Online Shopping Fun

Last year Leanna, Lynn, Lesley, and I started what we hoped would be an annual November tradition. We spent an entire day Christmas shopping!  We began around 7:30 AM, and we shopped at our local stores until 9:00 that night. It was exhausting, but oh, so much fun!  And we accomplished a lot. 

This year we looked and looked at our calendars, and there was no day that all of us had open to have an all day shopping day.  Sad!  So we decided to have an online shopping party. Tuesday night we met at Lynn's house (because she has the fastest, most reliable internet) around 5:00 PM. We ordered take-out salads for supper and had M&Ms for dessert! We all sat around Lynn's dining room table with our laptops, shopping magazines, and Christmas binders all spread out. We actually got a lot of shopping done.  The UPS man has been coming to my house every day since!

So here are your holiday hints for the week:

1. Take inventory of your gift wrapping supplies and buy what you need. 
2. Make a list of shopping you wish to do online, then set aside some time to actually shop online. Always be on the lookout for sales and free shipping coupons. (Usually found in the magazines and catalogs that companies mail to you.)
3. Begin wrapping at least one present a day (if you have done some shopping or crafting).
4. Set up a gift wrapping station. This can be a card table in the corner of your bedroom, in a room you don't use often, on your dining room table (but not the table where you eat all your meals...you don't want to have to clean up the wrapping station every time you need to eat). Make sure you place scissors, tape, pens, gift labels, wrapping paper, tissue paper, gift bags, and ribbon in your station. 

***Don't forget.  If you want to participate in our Monday Online Book Club, read the introduction to Better Than Before. We will discuss it this Monday. I'm so excited!

Holiday Hints

Create a December Calendar of Events

Last week I printed out a December calendar and wrote down all of the month's events.  Places to be, parties to host, activities to do with the children, etc.  It helps to see the big picture of the month.  After listing all of the items that are assigned a particular date, I then filled in the gaps with things I want to do with the children this month. Doing this made me realize that I really prefer not doing any school after Thanksgiving!  I plan to budget this month off in our school calendar next year.  We are planning a trip to Disney early next year, and since I needed a chunk of time off for that I did not schedule us much time off before Christmas Day this year. So here we are doing school for most of the day and then squeezing in the Christmas fun.

Create a Plan For Sibling Gifts

For many years now I have hosted a sibling store.  When my children were younger, it was just too stressful to take them one at a time to a store for them to buy their siblings a gift with their own money.  Throughout the years they have made handmade gifts for one another (and they are continuing to do that), but they also like a "store bought" gift for each other sometimes too.  So I created a sibling store.  Basically I bought 4 gifts for each of my children to be placed in our store.  These were items that I felt were educational or fun, or things that they had asked for.  Sometimes I put more than 4 items in the store, and what no one chose ended up being a gift from Mama and Daddy.

One at a time the children would come into the room and "shop".  I charged each of them a flat fee for all four gifts….based on their age.  Very young children would pay $2-3 (total) for their gifts, and older children would pay $10-20.  Then they would wrap their gifts and place them under the tree.  

This year, however, I am not having the sibling store.  I have two children with a driver's license, and it is really no trouble to take any of the them to the store to shop.  I scheduled shopping for your siblings on our December calendar this week.  Today I will take Sam shopping.  He wants to buy some supplies to make Leah a gift, and then he has a short list of gifts that he needs to buy.  He will spend his own money on his siblings.  I will take the other children, one at a time to town this week.

However it's done, I think it is special and fun for my children to give one another gifts.  They take a lot of time planning what they want to make and buy each other.  Then they eagerly anticipate their siblings opening and enjoying their gifts.  

My Homeschool Day Schedule

I know in the homeschooling world that there are various types of mothers/teachers out there.  Some of you are Type A--organized and scheduled, and generally on top of things.  Some of you are "go with the flow", and you don't get stressed if you don't get all of your schoolwork done each day.  And some of you are somewhere in between!  Those of you who know me personally would probably say that I am Type A, but homeschooling five children and life in general has forced me to become more flexible.

However, I still cannot function without a schedule.  A framework for our days.  The order of the day and each day's routine brings stability to our otherwise hectic homeschool days.  I am NOT a slave to my school schedule.  It is my tool.  It keeps us on track and allows us to get way more accomplished each week than if I just did whatever.  

That all being said, I spent many hours last week working on my 2013 fall school schedule.  The spring schedule will look similar, but we take a break from cross country practice from November to about late March, and I have more time for schoolwork during those months.

Even though I have only 4 students to schedule this year, I believe that this year will prove to be one of my more challenging ones.  My older two children do most of their schoolwork independently, but I am teaching each one of them math this year.  I am allowing 1 hour for each of those math sessions, but I am predicting that 45 minutes will be enough.  That gives me a little bit of margin for mishaps, etc.  

I am also using IEW video instructional courses for Leah, Clay, and Julie, and once every two weeks I will need to watch the 30-45 minute DVD with each child.  I have scheduled their "weeks" to begin on different days of the week so I won't be watching 3 DVDs in one day!  On the other 8-10 days between DVDs, I will help them individually as needed on some days, and on other days I have scheduled a 1 hour block of time to help all three of them at the same time with their current writing assignments.  Again, I doubt it will take an hour, but I wanted to build in some margin.

Please don't laugh at my schedules!  I know that if I don't make a plan, we will flounder and waste lots of valuable time!

