8 Habits of a Happy Homeschool Mama

For most homeschoolers, school is in session and has been for a number of weeks. We are on week 8, which is about the time I usually start pulling out my hair a bit. How about you? I think what happens is we start to let our habits slide a little bit in the busy-ness of our day. So, in an effort to refresh my memory, I'm looking back over my habits to see where the slide might be occuring.

Good habits help keep me sane and our homeschool happy. Here are some that I've found particularly helpful:


Habit #1 - Routine is your friend!
Some people like those wonderfully detailed MOTH schedules. Others abhor them (that'd be me). My family needs a routine, and I bet yours does, too. However, our family life also requires a good deal of flexibility on a day-to-day basis. So, instead of adopting a time-based schedule, we use a task-based routine.

I've orgnized our day around certain "hard-stops": breakfast, baby's nap, lunch time, read or rest time, dinner, etc. After breakfast, we have devotions and then finish chores. When the baby goes down for her morning nap, we start school and work hard. After lunch, we have "read or rest" time. After "read or rest" everyone gets their chores done, etc. You get the idea.

However you decide to order your day, by MOTH or "hard-stop", keeping a routine gives your kids an expected pattern to their day. You save yourself and them a lot of frustration.


Habit #2 - Don't answer your phone just because it rings!
I do not answer the phone during school hours. In fact, in our home we rarely answer the phone because we are almost always in the middle of something (school, chores, a meal, a nap). When my phone rings and I answer it, it can easily derail my day. The kids scatter while I talk and then I have to spend 30 minutes corralling them back to their tasks.

So, instead, we listen as the caller is leaving a message and if it is truly an important and/or urgent call, THEN and ONLY THEN do we pick up. During our next break, I sit down and return any calls necessary.

So, if you have an answering machine, USE it...if you don't seriously consider getting one.


Habit #3 - Know what you are having for meals each day.
Having a house full of kids all day, every day can mean a lot of time in the kitchen between snacks, meals, and more snacks. They have to eat, so there is no getting around that, but it sure makes life easier when you know what you are having at each meal and for snacks, too.

Dinner is the most important meal to plan, then lunch, and then breakfast, and then snacks. If you can only handle planning for one, make it dinner. Donna Young's website has wonderful planners, including meal planners. Spend some time each week planning out your meals for the week.

At the very least, make sure you know what you are having for dinner each morning. Allow yourself the time needed to do any prep work, defrosting, marinating, etc. In fact, many times you can get some of this prep work done during the day rather than waiting until 5:00. Also, make sure you have all the ingredients on hand!

Always keep the ingredients on hand for an easy, family favorite dinner. Ours is Tuna Tetrazzini. Everything can be kept in the pantry and needs no defrosting or prep. Other ideas: "Taco Night" and "Breakfast for Dinner". These favorite easy meals are wonderful to pull out when you need to "punt" (see the next habit for an explanation of "punting"). And don't forget keeping meals in the freezer! There are many websites and cookbooks that have great ideas for "freezer meals".

Consider making a master schedule of meals. One particularly busy year, I set up a 4-week rotation of about 15-20 simple meals (dinner). Then I didn't even have to plan each week - it was already done for me!


Habit #4 - Know how to PUNT.
Ok, you are going to have many of THOSE DAYS during your homeschooling career. If you are like me, that might be once a month or even once a week! :) On these days you have to know how to "punt" - a term that means, "setting aside the lofty plans and just getting the job done any way you can". Plans fall apart, kids get sick, moms get sick, friends need big favors, etc.

So, how do you know when to "punt"? Anytime you are feeling overwhelmed and "normal" seems beyond your reach it is time to punt!

How do you "punt"? Keep a PUNT plan in your head - maybe even make a special PUNT box. In this box, keep fun, educational games, activities, books, movies. Throw in some special art and/or craft supplies, too, if you like. This is a good time to plan simple meals (like the "family favorite" mentioned above). Remember, kids CAN live on cereal for a day or two if they have to!


Habit #5 - Nurture the Nurturer
Take care of yourself. I repeat...TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Get good rest. Do not feel guilty about taking the appropriate amount of time for rest that you need. Keep in mind this can change depending on your activity level and your season of life. If you are not well-rested you will be more prone to grouchiness. And, did you know, overeating!

