It Doesn't Take Long

Day one of week three.  Already messy!

As much as I try to stay organized, I find myself on this Monday morning looking at a cluttered mess.  Life happens and then the house, the classroom and the students are completely disorganized.  Last Friday, we had to play catch-up from earlier in the week and we didn't get our areas clean.  Momma didn't get the grading done and in the rush to get things ready for our home school group, and the late night afterward, I just found myself dropping things where they landed. 
These are the weeks that are most often the norm.  I just want to sit back and take a deep breath and begin again.  The great thing is that I can do all of those things.  I recharged this morning before getting out of bed with the Bible and today, I let my Bible app read to me.  Wake up was slow going, but the animals are all fed, the kids are up and slowly getting to school and I'm cleaning up one small space at a time.  It's the only way I can keep from being overwhelmed.  Leftovers out of the fridge... check.  Last week's assignments graded ... check.  Desk cleaned off and unimportant papers tossed ... check.  Laundry started ... check.  Bills ... check.
I can't stay around the computer today.  I gotta keep moving, so see you in a week!  I've got some catching up to do!

No longer a servant

John 15:15 (NIV)  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Our servant day is complete and our slave day is complete.  The kids fulfilled their contracts on Wednesday and earned themselves Sonic milk shakes.  Kind of a mistake for me because that was a lot of sugar before bed.  Live and learn! 
Yesterday, the kids were slaves.  I was a kind master and only had them pick things up that I dropped a few times.  They were repulsed at the thought of touching my feet.  I would be too if they weren't attached to me, so I didn't make them give me a foot massage.  Previously, I typed out random chores on slips of paper and put them in a pencil bag.  It was from a ransom box idea I found on Pinterest, but I felt it would work for this too.  At the beginning of the day, they each had to draw 2 chores from the bag and each time they mouthed off or didn't obey quickly, they had to draw another chore.  This was fun for me and really for them too.  One child ended up with 6 chores and the other child 4.
Their chores were:

1. clean the bathroom mirror while singing (I wish I'd recorded that one)
2. clean an air vent with a toothbrush (I have a special one for cleaning only)
3. vacuum the stairs
4. wipe down a wall on the stairway
5. pull weeds for 10 minutes
6. clean out the ashes from the fireplace and clean up after yourself
7. fold 10 pairs of socks
8. wipe the table with a spray cleaner
9. clean out the cabinet under the kitchen sink
10. hand wash 3 dishes

They got no rewards for doing these chores, but they completed their tasks without complaining ... except the spray cleaner said to keep out of reach of children, so my daughter was freaking out about that one.  Once I told her not to eat the spray and she would be fine, she did her chore.

This morning at breakfast, I shared John 15:15 with the kids and we talked about slavery and how we are blessed to be free.  We also touched base on human trafficking without details about what was happening to the kids after they were taken from their families.  Even though we had our little experiment, my kids still have no idea what it would be like to be slaves and I cannot truly treat them as slaves ... not even for a day!  Hopefully some of our discussions and projects will stick with my kids so that when they're old, they appreciate freedom!

Slave vs Servant

This week we are learning the difference between indentured servitude and slavery.  Story of the World has many suggestions for extra activities following the chapters and we've chosen to do a day of servitude and a day of slavery.  The kids thought it was funny until we made contracts.  I added that they would clean the living room and dining room as well as the sink toilet of their bathroom.  They felt empowered by the right to refuse terms of a contract until I told them that I refuse to give a reward for something that already occurs on a daily basis in this home.  So only doing chores and school and behaving at church tonight was just not enough.  They became reluctant to participate until the reward was announced.  A medium milkshake at Sonic after church tipped the scale in my favor and we have signed contracts!

TOMORROW

Tomorrow, the kids get to be my slaves and I'm working on a few things that may make them squirm!  They will have no choice!  I may have a foot massage and my nails painted by my little slaves.  I might even have them make me lunch.  As punishment for disobedience, they may have to watch me eat before eating any of their own snacks!  Hahaha!  The devious plans of a homeschool mom!

