Back to School

Today was our first day back to “school.” So, what does that mean for homeschooled children that go to “school” year-round? Well, it means that my kids happily plunged into their new materials that have been sitting on the shelf waiting for them for the past few weeks. We still have a few loose ends to tie up from last year, but for the most part, everyone is moving forward with new materials.

With a new school year comes an updated family schedule. I wish I could tell you that wake up every morning, fly by the seat of our pants, and everything is magically completed at the end of the day. Unfortunately, that just isn’t so. I try every so often to work without a schedule, and find that we just don’t get as much done. So, the schedule is updated and perfected each year to reflect our needs. Again, we structure our time, not our content, still giving us quite a bit of flexibility with our day.



We have also updated our chore chart. The kids were getting tired of completing the same old chores each day, so to mix it up, we decided that we’d change chores every six months or so, so that everyone got a chance at the different chores.



In order to help us remember what we would like to get accomplished each day, the kids have a daily work chart.



If you can’t tell, I am a visual person, so the charts help me to know what we still have left to accomplish each day. I have each chart in a page protector on the refrigerator so the kids can mark off each item when they complete them, with a dry erase marker.

I am working to get a listing of each of their curricula and will post it as soon as I have it complied.

Here’s to a great “school year”!

Tackle It Tuesday - Homeschool Papers

For me, I never know exactly what I should save of the kids' "school work." I am one of those who could save every scrap of paper the kids ever scribbled on. Because I know that about myself, rather than fight the urge, I have come up with a mini-compromise...organization.

For school work, I comb bind the kids' papers each year for each subject. Well, actually it has been several years since I have taken the time to get the comb binder out, so that was my challenge for today. I organized each child's work according to subject and year, and then put it all in chronological order.

Putting everything in chronological order is the most time consuming. The kids place their completed work on the right side of their folder, saving the left side for unfinished work. I had multiple folders to go though for my older two, spread over several years, which made for a fun game of hide and seek.

The comb binding is a synch, and takes hardly any time at all. I got my comb binder as a gift one year, and have gotten quite a bit of use out of it. I would highly recommend one for any homeschooling family. It comes in particularly handy for binding handwritten or typed stories that the kids have illustrated.

After my comb binding, I organized all of the kids' completed workbooks and placed them in a box. Not too difficult. I would like to upgrade to a Rubbermaid container at some point, but for now a moving box works just fine.

Next I tackled the unused curricula. It all fit in one moving box as well. I took out the supplies we'll need for next year and organized all of the books by subject. I will have to get the box back down at the end of this "school year" so I can put away this year's books, but they should all fit nicely.

So I feel I accomplished something today. I went from having several boxes of loose papers on the floor of my closet to having comb bound "books" by subject, date, and child. And the three boxes will take up considerably less space in my closet.

2009-2010 Daily Schedule

As I think I've mentioned before, I work best on a general schedule. Without a schedule, I tend to be lost...time management goes out the window and I come to the end of the day feeling like I haven't gotten anything done.

My kids tend to have the same problem. Without some guidance, they would entrench themselves in one or two activities (primarily Legos and imaginary play) and disregard all other responsibilities (such as brushing one's teeth and changing out of their pajamas).

For both the kids and myself, I have come up with a guiding schedule to help us glide through the day. We have time to complete our responsibilities and still have time for some fun. The schedule is not set in stone, allowing for some flexibility.

How do you keep your family rolling along? Do you have a strict schedule, a guiding schedule, or do you just fly by the seat of your pants? I love hearing and learning about how other families structure (or don't structure) their day...so let me know.

Slowing Down a Bit

The last few months have been pretty busy around here for some reason. We’ve been running here, there, and everywhere to participate in all sorts of activities and events. Many of the activities have been homeschool related…park day, art class, PE, Lego club, Roots & Shoots, co-op, fieldtrips, etc. Each and every activity is loved by one or more members of the family, making them all seem like “needed” activities.

I am finding, though, that the more time we are spending out and about, the more tired and irritable each of us is becoming (not to mention the house is also suffering in our absence). I am truly coming to realize just what a homebody I really am. Because of this new revelation, I have decided that it is time for my family to slow down a bit (and trust me, Justin agrees).

