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In My Life This Week: I've spent some more time reflecting on me and my interests outside of kids. I love to write and blog, yet don't always give myself the freedom to take that time for myself. I find myself feeling guilty for such a small pleasure, especially if the house is super messy. Yet, if I use the couple of hours that the baby is sleeping to do housework I will not get any writing done. So, I have just got to give myself the freedom to write.
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| Painting with Marshmallows |
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| She loved this matching game from TOTSCHOOL! |
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| Here I caught him totally engrossed in one of his science books. |
Helpful Tips or Advice To Share...... Last week we really struggled with silliness during school time. It's not serious stuff that he should really get in trouble for but annoying and things that would never fly in a group. This is probably a drawback for the homeschool thing. An example: we don't raise our hands to ask a question because right now it is just me asking and mostly Bodie answering. At church and in other group settings when the teacher is asking a question he just blurts out the answer. So this week we have worked on raising our hands and not making little noises that are distracting to everyone. But, also I have been trying to come up with ideas for rewarding good attitudes and behavior and correcting the bad. A lot of things Bodie does is just annoying so I wanted a way I could discourage that. I decided on a ticket system much like we do at church. He and Brylee get tickets for working together nicely, being polite, staying on task, not whining when I ask for something to be done etc... If they have five tickets at the end of the week they get to choose something out of the prize box. If they have ten or more they get more fun things like extra free time, extra mommy time, a camp out in the livingroom, movie time, or whatever else they might think is really special. The hard part: they get tickets taken all week too for negative behavior like whining, arguing, not staying on task, fighting, or whatever behaviors you do not like in your household. I'm still in the try out phase right now, but am hoping this will work. This week I graded behaviors with a curve a bit because I wanted them to get in the prize box so they could get something cool ( i picked out some cool stuff) and hopefully give them more motivation to get in there again. This next week I will be a little stricter and we will see what happens.
Embarrassing Moment This Week....... Our neighbors went out of town this week and we were feeding their animals. They have a whole row of round bales right out in their front yard that the kids like to play in and around. After throwing hay to their goats, I looked around to see my daughter in all her bare butted glory squatting down for a pee on the grass. The outfit she was wearing that day was a one piece type romper that you have to take off from shoulders down if you need to go to the bathroom. Needless to say all was out for the world to see. Now this would have been ok if she had bothered to get behind something,(after all she did not pee in her pants) but the spot she picked was in full view of the people right across the road and also anyone who happened to drive by. So I am sorry to anyone who might think my children are little barn kids......they are!
Questions....... How does everyone else get all their housework, schoolwork, laundry done during the week. Any helpful tips?
I don't homeschool, so my system is going to be a little different, of course, but I've set aside one day a week as my cleaning/laundry day. As far as upkeep/maintenance tidying, I work on dinner in the queening, and then when Greg calls to say he's on his way home from work, I use that 45 minutes to tidy and get the children to pick up their toys through the house.
ReplyDeleteMaking time for myself is something that I struggle with too - thanks for the reminder.
I have a schedule for cleaning...my house may never be completely clean all at once, but I know it gets done each week. I dust/vaccuum one day, sweep/mop another day, bathrooms another, etc. The laundry and kitchen are always ongoing and daily, for us. I have a chair that is rarely w/o laundry on it and I fold and put up some each night. I feel less cluttered in my head and if I have to miss a day, I know at least it got done the week before.
ReplyDeleteIn the evenings, part of our night routine is a walk thru each room and the kids (and me, too!) have to put everything back into it's room it supposed to be in.
I read a helpful hint once in a magazine that I use from time to time. For things that you dread or seem overwhelming(like drawer organization, junk drawers, closets, etc) and it was a little game. Do 3 minutes in the Junk Drawer (or whatever it is). Set a timer and spend 3 minutes clearing, tossing, organizing and when the time is up, stop. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was and maybe go back to it the next week. I can do anything for 3 minutes :)
That's all I got!