I'm liking this idea so much, I may have to start doing it weekly!

Towels and Shirts

So by homeschool mom standards I may be behind the times, but maybe in general mom terms I'm on target or ahead of the game.  Or maybe it really isn't worth comparing.  We use KONOS Character curriculum as a supplement.  Some people use it as core and up kudos to them, because I don't spend that much effort in planning.  We are at the end of our unit on responsibility and there are checklists for to help evaluate what you can teach your kids.  Wow!  I've spent so much time focusing on the info about early colonists that I almost missed this amazing part!

We've been going over the checklists for the past few days and I'm not grading the kids, but I'm mostly just keeping these things in mind.  Today we had "laundry," on the checklist.  I never thought about it.  I have the kids put their dirty clothes in a basket or hamper in their rooms and the bathroom and they haul the laundry downstairs once a week and then deliver clean clothes to rooms when it is their chore.  Why did it never dawn on me to teach them proper folding techniques?

I can give you a hint... CONTROL.  There are certain things I like done just so, and laundry happens to be one of them.  Now I know people who have their young kids do all of the household laundry and act like they should win a merit badge for doing so, but that isn't my ultimate goal.  Over the past 2 years, I have never upped the ante for my kids on chores, though and maybe after today's lesson, it may just be time.  My husband knows that I'm, well a little particular on the way things are folded and my closet is organized by item and color.  O.K. I'm OCD!  This shouldn't prohibit me from teaching my children my OCD ways, should it?  

I brought a whole load of clean towels into the classroom and showed my kids how to fold them.  They had some nice ideas of how we can fold, but I told them to hold on to those ideas and use them in their own homes.  For now, we do it my way because they fit into the cupboards and drawers best this way.  After a few attempts, they actually did pretty well.  I admit, I was tempted to fix a few, but the stacks were neat enough that they didn't fall over, so I let them be.

The next load was done as well (yes, I let unfolded towels sit over the weekend, and the washer and dryer sat unemptied too), so I gave instruction on shirts, pants and undergarments.  They already know socks because they are hard to get wrong. They did a great job with each article of clothing and were actually excited for the next load!!  Wahoo!  Unfortunately, we had to do a little math, spelling and you know other school stuff or I might have them be my laundry slaves today.

Well, I'm glad to know that my kids can do laundry all the way through.  I need to do a few things now. First, I need to let go of some of my OCD or teach it to my kids.  I also need to learn a balance between giving the kids responsibility and letting them be kids.  I need to learn to be sensitive about time and place for just plain old fun!  They are not my slaves, but they are mine to teach.  Balance!  They one day will leave my home and need to survive in this world without me and the training began even before we home schooled.  My goal is to release my kids into the world and watch them thrive and not just survive.

Really I think I'm learning as much or more than my kids.  I thank God for the opportunity to train up my children.

Spring Break

I pondered what Spring Break would mean to our family.  I almost feel like we're on a perpetual break since starting our school at home.  We went to a wedding over the weekend, but financially we are not able to do a long vacation this week.  So we are sleeping in and enjoying ourselves.  The kids got their rooms clean and now I am doing spring cleaning.  I like the results, but am not excited about the work.  It so happens that our extended family who attend public school also have Spring Break this week.  To my pleasure, my children are spending 2 nights with their cousins and I am free to do my cleaning tasks uninterrupted.

Speaking of cleaning, home school has provided an excellent opportunity for me to teach my children life skills.  Our chore list has increased and the kids' willingness to help has increased as well. While I find that many tasks take me more time because of the kids' help, they are proud of themselves and the work does get done.  I've been told that these life skills can count as school credit.  Why not?  I haven't included chore hours in school yet, but it is something I am going to look into in the near future.  Kansas guidelines are so sketchy and there is much room for interpretation.  I have counted cooking in the school hours now that I think of it.  The kids LOVE cooking class.

There may be creative and fun things other families do over this week, but I think for us an unstructured week is almost as good as a trip somewhere... for now.  Happy Spring Break everyone!


Thought I'd add a cute little video.  Fishing would definitely be something to do on Spring Break!