Here is how I did it.  I used my scheduling kit that I bought about 13 years ago from Titus2.com.  It is included in Teri Maxwell's book, Managers of Their Homes, which I highly recommend.

First I wrote down what I needed to be doing each day.  Then I filled out a similar sheet for each child. The numbers in the far right columns tell how long I predict each activity will take (in minutes).  When I finished my rough draft, I had 11 hours of stuff!  I had to go back and mark some things out and combine other activities. 

 a rough draft of my activity sheet

Next I wrote with a pencil each activity on a colored square (30 minutes) or rectangle (1 hour).  We each have a different color.  This step is very important!  It is like putting a puzzle together.  You can visualize your day.  This prevents you from having a child practice the piano in the same room and at the same time that you are listening to your beginning reader read aloud!

The kit includes sticky tak to stick the squares down on the master schedule sheets, but my sticky tak was missing!  So I used tape.  But you do have to stick the papers down or they will fly away!  That is frustrating, trust me.

 The colored squares---they were moved many times to make the day fit together like a puzzle.

 My final "rough draft"

 Pink:  Mama

Yellow:  Julie

Green:  Clay

Blue:  Leah

Red:  Sam

Next came the fun part!  Ha!  Not really---my days are all different because of various outside the home activities.  We have piano lessons on Mondays, art for Leah, Sam, and Julie two different days (but only 10 days for the whole year--every other week for 10 weeks in the fall and again in the spring), XC practice twice a week August-November, XC practice once a week March-May, and Clay will be doing a science class once a week.

So I made 7, yes 7 different schedules!

 I referred to my master schedule (the colored square one) while tweaking each day.

My Seven Schedules:

1. Monday (piano)
2. Tuesday--no art
3. Tuesday--Leah and Sam art
4. Wednesday-no art
5. Wednesday--Julie art
6. Thursday (science)
7. Friday (thankfully, nothing extra!)

Believe it or not, I worked it all out!  I am not doing science every day with Leah and Sam, but on Wednesdays when Julie is at art and Thursdays, they have an extra time slot for science. Also on some days I will have to check Julie's and Clay's schoolwork at night (not my preference), but that is ok too.  I scheduled my days, but I had to be flexible in my preferences.

 Some of the schedules

 Maybe you can read this one better

I typed up all 7 schedules.  Each day fits on one page.  After we actually do school for a couple of weeks, I will tweak these schedules.  Then I will laminate them and hang them up somewhere.  But first, I will be taking notes as we do school--seeing where I have extra time or not enough time or finding out if something just absolutely will not work.

It is a work in progress.  I will share an update after we get all of the kinks worked out.

My Homemaking Binder

This first picture is not of my homemaking binder, but it is inside my pantry door.  I laminated scrapbooking paper and taped it to the door.  Each month or week I tape the newest list on the laminated paper.  It looks much prettier than before.  This is what is on my door--you could hang up whatever lists or charts best suit your family.

1.  Jimmy's church duty roster

2.  Jimmy's work schedule

3.  Our weekly menu

4.  My Kroger list--we highlight items as we run out.  I take the list off the wall and complete it before I shop.  Then I hang up another list.

5.  My ongoing chore list.  

6.  Our van seating chart (rotates seating assignments for the kids each week)

7.  Kids' chore charts

 The Cover

I use Better Binders from Staples.  They are my all time favorite binders!

The tabs are also the Better Binder brand.  I used an online template to type my labels and then printed them out.  Very easy!

The Tabs

Another view of the tabs.  That page on the left is one that I patterned my daily to-do list after.

This is my laminated checklist.  

This page is laminated. I use a wet erase marker to mark off the weekly, monthly, and quarterly jobs.  I take this page out of the binder to the area we are cleaning each week.  The kids and I mark off each job as we do it.

The tabs in my binder include:

• To Do lists
• chores (a master copy of the above list plus copies of the kids' chore lists.  Their lists are small laminated lists that they check off each day with a wet erase marker.)
• Meal Planning (I record what meals I serve each month and I keep blank forms for planning weekly meals)
• Shopping Lists (Sam's, Walmart, and Kroger)
• Running (where I keep my training plans, race forms, etc.)
• Projects (where I list all of those things that I need and want to do--like drawers to clean out, things to sew, etc.)
• Birthdays, Gift Ideas (I made a chart of all 12 months.  In each month's square I listed my family member's birthdays in that month and the day.  Does that make sense?)  (The gift idea pages list everyone that I buy gifts for and space for me to jot down ideas.)
• School Calendar (simply a July-June calendar, all on one page.  I highlight Jimmy's off days)
• Important Documents
• Shoes (I list the month that I buy running shoes for each member of our family and the type of shoe.  Running shoes are only good for 300-400 miles.  I cannot remember when I replace the kids' shoes, so I made a chart!)
• EOBs (I keep my Explanation of Benefit statements here until I pay the medical bill.  Then I file them in my filing drawer)
• Homeschooling (a master list of schedules, some lesson plans, etc.)
• Homemaking (encouraging articles, ideas, etc.)
• Business Cards (I have plastic storage thingys for the business cards I want to keep.)

I really had a lot of fun creating my homemaking binder.  I like having all of these items in one place.  I hope I have shared some ideas that will help you to create your own homemaking binder if you choose to make one!

