Finding My Family's Weekly Rhythm

I have found that for my family, sticking to a tight schedule does not go well and neither is it healthy for us.  It took me a while to come up with a rhythm that works well for us.  For the most part we are able to stick with it. The most amazing thing about this is that if our day does not completely follow this I am fine.  Why?  Because I have found comfort with letting our days flow. 

 Yesterday, I knew that I wanted to share some of what I had been learning about Mary Seacole for our kidschool.  Let me just start off by saying that if you have never heard of her, you should learn about her!  We talked about both Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale which then led to talking about the environment that Florence stepped into when she came to help regarding rats and lice.  I talked about why she moved things higher up and focused on keeping medical tools sanitized which my son wanted to learn more about lice and how others get it.  After this, we talked a little bit about the Crimean War.  I am going to further research more information from books on this matter and guess what!?  That's right!  Another kidschool will focus on the Crimean War.  It was so much fun and our kidschool went over, but I was not stressed out about it.  I was enjoying how things were flowing.  

Our rhythm consists of different block times.  This is one thing that has really helped me out.  I am not focused on a specific time that is right down to the minute, but rather a time frame.  My mind does well with this.  I feel that I have always been a person that has needed to have such structure that if anything had changed I would be lost.  I am so happy that this has put my mind to ease which has also helped my children not feel stressed out.  No running around our house trying to make something work or fit that only would cause us to get less done in a day.  That's right.  As a family my kids and I are able to focus on what's important during the day and we get even more accomplished.  This helps a great deal as my husband has a work schedule that leaves me alone with our kids way before the sun comes up.  We are able to enjoy our time when he is home because our days are smoother.  

One thing that never changes within our routine is that at the beginning of our kidschool we read scriptures, I read a children's scripture story, we sing a children's song or hymn and we say a morning prayer together.  This makes all of the difference in the world for our days.  I know that my kids and I need this to help jump start our day.  I also need my own personal time before my kids wake up.  I know that not everyone is a morning person, but for me this is also essential.  Some days I may have more time than others, but I need it.  I use it for personal study.  It is time well spent.

If you have a schedule our routine that is not working for your family and only causing stress, find out if little changes will help things to be better.  We should enjoy our time spent together.    

 I encourage you to find your family's rhythm!

You can find the amazingly free printable pack over at the Proverbial Homemaker blog!  Tauna has many wonderful resources!

Here is the link!

http://www.proverbialhomemaker.com/a-weekly-rhythm-planning-without-strict-schedules-printables.html


Head on over there and enjoy her freebies.

Bringing Fancy Nancy To Life

A few months ago my children stumbled upon the Fancy Nancy Books at our library from author and illustrator duo Jane O'Connor and Robin Glasser.  It was no surprise to me that my daughter Kylie absolutely loves the character of Nancy.  She is quite the fancy girl herself.  But, my other daughter has a love for the character's go make it happen attitude which was not surprising either.  What had caught the attention of my son Caleb was the inserts of French words and meanings throughout each book.

A few days ago we read Fancy Nancy Ooh La La!  It's BEAUTY DAY and it was very fun.  It was all about Nancy wanting to make her mom look fabulous for her birthday and turns their backyard into a spa.  Very fun!

Well, we just had to bring the book to life.

After we read this book, I wanted my girls to have their first SPA pedicure experience and it was at home, of course.  Must stay FRUGAL!

 My husband had gotten me a spa foot bath for Christmas and it has been something that I have wanted for a while.  I love the idea of pedicures and having them done often, but am not willing to pay a lot of money for one.  I know, my mind stays on frugal at all times.  It was a lot of fun to be able to have my girls test the spa foot bath out and they enjoyed every minute of it.

We also made up fun names for the nail polish colors that they had chosen.  Kylie's was Rose and Caylee's was Apricots and Peaches.

Making Audio Books Accessible For All With LibriVox

My children and I have found that we really enjoy listening to audio books.  We go to our local library weekly and have found a great selection.  The only issue is that we eventually have to return them and I have found that I want to have them on hand at all times.  Starting my own audio book collection is very important and doing so with the least amount of money is a must.  I know that Audible is a way to get amazing audio books, but at this point in time I will not be a member any time soon.  I am very frugal and find many resources to make things possible with spending the least amount of money.  It helps my family to save for things that we need or would like to do later.

LibriVox has been my frugal answer!

