I think I am going to incorporate a new system. We haven't been too consistent with paying our kids an allowance. As in, we just pretty much expect them to do the chores and sometimes, when they really want something, we pay them if they go above and beyond the norm. They have to show initiative if they want money. :)
My children's lack of funds does not bother me because they are not in need of anything. But I do have ONE BIG PROBLEM!!!!
My children, Hansel and Gretel, are leaving bread crumb trails throughout the house. It's driving me crazy. I've called them snail trails before and it's gotten bad. Last night there was a certain object lying in the bathroom floor. We don't need to discuss what item of clothing it was, do we? Someone was told to pick it up. This morning....there was the item of clothing in the hall floor outside the bathroom. It was pointed out. THEN, it was found on the bathroom cabinet, where the owner laid it and forgot AGAIN to put it up.
So, in my new plan, I would now be 30 cents richer. Want to know how?
I got this idea from a friend but I'm tweaking it a bit. Each week the girls will get a jar of dimes. How much I'm not sure.....probably just $2-3 at first. Each time a chore goes undone, or an object is left out....they lose a dime. Dad and I get paid. Whatever is left over at the end of the week in their jar...they keep.
I'm thinking they won't lose all that many dimes once we start this. Especially when mom yells "CHA-CHING!" every time I see something laying around.
By the way, I'm reminded of the time my dad instituted the "anyone who leaves dishes in the living room owes me a quarter" until I told him he owed me a quarter for leaving his coffee cup by his chair. So....this plan would mean that S and I need to be good examples. Although, we are the parents and it's our house and I won't have sassy girls pointing out each little thing to us because...no.
I'll let you know how it works out!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Casually Feminine Assignment Week 3
This week our Casually Feminine feature will be appearing on Thursday. I sure hope some of you will consider joining in on your blog or in the comments section. We've been having some good discussion.
The topic this week is our MOUTH. You can take that however you want, but we were sort of thinking that what comes out of your mouth can make you look feminine or not. Then there's make-up options for your lips, gum chewing, manners while eating....etc.
The mouth is a big topic is what I'm saying.
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
See you Thursday!
The topic this week is our MOUTH. You can take that however you want, but we were sort of thinking that what comes out of your mouth can make you look feminine or not. Then there's make-up options for your lips, gum chewing, manners while eating....etc.
The mouth is a big topic is what I'm saying.
Thank you, I'll be here all week.
See you Thursday!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Have to Dos
A friend had this as their status line on Facebook yesterday:
When most of what you do is because of what you think you're supposed to do you begin to resent. Happy is the person whose "wants" and "shoulds" coincide.
It made me think of one year in first grade. That particular year we had a heck of a class. The previous year teacher filled out a card on each child to be passed on to the new teacher. These were laid out on the table to form classes. Even number of boys/girls, even race distribution, siblings not together, special needs given to the right personality of teacher, etc. This particular year over half the cards we got looked like this:
Shelby's card: Do not seat next to Evan.
Evan's card: Do not seat next to Terrence.
Terrence's card: Do not seat next to Angel.
On and on it went. Figuring out a seating chart that year was like doing one of those slider puzzles you get as carnival prizes. There are only four corners in a room people.
All I'm saying is it was a difficult year. And so "literacy centers", as we had been trained to use them....weren't happening. They broke, tore, or destroyed every single thing we made to be used in center time. Laminating didn't help. Steel bars might have.
And so the Have To Do and Want To Do system was born. When your regular work was complete, you had to do a certain number of Have To Do tasks before you could choose from the Want To Do tasks. They were kind of literacy center type tasks, but they had to be completed at their desk. One at a time. There were very few privileges given to that class. By the way, some classes are just like that. Our school shuddered all the way to 5th grade with that group. I think we heard the middle school teachers scream the next year, but none of us were willing to go investigate.