Friday's Ramblings

Bible Study

I haven't shared in a while about what I am doing for my daily Bible study.  If you remember, I began the B90 (reading through the entire Bible in 90 days) in late January.  That was after attempting to follow a plan of reading through the Old Testament in one year and through the New Testament four times in that same year.  That plan was not working for me because I did not not like reading in both the Old and New Testaments at the same time.....I thought I would prefer to just read it straight through.    So I began the B90.  I read through Ezekiel, and then I just stopped.  I am not sure why.....I have done the B90 three times previously, but this time it was a struggle.  

So I went back to copying Scripture.  Jimmy bought me a pretty pink leather journal just for this purpose.  For no particular reason I began my copying with Colossians.  I am using Frixion pens.  They write smoothly, come in a variety of colors, and most importantly, they are erasable.  That is important when copying the Bible!  I ordered mine from Amazon.  On most days I copy half a chapter or more, usually whatever is the equivalent to one page in my journal.  When I finish copying a chapter, I outline that chapter (in my journal--I copy only on one side of the pages and I use the other side for the outlines and any notes or thoughts I want to record).  Some days I only copy, and other days I write some extra notes about certain verses.  I have also started choosing one verse from each day's reading/copying and writing it at the top of my to-do list for that day.

So far I have copied the following books:

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

almost through with 1 Timothy

Each day I read or reread the chapter that I am copying before I begin my copying.  Then I read the chapter again from my copybook, checking for mistakes.  I am really enjoying this method of Bible study right now.  I want to do the B90 again, but I am not sure when.

My Homemaking Binder

I am still working on it.  I do not have a final product!  I have read all of the links that you readers have shared with me (I got several ideas from my FB post and personal friends too).  What I need is a huge block of time to just sit down and "get it done", but we all know that huge blocks of time to do anything are few and far between.  I have decided that I will have a page called a Daily Docket. I got the idea for this page from a book I have called Organized Simplicity. I have created a form for this on my computer, and I am so proud that I figured out how to make little blocks with text inside!  This Daily Docket page includes these categories (inside cute little blocks):

• Today's Top Three (the most important things I have to do that day)
• Inspiration (where I record a Bible verse)
• What's For Supper
• Running Plan for the Day
• Places to Be Today
• Today's To-Do List (the rest of the day)
• Today's General Plan (I list key times of day and what I need to be doing)

Yesterday when I was at Staples (one of my FAVORITE stores!) I saw a whole line of planning binders, pages, etc.  The brand was Arc Customizable Leather Notebook System, and it looked fabulous!  I looked at it for a long time, but I did not buy anything.  I think I will continue with my original plans, but the Arc system sure does look tempting!

Running

Due to my root canal saga, I have run only one time this week.  Last night we joined other runners in Corinth for the first night of the Team Corinth Summer Series.  They are meeting weekly to run/walk/jog for an hour or so, and then end at the Pizza Grocery for supper!  Fun!  I ran with Koach, and we ran a mile to a place called Warrior Circle where he has marked off 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 mile.  He was planning on running a few 800s (800 meters--1/2 mile--also called Yasso 800s, after Bart Yasso).  I have never done Yasso 800s, but I had planned to do some of these workouts this summer as I try to bring down my half-marathon pace.  I asked Koach if I could run them with him, and he was delighted to have me join him.  It was nice not to have to look at my watch to keep myself on pace.  Koach was an excellent pacer--I just ran beside him, and we met our goal of running each one under 4 minutes!  Wow!  I did not know I could do that!  We did a total of 3 Yasso 800s, and then we ran back to the Pizza Grocery.  So the run was 4 miles in all.  I plan to run tomorrow, so for this week I'll have two days total.  Some weeks are just like that!

I think that is all the rambling for now.  

Cleaning Out the Pantry...Again

Ok, so y'all know how much I like to clean out and organize!  It seriously is a hobby.  I clean out closets, pantries, entire rooms, and then my lovely family of seven actually lives in this house, and before you know it, I have another clean out and organize project to do again!  I love it!

Today's fun was inspired by these four buckets of grain....

 corn, hard white wheat, soft white wheat, and oatmeal

Up until a few days ago, I had only one grain bucket--hard white wheat.  But I recently bought 25 pounds of oatmeal from a co op order, and I also bought the additional wheat and corn from a friend. I also bought some pretty new gamma lids, and the grain I bought from my friend also had gamma lids on the buckets too. Sooooooo, I had to find a place in my pantry to store these new buckets.

That's what I did today.  I thought it would only take an hour or so, but of course it ended up taking much longer.  Like almost three hours!

Here are some Before pictures:

 No room on the floor for any buckets.

 Stuff crammed in....

 That sign hanging on the shelf reads, "Please keep the pantry clean."  It really wasn't too, bad, but I had to make room for those buckets!

Now here are some After pictures:

 I moved the canned goods up one shelf higher, and I made labels for all of my containers.  I have an assortment of containers, some of which I have had for 18 years or so.  They don't all match, but I can't justify buying all new containers just so they will look cute.  I think the labels bring uniformity to the containers.

That large off-white basket on the left hand side on the floor is holding our chips, pretzels, etc.  All of those things that come in bags.  

A nice home for the buckets

Canned goods, spices, and labeled containers!

I wonder how long it will look this nice?  Today, the children and Jimmy too, all oohed and aahed when they saw the pantry's new look.

I like looking at it too!