Refresh yourself. Introverts need time alone to be refreshed. Extroverts need time with others to be refreshed. Get real and accept that this is the way the Lord made you - and it is GOOD. Find ways to provide this time for yourself on a regular basis.

Cultivate your own mind. Read books and magazines of interest to you - only for you. Spend some time learning something new or researching a subject you are interested in. There are some great online magazines and blogs that will challenge and inspire you - and most of them are FREE!


Habit #6 - Refuse to feel the need to defend your choice to homeschool.
Sharing your reasons for choosing homeschooling with someone is one thing, but don't feel that you need to defend the whole of homeschooling everytime someone questions or disparages your choice. A simple, "We find it works best for our family and our children," will surely suffice. And if not, just change the subject. "Oh, Norma, have you been doing something different with your hair? It looks just lovely!" Develop a thick-skin and a healthy sense of humor - you really can't homeschool without either.


Habit #7 - Find an "accomplished task".
With motherhood and homeschooling come many, many tasks that are never ending: laundry, meals, kitchen clean up, cleaning the house, planning school, etc. All of which are tasks that have no completion point. (Oh, you complete them for one day, but have to repeat them again the next.)

Find an activity that you can point to at the end of each day or week or month to see an "accomplished task". Try scrapbooking, painting, sketching, photography, crochet, knitting, quilting, etc. Whatever you enjoy!

This blog is one of my "accomplished tasks". Each post is complete and finalized when I'm done. I can look back and see what I've accomplished. Another hobby that I enjoy is crochet. I've always got a project or two going!


Habit #8 - What habit do you have that keeps your homeschool a happy place? Leave a comment!


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Peter Piper's Picks - Sept 19th: Constitutional Edition

St Januarius, St. Theodore of Tarsus


One of my favorite speakers and writers and bloggers, Andrew Kern, blogs about US Consititution Day, Sept 17th. Did you learn the Preamble to the Consitution by watching Schoolhouse Rock, like I did?
ps - if you are a classical home educator, Mr Kern's organization is one you should know: CiRCE Institute. Their most recent conference is out on CD and it will rock your world. Seriously.


What's up in consitutional law these days? Spunky, as usual, has got her ear to the ground. Did you know education is not supposed to be controlled at the federal level? Hard to tell from the recent rhetoric coming from the White House. Check out these two posts (and others...and the comments section, always hopping at Spunky's place) - lots of solid info and many, many links to the issue at hand.


And who do we have in charge (dealing with our constitutional rights)? According to the witty and ascerbic Camille Paglia, "feather-preening bourgeious liberals" and the "back-biting mess" of the GOP. I don't agree with her politics, so it is surprising to find myself agreeing with her. But, I shouldn't be entirely surprised. This same phenomenon (having more in common with someone whose politics are WAY different than mine) happened to me while in Ghana a few months ago.


Finally, some good advice for Christians undertaking debate or discussion with others over political matters (or any matter, really) from Scriptorium Daily: 7 Suggestions for Christians in the Public Square.

Have a beautiful weekend, y'all!

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Peter Piper's Picks Sept 12th: Literary edition

My 17th Wedding Anniversary

I don't know. Do you really buy that biologists can do research on literary history? Evolution science explaining literature? If we turned it around the other way, would the scientists put up with English professors contributing research on scientific theories? Do we let science go too far?


Free is good, right? The internet is Free and has many benefits. But, have you noticed that often it is just plain faster, and easier, to use a BOOK than the internet? So, apparently "Free" does have a cost after all . . . T.I.M.E. and maybe something more.


Why Modern Composition Theory fails. And what to do about it. The first in a series.


Why academics must write beautifully. Have you noticed that some academics wear their "boring" writing as a badge of honor? But why? Why shouldn't all writing, no matter the topic, be artfully written?


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Obama meets Wordle

Obama's Speech, Wordle-ized.



I think if you click on that it will take you to a larger version of the Wordle (and you can see the words a bit better). If that doesn't work, try this link directly to Wordle.

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Obama's Speech tomorrow

So. . .

You gonna watch?

How about your kids? If they are in public school, will they watch there?

If you homeschool, will you make a lesson out of it?

What do you think about all this?

Baptism, Birthday and visits

Just a quick post! Thought some of you might enjoy seeing some photos from Baby L's baptism and birthday!


