Lots to do...

Tomorrow is Tuesday::

Goals for Tuesday;
1. Do morning foundation
2. Wake up at 6:00am
3. Cook breakfast for the kids before Dr. Appointment
4. Dr. appointment 8:40
5. After Dr. appointment get journals, a few extra binders, filing cabinet, make copies for 4 year plan
6. Have devotional with kids include journal time and scripture mastery
7. 1 hour of Inspire Us time
8. Lunch/Dinner prep
9. 12-12:45 personal study time
10. LPM 1-2
11. Personal study time 2-4
12. Cook dinner
13. Prepare for 5 pillar

*Call or stop by Timberpoint about furniture :)
**Think about making the central board for the family

How the heck...

How in the world is it already 10am?  I just haven't done much so I am freaking out a bit. However, I think it will make me feel better to list the things I have done and then the things I still need to do.

Have done:

1. Everyone's bed is made.

2. Everyone is dressed.

3. Everyone is fed.

4. Breakfast is cleaned up.

5. Dishwasher on so I'll have clean bottles for the day.

6. First load of laundry in the dryer...second load in the washer. Only 20 more loads to go. :)

7. Becca and Brea are down for their morning naps.  (that is why I have 2 minutes to write)

8. Cleaned up phone area...its been bothering me for a while.

9. Cooper has been fed his mid-morning snack.

10. Suitcases unloaded.

11. Both bathrooms picked up.

Need to do:

1. Have devotional with the kids.

2. Personal prayer and scripture study.

3. 30 reading of family book.

4. Organize: 4 year notebook; Family binder; kids area; bookcases

5. Go grocery shopping.

6. Take lens to repair shop.

7. Get Jarom a new pair of shoes for DC trip.

8. Get Little Britches on audio book.

Time to go and do...

Getting Organized

So for me to be an effective homeschooling Momma I have got to get a little more organized. I've definitely made HUGE progress as of late, but I am still struggling. So I am going to make a little list of what the heck I need to organize still so I can be 'secure no stressed' and more inspiring and less requiring for my kids. I really believe if I create the right environment and inspire my kids through me setting a good example and exposing the kids to lots of different topics my kids will eventually take a hold of their education 100% and get an education that not even money can buy. But if I am unorganized I am unable to inspire or be secure in my efforts to inspire. So here is what I REALLY REALLY need to do...

1. Create a 4 year plan notebook that is organized and works for me.
2. Get the TJed planner...right away!!!!
3. Organize all my homeschool supplies in a way that I know where they are in the drop of a hat and works for me.
4. Organize the 'kids' area in my back room (a little overlap from #3)
5. Organize the toy/book/speaker cabinet...what is up with that cabinet
6. Devise an inspiring chore chart/system
7. Create an adult skills notebook
8. Create a 'salary' system
9. Organize my gardening efforts and put them into action!!!
10. Review my Daily Default Schedule and post it all over the house
11. Introduce the 'child of the day' program and the privileges that comes with being CoD
I am sure there are more, but its now 11pm and my brain is turning to mush and I am not going to stay up late again. I should have been in bed an hour ago.

Okay Well...

1pm

So it hasn't been as productive a day so far as it was yesterday. I stayed up until 1am yesterday trying to get some homeschooling things organized, and so no I didn't wake up at 6am like I am suppose to. Instead after waking up 5 or 6 times in the night with Becca I reluctantly rolled out of bed at 7:30 at the insistence of my cute little children. So right from the start I was behind. SHOOT!!!

We finally got everyone dressed, diapers changed, and most everyone kind of fed (we are running out of food and with Scott gone I don't feel like taking all 6 kids with me to the store so all we had was Cherrios) by 9:30. By 10 most of the beds were made and everyone had put their clean clothes away. The kids played outside for about 30 minutes while I bathed Becca (she had wet and pooped through) and found a baby frog living in one of our planters. By 10:30 the kids were getting hungry again and Jarom all on his own made everyone pancakes (we had to borrow eggs from Brigett to get the job done). He is awesome! At 11:00 I finally got the clean dishes unloaded, put Becca down for a nap, and felt like I should have had all of this done by 9am. Oh well!!!