Just Do the Next Thing

My list grows longer by the minute.  I keep thinking of one more task, one more phone call, one more project.  There are Christmas decorations to take down, children's rooms to clean, gifts to put away, errands to run, plans for the upcoming year to make, and of course in the midst of it all the normal cooking and cleaning and laundry must continue.  Additionally,  I want to enjoy these next several days with my family while we are taking a break from school.

Where do we begin?  In God's Word.  That is always the place to begin, and it's the best way to begin each day, no matter how busy your day is.  Quiet time alone (or with a small child or baby beside you or in your lap when necessary--I still have days like that!) to read your Bible, copy Scripture into a journal, list items on your thankful list, and pray; that is the way to jumpstart your day.  In the busyness of daily life we may be tempted to skip this time, but it is so important!  We really cannot afford to begin our day without time in God's Word.

One little hint:  when you are reading your Bible, praying, writing in a journal, etc., you may find that your head is full of your plans for the day.  Keep a notebook with you, and jot down each distraction as it pops into your mind.  Then you don't have to focus on that in fear of forgetting to do it later.  It will be on the list.  After writing it down, you can quickly get back to focusing on God's Word.

Next, make your list.  Keep your notebook nearby as you go throughout your day.  Write down things as you think of them.  Some items on my list I assign to a particular day, and some items are all listed on one page.

Then,  just do the next thing.  And do the next thing again, and again.  Stop periodically to play with your children or read them a book.  Some times I set my timer on days like this--30 minutes of work followed by 30 minutes of play.  My kids call this a pleaning day--a little bit of playing, a little bit of cleaning.  It may seem like taking breaks during your work will waste time, but I find that I am actually more productive and the day is more enjoyable when I schedule breaks into my day.

My goal for today is to take down all of our Christmas decorations.  I would love to accomplish more than that today, but I am being realistic.  I also have 6 or 7 miles to run, a couple of phone calls to make, and two errands to run.

So for today, just do the next thing!

Wrapping the Gifts

As I was looking back through the archives of my blog to find my post about how I organize the gifts that I wrap, I was reminded of how much I have to do!  In the past years, I began posting my holiday hints in October!

We finished school yesterday, and my plan for today is to gather all of the gifts I have bought and sort them out.  I will add everything to my master gift list, and then I will make one more final shopping list.  I will be making note of how many and what kind of batteries I need as I sort the gifts.  I expect this to take me all day, because I have some cleaning to do in the storage room before I can drag out all of the gifts.  My next task will be to begin a pretty big surprise sewing project that will be gifts for some members of my family.

A friend asked me on Facebook how I sorted my gifts as I wrapped them.  I am going to repost what I wrote about this back in 2008.  This year I will be doing option #2, because I have so many rolls of pretty wrapping paper, and I want to use it all!

From 2008

Today's tip is about organizing your gifts as you wrap them. If you are like me, you have more than one Christmas celebration, with gifts going to more than one family gathering, plus the ones you will be opening in your own home. I have two different ideas:

1. Choose 3 (or however many different gatherings you have) different rolls of wrapping paper. Wrap all of the gifts for people that you will be opening presents with in one location with the same paper. For example, I would wrap my side of the family's gifts in green and white polka dot paper; Jimmy's side of the family's gifts in red and green "Merry Christmas" paper, and the gifts that are exchanged between my family and me on Christmas morning would be wrapped in candy cane striped paper. The presents are easily sorted this way. You can keep all of the gifts under the tree, and just easily gather all of the ones you need for a particular family event. When I use this method, I also choose a 4th roll of paper to wrap the gifts that go to people outside our home, but not to family gatherings (Sunday school teachers, piano teachers, the children's friends, etc.)

2. Wrap the gifts in whatever paper you choose, but designate a place to store the presents, sorting them by destination. When I do it this way I put my family's gifts in our  bedroom, Jimmy's family's gifts in our schoolroom, and the gifts for others on a table in my storage room. Our family gifts go under the tree.

Some years I wrap each of our family member's gifts in the same paper, using a different roll of paper for each person. 

This year I did not order any new ribbon!  That is a first for me.  I have plenty on hand, and if I run out of a particular color, and I many other colors to choose from.  I did buy a few new rolls of wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  Hobby Lobby has the best wrapping paper in my opinion, and the last time I was in there, it was on sale for 50% off.

I plan to have a most productive day, and I hope that you do too!

Helpful Holiday Hint #2

Microsoft Office Free ClipArt

First of all, while I have made progress on my list making and list crossing off from Monday, I have not completed everything.  So, I am still working on my tasks from earlier in the week!

Today's hint is about making a Master Gift List.  I type this list every year.  I title the document Christmas Gifts 2012, or whatever the current year is.  I use a table format with four columns.

Column 1:  The person's name
Column 2:  The gifts for that person (one gift per row)
Column 3:  A column with the heading "Bought".  I check this box when I have actually bought or made the gift.
Column 4:  A column with the heading "Wrapped".  I check this box after I have wrapped the gift.  This saves so much confusion, especially since my girls help me wrap presents.  How many times have you wrapped a few presents only to forget what you wrapped?  I stick on a gift tag and mark off the present as "wrapped" as soon as I put on the last piece of tape.  My girls know to either tell me immediately and watch me check off the "wrapped" box or check it off themselves!

I always print out this master gift list and carry it around with me as I am shopping.  I update it on my computer as I shop or wrap gifts, and when I am all done with my shopping, making, and wrapping, I print out one final copy and insert into my Christmas Binder.  It is so helpful to look at previous year's Master Gift Lists as I begin planning my current year's Christmas preparations.  It is almost like a journal---looking at the gifts I made or bought for my children over the years.

