peacecreekontheprairie.com

31 Thursdays~ Doing It All

Betty — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:51:36 +0000

Over the years, I have had to accept that I can’t do it all every day.

So, I make a list of a few things that MUST get done. I get them done and then move onto the next thing. Sometimes things come up, or God decides that my must get done list is not really important either. So, I must listen to Him.

However, in my list making, check the boxes mind, I can get a little out of sorts if those must get done things don’t happen. I have to accept this with grace and let my pride take a hit.

This is the time of year that I really have to deal with these things. I have to just realize that there are going to be days I can’t do it all.

So, how do you keep up? By doing what you can and taking care of the very basics at home:

Meals
Bathes
Laundry
Dishes
Bathroom

Delegate the other stuff to your children, or just do what you can when you can.

Be sure to leave time for God and Family, before ever worrying to tending to the other things.

Remember God isn’t going to give you more than you can get done, as long as you are doing what He is asking of you, and leaning on Him. He likes to give us challenges in order to build us up.

1 Corinthian 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

So, becoming a Proverbs 31 woman is attainable, as long as we keep Him centered in our lives. Don’t take on a bunch of outside activities that are going to be hard to keep up with. Serving at home needs to be your first priority, especially when you have young children.

Grab the code above and paste into the html editing window, and then link your URL in the linky form below to share your Proverbs 31, Titus 2, Christian woman’s post.

Please check out my current sponsors: Don't forget to sign up for: Free Founders Academy Mini Lessons Baby Slings, Mei Ties, hair bows and bands, dresses, and nursing covers custom made with love for your new little blessing.

31 Thursdays~Proverbs 31 Linky If you have read my blog much at all, you know that I hold the...
Life as a Frazzled Mom~Not Worth It You, Yes, you!! Frazzled? Ready to pull your hair out? Always looking for a way...

Ten Basic Weekly Chores for Easier Home Up Keep.

Betty — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:14:59 +0000

As a mom of six, I have found that if you do a few basic things every day as I discussed a couple weeks ago, and then a few other basics every week, your house will be easier to keep up. It seems when I talk to homeschooling and stay at home moms, that keeping up with the home is the biggest trouble spot for them. Why? Because we forget the basics and get overwhelmed. Or at least this is my problem…

Water Houseplants
Keep up on the Paper things…bills, warranties. Pay them, file them, label and so forth
Make a list of what to get done each week before you begin.
Menu Plan
Keep a running list of grocery items you need, let trips mean more time to take care of other things.
If you homeschool, keep up with grading, recording, and lesson planning.
Pick one closet area, cabinet, or other area to get deep cleaned for the week. (I just did my baker’s rack)
Straighten your office area, and have a bulletin board or other system for notes to keep you on track.
Train each child to do a new chore for you every week or two.
Straighten Porch and Entryways, mop, sweep, dust wipe down.

By doing a few things each day, your home will soon be showing great signs of organization. Keeping the home is a constant job that must have time set aside each day.

Encouraging your Children to Happily Get their Chores Done Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23...
Our Family’s Age Appropriate Chores Ages Six through 11 A little over a week ago, I shared our families age appropriate chores for birth...
Scheduling the Large Home school Family with Many Toddlers…and REALLY Making it Work!!! As we gear up for another school year, I have to contemplate how we will...

Chore Charts and List, They can either make or break the chaos…

Betty — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:15 +0000

I have tried so many different chore ideas, and they all work for a bit and then, whamo, we are right back where we began. It drives me bonkers, it makes me mad, it creates a terrible non peaceful environment that will literally push me so close to the edge of insanity. However, as with much of our life, I have to adapt and change how we do things, and chore lists and charts are not any different.

I have been color coding our children for some time. Well, now I have set out 31 days of color coded charts. This means there are 3 charts with 31 days, and chores listed by color for each day on each chart. Each color represents a different child.

We have a chart for:

Kitchen Work
Around the Home

Animal Care

On each day of the chart I have made a list of the chores that need to be done, each day is just 1-31, so this rotates monthly. After I printed the charts, I then highlighted each chore with and assigned the different colors to different children. The charts are posted on our refrigerator door.

We have been using these charts since the beginning of March. They have worked most of the time, but if a child is out helping dad, the chores tend to become mine, or I reassign them. These charts are laminated, so when a change is needs, I use a wet erase marker to add a star next to the lucky child who gets to help pick up the missing child’s chores, which are split between 3-5 other children and myself.

The benefit of this system, is there is no question whose day it is to do what, at least when it comes to daily chores. Many of the chores listed are done several times a day. At this time, I haven’t been using a check off system other than me going through the house and making sure things are done each day.

As my family has grown, gotten older and our lives have gotten busier with me working a bit, I have had to create something that even my husband can pick up and learn easily, even if I am away from home for a few days. He used this chart while I was at the Teach Them Diligently Convention.

Teach a good work ethic in your children from an early age is going to benefit them for a life time.

Proverbs 10:4 (NASB)

Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich

Our Large Family’s Age Appropriate Chore List for Children Ages Birth to Five When I posted my large Family adaptable chore board, one of my readers asked what...
Adaptable Chore Board—Large Family House Keeping Most every family I know has struggled at some time, trying to keep up with...
Color Coded Magnetic Chore Board I have tried a new chore reminder system every year for many years. The biggest...

Home Ec Days not Homeschool?

