Keeping up with Mount Washmore.

Oh how to manage LAUNDRY?  My least favorite task is this never ending chore.  I’d rather mow the grass or shovel snow.  At least that stays done for a while.  Every time I turn around I find a dirty sock or  a shirt that is shed when some one is hot. 

Kids = Laundry

I don’t like having a bad attitude about this chore but how to make it more joyful?  How to turn a chore in to a blessing?  I do love having clean laundry when I need it but how to not feel like it is a heavy burden?  I needed a plan.

A very wise friend shared with me over a year ago how she keeps ahead of the accumulating loads.  She has 8 kids, so she should know right?

Each child gets a day to do their laundry & at their house one other load—whites.  She only buys white towels by the way. 

We’ve arranged it a bit differently but it works for our family.

Monday—Mom & Dad

Tuesday—Megan

Wednesday—Joshua—yep my 8 year old does his own laundry

Thursday—Elizabeth

Friday—Mom & Dad

Weekends? Michael brings his home some or we don’t do any.

The kids share the whites/towels/sheets on Wed & Friday.  It is part of the chores that they do. 

I love knowing when they leave the house they will be able to handle their laundry.  When I couldn’t do the stairs they girls did my laundry as well & handled it wonderfully!

It is awesome to not have the entire responsibility of the family laundry on me.  I don’t refer to the basement as the dungeon quite so often now!

So that is how we roll with the laundry here.

How do you do get it all done?

Relaxed Homeschool

I am normally a person who MUST have a plan.  It drives me slightly bonkers to just float along each day.  Steve would give a hearty AMEN to that—the bonkers part.

I don’t get much done without a plan.  I have various tools I use to plan each week.

TOOLS

Menu planner—for 2-4 weeks on the frig

Homeschool Tracker—enters our work & helps plan for future

Family Calendar—on the frig so I know when an event is coming up

Chore Chart—everyone has jobs & no excuses about knowing when to do them

Routines—we have weekly & daily ones, these aren’t written they just reoccur naturally  ie—errand/grocery days, lesson days etc

Off Track Plan

We didn’t do much Monday or Wednesday due to sickness & my recovery needs(SLEEP).  But we were productive.  The girls keep on working even when I am down so I used some of my down time to grade papers.  NOT my favorite chore but it must be done. 

It makes me irritable to just sit.  That is what I must do on these days of recovery.  I walk doing errands and feel good one day & the next is a mixture of soreness & overwhelming fatigue.  It is getting better slowly.  The lesson that the children & I are learning is that school can be relaxed and still get things accomplished.

1.  There is time for games.  Mental math gets practiced!

2.  I can work with one child on the quality of their cleaning in the zone.

3.  Daddy can use their labor at a project.  Like cleaning the basement—which I have yet to visit.

4.  Its okay not to work as hard as we can EVERY day.

5.  On the “good” days I need to work at keeping focused on the job at hand.  My habit of doing nothing all the time is hard to break.  I like to accomplish things but hey it is easier to do nothing instead. 

There are lessons in working hard & giving your all to a job.  But there are equal lessons to relaxing and mixing fun with learning.  In 50 years, will my children remember if we tackled a math lesson each day or will they remember the time we spent together learning about life when it doesn’t go the way you expected?  So I am going to do a little school today and perhaps read on the couch with my youngest & a cup of cocoa!  That give us both something that we love!

What do you do when your day gets off track?

   

Gratituesday:Routines & Flurries

I have tried in the past to have a minute to minute schedule for our school mornings.  I know that it works well & we get tons done.

BUT it stresses me out!  We get behind & I am running & hurrying then I start snapping & snarling at the kids.

NOT the reason I stay in this house to homeschool.

On the other hand I have found that our mornings go pretty much the same way every day—isn’t that a routine?  Isn’t that easier than making up a schedule for us to follow?  We follow  the routine that works itself out.  My job is more to make sure everyone keeps working on their tasks than to to tell them when to do those tasks.