I really, really enjoy gift giving.  I like the planning, the buying of supplies for handmade items, the online shopping for toys, books, and games.  I love to wrap presents and make pretty bows for them.  I love to see my children's delight as they open their gifts.  I sometimes even have a surprise for Jimmy, and that is so much fun too!  I always have a gift or two for him, but it is hard to surprise him with the contents.  He usually figures out what the gift is before he opens it!

My master gift list is not complete.  I have some lists in my spiral bound notebook.  I have some lists on my phone.  And I have a partially completed master gift list on my computer.  Today's goal for me is to consolidate all of those lists into one master gift list on my computer and print it out.

Holiday Hints: High Speed Version

Since my life since last February has been out of the ordinary for me, I am not where I am usually am in regards to my Christmas shopping, planning, organization, etc.

But it's ok.

Way back in January I chose a focus word for 2013.  Choose.  I wanted to be careful how I spent my time, and I wanted to make the best choices every day.  For the past several months I have been periodically forced to choose to rest and scale back some of my normal activities.  That has left me with limited time to accomplish what I wanted to do, and I have chosen to do school with my children on any and every day that I could.  I have also chosen to resume running and I am currently training for a marathon that is 6 weeks away.  That takes time too.

So this year I did not plan any handmade Christmas gift projects in July (we were still doing school since we had taken an unexpected six week break back in February/March).
In August, I did not begin buying wrapping paper and ordering ribbon.
In September, I did not order my Christmas cards.
In October, I did not make a complete Christmas gift master list and do most of my shopping.
In November I did not finish my Christmas shopping or prepare my Christmas cards to be mailed on November 30th.

And now it is December 3rd, and I am about to condense several months of meticulous planning and executing into about three weeks!

I got out my calendar last night and just looked at December for a few minutes.  I made several lists--some on paper, and some on my Teux Deux site.  I am planning on doing a little bit at a time (well, a lot at a time, actually) in order to get everything done by December 24.  I am streamlining where I can, but I refuse to omit any special traditions just because I am behind.  I don't even like to say that, "behind".  Behind who?  I have learned so much this year about not being in control.  I am so blessed and grateful that I have good health today.  I even feel pretty much like my old self!  Except that I am really not stressed that I have not been publishing or practicing my annual holiday hints!

So here is my first holiday hint for the 2012 Christmas Season.

Holiday Hint #1
Make master lists.  Write down anything and everything you can think of that you need to do, buy, go to, make, bake, etc. for the next few weeks.  These are the lists I am working on.  My goal is to have these lists completed by Wednesday. (The actual lists of what I have to do completed, not the items on each list completed!)

• all parties/functions/family gatherings, etc.  This list includes events I am hosting as well as ones that we are invited to.
• gift wrapping supplies (gift wrap, tape, tags, scissors, ribbon, cute things to put on bows, etc.)
• Christmas card supplies (cards, stamps, return address labels, addresses, labels to print addresses on)
• baking supplies for gifts, special baking with the children, meals/parties I am hosting
• master gift list--gifts I have bought (thankfully, I did quite a bit of online shopping while recuperating in my recliner back in October).
• shopping lists (gifts left to buy), organized by store or website
• sewing list (I have a major sewing project planned--gifts for family members!)

Getting all of these lists down on paper will help my brain so much.  Then I can get to work.  In addition to making all of these lists, I plan to complete some of the items on some of my lists this week. I have set several deadlines:

Today

1. Prepare Christmas cards for mailing.  The cards came in before Thanksgiving, but I have not even taken them out of the box yet.
2. Two shopping assignments. (Pier One and Starbucks)
3. One online order
4. Buy paper goods for Saturday's Brunch that I am hosting

Tuesday

1. Wrap a friend's gift that I will be seeing that afternoon.
2. Wrap teacher gifts (Bible class, piano, art, etc.)
3. Mail Christmas cards.
4. Make and mail invitations for another party that I am hosting.

I think you get the idea.  Taking my super, super long list of things to do/places to be/things to cook, and breaking it up into daily tasks makes my stress level go down!

I hope to share my high speed version of holiday hints for the next few days.  Maybe some of you out there can benefit from my late start!

Working With a Schedule

Five weeks ago I began our new school year a little bit differently than I have in the past.

I never made out a schedule for our school days.

I had typed up a routine for our days (school 9:00-12:00 and again from 1:00-3:00).  I included broad time slots for Bible study, running, morning and afternoon chores, housecleaning, laundry, and cooking, but I did not assign specific times for those activities.

When I was planning this summer, I was so overwhelmed whenever I looked at my children's school material and considered the time it would take to implement, that I just never put anything on paper.  I figured that we would just begin school, and I would try a few different things, and then hope for the best.

It didn't work so well.  After almost 5 full weeks of school, I felt like I was drowning.  Little by little, I kept feeling more and more behind.  I was diligent to do school every single day that Jimmy was working.  I still washed and dried our clothes (although I got way behind in the folding and putting away), I still cooked supper at night, I still did some house cleaning.  But after about 10 days of this--working myself to death all day and feeling like half was left undone--I just chose to stop stressing about it.  I reminded myself that my family was more important than my to-do list.  So, my attitude improved, but my productivity was still lacking.  Not from lack of my working all day, but from less than perfect use of my and my children's time.  I had a peace with this busy season of my life, but I still felt like I could do better.