After speaking with my co-op friends, we’ve decided to combine some of our activities to coincide with co-op, and to switch our meeting day to Thursdays (Fridays are our “pizza and a movie” night, and I just wasn’t getting home early enough from co-op of Fridays to get our pizza ready). We should be able to create a diversified offering of activities throughout the month that will be enjoyable for all of the kids (i.e. Lego building, arts/crafts, nature study/community service, fieldtrip), and cover most of the outside activities we’ve been participating in.

As of right now, the summer weekly plan is as follows:

Monday – Park day (rotate park location each week around town)
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday – Co-op (rotate location and activity each week)
Friday –
Weekend – Family activities (farmers market, beach/park, yard work, church, etc.)

Do you see those blank spaces? They bring a smile to my face. Actually, they probably won’t be blank for long. I need to fill in baking, grocery shopping/errands, canning (when the veggies are in season), etc. It would be great if I could pair grocery shopping/errands with our Monday and Thursday events. Because they each rotate around town, I should be able to get quite a bit of my shopping done before or after those outings, saving time and gas.

This has been our first week trying out our slower paced schedule, and I think it is working well. We are all getting back into our regular routines (i.e. exercising, chores, etc.); the house doesn’t look like it’s falling apart anymore, the kids are getting to bed on time (except Jensen because he just doesn’t go to sleep on anyone’s schedule but his own), and I’m not nearly as stressed as I’ve been.

I think spending some much needed time at home will be good for all of us…especially me.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

Several years ago I stumbled across the Fly Lady when a friend mentioned she used the Fly Lady’s cleaning techniques to keep her house organized. I really liked the program. At the time, it helped me to get an established schedule for cleaning. Focusing on one area of the house each week of the month really helped to "zone" in on each area and get it up to par. Though the program does work, I don’t follow the Fly Lady program to a “T” anymore. I just don't have the time to be as meticulous with my cleaning as I once was. We now focus on cleaning basics and get the nitty gritty when needed. Because of this, I have created a somewhat modified program that meets my family’s needs a bit better.

Rather than divide the rooms of the house and concentrate on one room each week, as in the Fly Lady’s method, we focus on a different room of the house each weekday. I do the major cleaning, and the kids help with some of the smaller tasks in addition to their other daily chores.

Monday – Kitchen (mop; wipe cabinets; clean microwave; wipe out fridge)
Tuesday – Bedrooms (vacuum; dust; wash sheets; clean off dressers)
Wednesday – Office (pay bills; file papers; organize desk)
Thursday – Great Room (dust; mop; organize book shelves)
Friday – Bathroom (scrub; wash towels; organize under sinks)

Each day I will look to see of any additional organization or cleaning needs to be done, and will do them as needed. Sometimes a drawer will be unruly, so I’ll spend Fly Lady’s fifteen minutes and get that drawer organized. Basically, each area of the house is getting the same amount of cleaning time on each program; I just like to see things done on a weekly versus monthly basis. We can usually have each room (and all of the daily chores for that matter) done in two half hour sessions during the day.

We have been using this schedule for a few years now and it is nearly second nature to us now. The kids’ daily chores are tailored to meet the “room of the day” (i.e. Jakob chose wipe cabinets as one of his daily chores…and did a fine job I might add, and tomorrow they will strip their beds and vacuum their rooms).

The schedule helps keep the house clean and ensures that everyone works together as a team to get the job done.

Updated Allowance Chart

The kids and I have been doing a great job at choosing our chores daily from our envelope chore system. Jensen is even getting in on the fun. I guess it is time to make his envelopes so he can officially join in.

I really like the idea behind Chore Wars. I think that it is nice that a family can tailor the program to suit their needs rather that being a one-size-fits-all site. It was, however, getting to be somewhat of a chore (ironically enough) for me to put everyone’s chores into the site at the end of the day. There were times when I’d forget and have to go back several days to input chore information to ensure that everyone was getting his or her points. The other problem I was having with Chore Wars was that the site would keep a running weekly total for all chores completed during the previous seven days. The kids were having trouble figuring out exactly how many points they had earned from Monday morning to date because there were additional days from the previous week also being added into the total.

