All the pretty things put by, Wait upon the children’s eye, Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, In the picture story-books.

We [...]]]> Picture-books in Winter
by Robert Louis Stevenson

I picked this book up for Lily (9) at the library.  She has derived many hours of pleasure from this book and is reluctantly returning it to library after multiple renewals.  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival (via interlibrary loan) of other drawing books in this series.  I highly recommend this book for your budding [...]]]>

I picked this book up for Lily (9) at the library.  She has derived many hours of pleasure from this book and is reluctantly returning it to library after multiple renewals.  We are anxiously awaiting the arrival (via interlibrary loan) of other drawing books in this series.  I highly recommend this book for your budding artist.  Enjoy!!!

Well it has taken us a while to get back into our routine after the holidays.  It’s been a particularly slow go due to illness.  But inspired by Mary Ellen’s posts (here and here) that I had saved in Bloglines, we are back into our “morning basket routine”.  This routine includes reading aloud [...]]]>

Well it has taken us a while to get back into our routine after the holidays.  It’s been a particularly slow go due to illness.  But inspired by Mary Ellen’s posts (here and here) that I had saved in Bloglines, we are back into our “morning basket routine”.  This routine includes reading aloud to the three younger children while they draw, hand sew, etc.  I’ve added a sidebar with our current reading selections which include poetry, religion (basic cathecism), saints, and literature.  It is a great way to start our homeschooling day after breakfast, chores, and daily mass.  If you have any book suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

I saw this over at Ten kids and a dog and thought that it would be great for lifting my spirits during these dark, cold days of winter. Thanks Joann!!!  You can check out more over at Faith & Family Live!

Here’s my list:

1-  Getting back on track with formal school work this week [...]]]>

I saw this over at Ten kids and a dog and thought that it would be great for lifting my spirits during these dark, cold days of winter. Thanks Joann!!!  You can check out more over at Faith & Family Live!

Here’s my list:

1-  Getting back on track with formal school work this week after an extended layoff due to my husband’s being on vacation so much over the last six weeks.

2-  Exercising three out of the last five days even though I have been feeling a bit under the weather.

3-  Meal planning for this week.  When my husband is home, he enjoys doing most of the cooking.  Really, he enjoys it!!! I’m not making it up.   So I was having trouble getting myself back into “Betty Crocker” mode.  But Praise God, I did plan my menus and grocery shop within my budget ($120 per week) this week.

Over the last ten years I have read MANY, MANY books on homeschooling. Most of them have been helpful. Most of them have been inspiring. I usually [...]]]> That’s my new motto: “Perfectionism is the Death of Homeschooling!!!” What was my old motto you ask? I’d have to say it was, “Parenting is a humbling experience!!!” LOL

Over the last ten years I have read MANY, MANY books on homeschooling. Most of them have been helpful. Most of them have been inspiring. I usually finish the book feeling that I have found the “right” way to home-school. But experience has taught me that there is no “right” way to home-school. And what works in my house might not work in yours. And what works in my house this week or this month or this year, may not work in my house next week or next month or next year. And what works with Child A might not work with Child B, C, or D. So what is a homeschooling mother to do?

For me, I have come to realize that my perfectionism was the death of my homeschooling and of me!!! I am a first-born with a Type-A personality. I want all my ducks in a row every minute of the day!!! But you know what, that’s not a healthy way to live as demonstrated by my high blood pressure.

A number of years ago, I read a book called The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. While I’m sure that the author of this book had the best of intentions when she wrote it, I fear that many children have been sent back to school because of the unrealistic expectations set by this book. I love the four year history cycle explained in this book and continue to use it. But I had to learn to set aside its unworkable schedule and ideals.

So now I seek to be more level-headed in my choices for my homeschooling and in my expectations for my children and myself. I now enjoy sites such as Guilt-Free Homeschooling. I am not as quick to purchase every new book or material that I see. I try to think about what I am really trying to accomplish when I make a curriculum choice or an activity choice. These are the kinds of questions I try to ask myself as I make these choices for my children:

Is this (curriculum, activity, etc.) really going to add something wonderful to our lives or is this just something to do?

Does my daughter want to be a professional dancer? No, then why am I carting her to dance 6 days a week?

Does my son want to be a professional basketball player? No, then why am I considering putting him on a second basketball team.

Am I more concerned about the product on a written page than I am about the product which is my child? Because truly, these pages of finished math problems will mean nothing if my child doesn’t know and love the Lord, and doesn’t function well in our family and in society.

So as I look back on the first half of this, my 10th year of homeschooling, I try to remind myself of what is truly important in my life and the lives of my child AND I will continue to chant my new mantra:

PERFECTIONISM IS THE DEATH OF HOMESCHOOLING!!!