I found that while I was working with one child, I would have 3 other ones who had done all they could do independently, and they were all needing me too.  Or someone would be trying to practice their piano while another child was doing a math lesson.  Or three children needed the computer for school, all at the same time.  I felt like we had a lot of time being wasted, because the children did not have a specific plan for their days.  Like we have had in the past.

So last Wednesday, I worked on a 2012 school day schedule.  Just creating a table and typing in all of those neat little blocks made me feel so much better!  I already felt like I could be the master of my day, instead of putting out fires all day.  I patterned the schedule after ones that had worked in the past.  Assigning piano practice times, computer times, times with Mama, times alone, times with a sibling, etc.

Thursday, we loosely followed the schedule for the first time.  We started 30 minutes late (because I ran 12 miles that morning, and I did not get home until 8:30....and I have us scheduled to begin at 8:00).  I had hoped to make up that time by shortening each 30 minute block by 2 or 3 minutes, but then I had to make some important phone calls and do some computer work for Jimmy that had to be done at 11:00 AM, and that used up another 1 hour and 15 minutes of my day.  In spite of those two deviations, we still accomplished MORE on that day than we had on previous go with the flow days.  I was encouraged!

Friday, we followed the schedule to the minute!  I keep my phone handy as a timer, and I had that timer playing the harp alarm every 30 minutes to keep us on task.  I worked with all five children, did all subjects, and even remembered to do science with Leah and Sam.  Science is on the schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!  In my schedule I made allowances for Mondays when we have to leave the house at 1:00 for piano, and for Tuesdays and Thursdays when we have to leave at 3:10 or 3:30 for XC practice.

For my family, using a schedule is a valuable tool.  I am not a slave to the schedule.  It is my  guide.  When things are going smoothly, it allows me to accomplish so much.  When life happens and there are disruptions, I can deal with those cheerfully, and then jump back into the schedule where I should be, or just take a few minutes off different activities here and there to make up the difference.  I also plan to make adjustments to our schedule as we use it this week.  Places where I do not have enough time and places where there is more than enough time will need to be tweaked.  When the timer plays, and we are in the middle of a good part of a book, or in the middle of an important math concept, etc, I will allow myself a few minutes to tie up the loose ends.  In fact, I set my timer for 28 minute blocks to allow for smooth transitions.

If you find yourself floundering in your days, I encourage you to create and follow a schedule.  But don't let it rule you!  Don't let it steal your joy!  Just let it serve as a guide for you, a tool to assist you in reaching your goals.  Serving our Lord, being a help meet for our husbands, lovingly teaching and training our children, cheerfully keeping our home...those are our goals.  Let your schedule serve as a means to that end.

The Schoolroom AFTER

Here are my after pictures of my schoolroom.  I am very happy with the results.  It has been ready for almost two weeks now, and it still looks this neat!  So far, we are doing a good job of tidying up after each school day.  I know that at some point the schoolroom will get messy, but right now I am enjoying it!

 a view of the whole room from the door you enter

(I know these pictures aren't the best.....)

The U.S. and World wall maps are new.  We use our globe every day to locate places, so I knew that these wall maps would come in very handy.  I tried to hang them high enough so that the cats couldn't reach them.  A couple of years ago I hung a U.S map in the schoolroom closet, and those cats shredded the bottom of the map!

I moved the piano to the center of the wall, and I moved a small desk (to the right of the piano) from across the room to this wall.  This serves as Clay's workspace.

 Here is a view from the opposite of the room.  Behind me are doors that lead to the bathroom, a small closet, and our storage/crafting/sewing room.

Jimmy raised my marker board, and I put the white bookcase underneath it.  The tall cabinet to the right of the marker board used to be where the piano is now.  We call that our paper cabinet.  My cabinet maker originally built it for my girls' bathroom, but it took up too much space.  So it has always been in my schoolroom, and it has always held school supplies and all kinds of paper.  

 One side of the schoolroom.  This is the wall between the entry door and the bathroom.

I moved this desk down the wall to the left to make room for the tall bookcase.  This computer is for all of the children to use.  The little space at the left end of this desk is Julie's workspace.  The books to the left of the computer are Julie's schoolbooks, and the books to the right are the children's test binders, and a couple of my binders.  

 The shelf underneath the marker board holds Olivia's and Julie's history and literature books.  They are sorted by subject, and I have labels on the spine of each book.

 This shelf holds Cores Pre4/5 and Core A (Sonlight) plus three boxes of categorized science books.  Those books have been sorted in those blue and purple bins for a few years now.  The cups on top are holding pencils, pens, scissors, etc.

 Clay's workspace.  I hope he is looking at the world map often!

 The cabinets at the end of the room.  

All of my extra schoolbooks are stored in these upper cabinets.  The cabinet on the far right contains all of our painting supplies.  The lower cabinets store various craft kits and supplies.  The filing drawers hold all of our household and school-related files.  I cleaned these out this summer.  What a huge job that was!

The four black boxes on top are all Sonlight boxes.  I have each child's name on them, and they hold their current Sonlight readers, read alouds, history, and geography books plus my teacher's guide.  The fourth box is Leah's and Sam's Core B science box.

 A new slipcover for this rocking chair!

