This week

 Monday-

we figured out our schedule for home school. We are still not sure about what we are doing with my oldest and her schooling, but I have been doing school with the other kids, so when we do bring her home it wont be a big transition. 

Cleaning? My 7 year old and I cleaned the kitchen together. She is a good little helper when it is us together one on one....until my 4 month old catches her attention and she gets all googly over him. It also helps her when she has her stuffed horse in one hand, it apparently encourages her to have fun. :)

Tues- our plan got pushed behind a little, and we actually did Math this day instead of on "Monday Mathday". We bought a cool work book from Walmart with dry erase pages in it, and magnets. It has little problem solver, and learn your numbers activities. We practiced counting to 15, and even my two year old was catching on. We did this kind of stuff until 11am, and then we did reading time. 

I read 20 pages to the girls from the book "Captains Courage". They sat and listened for quite a while and then  when they got restless, I stopped and then encouraged them to pick a book and read it to themselves quietly while I made lunch.

It was pretty cute watching my two year old lay sideways on our rocking chair to "read" herself a book. She loves books, and I am excited to encourage that in her.

For our chore that evening- My 5 year old and I went and folded a giant pile of laundry together. Even though I wish she would have folded them on her own, I still enjoyed my one on one time with her, while she threw articles of clothing at me to fold. :) Then we put it all way.

Wednesday-

We talked about science. 

I asked my 5 year old what she would like to learn about. First it was Squares. 

So we talked about who made squares. Jesus of course!

Then we looked around the room and found all the squares. We concluded that our whole house is made of them, and the biggest one is our ceiling followed by our walls. Kind of creepy actually. Squares can be intimidating when thought about that way. :)

She then wanted to talk about circles, and triangles, but I encouraged her to think about how things are made instead. So she wanted to talk about clouds. 

We talked about who made clouds. How they form, and how rain and snow are formed. They had no idea fog is a cloud just on earth, and can't wait to see fog again.

We didn't quite get our chore done this day, woops!

Thursday- I bought a VReader by Vtech, and they have been spending a lot of time on it, learning to write letters and words and listening to stories, so that has kind of been our learning for the last couple of days. 

For our chore we deep cleaned the girls bedroom. It was bad, and Dad said if they didn't have it all cleaned up, that they would lose all privilages for a week. 

My 7 year old is pretty good at cleaning her room, but needs a little help in the finishing touches, and there was a lot of garbage and clothes due to me not providing organization, so I helped them out. 

I like to make sure they know its their responsibility to clean their room, but I will "help" them if they are overwhelmed. 

I hope someday they can get good at just keeping up on it without me. Is there any hope?

Today, we didn't get much schooling done, but the girls spent some much needed time outside. It has been so cold lately it has not been much fun to be outside, but today the weather was beautiful!

The oldest girls snuck a blanket, and some snacks out to our side walk and had a picnic together. I can't wait for spring!

Well I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Teach by Example

I have recently learned that if I want my kids to do something, I need to do it first. How can they possibly know to do it, if someone hasn't shown them how to first. They are little and they were born with a love for life and learning. It is my job to help develop that love, by nurturing, loving and showing them by example that it is worth it.
So I have decided that my chores should be done with them helping me. Yes it is easier to get them done when I can just do them by myself, but I am responsible for them learning how to do things too, and I do not want them to reach adulthood, move out, and not know how to keep a clean home, or be proactive about responsibilities.
For Home School, I think chores are more important than textbook material. You can't keep a clean home if you only know how to read and write, and you can't feed yourself off of 2x2 on a paper. Actually putting forth the hands on work is where you will get results. Life skills will keep you fed and sheltered.

So in beginning our Official Home School process, and to go a long with the TJED method, my children until they are 8 will be in the first core phase of playing, working, and learning to love to learn and work.

I used to think I could expect them to pick up the habits of chores by telling them what to do, and then expecting them to do it. This rather creates insufficiency.
My 7 and 5 year old beg me to help them with their chores, and I use to think, "you are old enough to do it by yourself!"
Whining would begin, time outs were given, and things did not get done with happy hearts.

When my 2 1/2 year old started to follow me around while doing chores and would say to me "I help you", that is when I realized, until they have been lovingly taught and encouraged to do chores, they will not know the "Joy of work". I love letting my 2 year old help me. I wish I had been more patient when my oldest kids were younger. Its not to late to start now though.

We all sat down and made a schedule for chores. We all have our morning chores to attend to first thing. There are no privilages given until these morning chores are done. Then we have breakfast and then do 2 hours of learning fun things, lunch, downtime, and then a deep cleaning chore for the day.

I will be doing the deep cleaning chore for the day, but one of my children are assigned each day to "help" me. This is my chore, so I make sure I am efficient with it. The child helping me, is an apprentice. They are learning, so efficiency isn't expected yet. Not having this expectation, makes it easier for me to patient and loving with them. Having more patience and loves makes it easier for us to enjoy our time together, and that is where the Joy of work is found. The Joy of work, comes when we do something because we know it is worth it. The end result makes us feel good, and it creates peaceful space for us to dwell in later.

I am excited to keep you updated daily on how our Home Schooling and Joy of work process unfolds.