Chores, Chores and More Chores

My children have been doing chores for several years now (well at least the 8 and 6 year old). I am trying to gradually add in things for my 4 year old, but she is still in need of a lot of assistance. Despite the regular assignments of kitchen duty, putting up laundry, etc. their rooms seemed to always be a mess. This brings a lot of nagging and fussing in our home so I came up with a plan. I read a lot of organizing books and articles and they all (or most anyway) say to do a particular chore each day. A light bulb went off in my head one day during one of those nagging, frustrating "your room is a mess" moments. I took an index card for each of them and put this on it: Monday- Desk Tuesday- Bathroom Wednesday- Dresser Thursday- Closet Friday- Nightstand and shelf I explained to them that on each of the days that this is the area you are to work on each day. We put it up in their room where they are able to see it often. It has taken a few weeks to get into the habit, but it seems to work well so far. Yes, they still forget or have to be nicely reminded. I figure if it keeps me from nagging them, and I just simply remind them to check their card it's a good thing for us all.

Garden update

We've finally gotten a pretty good harvest from our garden. It seems to be drying out now though. My mom likes to plant sunflowers around the edge of the garden each year. They have all bloomed beautifully. Don't you think? We've enjoyed cutting them and enjoying them in our kitchen, also, but they make a lot of mess. Despite that we still enjoy their beauty made by our heavenly Father. I need to can some tomatoes since we still have a good amount on my kitchen counter and probably won't be able to eat them all before they go bad. My mom has put up 24 cans of them so far. Even though the garden looks extremely dry, there are many blooms on the string beans, butter beans and peas. The squash did not produce well this year. Not sure why. All in all it was a decent garden. We'll see if anything else grows. Have a wonderful weekend!

Yikes!!!

I'm not sure what has happened to my background. I've tried to change it and I think it worked, but the colors are all messed up. Maybe I'll get it back or this will have to work :)

Using a clothesline

Well, don't ever say "never again". After living in North Africa for a few years I promised I'd never use a clothesline again. We hung our clothes out every day on the rooftop of the apartment building. They'd be dry in no time, but still I missed my dryer. Well, here I am 8 years later and I asked my husband to make me a clothesline. I'm trying to cut down the electric bill since times are tough and I thought this might help. He is all about saving money, too. Plus, he's very handy and he had it up very soon. This is my third week using my clothesline (although I still use my dryer occasionally). I hope to see a drop in that next electric bill. What about you? Do any of you use a clothesline? And does it save money? Side note- I'm actually enjoying hanging out the clothes, but don't tell anyone :) shhhhh

Update on our Summer

We've been fairly busy all summer here. We have enjoyed some veggies from our garden. I pulled a muscle in my back so I didn't get to do much of the picking, but was able to help out shelling, putting up, etc. We took a two month break from school work and started back two weeks ago. We like to start early so that we can take breaks when necessary. I'm thinking of doing year-round schooling so that we could take off a few weeks here and there. Not sure yet- just in my mind. Our Home School Curriculum: We are doing My Father's World Creation to the Greeks. This is our 3rd year with MFW. We really enjoy it. We're using Singapore math for the 2nd year. For reading, I'm using living books that we already have, some from the library and ordered a few more. It's going well so far. It's been challenging to keep my 2 1/2 and 4 year old occupied while I'm trying to work with the other 2, but I've tried to make a "schedule" of activities, reading, lessons for them. That's just so that I can be ready with things and not have to come up with something at the last minute. What's interesting is that for the past two days they've just played and didn't even ask to "do" anything. I try to read to them early in the day so that doesn't get put off. I feel that is very important for their development. Plus, my older children like to read to the younger ones, also. I've tried so hard to be extra organized this year. It requires a little more planning for me, but it's well worth the extra time. Each day I make a list of all the assignments they are required to complete and then after they complete them they check it off. They seem to like to know what they're expected to do each day. It works for me!

How does your garden grow?

Well, our garden is planted for the year. Since we've moved next door to my parents we are having a big combined garden. It's gonna be a lot of work, but the end results will be yummy- I hope! Things we've planted: red potatoes, broccoli, onions, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, zucchini, peas, green beans, and butter beans. I think that's it. The potatoes, corn and broccoli are looking good. Now we just need some rain! I hope to share some pictures of these wonderful growing plants soon! Stay tuned!

My Favorite Time of the Year!!!

Don't you just love Springtime? I so enjoy the warmer weather and longer days. This week I began spring cleaning. I got off to a good start and am excited to see what the rest of the week holds. I'm trying to clean one room at a time so hopefully I'll have lots completed by Friday. My children even got in on the "fun" this morning. After playing for a while, they helped by cleaning window sills, light switches, doorknobs and windows. This afternoon I got outside with the kids and we moved some sticks to a burn pile. I'm so thankful for a wagon or we'd probably still be out there. It won't be too long before we'll plant our garden. I'm looking forward to that. Actually, I'm really looking forward to the harvest. The other stuff is just in anticipation of the harvest. :) How are you spending your days lately?