This rocking chair belonged to Jimmy's grandmother, and he had it in his apartment before we were married.  I have had it recovered twice, and it was threadbare and cat-shredded!  I have rocked and rocked all five children in this chair!  It used to be in the children's rooms.  I have also used it in my bedroom and in various living areas of our homes.  Once we moved here, it has always been in the schoolroom, because I knew I would be rocking babies down there too!  I have slept many nights holding a baby in this chair!

This is the first time I have bought a slipcover.  It does not stay on very well due to the design of my chair rather than the fault of the cover.  However, the overall look is very nice, and it is soft.

 This shelf holds from top to bottom:

miscellaneous history books

reference books, teacher manuals, a box of science books

Core C Sonlight books, 2 science boxes

Core W Sonlight books, 2 science boxes

Core F Sonlight books

 just a close-up so you can see the labels on the book spines

These are the extra books that wouldn't fit in the schoolroom, so I put them on shelves in the closet!

I hope you have enjoyed a tour of my schoolroom!

Catching Up

Over the last week or so, I have been steadily working on my summer list.  My summer is rapidly approaching the end, so I have been working, working, working!  Here are a few highlights of what all I have been doing.

• Running:  Finally.  I had a 20 mile week.  Actually it ended up being 24 miles, and I couldn't have been happier.  I planned another 24 mile week for this week, but since I missed my run yesterday, I am not sure if that will happen.  I'll know by Saturday.  If I can run 8 miles today on my treadmill (it's raining), then I'll be back on track.  We'll see!
• Homemaking:  I have canned three batches of salsa, and I need to can another batch today.  Each batch produces 6-8 pints of salsa.  I can whenever I get 30 or so ripe tomatoes from our garden.  I also made strawberry fig preserves using the figs from our fig tree.  I used chia seeds as the gelling agent.  So the preserves are 100% all natural.  And organic too I guess since I used our figs and fresh organic strawberries from the grocery store.  I have been wanting to make homemade laundry detergent for some time now, and last Saturday, I did!  So far I like it.  
• Homeschool Planning:  I have not done too much in this area.  I do have each child's books in their work bucket or work area, but the actual planning of their daily schedule and preparing their materials is on still on my list.
• Cleaning Out and Organizing:  I have completed all that I am going to do at this time!  Even though I love cleaning out things and organizing what's left, I was weary by the time I finished my list!  Actually, I still have a few minor areas left on my list, but I will just get to those areas later.  My schoolroom, kitchen, office area, and storage/craft room are all in order!

Last week included a visit to my new niece, Millie Janalee.  We also shopped at Costco while we were in the Memphis area, and Clay had a dental appointment with my brother, our dentist.  At the beginning of the month, I shopped for what I hope is a month's worth of non-perishable groceries at Kroger.  I completed my monthly WalMart shopping, and I bought 3-4 months worth of Costco items.  I still need to buy my Sam's stuff for the month, and I should be done with shopping for August except for weekly produce and milk from Kroger.

On a very, very sad note.....our sweet dog Lucky died yesterday.  Our whole family is heartbroken.  I plan to write a post about Lucky and the wonderful dog that he was, but I can't right now.  Many, many tears have been shed here for the last few days.  Lucky came inside our house Monday night (he is normally an outside dog), and he never stood up again.  I am so glad that he came inside for the last couple of days of his life.  He was surrounded constantly (and I mean 24 hours a day) by members of our family until the end of his life.  We will be grieving for a while.

The Summer List

I began making my Summer List yesterday.  I hope to finish it today.  It is already very, very long!  And I have not added any creative or fun things to it yet.  I listed each room or area in my home and made a list of every drawer, cabinet, closet, shelf and piece of furniture that needed cleaning out.  Today, I will finish the cleaning out portion, add some deep cleaning items, and also some fun/creative items.

I also ask my children to make a Summer List too.  They list areas in their rooms that need cleaning out as well as creative and fun projects that they would like to complete.  We are still doing school, but it is dwindling down.  Mostly we have reading (my reading aloud to them which continues year round and their independent reading) and math left.  A little bit of science.

After the lists are made, we begin working on them.  I will work on the list bit by bit, day by day.  Usually I will set a timer and work for 30 minutes at least twice a day.

I have found that if the children and I do not make a Summer List, the weeks fly by without us accomplishing much.  We still have plenty of unstructured free time, but I also want us to be productive too!

Do you have a Summer List?

Our Meeting

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

1 Corinthians 15:58

Me, Lynn, and Heather

Well, our meeting went great!  It's just that four hours was not long enough!  We are still continuing to share ideas via email and texts.  We spent a good bit of our time meal planning and recipe sharing.  Before we ended our meeting, I think each of us had a list of 10 supper meals planned plus numerous breakfasts and lunches.  Heather has since expanded her supper list to include 24 meals!  She chose six categories, and then listed four meals under each category.  I have not added any meals to the original 10 that I planned, but I did add to "try a new recipe" once a week.  I will add new meals to my supper list as I try out new dishes.

If Heather doesn't blog about her categories and meal planning, I will!  I know that a few of the categories were things like:  pasta/sandwiches, soups/crock pot, and Mexican.