Now I am off to do some more organizing, make some treats for my 5 Pillars class tonight, and play with the kids.

-------------UPDATE-----------------4pm

I finally did do devotional with the kids at about 1:30 a little late, but I am glad we fit it in and didn't go without it. I think its important to just do it. We sang Nephi's courage all three verses and read out of a Bible picture book beginning with the New Testament. Other than that we just played all day. The kids created lots of melt bead creations, colored pokemon, built a super cool Lincoln Log building (I should have taken a picture of it), and finally ended the day with a card game of Pokemon. I don't really know what I did today other than run around doing things for the kids, feeding them all, rocking a fussy baby, and just playing with them all. Oh the one thing I did do was make a killer salad for my 5 pillars class tonight. I skipped the Mac-N-Cheese dinner I made for the kids and am going to just fill up on salad at 7.

Now I am off to bath Becca (she is such a terrible spitter) and Brea. Then I am going to get Brea off to be before the sitter comes. CRAZY day! It for sure wasn't as smooth as yesterday, but what can you do. I guess just hope tomorrow is more productive. I need to get my act together so I can do a better job of inspiring my kids to learn. Right now my biggest success with that is just keeping them off the computer and TV. It helps them create, think, and have a desire to learn.

Its my 11th wedding anniversary today!! WOO-HOO! I hope I can get a hold of Scott tonight to tell him I love him! He is out of town and doesn't have cell phone coverage so its not easy to get a hold of him. Well, back to real life.

---------FINAL UPDATE-----------------------10:45pm

I got Brea bathed and in bed before the sitter got her! That was huge. I got out the door to the 5 Pillars class which was fun to go to, and just now made it home in time to put the two big kids to bed and tidy up the house. Tomorrow I leave for Sedona for one night to join Scott after he's been up there for a long week planning all the wonderful stuff Infusion is going to be doing in 2009! It will be fun to go up and hang out with him...I just love that guy.

So we didn't do much 'formal' school stuff today, but I think the kids played so well together that I am going to call it a success. When they play together they are learning very important life skills like conflict resolution, compromise, compassion, love, building relationships with each other, tolerance, figuring out how to be a peacemaker and team player, discovering commonalities with their siblings, etc... They are experimenting with their imaginations, learning how to entertain themselves, realizing that boredom is their problem no mine, and problem solving. How could you not say that after spending a day learning all those wonderful things that it wasn't a success?

Even though it was hectic, and my head is still spinning from all the craziness that went on today (day four without dad is always a tough one) I feel like I strengthened my relationship with my children by being 'available' to them, spending time on the floor with them, and finding joy in being their mother. I also feel like I strengthened my relationship with my Savior and Father in Heaven because I took time to study the Book of Mormon this morning and had a devotional with the kids studying the New Testament this afternoon (yes it was suppose to be this morning...but at least it got done). I measure my day's success by ability to strengthen key relationships in my life...with my children, spouse, God, scriptures, neighbors, family, etc... So today was a success...it wasn't perfect, but when I go to bed tonight I can look back and feel good about what I did. That is all that matter. I will just pray that tomorrow will be closer to perfect than today! :)

There is power in doing the IMPORTANT things first then the unimportant or less important things either somehow get done or simply fall out of existence. This week after making a much stronger effort to set aside time for me to work on my foundational things I can tell that the Lord is blessing me beyond what I am worthy of receiving. I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who love me and bless me to find joy in my pursuits as a mother and wife!

Today...

What an awesome day...

Wednesday, September 10th

1. Everyone was dressed, fed, and the kitchen was cleaned up before 9.

2. Devotional went GREAT! We had a welcome, opening song, prayer, read out of the scripture reader of the New Testament for 15 minutes, and closed with a song and prayer. It was great to get that all done. Now I just need to start incorporating journaling into our Devotionals.

3. Family Book: We read 4 chapters (about 25-30 minutes) out of Half Magic which is our morning book right now. The kids were engaged and seemed to enjoy listening to me read to them.

4. Turned on some good classical music which played on and off most of the day. Very relaxing and I really felt like it brought a calming peace to our home.