In an effort to streamline the process, I decided to do a slight adaptation of the method set forth in America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On The Money, by Steve and Annette Economides. (I enjoyed the book and recommend it to others as a refresher in getting one's family back on financial track, or as a way to glean a few more tips on how to pinch pennies here and there.) Their program focuses on a point system and the children are awarded an allowance based on the points they have accumulated during the week.

Rather than keeping points for each chore completed, the kids are now scored in four different categories; morning chores, school work, daily chores, and bedtime. If a child completes his or her morning chores (get up, get dressed, make bed, brush teeth and hair, and wash face) on time, they will get one point. Another point is earned if they complete their individual educational goals each day before we start our evening routine. If they complete all of their chosen daily chores, they get another point. Finally, if they are ready for bed and reading quietly at 8pm, they receive their final point.

I finalized the chart last weekend so we could use it this past week, as we got back into our regular routine. I think it was a success. Jake earned $3 (out of $5), Jolie earned $1.10 (out of $2.50) and Jensen earned $.30. The chart is posted on the side of the fridge next to our daily routine so that they can keep track of their responsibilities without me needing to harp on them to get their stuff done. I have put the chart into a plastic paper protector and us a wipe-off marker to keep track of accumulated points.

As usual, if the method isn’t working, I’ll modify it to meet the needs of our family or scrap it completely for a different method. I'm semi-flexible like that.

Next weekend we are planning to sit down on “Pay Day” (Sunday evening) and delegate the kids’ earnings into Savings, Charitable Giving, and Personal funds. We want the kids to learn how to save, how to give, and how to have a little fun with what they work hard to earn. Hopefully learning those skills early will set them up well for life in the real world when they are grown.

We're Here!

That's right. We made it and are officially moved in.

There were only a few mishaps along the way. Well, really just one. Our stuff didn’t arrive when originally promised. We called the carrier, the military, the dispatcher. No one knew where our stuff was. Our hands were tied, so what did we do…we sat in an empty house and waited, guessing where our stuff might be…on its way to California, strewn about the highway, burnt to a crisp…let your imagination run wild. Luckily, our stuff arrived the next morning, with little to no damage that we have found thus far. Our only total loss was a small pressboard bookshelf that a neighbor had given us.

We have nearly unpacked all of our boxes. The master is the only room left that really has boxes. We unboxed the kids’ rooms first so that they would have something to do while we worked on the rest of the house.

Justin and I have different unboxing methods. He is more of a “get-everything-out-of-the-box-first-so-I-can-get-the-box-out-of-the-room” kind of guy, where as I’m more of a “let-it-sit-in-the-box-till-I-know-where-I-want-to-put-it” kind of gal. During our last move, Justin unboxed everything by himself while I was in another state waiting to give birth, and the move before that was fairly simple, and we hadn’t yet established our unboxing styles. We are a bit more set in our unboxing ways now that we are “old” (in the military, we are nearly over the hill), so we are doing a bit of compromising and it is all coming together nicely. I bet everything will be in its place before he reports to work on Monday.

This being our fifth move in ten years, we have learned several lessons about moving.

1. Do not, for any reason, leave your valuables assessable to the packers, no matter how nice they are. They might just steal from you.

2. Be sure to pack truly sentimental items with you. No one will ever be able to replace those baby books or expensive instruments should they be lost or broken, so take them with you.

3. Be kind to the movers. Don’t forget, they are the ones who will be transporting all of your worldly possessions to your next destination. Upsetting them might not be good for your belongings.

4. Although not technically required, feed your movers. They tend to move a bit more quickly when their tanks are full.

5. Do not plan to do anything else on moving day(s). Packing, loading and unloading take time, and no matter what time they guesstimate they will be done, add several hours to it.

6. Be flexible. Each move is different (different locations, different numbers of family members, different amounts of belongings). Be as organized as possible, know who to call if there is a problem, and relax. As I have learned, getting uptight doesn’t do anything for anyone.