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Peter Piper's Picks - Sept 5th - Homeschool Edition

A friend on an online homeschool email group recently posted a link to this as an encouragement, and it really is. Has the start of your homeschool got you a little daunted? Go read this: Home School Mothers - The Beatrice Brigade. Not feeling daunted right now? Surely you will someday, so print this out for future reference!


Another online friend, Desert Mom , from the blog Quotidian Life, posted a link to a wonderful essay that she and her kids read at the start of school to remind themselves that true education is a form of repentence. She also has some good thoughts of her own on true education.


Once you've gotten all "pumped up" with vision and encouragement, you'll need some tools! Jimmie (one of my favorite resource bloggers) has a wonderful post about Graphic Organizers. Her post is one you'll want to bookmark and return to often.


How has the start of your homeschool gone? Do you find yourself reevaluating plans based on "on the ground" circumstances? Or maybe some new insight or encouragement you've received?

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Classical Conversations Cycle 1 History Resource

Hi, friends! Well, I do not know how I finished this this week (baptism, celebration picnic, first birthday, visit from my mom, and first day of CC), but I did! As of now, this is only the first semester. When I finish the second semester, I'll update the file (and post a notice here).

CC Cycle 1 History: Discussion questions, Teaching Points, and Activities. (This is a Google Document. You should be able to download directly from that link to your computer. ) Let me know if you download the file, and if you find this helpful!

The Discussion Questions were designed to be somewhat open-ended and spark a bit of discussion in your home. I hope you enjoy them! If you have any suggestions for other questions or activities, please email me or leave a comment.

The Teaching Points are culled almost entirely from World Encyclopedia.

And the Activities are merely suggestions for ways to expand your students' interaction with the history material. Choose those that sound interesting, but don't try to do them all! I don't even do an activity every week!

Enjoy!

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Peter Piper's Picks - Aug 29, Culture Edition

A peek at life in the Middle East during Ramadan.

Would you like to challenge yourself to learn more about China? How about taking a "China Challenge. "! BiblioFile has put together a China Challenge book reading and learning activity list (with different requirements, so you can choose your commitment level). A few years ago, I traveled to China with Dear Neighbor to bring her adopted daughter home, so I've done a number of these already. I think I'll try the "Silk Road" level! HT: TongguMama

Perhaps "travel as a force for peace" is stretching it, but I certainly believe that when we learn about another culture first-hand it will change us. Particularly, we learn to cherish a culture and a people.

The year of the "Last Hurrah"!

Today, I kicked off the start of my last year before I hit 40...my "last hurrah!" LOL!

Erik and I got up early for a "coffee date". Here's a photo of me in our '69 Datsun convertible (a project car for hubby and the boys). Riding in this always makes an outing more fun!

We had a really relaxing breakfast together and it was such a nice start to my 39th birthday. When we got home the kids were anxious to give me my gift. They had all pitched in and bought me my first iPod. An 8GB Nano...I've been filling it up today with music and podcasts. Somehow my kids (who do not have iPods) all knew how to work it better than I did! It does make you feel old to hit the point when your kids have to help you with new technology. **Sigh.**

September is a busy month of celebrations:

Baby L's baptism,
Baby L's first birthday,
our 17th wedding anniversary,
and DS#2's 10th birthday.

Actually, those are all within the first 2 weeks of September!

There is one other event I'd like to tell you about: the second "Carnival of the Church Year" (for the Church Year season: Ordinary Time) which will be hosted here on Monday, September 21st, the Feast of St. Matthew the Evangelist. Mark your calendars and start getting your posts ready to share! Look for more information (and maybe some post ideas) coming in the next week.

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St. Bartholomew's Feast Day

St. Bartholomew's Feast Day

First, a little history. From James Kiefer's Christian Biographies:

The name "Bartholomew" appears in the New Testament only on lists of the names of the twelve apostles. This list normally is given as six pairs, and the third pair in each of the Synoptics is "Philip and Bartholomew" (M 10:3; P 3:18; L 6:14; but A 1:15).

We have no certain information about Bartholomew's later life. Some writers, including the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (now Har Qesari, 32:30 N 34:54 E, near Sedot Yam), say that he preached in India. The majority tradition, with varying details, is that Bartholomew preached in Armenia, and was finally skinned alive and beheaded to Albanus or Albanopolis (now Derbent, 42:03 N 48:18 E) on the Caspian Sea. His emblem in art is a flaying knife. The flayed Bartholomew can be seen in Michelangelo's Sistine painting of the Last Judgement. He is holding his skin. The face on the skin is generally considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo.

