Habits: Earning Priveleges

We are near the close of our school year, and it is always this time of year that I notice our dc are becoming lax in their chores (usually because I have become lax in checking them).  We don't allow the dc to watch much television, so being able to watch a children's video, or being able to do computer, are things our dc look forward to doing when they can.

So, rather than just allowing the dc to play computer for around 30-45 minutes each day as I had been doing during these long winter months, I decided to have them begin to view computer time and video watching time as a privilege to be earned each day.

I have simple charts the boys are to follow each day.  Each child has a body check, a room check, and a chore chart to work through each day.  I decided to award up to 10 minutes for each of these (which results in a maximum amount of 30 minutes of time), as well as up to 10 minutes for cheerful / excellent / complete work in school, and up to 5 minutes for "extra effort" (which is my way of encouraging our dc to "see work on their own").  On a very good day then, they could earn at most 45 minutes of computer time or video watching time (they can choose which they want to do each day), which is what they were doing anyway before without earning it.

We are only 4 days into this, but I cannot tell you the difference in their attitude and work effort toward these things!  They feel proud of their work and what it is "earning" them, and I am so happy with the change.  It DOES require me to jot down the time they earned, but this is worth it as the results have been amazing!  Here are the little forms I made for each of the dc....

I cut these apart and stapled them together in a packet of 5 for Monday through Friday for each child.  I had to laugh as today is Saturday, and they brought me the little packet and told me they were ready for me to check their charts!  They also informed me they had cleaned the whole playroom and picked up and vacuumed the living room in order to earn their "extra effort" minutes - they also brought me a cup of coffee.  They asked if they could earn extra "extra effort" minutes this way as there would not be "school" minutes awarded since it was Saturday.  I didn't even intend to do this on the weekends, but why not?  As I am sipping my coffee right now sitting in a clean living room with my dc happily earning their computer privileges - I am thinking, why not on the weekends too?

This can work in many ways and can be tailored to fit your needs and goals as a family.  First, just start by figuring out what needs to be done in the home as far as chores/habits.  Then after clearly teaching how to do these chores/habits, "prized privileges" can be identified.  These privileges can then be earned by completing the chores/habits you've taught.  I hope this concept of "earning privileges" can help some other busy moms too!

In Christ,
Julie

Habits: Keeping House with Children's Help

As homeschool moms, we are home with our children more, and this naturally results in more of a mess being created, more often.  Enlisting our children's help with chores is not only necessary, it has the side benefit of teaching them some important life skills too.

One of the very best cleaning tools we've invested in is "The Shark".  It is a lightweight cordless vacuum that works well on hardwood floors and area rugs.  It runs on battery power for 50 minutes, which we've never exceeded.  Because it is lightweight and cordless, the children can safely use it.  We "shark" the kitchen after every meal.  It has made our kitchen floors look so clean!  We also often shark the entry and the bathrooms, as well as the area rugs once a week or so.  I put this chore on my 8 yo's chore chart, and he goes to town with that shark.  Having clean floors with such small effort has lifted a burden off my shoulders!  The only drawback to the Shark is it does not get right up to the edge where the floor meets the wall. For that, we use a dustbuster, or we have one child swiffer the edge and have another child follow with the Shark.  Our Shark is 4 years old, duct-taped in the middle, but still running strong, even after a TON of use.  Here's a link in case this would ease your burden of cleaning floors and area rugs too:

The Shark

In Christ,

Julie

Homeschooling: Sturdy Paper... just the right size!

I used to use copy paper for those wonderful HOD notebooking assignments.  I liked the size more than anything, as copy paper slides nicely into clear page protectors, and that makes for one neat 3 ring binder portfolio at the end of each school year for each child.  Plus, copy paper is inexpensive.  This year, I found something so much better!  It is the same size as copy paper, so it still slides into clear sheet protectors, it still even works in printers, but it is cardstock, so it holds up so much better, and it is still inexpensive.  We are in the last few months of our school year, and for my 3 sons it has lasted all year!

Homeschooling Books: Mobilized and Organized

Books, books everywhere!  Here's an easy way to mobilize and organize all those amazing books!  Have 2 cubes for each child's books.  One cube for only the books being used right now in the day to day, and one cube for the books that will be used later in the year.  As books are finished, trade them out for the new books as needed.  Each day, only one cube is needed for each child this way, and it can easily be moved from cupboard to table and back again.

Emmett's Cube for Now

      

Wyatt's Cube for Now

Riley's Cube for Now

Wyatt and Riley's Books for Later

There's also a picture of us getting ready for our homeschool year with Bigger Hearts at this link:
Organizing Books

Happy organizing!
In Christ,
Julie

Charlotte Mason: Poetry Reading with Some Bling!

Though I enjoyed language arts back when I was in school, poetry was one thing I liked but never really loved.  I guess you could say I had kind of a "take it or leave it" feeling toward poetry.  HOD turned that kind of thinking around!  What began as a fledging kind of feeling of mediocre appreciation for poetry has blossomed into a LOVE of it - and what's better - my dc feel the same way!  In HOD, poetry begins from a young age within Beyond Little Hearts, and it keeps right on marching through time all the way through Resurrection to Reformation (it is planned in the new guide RevtoRev as well).  I think because of the way HOD has written it into the plans (by matching it with the history, by pairing it with short lessons on poetic devices, by sharing intriguing tidbits about a poet's life, by having dc use it for copywork slowly throughout the week, and by just encouraging enjoying reading the poems together in different ways) - because of all this - poetry is an unlikely well-loved subject in our house full of all boys that believe me, are ALL BOY.  Last year I gave the boys a microphone for Christmas, and it has morphed into the most desired way to "deliver" a poem - actually poem after poem, for even though the plans call for sharing ONE of the past poems studied that was a favorite, somehow everyone wants to do TWO... or THREE... or how ever many I'll allow.  I guess it's become our own poetry sharing time - what fun!  So, for those of you with a "take it or leave it" feeling toward poetry - give HOD a whirl - and if you do, why not do it up big by adding a microphone to the mix?  You may just find yourself taking a turn too!

Teaching Tip: Sticky Notes Make Editing Easy

I remember first reading about Charlotte Mason and loving her ideas - but then floundering as to how to really go about using them.  Heart of Dakota (HOD) just took that worry away.  The guidance given in the daily plans is general enough to keep Charlotte Mason's ideals of written narrations intact, but specific enough so I know how to help my dc grow in this skill from year to year.  We've used HOD's editing tips and seen a ton of growth in my ds's writing.  I like having him write his narrations in the history Student Notebooking pages HOD makes.  They are beautiful for one, but they also show his growth over time.  I've found an easy way to help my ds with his final editing of his narrations.  After he has edited his written narration as much as possible, I just take a sticky note and jot down any misspelled words or missing punctuation marks in the order they occur.  He then finds them in his writing, and fixes them.  This has been a quick way to edit that preserves the look of his piece.  He really likes it and is motivated to have as few things as possible to fix.  Here's a picture of this:

All Recipes: Shakin' Up Breakfast

We are trying to eat healthier here these days, and it was easiest to start with breakfast.  Wednesdays are our "Shakin' It Up" days!  We started this a few months ago, and it's really been a hit for all of us.  We've really played with this recipe.  We've tried it with variations of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and bananas.  What fun!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Oatmeal-Breakfast-Smoothie/Detail.aspx

In Christ,
Julie