Sorry Shredder…What would I do Without You?

I love getting ready to move. It gives me a chance to purge, reorganize, and rearrange. With one week to go, I am starting to feel the moving crunch take hold.

Today I tackled the office…a small 9’x9’ room one third occupied by workout equipment, one third occupied by Little People toys, and one third occupied by office “stuff.” It was the office stuff I was concerned with: the overflowing “in-box” shelves, the messy desk, the stuffed file cabinet, and the computer program disks strewn about the book shelf.

I tend to be a keeper of papers. If the kids scribbled on it, it must be preserved. I am equally bad with our financial paperwork. I’m trying to do better. After leaving our house in central-Washington and downsizing nearly 500 sqft, I’ve learned that some things must go. I don’t have the space to keep every scribbled-with-love paper or the water bill from eight years ago.

According to Bankrate.com, it’s okay to purge your financial documents from time to time. They have a great chart on when you can part with those bank statements, tax forms, and gas bills.

Though it took me nearly all day, the in-box shelves are empty, the desk is cleared, the file folders are purged, and the information from our old floppy disks have been transferred to CD. The poor Recycle-man/woman won’t be too happy with me tomorrow morning. We have 4 paper bags full of recyclable paper (not including junk mail and newspapers) and 3 bags of shredded documents, with more paper to shred when the shredder has recovered from today’s duties.

Although purging always feels good, I’m glad I won’t need to have another paper purge for quite a while. I’m just hoping that I will have a place for all the paperwork in our new home. Right now the papers have a place to hide where I can just close the door if they start to get out of hand. Our beautiful open floor plan in the new house won’t accommodate games of hide-and-seek with stacks of paper…there’s nowhere to hide!

Garage Sale Blues

Saturday was a big day for me. It was the day in which I was prepared to finally part with most of my baby paraphernalia.

You must know that I have saved EVERYTHING since the kids were born. Every receiving blanket, onesie (except the ones with those “special” stains), outfit, swing, and stroller was saved. Each of the kids’ closets was filled with old diaper boxes (the only boxes that will fit on their shelves) full of out-grown clothes. The outdoor storage area was full of baby equipment. I saved everything from Jake for Jolie, and then from Jake and Jolie for Jensen.

I always figured that it would be more cost effective to save rather than buy new for each additional child. I know that we saved oodles of money saving and reusing all of our baby items. I can’t imagine buying a new stroller/car seat set for each child. I know we spent $150 on the “travel system” we bought for Jake. So I guess we saved about $300 by continuing to use the stroller and infant carrier for Jolie and Jensen. We did add a few new baby items over the years. Jolie got a new swing (Jake didn’t have one) and Jensen got a new crib and mattress (the old one was damaged during our last move). We welcomed hand-me-downs (both clothing and equipment) from friends and relatives. We took great care of our baby items to ensure that they would last until we were done having children, whenever that might have been.

In January, we made the big decision that our family was complete and took the steps necessary to ensure that we would no longer need all of those saved baby items. Because they were no longer needed, we decided to find our beloved baby items new homes. I have, and will continue to, give(n) my youngest sister all of my “boy” clothes. I know that they will have a full life making their way through four boys (Jake, her oldest, Jensen, her youngest). Not having any nieces as of yet, Jolie’s clothes are posing a bit more difficult. I have saved some of her nicer outfits for my not-yet-married sisters. I tried to sell her clothes at the garage sale, with little luck. We will probably take the remainder of her clothes to a consignment shop; and those items that are not accepted, we will share with friends; and those items that are not accepted will be donated.

As for the larger items, I was surprised that they didn’t sell at the garage sale. It must not be new-baby season yet, or people are not used to seeing “antique” baby items in such great shape. Our stroller set is turning nine this month. We are planning to invite over a friend’s daughter, and share our much-loved and gently used items with her. If she doesn’t want them, then I will probably try to take them to a consignment shop, and then donate them if all else fails.

