Small Spaces

I am so very thankful to have the wonderful set up we have in our home which allows me to dedicate an entire room (well two rooms really) to school. That has not always been the case, and I know that many get frustrated when they see photos of other homeschoolers' "perfect" school rooms (you know of course that they are only perfect for the photo shoot - trust me, my school room rarely looks that clean!) and wonder how to keep sanity in limited space. I have had experience with this in the past - last spring we had extended family live with us for 3 months while they were in transition between homes - and I lost use of my entire school space and office. Currently, I am briefly dealing with this again (the aforementioned septic issue the week before Christmas resulted in much ripping up of flooring, carpet and drywall - have you ever tried to find a contractor to work over Christmas break?) So I thought I would share my "down and dirty get-it-done" school space. This assumes that you have some other place in your house to store books you are not currently using (a bookshelf in a closet, basement or bedroom). I have all of my "extras" stored right now on bookshelves in the basement until the repairs are finished. I chose the books I considered most crucial for us to cover over the next few weeks. Then I cleared off one shelf on the baker's rack in my kitchen. Any bookshelf, dining room hutch or even pantry shelf works.

These are the most important items for me to access on a daily basis with the kids. The black boxes contain flashcards and writing supplies.

The books on the top shelf were already there - mostly cookbooks and prayer books and the bottoms shelf holds all my copies of the most practical and useful cooking magazine ever published. The baskets on each side contain art books (left) and nature study books (right). This is a great way to scatter books on different subjects throughout the living areas of the home. I have about 6 of these baskets in various parts of the house and school room areas - and each one has books from a different subject area. The kids can access them when they want, and I can send them to the basket to read something specific if I need to. So, while I miss my school room and am grateful we do have the space to spread out - really, this is not bad. I have everything I need in one place, and we can enjoy school in the kitchen for the next few weeks.

Disclaimer

Talking with friends today put something heavy on my heart and mind. We were discussing some of the frustrations most home school moms experience (can't get it all done, am I doing enough? etc). I think we all think we are the only one thinking those things, we are the only one who feels on the brink of watching our house of cards collapse and it often comes as a surprise to hear others voice the very same fears hanging over us. One of these friends has always told me she made a firm commitment to herself a while back to never read blogs. Her reason - people only blog about the best of themselves, the successes. It creates a false impression of all these amazing people who have it all together - and can only lead others to wonder "where did I go wrong?" or "why can't I accomplish all that?" She is right, you can make yourself into anyone you want online - with little accountability to the accuracy of your statements (unless your good friends who see you every week follow your blog - then it is a bit harder to get away with :). So, with that in mind, I want to say - while I usually do blog about the great things in my life, and share the successes I have had, and the things that have worked for me - in no way do I intend to give the impression that I have it all together. I most certainly do not. My house is usually a mess, there are days when nothing gets accomplished, there are disasters, problems, illnesses and constant failures in my life. I guess I choose to not share many of the negatives because I do not want this blog to become a pity party for myself. When a child is sick, or the downstairs floods (week before Christmas) I don't go into it because I don't want others to read this and get the impression that I think my troubles are worse than what they are going through on that particular day. So, what I want to say here is, I encourage all of you. When you read about someone else's life, don't compare it to your own. Take what you can that is helpful, ignore what is not. If anyone sounds too perfect, remember you are only seeing a small portion of that person. And forgive me if I ever in this blog make someone feel as if they are not living up to some impossible standard. I struggle everyday with the feeling that I am just a child who is somehow playing dress up - pretending to be a grown up and wondering when I am going to get caught. That is why I so highly recommend The Quotidian Mysteries. When acedia overtakes me, and I feel as if what I am doing is not good enough, or that I will go crazy if I have to fold another load of laundry - I pick it up, and remind myself that life is all about the everyday, the mundane, the menial. That is where God is, that is where our salvation is often found, that is part of the rhythm God created to allow us to draw near to Him.

Chore Charts

Seems like there are as many methods for chore charts as there are chores to accomplish. They usually fail because of my lack of consistency or because I make it too complicated. After reading A Mother's Rule of Life again, and talking with the kids about how they would prefer to track their chores, I have decided to simplify (I am beginning to see a pattern here too, I think I am going to claim "simplify" as my buzzword for 2009). I tried the Manager's of their Chores method with little cards in a name tag that the wore around their neck - which the younger ones liked a lot. But, it was a lot of work for me, and we kept losing the cards, and my oldest found it too bothersome. I will probably use that method for big cleaning days, where I can give them a lot of jobs and not constantly be delegating, but for now, I think we are going to go back to simple lists. To help the kids with their morning routine, I have typed up each child's list and printed them off on cardstock. I am putting them into simple 5x7 frames and placing the morning routine in their bathrooms, and the evening routine in their bedrooms. I got a little fancy with the fonts, using a fun, curly font for the girls and a very masculine army font for my son, and the frames match the decor of their rooms and bathrooms. Now they have a list to remind them each morning. For meal time chores I just typed up a chart and am posting it in the kitchen.

