Homeschooling A Houseful

You have such good kids! Your children are so well behaved! I might be at a family gathering, the grocery store, a home school activity, a field trip..... anywhere really. I hear this often, and it got me pondering about it. I thought I'd throw out my two cents on parenting. First off I MUST say that I do not live in a wonderful, blissful, always happy home. We have our trials, our bad days, and well those days when Mama Bear wants to just slip off to bed, and forget the day ever started. The problem with slipping away, is that you are just running from the problem. It will never get better, if it's never fixed. I can solve all your {and my own} problems in one simple word, CONSISTANCY. I don't care if you are a spanker, a time-out parent, a job or chore for discipline you name it and there's probably a discipline book written all about how to do it! I don't honestly feel it matters how you discipline, just that you do, and that you are consistant. I've read a f...

Photo credit here . I can not believe we've never spoken of dirty laundry, around my blog! At least I didn't find any!! Thank goodness, no one wants to see my dirty laundry, that's for sure. This is probably the second most asked question in my life. Number one?? You probably already guessed it, Are they all yours??? Yeah you guessed right, the next question usually stems from, How do you get "IT" all done? Usually I laugh, and say, somehow "it" all gets done, or at least most of "it". One of the first "IT'S" is usually laundry. So the other day when I was digging our couch out from under Mt. Washmore , I decided something has to change!!!! and change it did.... I decided I can not wash, and sort all these clothes, it just isn't fair! So I dedicated one afternoon, each week for my A's to take care of their own laundry... ah sigh of relief. Mondays= the boys day...Noble, Valiant and Boy do laundry Tuesdays= Mama Bea...

SIMPLIFY!!! I LOVE that word!!! because raising a houseful is chaotic, crazy, noisy, extreme... {I could go on and on} I try to make everything I do, as simple as I possibly can, because quite frankly if it takes too much from Mama Bears time, she's not going to continue it!!! Yeah I'm a simple kind of gal!!! So our Family Store, and Points System.... we love it, but not how it was running!!! The family store, was there to simplify the idea of standing in the checkout line with 4+ children waiting for each of them to pay the cashier!!! Well, remembering or trying to stock our family store... wasn't so simple. I also didn't like the fact that most of their hard earned point money was being spent on candy and junk!!! Junk in junk food, and junk in junk toys!!! Which was another aspect I was trying to avoid. The above picture is how I have simplified our points. With the point system we would cash in our points for family money. Then they could use that family money {pl...

{Photo from Shelf Reliance Website} I would have taken a picture of my own, but it's in our dark and dreary storage room... this picture just looks happier!!!! We love, Love, LOVE this... the Harvest 72" Food Rotation System by Shelf Reliance . So I thought I would post a quick review of it, here. Many homeschoolers.... epecially homeschoolers of a houseful, tend to stock up, by in bulk and well need food-lots and lots of food!!!!! I ran across this at a local store, and fell in love with it! {AWE Love at first site!!} Papa Bear, well he doesn't have that love of all things organized as I do. Not to say he's not organized.... but it's just not in MY way of being organized!!! He actully thinks I'm weird, because everything I do, or say... somehow turns into an organizing project. And yet, I always feel so unorganized, maybe if everyone else would just do it like I wanted it done, that would be taken care of. I actually have warned everyone if they can't do ...

I thought I'd talk again a bit about chores. We are loving the Mommy Store, I think over time the point I am trying to make with it, will come, or not!! I have a few A's who are catching on that even on a REALLY REALLY Good week, they are having a hard time earning more than $3-$4 Mommy Dollars. They are also catching on that Mommies Store is a bit pricey, when you consider the items and the hourly income around here. I think it is becoming a success. A few things that I have changed/added/or in some cases re-evaluated. ~1 we are currently doing our Chore Points, right after breakfast and just before animal duty time. So each morning, just after breakfast and during our tidy up time, I stand next to our white board...usually starting with A1 and working my way down, I ask about chores, and discuss it. We do the points for yesterday, then..along with that day's Morning Chores. I am filling in to days slots, but it seems to work better this way. 2~ the points didn't work ...

Shelly posted a comment , about kids wanting to snack all day and not wanting to eat their meals. Here's her comment... Melinda, I'm curious. How often do your kids eat during the day? Mostly your younger A's, since they seem to line up with my kids. I'm struggling with the kids wanting to graze all day, then they don't eat their meals. Then when they don't eat their meals they get hungry soon and it's created a vicious cycle of my kids snacking, not always on the best foods, and not eating their more nutritious meals. Any suggestions for me? hmm...well one of the biggest problems I have with snacking and grazing all day, is that I, Mama Bear am a grazer!! So yes, naturally my children are too. All the things I will suggest, are not always true, nor do they happen each day. Please, please, PLEASE keep in mind, there are almost no perfect days around here! I guess the first suggestion I would give, and this is something I can honestly say about us, let them s...

Andrea, at Dean's Academy, asked about the types of items I will have in our "Mom Store" Well right now....very little!!! I will be adding to it this weekend. Some items might be ~Craft kits, you can get this all over the place. They come in boy or girl, young or older... and the A's love them!! Things like scratch stickers, paint by number, sand art, make your own rubber balls, jewelry kits, leather working kits, wood or kits for our wood burner, clay or moon sand, stamping..... ~we eat a very strict diet, so treats are a must. We also only buy healthy treats, so treats are not often around here, gum will be a must. A personal bag of their favorite type of chips, nuts, sunflower seeds, beef jerky... ~ Dollar Store finds, some of these are fun craft kits. A4 loves those little plastic army guys. Trinkets for the older girls, hair accessories, craft items. Most stores are also starting to sale fun and cute dollar items, and you can find some gems there. ~There's al...

I would guess that my Part 1 was clear as a bell!!!! Or no one dares to ask me questions about it!! Or maybe no one has actually finished reading that NOVEL of a post!!!! So since I am not, at this time, needed to clarify our system... I'll just start on Part 2~ Rewards or, well might I just say Bribes!!! Yes Papa and Mama Bear have struggled with giving rewards for chores. We are firm believers that things just need to be done, and you just need to help out. However we have a few children who just don't get it, and so I am trying a new rewards system, to hopefully catch their attention! Also this is not a fluffy, laid back kind of plan.... OH NO Mama Bear is strict.... and yes sometimes just like a bear! When I say something needs to be done to my expectations, you are talking perfect! {or as close to perfect as the child can get it} My expectations for A1 are completely different than what I expect from say A4, or even A3. Once the children complete their chores, they come to...

Chores! This is a topic you hear all over the spectrum of Mommies!! Homeschoolers, Public/Private Schoolers, Working Mama's, Stay at home Mama's... all Mama's talk chores!!! I have tried a few different routines/ideas but one thing always stays the same, all the A's work. Okay so A6 and A7 might not help so much, but they are always asked to help! I firmly believe everyone in the house must help out. Yes A6 and A7 are not always much of a help, but it's the principle we are teaching. I want them to understand if you make the mess you help clean it up. Our house only stays together through every ones contribution, and teamwork. Each day A5 and A6 pick a buddy to help. We try to rotate who gets the helper, since it does add to your chore time. We also try to always work around our extra curricular schedule. That way if say A2 has a gymnastics class, she has less chore time than say A3 that day. I also remind them to clean up and tidy toys and messes throughout the day...