And yes, parenting still is a humbling experience…

This afternoon, “the Littles” (Lily and Peter) and I had some fun in the kitchen making Cranberry Apple Muffins.  This is a new recipe for me that I found at allrecipes.com through a google search.  I modified the recipe with Whole wheat flour (hard white wheat) and sucanat (a type of raw [...]]]>

This afternoon, “the Littles” (Lily and Peter) and I had some fun in the kitchen making Cranberry Apple Muffins.  This is a new recipe for me that I found at allrecipes.com through a google search.  I modified the recipe with Whole wheat flour (hard white wheat) and sucanat (a type of raw sugar).  I must admit that sometimes having the children help with my baking, etc. can make the kitchen feel a bit overcrowded.  However, it does give me the chance to work on that rare and wonderful virtue called PATIENCE!!!

Cranberry Apple Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups shredded peeled apples
• 1 1/3 cups sugar (I used sucanat)
• 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour – hard white)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

In a bowl, combine apples and sugar; let stand for 10 minutes. Add cranberries, carrots, nuts, eggs and oil; mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, coriander if desired and salt; stir into apple mixture just until moistened. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

OK, I admit it.  The last couple of months have been a wonderfully crazy blur, full of many blessed events (hence the reason that I have been blogging so infrequently and also the reason that I encouraged you to add me to your Blogreader —Bloglines is my personal favorite).  While wonderful, these last few [...]]]>

OK, I admit it.  The last couple of months have been a wonderfully crazy blur, full of many blessed events (hence the reason that I have been blogging so infrequently and also the reason that I encouraged you to add me to your Blogreader —Bloglines is my personal favorite).  While wonderful, these last few months have left me feeling a bit out of sorts with our lack of a real daily schedule and our overstuffed house, which never seems to stay picked up for more than 5 minutes!!!  In fact I feel as if my head has been spinning and in danger of falling off altogether!!!

Needless to say, I really needed this vacation!!!  Vermont is always a place where I find inspiration and peace.  Being here in God’s beautiful nature show always makes me long for simplicity and order in my life and the life of my family.  Being among the trees and on the lake seem to give me clarity of vision that I can lose at home, if I’m not careful.

Having just recently finished Shopping for Time, I have been enjoying “sitting at Jesus’ feet” these last three or four mornings before my family has arisen from their blessed slumber.  This has meant getting up at 6 a.m. while on vacation (I know, I know, I can hear you groaning!!!).  I consider this preparation for when I get home and push up my wake up time to 5 a.m. (Now I hear you really moaning!!!).  This time away and my early mornings spent at Jesus’ feet have made my path clear to me.

Like it or not, 5 a.m. is a necessary evil.  It is the only way that I can have my quiet time, get my housework back on track, and still find time for exercise which is a must for getting off / reducing my blood pressure medication.  These are all things that I used to do thanks to Flylady but have lost sight of in the recent past.  I am grateful for the Control Journal that I put together a while back which makes it easier to get back on the straight and narrow. 

I have spent a couple of hours over the last few days working on a schedule to fulfill all my goals.  I know it will need some tweaking and I will need some patience as I put the plan into action.  Something that I have been learning over these last several months is that when I stumble, I need to just brush myself off and begin again.  Sometimes this means asking the Lord’s forgiveness and forgiving myself.  But when all is said and done, I need to get up and try again (preferably without beating myself up too severely).  So in this spirit I continue this blessed journey.  Now without further adieu, here it is:

Morning Routine 

5 am     Get up

            Make bed

            Go to bathroom

            Vitamins/Medication

            SITTING AT JESUS’ FEET

5:45     Brush teeth

            Apply moisturizer

            Dress

            Hair

            Make-up

6:00     Empty dishwasher, if necessary

            Breakfast, newspaper

            Diet Center food planning

            Daily planning, check calendar, update “to do” list, plan day/errands/goals

            Menu planning, grocery shopping planning

            Puzzles, clip for later

7:00     Defrost meat for dinner, dinner prep

            Breakfast prep for children (CHILDREN”S BREAKFAST at 7:30)

            Put out hotspots

            Wash breakfast dishes

            Shine sink

            27 Fling Boogie, time permitting

7:30     Walk, while children have Breakfast

8:00     Heather & children: Daily jobs

Monday: Change sheets, vacuum and dust bedrooms

Tuesday:  Dust downstairs, vacuum upstairs hallway, vacuum thoroughly downstairs

Wednesday:  Blue bathroom

Thursday:  Upstairs bathroom

Friday:  Kitchen

Daily: 27 Fling Boogie and Zone work, time permitting

8:30     Children’s Individual Chores while I check email, read, blog, correspondence

9:30     Rosary & Beginner’s Bible

10:00   Basic School plan with children

12 pm  Lunch prep

12:30   Lunch

I ask for your prayers as I put this into action next week. 

HT: Michele at The Family-Centered Life