Getting Organized:
In your home and homeschool
Dear Friends,
Taking care of yourself and your family is something that is on your mind a lot. You are trying to work on the balance of taking care of your home and homeschooling. You also need to take care of yourself and your spouse. Some days you feel like you are juggling or directing a three-ring circus or both!
Some of the emails I received this week were from some of you who are having a hard time with the balance of it all. Some of the hardest years are when your children are young. Small children need a lot of supervision and guidance. It is laborious to teach phonics and multiplication tables.
When you add in multiple children, you find that it is hard to get through everyone’s lessons in a day. I was there once, and I remember that feeling well. I decided I had to combine some of our subjects and teach ONE thing to all of my children at once.
This is when I found unit studies, and I was able to teach one history lesson or one science lesson a day to my children. I could read one book at a time with them versus juggling several books. As my children learned to read, I would slowly give them more independent work to do. This was not easy, but I kept at it. If they can read on their own, they can do some of their school work without you sitting right beside of them.
Sometimes, I used evening time to watch a video that was related to our school work, so my husband felt a part of the learning process. Sometimes we did our read aloud book in the evenings. By doing this, I freed up some time during the day for home blessings or decluttering.
In the kitchen, I taught my children how to cook. Young children can do small things in the kitchen with you. Yes, it will take longer. Yes, it will cause more messes. But the dividends later are worth it. I have two teen sons who can cook a full meal. They can use ingredients and cook from scratch.
Look for ways where you can combine things to meet the needs of more than one student at a time. The one-room schoolhouse concept still works. Your youngest children will learn things just from being exposed to your teaching time with older children.
This weekend, I want you to find time for you to recharge your batteries. Go on date night. Read a book. Soak in the tub. Call a friend or go for coffee. Enjoy some fun on Saturday with your family! Take a nap on Sunday.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Today’s Zone Mission is to declutter in your Entryway.
Your Home Blessing for today is to empty the trash, sweep, and mop.
My menu plan for Friday is take out.
Have a wonderful weekend!