And now for some fun:
In medieval England, a famous fair was held in Englad, St. Bartholonew's Day Fair on the grounds of St. Bartholmew's monastery and hospital. It had its beginnings in the 12th centurey under Henry I. Johanna Bogle, on her show "Feasts & Seasons", suggests making fun "fair food" like carmel apples. You could go all-out and make real carmel apples (YUM!) or make (or buy) a simple caramel dip for sliced apples. A little bit more about the history of the fair and how caramel (or toffee) apples came to be associated with St. Bartholomew's Day.

Also, since Saint Bartholomew is believed to have gone to Armenia, and is known as "Apostle to Armenia" it might be fun to enjoy an Armenian dish or two: here are some recipes. And here (see the sidebar for a list of recipes).

Do you have any other ideas for St Bartholomew's? Leave a comment and share!

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Peter Piper's Picks - Aug 22, Place Edition

Heard this on our NPR station Friday morning, and thought it was particularly funny. Mark Washburn, a columnist with our local newspaper, comments on how we name places here in Charlotte, but I think his observations extend much further than the Queen City. So many of our modern names for places are utterly generic, or worse taken from consumerism, for example Bank of America Stadium...really, that could be anywhere in America. Well, except for the fact that it is headquartered here. But you get my point.


Memory's connection with our sense of place - an architect gives some insight to her peers about this important aspect of their craft.


An article by William R. Ferris in 1999, when he was the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, about the importance of retaining our sense of place , or as Faulkner said (and he quotes) our "little postage stamp of native soil".


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Life and Land

I've just finished two books: The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck and Life is a Miracle by Wendell Berry. The former has been sitting on my bookshelves waiting to be read for a couple of years. The latter I purchased on recommendation and instantly started into it. Both were finished, providentially, within days of each other. Both speak to what happens to the soul when one "degrades...the ordinary life" in the desire for "various kinds of stardom", to quote Berry. These two books seem to be almost like two versions of the same message: one prose and the other poem.

You may know The Good Earth is set in pre-revolutionary China. A man, Wang Lung, starts out with nothing and slowly builds his life. He ends with everything, but then realizes he had more that was real when he had nothing. He pleads with his progeny to heed his error. They promise, but they wink behind his back. The revolution can be heard building in the background. That, in a nutshell, is The Good Earth.

From The Good Earth:
"Thus spring wore on again and again and vaguely and more vaguely as these years passed he felt it coming. But still one thing remained to him and it was his love for his land. He had gone away from it and he had set up his house in a town and he was rich. But his roots were in his land. . . . (...) Spring passed and summer passed into harvest and in the hot autumn sun before winter comes Wang Lung sat where his father had sat against one wall. And he thought no more about anything now except his food and his drink and his land. But of his land he thought no more what harvest it would bring or what seed would be planted or of anything except of the land itself, and he stooped sometimes and gathered some of the earth up in his hand and he sat thus and held it in his hand, and it seemed full of life between his fingers. And he was content, holding it thus, and he thought of it fitfully and of his good coffin that was there; and the kind earth waited without haste until he came to it."

Wendell Berry has a lot to say in his book, Life is a Miracle, about Science and Art and Religion and Life. What struck me, especially as I read it in conjunction with The Good Earth, is that there are things in life that are unexplainable and are damaged in the attempt to explain. Rather they must be experienced. To be experienced they must be loved and if loved, protected. And those things that are loved are worthy to be passed on to, and protected for, the next generation. This is the Nature of Life. Our modern life is an example of too many explanations and not enough experiences, and of disordered and inadequate love.

From Life is a Miracle:
"Unlike the culture of the European Middle Ages, which honored the vocations of the learned teacher, the country parson, and the plowman as well as that of the knight, or the culture of Japan in the Edo period which ranked the farmer and the craftsman above the merchant, our own culture places an absolute premium upon various kids of stardom. This degrades and impoverishes ordinary life, ordinary work, ordinary experience...depricates...the work of the primary producers of goods, and the performers of all kinds of essential but unglamorous jobs and duties...results are that most work is now poorly done; great cultural and natural resources are neglected, wasted, or abused; the land and its creatures are destroyed; and the citizenry is poorly taught, poorly governed, and poorly served."

