Here we are once again. This past week I was up at the hospital for part of the time but I still managed to work on a few things.
I am working on parring down our stuff. I know I have barely scratched the surface but I have 3 large garbage bags full of things to give away. Hopefully by next week I’ll have doubled that number.
Each of us have areas that need some taming. For me I have been struggling with keeping us organized in the homeschooling realm. I have been impressed with the concept of workboxes, I’d love to do that with my kids. However, I would need to overhaul our homeschool space not to mention the cost of coming up with a system that would accommodate 5 of my 6 kids. So I got creative and came up with a system that encompasses some of the ideas of the workboxes. I started off by making these little cards for each of the kids. Yes, there are 6 days because we school lightly on Saturdays too. I printed these out on card stock and laminated them for durability.
I decided to do some for Samuel too as around here time flies and before I know it he’ll be joining in. The kids have stickers with their names on them each one has a different symbol so we stuck with those symbols. Hannah knows that the tent is Elijah etc. so if she was going to grab something for someone she would look for their symbol, and it makes them fun.
I found these accordion files at the dollar store, I had to go back and look for some more because the boys pointed out that they have pink on them. I found some black ones at the dollar store for the guys.
The small pocket file is where I store the cards and paper clips.
In each pocket I can put the pages or instructions for each day of the week. There is a section for the different subjects. This helps me organize the week and it helps my substitute teachers out. (If I am taking Joel to an appointment or a hospital stay, Dave or my Mom know what each of the kids needs to be working on.) If the kids are working on something that doesn’t fit in the file than I just put instructions in the file.
Just a peek at the card file.
Here is one of Hannah’s book with her little label card on it.
This system helps to keep everyone on task. The kids can work ahead if they want, and if they need help with something and I am busy with someone else then they can move on to the next task, cutting down on wasted time.
On a different note, I was reading someone else’s blog and for the life of me I could not find my way back to give her proper credit, but she had a great idea for dealing with the items your family leaves lying around. She has a nice basket that family members dump items that have been left lying around. The rules are to get something back out of the basket you have to pick out a chore from the chore jar. Mom and Dad are not exempt if they leave their shoes by the front door the kids can take them and drop them in the basket. I think this is a great idea it shows the kids we aren’t perfect either but we want to work on keeping things orderly too. The chores in the jar are not jobs that need to be done daily, for example, wipe down the baseboards.
This week pick something that has you stumped and brainstorm ideas of how to make it work for you. Also try and downsize by one garbage bag this week. (Not your regular garbage but a give away bag.)
As far as our hearts this week we need to look for the things that bog us down. Do we have unrealistic expectations, do we spread ourselves too thin.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”- Matthew 11: 28-30
When we surrender our burdens, and our control we will find rest for our souls. More than anything I desire my home to exude rest for our souls as we yoke ourselves to our Lord Jesus.
UPDATE!!
I just found her blog follow this link and you can read about the, ‘The Confiscation Bin.’ at Walnut Acres written by Rose!!!
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