Betty — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:22:02 +0000

I read an article the other day that has me a bit disgruntled. Sorry, I didn’t save the link as I just clicked out of it. I am also not going to say that everything in that article was bad, but, it did leave a bad taste in my mouth and several others. It implied that those of us taking days to teach home ec, or to sew or clean and calling it home ec days are being irresponsible. I disagree. I do know, that not everyone who is homeschooling is being responsible, but this article seems to really talk down on those trying to home educate their children through real life experience that even take place at home.

First, if you have girls and their goal is to grow up, get married and have children, Home Ec, is going to be their life. There is much more to home economics then what people even think about. In fact, if I tried I could probably build a complete curriculum, from math, to science to reading and history out of home economic subjects.

When I got married, I knew how to sew, and bake a few things. However, I was greatly lacking. My nine year old daughter can fix a complete meal and make her six year old brother’s birthday cake from scratch this year, by herself with three of her younger siblings, with fresh ground flour!!

Let’s start in the kitchen. You learn about health and nutrition, measuring (math), cleaning (science), chemicals (science), you can further it, by adding in some history. Buying groceries, staying in budget and menu planning all count.

How did they cook or eat on the Mayflower? Pioneers? Civil War? Ancient Times and more. You start reading about these things, so now you have covered history, reading, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and probably spelling.

Now, your children start reenacting these lessons, and you have covered drama. Now, you ask them to write about it and take some pictures, you have covered art and language arts. If you are a cool techy mom, you have them write a blog post and post it on your blog. So, tell me again how having a day in the kitchen can’t be a good education?

Let’s talk about cleaning the house and organizing. Seriously if you have watched Hoarders, I suspect you and I both know that we all need a little education in organization. From your oldest to your youngest, we all need to learn to clean, and organize. The youngest can help pick up and sort, by color, shape and type (math readiness). The olders can measure to find places for things (math), get down on their knees and scrub and so forth. They will learn not to mix cleaning chemicals (science). If you need shelves, they can research a pattern to use (research skills=language arts and reading), buy the supplies (math), read and follow the instructions to build the shelves(reading) and then build them. (physics) They can then research the tools used now and throughout history.

Should I dig deeper? Do get the idea? Wondering if children really will dig deeper and want to know the history of how we got to where we are as far as home ec? Why yes they do.

Education, as in REAL education, the stuff children remember for the rest of their lives doesn’t NORMALLY happen from a textbook. I remember the cover of my 7th grad history book, but…I don’t remember what I learned from it. I remember being frustrated and not liking the teacher. I remember what happened if you got in trouble in class. I remember that if you could do so many push ups of sit ups, you got an A even if you didn’t do any of the work.

Do you want me to break down how taking a couple of days off the books to sew is still educational?

Everyone needs to know a few basics from sewing on a button, to stitching a small tear together. If you learn more, you will learn to read a pattern, about different fabrics, maintenance of the machine, picking out a pattern, following instructions, measuring, counting, adding and more. You can study why sewing was a must have skill over the years, and more.

Now, I think the responsible thing to do as far as recording this time, is to journal it, or list the skills learned or practiced in a special section of your record books called Life Skills. This helps cover the academic area of taking these days. I know some have time to include these projects in their homeschool day and get the bookwork done. It doesn’t work for me, I get in that “zone” and need to stay there, or it won’t get done. So, for our family, we take a couple of days to do these projects. Many times these days are taken during Christmas and Spring breaks.

These hands on projects last so much longer than a workbook, unless it is food. lol But, really, our children hang on to the real life lessons learned and carry them with them for the rest of their lives. Remember many of these Home Ec Skills are treasured virtues in Proverbs 31 and Titus 2, many of which have been lost in today’s society. Why shouldn’t this be part of their home education?

Sick Day?? Not for Stay at Home Moms–How to Get through the Days thriving when you are sick. For the first time this winter, I am sick. Sick enough, that I just want...
Changing Up the Homeschool Home Believe it or not, someone once said I didn’t like change. However, considering that I...
Calgon Days in the Homeschool~Homeschool Snips and Tips September 1 You know, not all days are good when you are homeschooling, however how you handle...

31 Thursdays~Proverbs 31 Linky

Betty — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:23:16 +0000

If you have read my blog much at all, you know that I hold the Virtues and Values of Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 dear to my heart as I try to be the best wife, mother, and Woman for God and my family.

I have thought of hosting a linky for some time. Recently, three women asked me about hosting a linky. Sometimes God speaks and well, you should listen, and I believe this is one of those times.

My goal with this linky is that women will blog about their struggles as a Proverbs 31 Titus 2 woman, their challenges, and their joy. I want us to offer each other encouragement and support. To pray for each other, to cry with each other and to laugh. Because it really is joyous to live these virtues. It blesses our husbands, children and those around us. It Honors God.

Every week, I will blog in some way about these virtues and set up a linky so you can also share how you are living Proverbs 31/Titus 2 Virtues.

I encourage you to either share a post you wrote today, this week or from the past each week. Read through some of the posts that are linked and as women, support, encourage each other, and pray for each other.

Grab the button, and add your link to the linky.

A Journey to Becoming a Proverbs 31 Wife and Link Up. Well, it has been a bit since I blogged something besides a review. That however...
The Learning Parent Giveaway~Uncle Rick Reads the Proverbs Proverbs is one of those books, I wished I had memorized verbatim, however I don’t...
Nature Study Tuesday~August 17~Linky is here. Ok, as some of you may have noticed, I decided for obvious reasons not to...