"But if we are to know any part of the planet intimately, particularly, precisely, and with affection, then we must live somewhere in particular for a long time. (...) One of the most significant costs of the economic destruction of farm populations is the loss of local money, local history, and local names."

"This living procession through time in a place is the record by which such knowledge survives and is conveyed. When the procession ends, so does the knowledge"

Or as Wang Lung says, "It is the end of a family - when they begin to sell the land."

Both of these books made me think about a lot, but particularly Place. How a place can shape us as much as we can shape it. How the sense of Place is lost in modern life with fabricated neighborhood and street names.

My family lives in such a fabricated neighborhood. We often go on the search for a home with a sense of Place. But, do we choose a worthy Place to live or can we make the place we live worthy? Can we overcome this cleaned up modern version? Can we find Place in suburbia and nurture it? And if we can, how do we do that?


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Peter Piper's Picks: Aug 15th

St. Mary the Virgin
Dormition of the Theotokos
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary


So, did you hear that John Hughes died this week? Well, of course, you did. It is old news by now. Which of his movies was your favorite? Ferris Bueller? Pretty in Pink? Sixteen Candles? I enjoyed this article from Christianity Today looking at his movies and their meaning and effect on those of us who found his movies to be almost a rite of passage.


My friend, Cindy of Dominion Family has been at a CiRCE Institute Teacher Apprenticeship Retreat all week. She's had some tantalizing posts at her blog and on Twitter. I can't wait to read more about her week as she has time to blog about it in the coming weeks. If you are interested in True Education (she has thrown out the term classical) don't miss her thoughts!


The Internet Monk has just started an interesting series (he says "brief", but has over 20 post topics planned!) on Evangelical Liturgy. As an Anglican, and a lover of high church liturgy, but appreciative of low church mentality, this should be an interesting series to me! iMonk is Quite Protestant and I don't agree with all of his thoughts (to start with he objects to calling the table the Altar and instead suggests the Table for the Lord's Supper), but his purpose is to get Evangelicals thinking about what parts of the ancient church tradition they might return to their worship. If you've got time, I highly recommend his podcasts - always thoughtful and amusing!


My "back to school" memories are probably a bit different than most. They consist of helping my mom, a 4th grade teacher, get her room all ready for her new class. (Hi, Mom - she reads my blog sometimes.) I loved going to help Mom hang bulletin boards and arrange chairs. One thing I miss in homeschooling is getting to make bulletin boards! But, besides these being fun, they can also be a great way to get kids familiar with bits of information. The Heart of the Matter has a suggestion that might be a nice compromise for homeschoolers: mini-offices made with manilla file folders. The mini-folders can be like "bulletin boards" for your kids with all sorts of tidbits: math facts, state capitals, vocabulary or spelling, etc. They'd be great for all sorts of memory work! These look like so much fun, I really think I'm going to give them a go.



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Weekly Wrap-Up: Aug 14

Highlights from the school week:

Right now Mathematics for my elder daughter (7) consists of playing the game "Countdown" and practicing telling time. We'll get back to the textbook when she gets her addition and subtraction facts a bit more cemented. (Countdown is helping her with that.)

Our verse for the week: Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

Trying to muddle out iambic meters with eldest son and having the discussion, "Why do we need to know about poetry anyway?" "Because it is beautiful and expresses in language what prose cannot. And, if you can't appreciate it on a basic level, at least, you aren't quite a truly educated person!"

"In the embracing light and warmth, warm and dry at last, with weary legs propped up in front of them, and a suggestive clink of plates being arranged on the table behind, it seemed to the storm-driven animals, now in safe anchorage, that the cold and trackless Wild Wood just left outside was miles and miles away, and all that they had suffered in it a half-forgotten dream." p. 57, Chapter 4, The Wind in the Willows


About my post-it note schedule: it has worked so well for us, that I've made it a bit more permanent. I cut 3x5 index cards in half and use each one for a half-hour slot. On these I've written a basic activity (Meet with S, Read with H&E, Morning Time, Break, etc) and have them in a display that I purchased last year from a teacher supply store. It has transparent plastic slots in which I place the cards in whatever order I need them for that day. When needed I can even re-arrange the schedule in a jiffy without missing something important. It works beautifully for us! Sometimes we do Morning Time first. Other days I meet with my eldest son while the three younger kids play together.


Check out more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!


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