I also know that if I wasn’t here(and sometimes I have to be gone for an early appointment) then the routine would be followed because that is what the kids normally do.

This morning as the two littles took the dog outside we noticed that the first flurries are coming down. 

I am so thankful that because they are routinely outside this time of morning that they can go out & enjoy the first taste of winter.

As it has gotten colder out, I am so thankful that I have time to check my email & drink a cup of tea before starting school each morning.  Winter must come but I enjoy the warm house just as much.  I am NOT snow bunny!

Basic Morning Routine

Mom up/shower/quiet time—get kids up

Fix b’fast & check lunch/supper plans

Eat b’fast & do Bible time

Mom—dishes      Littles—exercise the dog       Elizabeth—teeth

Mom—tea & computer      Joshua—piano      Girls—start school

Mom & Joshua—start school

Linking up to Gratituesday @ Heavenly Homemakers

Busy Days

Early get up.  Exercises.  Bible time with the kids.

Do school with Joshua.

 

Defrost steak(arg.) & make Swiss Steak in the crockpot. 

Listen to Megan quote her verses. 

Encourage her to keep studying when she wants to give up. 

Eat a lunch which Elizabeth lovingly made for us.  Print coupons. 

Throw a snack together.  Make sure everyone has their books & clogging shoes. 

Fly out the door.

Piano lessons.

 

Sit, cut & sort coupons.  Write checks.

Go to mother-in-laws.  Return jars & pick up juice.

Go to the bank.  Get a SODA(first in a week!)

Drive home—turn crockpot down to low.

Drive to clogging.  Listen to LOUD stomping & music!

Sit & play with a cute niece or two.

Head home & do more studying with the girls.

Snarf supper(thank God for my crockpot).

Go to quiz practice & herd 30ish teens around.

Home.  Put apple butter in to jars. Bed.

Twice a month we have a REALLY long day of errands & lessons.  I am so thankful that I am able to be home to take my kids to the lessons for interests that they are pursuing.  It is tiring but I am glad I have the time, money & energy to get these days done.  In between all the work there is laughter, lessons & fun along the way.

Regrouping!

It has been a really long time since I felt inspired to post. A lot happens in September and October for our family! Soccer gets in to full swing--Steve & Michael coach 2 teams so it can be crazy. Every Saturday from the end of August to the end of October is spent at the soccer fields. So after a couple of weeks I am finally surfacing from recovering!


We also took a break from school in the middle of October for a couple of weeks. Steve & I traveled to Hilton Head, SC for his continuing ed conference. I am so blessed to get to go along & take my scrapbook stuff so I can work happily while he's in class. We've done this for 7 years & my fabulous mother & father-in-law keep the kids so we can do this!


This year, however, we didn't really count on the swine flu! We never got the kids tested but they came down with something that was pretty ugly(grandma was calling her house the infirmary!). Everyone survived & we made it back home safely(and I got 40 pages done!).

Then a mere 4 days after we returned I left for a Getaway Scrapbook Weekend. Unfortunately, 3 days after we returned I caught a cold and wasn't feeling 100%. Still got some pages done & had a blast with my new & old girl friends. They are crazy & fun!


Once home it seemed to take another couple of weeks to settle in. We are back to school full time & liking the routine. Here is what our week--normally--looks like.

Monday--HOME--this is the only day we have guaranteed at home(unless something comes up) so it a laundry, clean house, school, catch up day!

Tuesday--School in the morning, girls & I in town for their Bible study & my errand running.

Wednesday--Steve's day off--ANYthing goes!

Thursday--School in the morning & piano lessons in the afternoon-every other week we have Bible Quizzing in the evening.

Friday--School & guitar lessons before noon. Then the girls have a science club that they are in from 1 -3 so J & I run more errands.

Michael is on his own schedule for his ASL class & English class. It all flows pretty well & we are getting things DONE! That is such a great feeling.