Here is what the 7yo's morning list contains:
prayer
Wash face and hands (hang up cloth)
Brush hair (put away brush)
Get dressed and put pajamas away
Quick room tidy – books, toys, clothing, garbage
Make bed
Take dirty laundry downstairs – sort
Brush teeth after breakfast (put cap on paste)

And here is a look at the crocodile hunters list (9)
prayer
Wash face and hands (hang up cloth)
Brush hair (put away brush)
Get dressed and put pajamas away
Quick room tidy–books, toys, clothing
Make bed
Feed dogs
Put compost out (return bucket)
Take dirty clothes to laundry – sort
Brush teeth after breakfast (put cap on paste)

Everything except brushing teeth is to be accomplished before coming to breakfast. Then they each have a responsibility for the meal - setting the table, clearing, loading the dishwasher etc. They have a similar before bed routine. If anyone else has any great ideas for improving upon this procedure, let me know - this is the simplest method we have tried, and I am hoping that it will make for better enforcement and consistency on my part.

52 Books - week 2

I have added a list in the sidebar where I am going to keep a tally of my book list this year as I read them. A quick update - I am still working my way through Acedia and Me (not a quick read, but a very good book). As I pace myself through that one, I decided last week I needed a little lighter reading to go along with it, so I decided to pick up This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. I read this back in highschool, and since the common theme that seems to be guiding my book selections at present is prayer, I thought it might be a nice change of pace to enjoy a fictional look at the topic. While the theology is certainly not spot on (I am pretty sure the angels are not sitting there hoping I pray so they have the strength to fly), it is an engaging read, and it does bring forth the importance of prayer. I think the beauty of this book is the reminder that there is indeed an unseen war being waged all the time around us, and we must constantly be vigilant, aware that the demons are always trying to lead us astray and we are in a battle for our souls.

Overheard at breakfast

How many 4 year olds are well versed on Dr. Who? This morning at breakfast, the queen (4) had an argument with crocodile hunter (9) and the little princess (7) over whether or not the great Doctor was real or not. She insisted he is, though the jelly bean monster is not!

And on a completely unrelated note - enjoy these amazing photos from the Tarpon Springs Theophany celebration. There is something incredibly moving about the photo at water level of all the boys in the water, one arm reaching triumphantly up into the air with the cross. HT to Monica for the link.

Simple Solutions

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. One issue I have had this past year has been making sure the bills got paid. I am the one responsible in our house for financial data - I enter everything into Quick*n and I write the checks to pay the bills. This is not because I am particularly skilled at it (because believe me, I am not) it is just the way responsibilities were divided up in our household when we got married. I try to be very careful, and I typically pay a bill the day it arrives, so I don't forget. Occasionally, I set one aside to deal with another day. This past year, during crazy weeks I just stacked them up and paid them weekly, after things settled down. The result was, I lost a phone bill in a stack of papers and was charged a late fee, I did not notice one month that we never received a bill for the credit card I use for online purchases (turns out, a bill is just a "courtesy" and they don't really care if it shows up in your mailbox 2 months after the due date - which is what actually happened!). So, a simple solution (so simple I am sure others have done this already, but it only just occurred to me)- I created a master calendar page with each bill listed on it's due date. I am putting it into a plastic sleeve, and it will be in my binder, with a copy posted next to my calendar. Now, when I check my calendar, I will be reminded that a bill is coming due, and I can be sure that it arrives, and that I don't forget to pay it. I think I will use a highlighter each month, and just highlight each payment when I make it, then I can look back and know nothing has been missed. Nothing annoys me more than paying an extra $5-10 to the electric company because I did not send the payment in immediately! This would also be a great way to help budget - you could fill in the average amount for each of the utilities, house payment etc - and that would give a big picture of fixed expenses each month. And yes, I know, I could have much of this electronically drafted and then I would not have that problem, but I am not a big fan of electronic drafts, and I am still fighting the pressure to "bank online". So, I am going to continue the archaic methods of actually physically writing my own checks, and yes, licking my own envelopes (well, I will say I do prefer the self-adhesive envelopes), and yes even using stamps (which I wish were NOT just glorified and very expensive stickers)!

Making a dollar stretch

Not my usual topic around here, but I wanted to share something I discovered this past week. It is one of those things I wonder why I never asked about before, so I thought maybe others had never tried this either. I was shopping at S*m's Club - I try to do my monthly bulk shopping there - and was stocking up on meat. Now, I have always noticed the prices in the meat section, they give a price for the product, then they give a case price. It never occurred to me before to ask about getting a case. I guess I just figured it was too much meat? Well, a package of 20-22 chicken legs ran about $12. If you get a case, that same quantity of chicken legs cost about $6. A case was only 6 packages, so I got 125 chicken legs for $33! Now, I realize that is a lot of food - I am fortunate to have a deep freezer in my garage to store excess meat (it is currently stocked with lots of venison). However, for those without that storage capacity - find a friend and split the case. My mother and sister each bought one package of legs from me, then I split the other 4 packages into groups of 8-10 chicken legs and froze them that way. I also bought a whole pork loin (the really big piece, not the smaller tenderloins) and cut it into single serving pork "steaks." The one pork loin (which I think ran about $15) gave me enough boneless pork chops to freeze for 4 meals (I freeze these in a ziploc bag with a marinade of honey, ketchup, bbq sauce and apple jelly). So, for those of you trying to find a little extra give in the grocery budget - think bigger - quantities that is!