We also discussed housekeeping.  The three of us have different needs in this area.  I have three older children that can help me out a lot, plus I have a housekeeper that cleans the main floor of my house weekly.  That leaves us to thoroughly cleaning the basement and upstairs and keeping the main floor neat and tidy.  Lynn has a housekeeper that cleans her entire house every other week, but she doesn't have older children, especially older girls to help her in between.  Heather has neither older children or outside household help, but she has lots of energy!  No really, she has two daughters that are a huge help to her.  We all realized that we should not plan housekeeping jobs on the days that we have "out of the house" activities (things like piano/violin lessons, Spartan running practice, home school co ops, etc.).  This left Heather and Lynn with three days at home and me only two. So we worked with it!  We consolidated our weekly housekeeping chores to fit in those afternoons that we are home.  We also decided that after supper and the kitchen was clean, we are done!  No folding clothes or vacuuming after supper.  That will be family time and down time.  Our "work" will be done at 7:00 PM!

We scheduled our days.  This is the rough outline of the schedule that we plan to follow.  Of course each of us will tweak this to fit our individual family, but this basic plan should work for each of us.  All three of us have schooling to do for most of the summer (with vacations, camp, VBS, etc. interspersed), so on the days when we do not have school, we will work on our summer projects list.

6:00-7:00 AM:  personal quiet time (Bible reading, prayer, etc.)
7::00-9:00:  exercise, children wake up during this time, breakfast, shower (if time!), morning chores, begin laundry
9:00-12:00:  school
12:00-1:00 PM:  lunch, supper prep, laundry, make bread, kids have some free time
1:00-3:00:  school, check schoolwork, kids begin chores if time
3:00-4:30:  out of house or when home, major housework days
4:30-6:00:  supper prep, kids complete afternoon chores
6:00-7:00:  supper, kitchen clean up

Once the children are done with their schoolwork and daily chores, they are free!  For most of our children, it does not take them 5 hours to complete daily schoolwork....but it takes the mothers 5 hours to do school with all of her children.  Does that make sense?  Sam does not do school for five hours!  But I do.

Our housekeeping goals for each day whether we are home all day or not:

• keep house neat and tidy
• prepare 3 meals and clean up
• keep laundry going (folded and put away each day)
• routine morning and afternoon chores

We briefly touched on homeschooling.  Most of our discussion in this area is taking place right now.  I am trying to decide which method of daily planning I want to utilize for Leah and Sam next year, and I have to do a better job of daily checking Olivia's and Julie's work.  We all agreed that during school hours (9-12 and 1-3), we are not going to do laundry or anything else, and we are going to leave our phones in a room far away from where we are doing school!

I will be happy to share my specific lists, chore charts, an

A Meeting of the Minds

This afternoon, my friends Lynn and Heather are coming over and we are having a meeting of the minds.  That is, a major homemaking planning session!

The three of us believe that as Christian women, we CAN do it all!  Not in the sense that the world, even the homeschooling/homemaking world thinks women can do it all, but in light of the fact that as servants of God, and followers of Jesus, we can truly do all that He commands us to do.  And we can do it cheerfully and efficiently.

Over the years each of us has utilized our own systems of housekeeping, chores, laundry, menu planning, grocery shopping, preparing meals, exercising, homeschooling our children, and many other tasks as well.  We want to share what has worked for us in the past, what is working now, and what needs improvement.  We are hoping to learn from each other in order to improve each of us.

I used to think that if I completed all of my homeschooling duties for the day, then I would have not time for housecleaning.  Or if I got caught up on my laundry, then I would have to skip a lesson with a child or haphazardly throw dinner together.  I felt like I could do some things well on my list, but not all things.

I have changed my mind.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men," Colossians 3:23

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17

I believe that if my priorities are in order, if I am seeking to serve God first and foremost, then my roles as wife and mother, homemaker and homeschooler can be successful, and that I can serve God in all of these areas.

But it will take some careful planning.  I hope to set reasonable, attainable goals.  I want to tweak my systems and routines so that I can be the best wife, mother, homemaker, and friend that God wants me to be. 

3 moms.

13 kids.

Lots of healthy snacks.

One big pot of coffee.

I'll let you know how it goes!

More After Pictures

When I shared pictures of Sam's completed room yesterday, I forgot a couple.  The first two pictures are of his closet.

Sam's desk

As I was taking down the Christmas decorations last week, I moved furniture and my rug around to vacuum.  Then I decided to try a different furniture arrangement.  We have lived here for seven years, and the den furniture has not moved!

Here are some pictures of the new set up.  I really like it.

That little bench in front of the coffee table was made for me by Sam.

Here is my schoolroom while I was moving the schoolbooks out of the storage room into those white cabinets.  The white cabinets were full of my scrapbooking supplies that I moved back into the storage room!

This is my fantastic new table that Jimmy and Clay built me for Christmas.  I love this table!  It is the perfect height, and gives me such a large work space.

It's covered with the things we brought down from the sewing room.

All cleaned off now!

To the right of the table are shelves holding our stuff.  The boxes have labels listing their contents.

This brown entertainment center stores scrapbooking supplies on the left.  The brown chest on the left also holds scrapbooking stuff.  The right side of the entertainment center and the white chest of drawers holds sewing supplies.

The boxes underneath the crafting table hold small scrapbooks, stuffing, bows, fabric, and the sewing machine cabinet (white).  We roll the sewing cabinet out when we need to sew.

Another picture of my supplies.  I know that my containers are not matching nor are they color-coordinated, but I just used what I already had.

Another gift from Jimmy--a pegboard.  I love this!  I had so much fun hanging all of those things on the pegboard.

This is another wall in the storage room--The shelves hold more of our stuff as well as the ribbon holder Jimmy made me several years ago.  I use that table when I am making bows for presents.

One last picture of the crafting end of our storage room.