So why the “Garage Sale Blues,” you ask? Well, I prepared myself to get rid of items that had grown near and dear to my heart, and they are still sitting in my living room. I worked through my emotional attachments Monday afternoon while Justin and I got the items out of the storage area and again on Friday night while I was cleaning everything up. The other day I was unsure as to whether or not I would be able to part with the stroller because I had used it with all three kids. Now that I have made the detachment, I am ready for them to find their next home and make someone else as happy as we were.

I’m sure we will find them all homes soon, and I do mean soon. I want to be able to spend some time in my clean living room before the movers have it all in boxes by the end of next month.

To Give Allowance, or Not to Give Allowance. That is the Question.

I have heard many different arguments for giving and not giving an allowance to one’s children. Some people give an allowance for chores done around the house and others give an allowance just for being a member of the family. We have actually tried both techniques, neither of which has been very productive.

One family I know actually employs both techniques, giving each child a base allowance and then an additional allowance for extra chores done throughout the week. If the children do not complete their daily chores (making their beds, feeding the dog, etc.), then Mom happily does the missed chore, but the kids are required to pay her for her services. Their family actually uses a family token system. At the end of the week, the kids are allowed to use their acquired tokens to purchase items from a basket of goodies purchased by Mom (books, manipulatives, etc.).

We started giving an allowance to the kids when Jake was about seven and Jolie was four. They would each get $.50 a week for each year they were old. They then had to put a certain percentage into a savings pile and another in to a charity pile. After a while, they could choose a charity to donate their earnings to or purchase an item for that charity. As for their savings pile...well, the system sort of fizzled out before they had accumulated much in that pile.

As previously mentioned, we started using Chore Wars about a year later, and again had little success. The kids didn't do many of the chores that were on the list, thus earning little money. They never really made enough to purchase anything that they were interested in, making the system of little value to them.

I decided to go ahead and tie our revitalized Chore Wars points to a monetary allowance. We each get one cent for each point. We have all discussed the point values of each chore, and everyone seems to be in agreement that the values are fair.

For example, here are the chores that Jolie did today, and the point values earned for each -

Jolie earned 15XP for Room Inspection
Jolie earned 5XP for Empty Trash Cans
Jolie earned 15XP for Load Dishwasher
Jolie earned 10XP for Clean Off Table
Jolie earned 5XP for Feed Animal

Remember, we each get to choose the chores we want to do each day during our daily family meeting after breakfast. It is possible for the kids to choose more difficult chores each day and earn more points than other members of the family. Jake, for instance, had trouble "remembering" to do his chores today, but would like to buy some Legos. He has decided to do today's forgotten chores tomorrow, plus tomorrow's chores, with the hopes of earning just a bit extra.

I haven't decided if we will again have a "savings" and a "charity" pile for each of the kids. Right now I am just hoping that they will start helping out more around the house. Justin and I are also earning "points" for our chores. I am handing out our Chore Wars allowance each Sunday evening, so each family member gets the opportunity to see what they did to contribute to the family and how it relates to the contributions given by the other family members. At some point, we will probably add a “member of the family” allowance, probably when the kids are a bit older and have additional expenses related to being a ‘tween or teenager.

Favorite Holiday Gift of 2007

Our family's frugality and eco-friendliness have come together in one fabulous product.
My sisters think I'm crazy, but my favorite gift this past holiday season was a Bag Dryer from ReusableBags.com. I was so excited that my parents had gotten it for me that I nearly jumped for joy.

Why so excited, you ask? We are zipper bag savers. I admit it. We wash and reuse any plastic zipper bag that hasn't held meat. It saves us money and keeps plastic out of the landfill.

I use this thing every day. I used to try to dry my plastic zipper bags on the handles of my pans, which never really worked. I keep the dryer out on the counter and have bags drying nearly every night. It works great. My sisters just may find one in their stocking next year...don't be surprised :)

New Chore Policy

Utilizing Diann Jeppson's family work system, I have established a program similar to the one she discusses in A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion.

