Out of Chaos....A Necessity

Order

I used to think that these kinds of schedules were awesome...for someone else.

I have tried numerous "schedules" and "routines" over the years, but nothing clicked.

Until...

 

This Baby.

My, oh my, is he a cutie!

And, it was because of him (and his five siblings) that I felt the need to be a tad bit more organized.

Enter...

This guy.

My, oh my, is he a babe!

He's really good with schedules and organization too.

He called to check in on how things were going the first day of our homeschool.

 

Chaotic.  

 

That about summed it up.

 

 He told me to stop schooling for the day and wait until he got home that night to come up with a plan.

Gladly.

That evening we made up the "Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday Schedule."  (He had already helped me come up with the cleaning/chore schedules previously.)

 

I can't say that I was super excited about the color coordinated schedule while we were making it up.  In fact, I had a headache, I was grumpy, and I just wanted to get in bed.  I may have even told him how it probably wouldn't work because...it just wouldn't.  So there.

 

BUT 

The next morning I woke up with my alarm and got the day started...and we've been on schedule (mostly) ever since.  It's been a month and the kids and I are liking this schedule.  

 

Everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing, and we all know that school will be done around the same time each day.  Woo Hoo!

 

I'm not completely fanatical about the schedule.  It doesn't rule me.  For example, this morning, I woke up with (another) raging headache (typical for me while nursing) with ringing ears and dizziness, so I took a nap while our oldest babysat the little ones and the boys watched shows.  Some days you have to do what you have to do to survive.  :)

Anyway, 

That's what we've been up to.

That, and...

This.

 

Go get 'em #35!

 

Nice tackle, Jonny!

 

Enjoying Fall,

Emilia's School Schedule

Back in this post, I mentioned that I don't plan out what we're going to do.  Instead, I write down what we've done each day as a record keeping system.  This plan worked for awhile for us, but I've recently switched to something new for my fluent reader.

Emilia was not enjoying school very much and would complain a little every day about having to get her assignments done.  She also had no idea what we were doing for the day because it wasn't posted anywhere, except vaguely in my brain (which apparently doesn't count).

Something had to change.

I found a student planner at a thrift store for 25 cents, so I got it out to see if we could incorporate it into her days.

This has been a LIFESAVER.

She's only been using it for (going on) 2 weeks, but I can't believe the difference in her attitude toward school.  She has a little bit of control by knowing what needs to be completed and being able to choose the order in which to complete her tasks.

At some point over the weekend, I plan out the week for both Jonny and Emilia (I have Jonny's assignments written in my planner - he'll get his own when he's able to read more fluently).  It's only taken me 30 minutes or so to figure out a whole week of organized school work.

Breakthrough!

I've been praying about scheduling and organizing because I'm not the best at this.  You should see my desk right now...it's a mess.  But the Lord has been helping me become more organized over the years, not for organization-sake, but for His sake.  I can more effectively serve Him (by serving my family and others) if I'm a little more organized than I have been in the past.

Emilia Academy

Emilia started giving Matthew daily lessons awhile ago.  Not sure if she felt badly that his own mother didn't give him daily lessons or if she just likes being "Teacher".

Probably a little of both.  :)

She came up with a schedule for teaching Matthew that she insisted would be able to be done alongside her own school work for the day.  She starts out by doing most of his school work with him and then she sets him up with a task to complete and runs off to complete one of her own assignments, coming back to check on him here and there. 

Multitasking.  She's got it down.    

Each day they do the same things, so I followed them around to record a typical day (or should I say, a typical 20-30 minutes) at Emilia Academy. 

They start out with the math workbook, which focused today on colors and shapes.

Next they do some writing.  She coaches him through the letters giving very positive feedback which makes for a happy little team. 

Then she takes him into the living room where she reads the word of the day out of the dictionary and then questions him to make sure he understands.  Today he gets the definition correct and she showers him with praises.   

They move on from the word of the day to read one poem out of each of our Shel Silverstein poetry books.  Three poems in all.  He listens quietly and asks about the poem they read yesterday.  This is probably my favorite part of their day.  Such cuteness sitting on those pillows across from each other.   

Next is computer time.  She sets the timer for 5 minutes and assures me that it's a "learning computer".  :)

She ends the lessons with the stringing of blocks.  In no particular order.  

"Tomorrow," she tells Jonny, "I will do lessons with you too."

I don't doubt it.

She's a good teacher, this 7 year old.  I told her she could take over for me if she wants.  ;)

Menu Planning

Scheduling/being organized with my time is not something I am wonderful at, but I'm working on it in many different areas of my life.  I'm a work in progress.  :)

My mother-in-law, Robin, sent me this idea for planning a weekly menu and shopping list, which I thought was so FUN.  (Thank you!)

I happened to read her email on a Saturday morning.  I also happened to have all the materials to do this project at my house.  So I made it.

I told Nate it was a good thing that I keep a bunch of crafty stuff hanging around.  He just smiled as he raised his eyebrows and nodded his head.

I was going to wait to write a post about this because A. I don't know if I'll enjoy using it for a long time and B. I don't know if I'll actually use it for a long time.

However, it's really cute and it's a great idea.  So, I thought I'd post about it anyway because maybe someone reading this will find this helpful??  (By the way, I am currently using and enjoying it, but it's only been a couple days.)

So, here's my version of the menu board - with heavy duty magnets hot glued on the back:

It's made out of an 11x17 frame.  I used fabric instead of cute paper like the original menu board.  I also started by leaving the glass on, like she told me to, but you can't use hot glue on glass - it doesn't stick.  So, I took the glass out of the frame.  I hot glued the fabric on to the old picture that was in the frame (you can use cardboard - whatever works).  Then I hot glued the clothespins on to the fabric.  I also made little pockets out of fabric and hot glued those on.  No sewing!  She used crayon boxes covered in paper for the containers/pockets, but I didn't have those available. 