I am so thankful for the many volunteers that have taken their time to make this work.  I have also done some research and this seems like the best site to actually get free audio books to download onto your computer, flash drive or even burn onto a disc.  The other wonderful thing is that it is ad free.

Once you are at the website, click on CATALOG and it will take you to the next screen where you can search by author, title or reader.  There are many readers and everyone will have their own preference when it comes to style of reading, along with voice.  For those of us who belong to the TJED Discussion Group on Facebook, we are lucky to have links saved for certain past discussions and there is one regarding LibriVox readers that others have preferred to listen to.

Thank you, Heidi! This gal has kept up with connecting past discussions according to topics making them accessible for us at all times.

Once you find a book that you would like to download, click on it and then you will see a screen like this.  This is The Adventures of Pinocchio (version 2) by Carlo Collodi.  Now, look at the picture on the right of the screen.  This is where you can download the CD case insert.  I would definitely recommend doing this if you are making CDs.

   
 Happy Listening!

Yes! I shop at Kohl's and Save!

This morning my son and I stopped by my Grandma's house to spend some time with her.  It's her birthday and we wanted to surprise her with a warm drink on this rainy day!  Before we left she gave me two of those $10 Kohl's promotional gift cards.  She was not going to use them and knew that I would put them to work.  My Grandma knows me so well, right!?!

So many people tell me that Kohl's is very expensive and that they do not like to shop there because of that.  Well, I am here to share with you a little secret.  Are you ready?  I am Frugal and I shop at Kohl's.  Actually, I find it quite opposite from being expensive.  At least, with the way that I shop.

This morning after leaving my Grandma's house I decided to make a stop at Kohl's.  I was on a mission.  My twins needed new underwear badly.  They both needed new sizes and different ones at that.  They are growing like weeds.  How lucky was I that they had a package of 9 pairs of underwear on sale.  Thank goodness.  I always want to get the best bargain with or without a coupon.  so glad I waited on their underwear.

Here is the break down of my savings today.

1)  I did two separate transactions. This is a must as you want to maximize your savings.  I always tell people that they should always shoot for spending around the amount of the promotional gift card.

2)  At Kohl's and many other stores you can save in more than one way.  Today I also used a 15% off coupon on top of the promotional gift cards for both transactions.

3)  You will want to sign up for a free Kohl's Rewards card.  No matter how you pay for your purchases, you can earn $5 rewards for every 500 points.  It is fantastic!


The packages of underwear are normally $18.00.  With the sale going on they were $13.50.  I then had my 15% off coupon which brought the total down to $11.47.  After that the cashier scanned the $10.00 promotional gift card with the total now down to $1.59.  Since I had two separate transactions completed my total out of pocket was  $3.18!

I scored 18 pairs of underwear for my girls for $3.18!  I sure did my happy dance!

Hope these tips help.  Let's stay FRUGAL!

Early Mornings Are For Me

I enjoy my early mornings very much.  It was not something that I felt was for me before (after my kids that is), but they truly are.  As a mother who stays home with her children, I am always surrounded by my little joys and would not have it any other way.  This does not mean that I do not enjoy or deserve a little me time that involves my own personal development and growth.  It's true.  I have found that during this time when my children are still asleep, it has been the perfect time for me to have prayer, scripture study, read, study and this morning blog.

Since I have started this routine for myself, it has opened new doors and insights for my children.  I have set an example.  A great one indeed, where my children get up and grab books or do other activities that I feel work for our family unit.  of course, there are mornings where I have started a few chores and then my children will grab their clothes to start sorting out their laundry, ask to start dusting or to do something else to help me before I get breakfast ready.  For me, these are a part of academics.  I want my children to know and see how important family is and know that for us it is valued with such importance.

My son is reading more now and likes to bring a book he is reading to the kitchen table and sit beside me.  Immediately, I will stop what it is I am reading or doing to give him full attention and to help him sound out words that he might need help with.  This is important to me, as I want my children to know that I value the great choices they make.  It is that same as if they were making a not so good choice and I stop to explain why we do not make those kinds of choices.  Besides, I am working on a better groove for our afternoons, that will allow myself thirty minutes of personal time.  My twin girls are very high energy and we have been working on the importance of quiet time.  Everyone, no matter our age, not could use, but need some form of quiet time.  I am a believer.

Mornings help me to have a better day all around and in return help my children to have a better day too.

In Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, you will learn about the ingredients.  Ingredient #3: Mornings is what I reread this morning.  The book is a classic and I find myself coming back to the TJED books often.  This ingredient can be found on page 67 and I wanted to share a few quotes that stood out to me this morning.