5. During our 1 1/2 hours of personal study time Jarom asked me to read a chapter book to him. That is progress. I brought over a couple of options and he excitedly chose Flat Stanley. Nothing to challenging, but a nice start to get us back into the reading/school routine. We read for about 45 minutes before stopping.

6. The TV has not been turned on this week at all.

7. The kids played happily for hours and hours! Their minds and imaginations are really opening up.

8. Brea took a 3 hour nap!

9. Becca was a peach and so well behaved.

10. The kids didn't even ask to play the computer until 2 today...WHO-HOO!

11. It was cool enough to play outside today for short amounts of time. The kids played in the backyard this morning, a couple of times this afternoon, we walked Jarom to scouts and played a park while he was at scouts, and the little boys and Brea played outside with the hose in the evening.

12. My two little boys and Brea got a nice warm bath tonight. :)

13. The kids spent an hour or more making 'melt bead' creations this afternoon.

14. Megan played part of Called to Serve on the piano and is so excited about playing it! Now I just need to nurture the spark, do the dance, and inspire her to continue her curiosity of music.

15. I didn't have to cook...we had Taco Bell. :) Always a treat and such an easy clean up!

16. All the kids went to bed nice and easy for me.

17. I ordered a couple of Ana Caban Pilates DVDs so I can start working out! I have got to get rid of this post C-section muffin top!!!!!!

It was a great day, and tomorrow will be even better!!

Goals...thoughts...getting started

Here are my goals/thoughts as of right now...

1. Finish How Children Learn by 9/15

2. Write paper on How Children Learn by 9/22

3. Order my exercise DVD 9/10 DONE 9/10

4. Start an exercise routine 9/15 (when Scott gets back in town) 9/10 walked Jarom to scouts instead of driving...progress!

5. Wake up at 6 and spend an hour doing my foundation (prayer, scriptures, personal study, dressed for the day) STARTED TODAY 9/10 so one day down hundreds to go!

6. Have devotional with the kids after breakfast...start the New Testament 9/10 did this for the first time this school year!!!

7. Get ready to start the 4 year plan on 9/22 (organize books, papers, binder, supplies, etc...need to outline this better) I made good progress on this tonight!

8. Play for one hour uninterrupted with the small children Always a challenge but doing better

9. Read for one hour our 'day time' book with the older children while the little ones play. 9/10 did pretty good today

10. Implement a 45 minute to 1 hour of quiet time a day using the primary CD after lunch and use the time for more personal study

11. Hammer down a better daily routing to start using on the 22nd 9/11 made good progress on this today

12. What are we going to do in regards to 'salaries' for the kids?

13. What are we going to do in regards to 'chores' for the kids?

14. Get 5 Pillar stuff all organized and figured out.

15. Post at least one thing every week day that we did for homeschool!!! Day one done 9/10

Accountability, documenting, and lots of FUN!!!

I've been trying to include in my personal family blog all the stuff we are doing in our homeschooling, but it just isn't working.  So I've decided to start a blog to document our amazing adventure of homeschooling our six amazing children.  

Once HUGE reason for starting this blog is to have a place to write down my goals for my own education as well as my children's education.  I want to have an easy place to write them down, look at them, and report my progress.  (The many pieces of paper I like to use to make my list and take my notes on keeps getting lost!) I want a place I can talk about my failures and celebrate my successes.   Also, writing them down will increase my chances of accomplishing my goals and make me more accountable!

Another reason is so that I can simply document the joy of the process we are taking in our homeschooling.  I want to have a log where all the great things we do as a family while we are homeschooling is recorded.  I want to be able to easily track our progress so when I am stressed and feeling like we haven't learned anything I can look back on our blog and see what we've learned and what we've done.  I think I need that constant confirmation that yes I am making progress.

The final reason I am starting this blog is to have fun and try to relax a little!  When I write things down and make lists and cross things off my list and talk about what a wonderful family I have it brings me joy and is a heck of a lot of FUN!  

So now the journey begins.  This will be the first 'official' school year of homeschooling, and after prompting after prompting I am at peace knowing that if I trust the process the sacrifice of homeschooling will bring me more blessings and joy than I can ever imagine.