is the time devoted to my kids.  We share our morning chores together and eat our breakfast together then we play together and do school together and periodically we stop to do some more chores, until our day is finished and its time to get ready for dad to come home.  Thats when I start my "wife" time.  I start dinner at 4:00 so when he walks through the door he's greeted by the smell of a homecooked meal, we eat together, clean together and then enjoy time together either just the 2 of us or all of us. 

More often than not though its all of us,,,,then at 7:00 its off to get everyone tucked in and sleeping so I can collapse in my bed and try to grab some rest before it all starts again the next day.  Somedays its tuff but would I trade it for the world...emphatically no.  I feel blessed that I am able to contribute to the family finances all from the confines of my own home so that when my children wake up they find the smiling face of there mother.  I love homeschooling my kids, I tried public school for a grand total of 1 semester...we will never go back there again.  And I love that I am able to greet my husband with the love and support that he needs when he comes home at night and still be able to bless him with the benefit of a little extra money in the bank at the end of the week.  I don't make much but it is enough that it provides him with the breathing room he needs.

Convention

It's almost here just 2 more days to convention.  Getting excited and making plans.  We're going to the AFHE convention in phoenix that starts on Friday.  John has to work that day so my mom is going with me and the twins on friday and will be joining me in the evening.  It'll be a lot of fun, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Here's a link to the convention website for anyone interested: http://www.afhe.org/conventions.htm

Homeschooling Reflections...

This past week I have been doing a lot of reflecting on the past year and looking to the future and as I sat here thinking about all that we accomplished I realized that I had learned a few very valuable lessons about reading this past year.  My son is turning 9 in just a few months and he reads at a 5th or 6th grade level, but last year on his 8th birthday he was struggling with simple words and I was getting worried.  We had worked through all the phonics rules, he knew the "how to" of how to read he just couldn't get past the sounding out everything.  Amazingly he understood everything he did manage to read, comprehension was definatly not the problem, fluency was the problem.  So I set in motion a plan to build his fluency, he read 3x a day to me.  Nothing, nothing and more nothing....  Then for christmas I got this great idea to go buy him a chapter book one I knew he would love.  It wasn't classical literature or anything, Ricky Ricotta and His Mighty Robot, but I knew he would love the book.  As I expected he loved it, it was actually a compilation of 3 stories.  He started reading it that night when he went to bed, I still to this day don't know what time the lights went out that night but I suspect it was somewhere around 2 or 3 am.  Three days latter he finally but the book down, announcing that he had finished the book and proceeding to talk non-stop about it.  That was the end of my worring and the start of a very important realization for me about my son and his learning. 

"He is where he is because thats where he needs to be"

You see I was always worried about the fact that he was behind.  I mean here was a boy who would be in 2nd grade in public school reading at what was considered in the public school a first grade level.  While at the same time within less than a month he went from reading at a first grade level to a 3rd grade level and 6 months latter reads at a 5th to 6th grade level. 

You see he was exactly where HE needed to be when HE needed to be there, the trick for me was being where HE needed me to be when HE needed me to be there.

You see I had always heard the old addage your not behind, just jump in where you are but until this last year it just never sunk in.  I mean if he wasn't average or above average than I was failing right?  Wrong! Failing would have been failing to recognize where he needed me to be when he needed me to be there, failing would have been giving up and not taking time to see what he really needed from me. 

So what does this mean for the future.  Well, as I started planning for the next year and thinking about where we were and where were going I started in on the same old, same old mantra...he's behind in ________.  This year its his writing that has me worried.  But this year its a bit different because this year I know that he is where he is becuase he needs to be there.  I know that as I plan what to do to encourage his writing that he will take off when he is ready to take off and that my only job is to keep it available and fun. 

Its a BOY!!!

It's official were having a bouncing baby boy in december.  Everything looked good on the ultrasound so were hoping for smooth sailing from this point forward.  Now to gather as much information as I can on VBAC's and child-proof, child-proof, child-proof....

Childproofing....

I was always one of those moms that thought it was better to teach them what they could and could not have than it was to put everything away.  Afterall it taught them self-control right?  Well apparently God thought I needed to challenge my hard and fast way of thinking so he got the bright idea to go ahead and let me have that baby I had dreamed about but this time x2, yeap you guessed it, twins.  I fretted for 9 months about those twins and how I was going to handle them and then they got here and well I can't say its easy always having two at your feet but what I can say is that somehow God gives you the grace to survive the double screams, the double trouble and even throws in an extra helping of double blessings when you have two around the house.  But recently in his typical sense of humor god has decided that maybe 2 wasn't enough, so were having a 3rd.  Yeap you heard me right, my twins are barely 15 months old and number 4 is on its way.  So we're going to have a total of 3 under 2 in about 4 months.  So out the window goes my old addage about needing to teach them because as the two have taught me, there is a limit to what I can do and teaching 3 little toddlers the meaning of no at the same time on opposite sides of the room isn't one of them.  So I am ultra child-proofing my house.  Locks on everything, nothing breakable out, sliding electrical covers everywhere, all blind cords wound up tight and fences around my entire family room to create a giant play-pen.  There bedroom contains nothing but wall to wall beds, electrical covers on all outlets and locks on the closet with a gate across the enterance to deter little adventurers.  No dressers, no nice decorations just bare walls with beds....  So onto the rest of the house we go protecting my sanity and my little ones lives one room at a time.