"The persistent lessons of morning time are the foundation our children learn."

"Mornings are the daily default, and if you set and manage the default schedule well, the family will naturally get up and get into the regular routine."

"It takes discipline at first to get the routine established, and again modifications may be necessary as children move through phases and seasons change."

"Morning is, for most families, the best time or Kidschool."

There is so much more valuable information regarding this ingredient and if you have not read it, please do!  I only gave you a taste!

Farm Day

Caleb was dipping crackers into the fresh butter he just made for a snack

On October 3rd, I was very lucky to be able to go on a field trip with just my son.  The two of us left early that morning to head to Yuba City.  Our homeschooling charter school was able to have students who signed up go for free.  As soon as we got there we were greeted by others from the school and Caleb was handed a Farm Day t-shirt which  he immediately put on, along with the other students.

All of the kids could not wait to go inside.  The ES in charge of helping with the field trip was given a list of the 35 stations that each school was able to choose from.  There was no way that any school could get to all of the 35 stations in a two hour window, so it was nice to see what was offered ahead of time.  We were able to complete 13 stations, which was more than we thought we could have completed.  Each station that we went to, all of our children were actively engaged and asking many questions.  I thought it was fantastic and the speakers were very knowledgeable regarding their topics.

Our children were able to make a little container of butter, feel wool, touch animals, learn about different types of soil, dairy goats, walnuts, and so much more.  I know that my son really enjoyed this field trip and I did as well.

Wool

Petting a dairy goat

Ropes!

It was a happy day on the Farm!

What A Blessing To Have This Special Lady As Our ES (Educational Specialist)

It is October 2nd and I wanted to make sure that I finished this post tonight!

Well, where do I begin?  I made a decision that I was going to homeschool my children in October of 2012.  My son had just started Kindergarten over a month before.  It was not something that I had decided before I had children or anything like that, but something that had just fell into place.  I had prayed about it and much consideration had taken place to get to this point.  After having multiple conversations with a few of my friends, I decided that I was going to not only enroll my son with South Sutter Charter School, but I wanted to use the TJED philosophy.  Was I crazy?  Not at all!

Honestly, I was very excited for my family's new journey.  But, at the same time, I was nervous knowing that I would be working with an ES who would be assigned to my family through the school with not ever meeting them beforehand.  Seems so silly, right?  At first, that is how it seemed to me.  I actually had signed my son up for the school year that summer and had left after just talking to our previous assigned ES a couple of times.  Something was just not right and the spirit was telling me that it was not my time.  It was disappointing, but something greater was in store.  Every ES is different and it is not to say that they are not a great fit for other families, but it was just not going to work for my family.  I guess you can say that was the very beginning before I gave it one more shot!  This next shot was the real deal, so to speak.

Anyhow, I was guided to try again and everything felt so right!  From day one Barbara had shown a light that has only shined brighter and brighter with the time she has spent with my family.  She has an essence about her that is absolutely wonderful.  Truly.

My son gets excited to see his Mrs, Barbara every month.  He talks to her about many things and she listens.  Children really enjoy having conversations with adults and knowing that we are truly listening and are being engaged.  She knows his strengths and what interests him and even made a work folder for my son.  He has enjoyed Mrs. Barbara bringing lots of stuff  that our family can use for our learning every month and wanted to have other options of things he could do during certain times of the day.  Last month she had put in some fun worksheets on trucks, art, math, French, practicing writing, and sheets that go with the DRAW WRITE NOW books.  No, these things are not required for my son to do.  But, he likes to do these because they always pertain to what he is excited about.  This has been a great addition that she puts together herself.

It is great to have Barbara in my life.  She is more than an ES for my family.  It is nice to have meetings at my house where we even have a chance to eat lunch together sometimes and have meaningful conversations that even leave me more inspired after she has left.  I am very grateful and thankful for her making this an amazing experience for me and my son.  My twins love her as well and next year they will have her as an ES too!

Before she left my house yesterday, my son was talking to her about a few things and he had mentioned to her that he was going to practice skating outside for the first time.  Immediately she had told him that he was learning by practicing his skating.  That it could count for physical education too.  But, not only that, he was learning a new skill.  Of course, Caleb smiled.

The more I have implemented and created a Leadership Education (TJED) within my home, I am happy to say that this lady only adds to it!  It is great to talk about classics with her too!

Thank you for all that you do seen and unseen!  We truly appreciate it!