I printed out different meals we like to eat. 

On the front of the card is the meal.  On the back of the card are the ingredients.  You take a new meal out of the bottom pouch and put it above when you've used it so that you are always rotating your meals.  I left the days of the week off of the clothespins because I wanted the flexibility of being able to choose any of those meals on whatever day. 

 
It was such a fun project to make, and I sure enjoy knowing what meals we can choose from for the week!
 

Daily Bible Reading

Before Christmas I decided to read through the Bible in a year.  I've done this before, but not recently. 

I tried the Read Through the Bible in 90 Days thing, but that didn't go so well...

So, I signed up for Bible Gateway's read through the Bible in a year program.

Since I sometimes :) struggle with schedules and organization of my time, this has been revolutionary for me!  When I see that little Bible Gateway email sitting in my inbox, it triggers the "must do" part of my brain and I do it within a day (sometimes two if it was a particularly busy weekend).

Spending time reading the Word that the Lord has graciously given us, is so very important.  May He give me grace as I muddle through this life, trying to please Him in how I spend my days.

Psalm 1:1-3  

 

Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

Homeschool Planning According to Heidi

Edited March 6, 2012:  You can still read this post, but also understand that I am constantly changing things for (hopefully!) the better in our little homeschool.
Here's what we're doing with schedules now.
 

I am "schedually challenged".  Remember this post?

I'm not the type of person (at this point in my life - I like saying that because it leaves room for improvement or change ;) ) that does so well following a schedule (besides the schedule of: wake, breakfast, do things, lunch, naps, do things, dinner, do things, sleep - does that count?) 

I'm spontaneous. 

At least that's what I keep telling myself because it sounds so fun.  Doesn't it?!  :)

However, because I am spontaneous (and super fun), I don't do so well following a strict schedule.  I like to drop everything and take the opportunity to enjoy days like this. 

I can feel badly about this at times because I read about all these other moms who are extremely organized and have their days laid out in 15 minute time increments.  It looks so...well...organized!  There are days that I WISH I could be more like this!

But, that is not who I am (at this point in my life ;) ).

And I'm okay with this.  Everyone is different.
(Although I do admit to a small amount of schedule-envy when I see things like this and this.)

As a homeschooling mom, though, I do need some sort of accountability (besides my hubby who faithfully makes sure I'm not TOO spontaneous).

Enter, The Well Planned Day.

Not only is this homeschool planner asthetically pleasing, it has been a great way for me to see how much schooling we've done.

I don't exactly use this planner to "plan" out my days.  Instead, I use it as a record keeping system.  I write down what we did for each day.  This is a great way for me to see what we've accomplished by the end of the year.  It also helps me know what we need to do weekly.

For example, Thursday comes around and I can see that we haven't done any art and we've only done one day of math that week.  I can then add subjects in to make sure the kids are getting a balanced educational diet. 

Keep in mind that I only have one child officially in school and she just finished 1st grade, so even though we may not do every subject (or even any subjects) every day, we still finished all of our 1st grade curriculum by April.

I know this may seem crazy to those of you 15 minute time-slotters, but it really does work for me.
And THAT is a good thing!

Chore Chart Woes

Something I find myself thinking/talking about a lot (especially to my hubby, Nate) is the issue of keeping our house clean.

Just last night, I was talking to Nate about how frustrated I was that I clean something, like the bathroom, and as soon as one of our boys uses the bathroom it needs to be cleaned...again.  Or, take our kitchen floor, for example.  Right after we sweep, we eat, and the floor needs to be swept again.  It's a never-ending process.  I always have laundry to do, dishes to wash, bedrooms to clean, surfaces to dust, and shoes to put away.  I get frustrated because I want everything to be organized and look like those beautifully, clean living rooms in the magazines.  You know, the ones with the perfectly stacked books and a large (very breakable) glass vase on top of the coffee table?

So, I rant and rave to my dear husband and he listens, calmly reminds me, "this is life," and then he makes us this chore chart...

This is not something that he really sees as an issue because, in his eyes, our house looks good the majority of the time (except for the tub - it gets washed every day when we take showers right??), but he hears me complaining about it enough and is enough of a systematic, analytical, engineering type that he wants to present a solution to the problem at hand:  A chore chart.  I, on the other hand, am more spontaneous.  I'm not always very systematic or analytical and therefore have always had problems following any sort of chore chart for myself or our children.

It's not that I don't enjoy these types of ideas.  On the contrary, I get all excited when I read about how to organize my life and even go so far as to type up a very pretty, colorful list of important things I should do on each day of the week.  I put that orderly list on the refrigerator or in a "Home Management" binder (something I made in a frenzy of excitement and then quickly abandoned.  ahem.) and...look at it...a lot.  Then, I find myself cleaning something else that isn't on my list of things to do that day.  I eventually realize that I am not following the chart and out it goes.

So, will this chart work?  I wonder.  Maybe it will because I didn't make it.  Or maybe I'd better realize that a chart will not work unless I work to follow the chart.  Not for following the chart's sake, but for the sake of my sanity (because what I'm doing now isn't working so well), my children (because it's important for them to learn how to do work and do it well), and Nate (because he gets kinda tired of hearing me complain about the housework).

This new, not so pretty or colorful chore chart is on our refrigerator right where the kids and I can look at it every day. 

At least today is Friday.  There's nothing on the chore chart for today, so I'm doing great so far!  

And, just because they're cute, here are some pictures of the kids.  :)