I made two envelopes for each of the "chore doing" members of the family (Jakob, Jolie, and me) and used magnetic clips to keep them on the fridge [I guess Justin is exempt because he goes to work everyday:)]. One envelop is titled Daily Chores and the other is titled ****'s Completed Chores. I wrote down all of the chores that need to get done throughout the week on individual index cards. I labeled each card with the initial(s) of the day(s) of the week in which the chore needs to be completed (i.e. Scoop Kitty Litter - MWF).

Each morning during our family meeting after breakfast, I lay out the chores that need to be done that day. Jake and Jolie take turns choosing the kitchen chores first. To keep things fair, they take turns getting to choose the first chore based on their birthday. Odd birthday = choose first on odd days; even birthday = chooses first on even days. After they have chosen the kitchen chores, the three of us take turns until all of the chores are chosen. There isn’t always the same number of chores to be done each day of the week. There are also some chores that are truly meant for me (i.e. make grocery and menu lists), but if the kids want to choose them, then I'd be willing to work with them to get the chore done. The chores stay in the Daily Chores envelope until they are completed. Obviously, once they are completed they go into the ****'s Completed Chores envelope. Extra chores are kept in The Miller's Chores envelope.

The method seems to be working thus far. It's pretty hard to forget your chores when they are staring you in the face every time you go to the fridge. There are days when not all of the chores get done. Some days I leave the previous day's undone chores in their Daily Chores envelope with the hopes that they will get them done. On other days, I have been known to finish up some chores before heading off to bed.

I decided to go ahead and start doing Chore Wars again. Continuing with the "visual" theme, maybe seeing the points accumulated by individual members of the family will help the kids to see who is doing their fair share around the house. I have alloted each chore a certain number of points based on difficulty and time needed to complete the chore. I'm still debating on whether or not to link the points earned to an "allowance" or to try another award for accumulated points. I'm not a big fan or reward systems, but maybe that is what the kids need to get started. I'll ponder that thought a bit longer.

I am trying to stand by the "inspire, not require" mantra. Hopefully by setting a good example for the kids, I will be able to encourage them to do get done what they need to get done.

Our Current Chore Method

For some reason, our chore method isn’t working very well. Some of us are finding it difficult to “remember” to do our chores each day. Our method includes sheets on both the refrigerator and the kids’ bathroom door that show what chores the kids are expected to do each day. For a while we would keep track of the chores each of us did on Chore Wars, a really fun chore tracking website that gives points for chores. I was able to input the chores we do into the system and assign a point value for each chore. We were awarding the highest point earner of each week the privilege of choosing the dessert for Saturday. For some reason, dessert was not enough incentive to get the daily chores done. The current chore list is as follows:

The Miller’s Chore Chart

Morning
(completed by 8:30am)
get dressed
make bed
brush teeth
brush hair
feed and water dog

Afternoon
(completed by 3:30pm)
Everyday – walk dog
Monday – shake rugs
Tuesday – empty wastebaskets
Wednesday – put trashcan/recycle can away
Thursday – dust TV/bookshelves
Friday – help clean one bathroom
Saturday – help sort laundry
Sunday – wash windows/wipe doors

Evening
(completed by 6:30pm)
set table
help load dishwasher
wipe off table
help clear table
put out napkins
put recycles out

Nighttime
(completed by 8:00pm)
shower/bath
put jammies on
brush teeth
put clothes in hamper
lay out clothes

In A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion (which I will write more about in the near future), Diann Jeppson addresses family work. Neither a stay-at-home nor a working parent can do all of the work that is necessary to keep a household running on his or her own. Each family member must do his or her fair share. Mrs. Jeppson talks about a very visual chore “charting” method. I’m hoping that by employing this new method, my family will see that there are still chores to do and there will be less trouble with “forgetting” to do chores.

Check back soon for my version of Diann Jeppson’s family work system.

The Schedule...Day 1

So, I’m sure you are wondering how the new schedule is going. Well…because I like things to be fairly regimented, I decided to start the schedule “officially” yesterday, at the beginning of a new week. I got off to a rather rocky start, sleeping in until 8am. The alarm did go off at 6am, but after looking at the numbers blearily, realizing that I had only had about six hours of sleep after my adventure with Jake to the Barack Obama rally Sunday night, I decided to grab a bit more shut-eye. Once I did get up, I went ahead and got to work, but didn’t really get into a groove.

I decided to give the kids the week off of school so that I can get into the new routing without the distraction of school work.

I was pleased to get up without much difficulty this morning at 6am, got my exercise gear on and rode the bike for 25 minutes. I was showered, dressed and makeup-ed, and had my email checked before waking Jensen (the other two were already awake). The kids got their morning chores done with our much hassle, giving me time to make a nice breakfast (sausage, over-easy eggs, grits and English muffins). We had our first family meeting today at the breakfast table, discussing what we were each going to do to expand our brains today and establishing who was going to do specific chores around the house. I read aloud to the kids for an hour and a half. Jensen went down for a nap fairly well, giving me time to read, clean the fish tank and watch a political documentary with Justin (which I did mention to him was not on my schedule). Dinner went well (red beans and rice, double corn corn bread and green beans), providing some nice conversations. The kids did their kitchen chores without delay, allowing Justin and I to talk for a few minutes before I did the dishes (Justin would usually do the dishes, but did I mention that he is recovering from bilateral hernia surgery?). We had a family dance session to Linkin Park, with baths and showers interspersed around the dancing. I discovered some messy bedrooms, which is a continuing problem at our house that will be addressed another night. Then it was bedtime, and all was quiet…

Well, not really quiet. The older two went to bed fairly well. We are trying to transition Jensen into the twin bed and out of the crib. About a week ago, he kept coming down the stairs to greet Justin and me while we were trying to relax. Not understanding how he was getting out without the help of his older brother, I stood in the dark hallway and watched him scale the side of the crib, up the end of the bunk beds, which were touching the crib, and climb down the bunk bed ladder. I decided that the crib need to be moved the next morning, and yet again the next night he was happily toddling down the stairs to greet us with successful smiles. I decided that I might be time to make the transition to the “big boy” bed, although I was hoping to wait to make the transition until we moved. Neither of the other two climbed out of the crib. We moved Jake to the big bed during after a move across the country and moved Jolie after she refused to sleep in the crib any longer. Jensen just seems to be blazing a different path, which is what we love about him. Yesterday was rocking, resulting in the ultimate transfer back to the crib. After minimal rebellion tonight, he succumbed to the comfy pillow of the big boy bed. We’ll see whether or not we see his smiling face at some odd hour tonight. Hopefully he will make the transition easily.

Tomorrow is another day, and we will continue working on the schedule. I found a few areas today that might need some work. I’ll finish up the week and make some tweaking before next Monday.

Establishing a Routine

I have found that I am a creature of routine. Without a routine, I am lost. I have tried in the past to keep a routine, but for some reason since we made our last move across the country, whether it was because of volunteer responsibilities, outside homeschooling commitments, or just that life got in the way, my usually scheduled life fell by the wayside.

After two years of semi-controlled chaos, I have decided the reinstate a routine for myself. I am hoping that by getting myself back into a routine, the rest of the family will follow suit.

I'm sure this schedule will go through some changes as I work out all the kinks, but here is a start.

Daily Schedule

6:00a 6:15a 7:00a 7:30a 8:00a 8:30a 9:00a 9:30a 10:00a 10:30a 11:30a 12:00p 12:30p 1:00p 2:00p 3:00p 3:15p 3:30p 4:30p 5:30p 7:00p 7:30p 8:00p 8:30p 10:00p

Wake up; Make bed; Brush teeth Exercise (bike/yoga/weights/run) Shower; Get dressed; Makeup Wake kids; Start breakfast Family Breakfast; clean up Family meeting, assign chores Review daily schoolwork with kids Check email Snack time Read aloud to kids Oral lessons (mind benders/grammar/etc.) Zone cleaning Family Lunch; clean up Focused teaching (history/science/etc.) Silent reading Snack time Check email Basic cleaning Start dinner Family dinner; clean up Kids’ bath/shower time; family game Read aloud to kids Kids head to bed Read/write/blog Head to bed