Anyway, it drives me crazy when I hear Sweetheart talk about not liking school. What? You have it so good kid! One day she told me, "All us kids in my Bible class are sad that spring break is over. We don't want to go back to school!" I know she's picking up the "school sucks" attitude from friends who go to school but I'm not sure how it applies to her.
I promise all this is going to come together in a minute.
In the morning I am facing down a house that has fallen apart a bit over the weekend. I have to find the homeschool table again. There is laundry. Grocery shopping needs to be done. I am not looking forward to it. Where did I pick up this "housework sucks" attitude?
I realized today that my have to do's better become my want to do's or I am going to be pretty miserable in life. Sweetheart too. We talked about how you don't have to like school work, but you can still like learning. I think a lot of it is just that when you wake up, the day is not yours. I have housework. She has school. Neither is what we WANT to be doing.
I think this is where having a grateful attitude comes in. Counting your blessings is truly a great way to start the day.
I am blessed with a working washer and dryer.
I am blessed with the money and car to go grocery shopping.
I am blessed to be home to clean the house.
She is blessed to have a say in what she does in school. And in what order.
She is blessed to get to learn God's word in school.
She is blessed to get lots of play breaks and be done really early in the day.
Can counting your blessings turn "have to do's" into "get to do's"? What do you think?
When most of what you do is because of what you think you're supposed to do you begin to resent. Happy is the person whose "wants" and "shoulds" coincide.
It made me think of one year in first grade. That particular year we had a heck of a class. The previous year teacher filled out a card on each child to be passed on to the new teacher. These were laid out on the table to form classes. Even number of boys/girls, even race distribution, siblings not together, special needs given to the right personality of teacher, etc. This particular year over half the cards we got looked like this:
Shelby's card: Do not seat next to Evan.
Evan's card: Do not seat next to Terrence.
Terrence's card: Do not seat next to Angel.
On and on it went. Figuring out a seating chart that year was like doing one of those slider puzzles you get as carnival prizes. There are only four corners in a room people.
All I'm saying is it was a difficult year. And so "literacy centers", as we had been trained to use them....weren't happening. They broke, tore, or destroyed every single thing we made to be used in center time. Laminating didn't help. Steel bars might have.
And so the Have To Do and Want To Do system was born. When your regular work was complete, you had to do a certain number of Have To Do tasks before you could choose from the Want To Do tasks. They were kind of literacy center type tasks, but they had to be completed at their desk. One at a time. There were very few privileges given to that class. By the way, some classes are just like that. Our school shuddered all the way to 5th grade with that group. I think we heard the middle school teachers scream the next year, but none of us were willing to go investigate.
Anyway, it drives me crazy when I hear Sweetheart talk about not liking school. What? You have it so good kid! One day she told me, "All us kids in my Bible class are sad that spring break is over. We don't want to go back to school!" I know she's picking up the "school sucks" attitude from friends who go to school but I'm not sure how it applies to her.
I promise all this is going to come together in a minute.
In the morning I am facing down a house that has fallen apart a bit over the weekend. I have to find the homeschool table again. There is laundry. Grocery shopping needs to be done. I am not looking forward to it. Where did I pick up this "housework sucks" attitude?
I realized today that my have to do's better become my want to do's or I am going to be pretty miserable in life. Sweetheart too. We talked about how you don't have to like school work, but you can still like learning. I think a lot of it is just that when you wake up, the day is not yours. I have housework. She has school. Neither is what we WANT to be doing.
I think this is where having a grateful attitude comes in. Counting your blessings is truly a great way to start the day.
I am blessed with a working washer and dryer.
I am blessed with the money and car to go grocery shopping.
I am blessed to be home to clean the house.
She is blessed to have a say in what she does in school. And in what order.
She is blessed to get to learn God's word in school.
She is blessed to get lots of play breaks and be done really early in the day.
Can counting your blessings turn "have to do's" into "get to do's"? What do you think?
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Week Before Easter
We've spent this week in Bible time at school learning about the wonderful story of our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. We kicked it off on Saturday learning about Palm Sunday. I just read it straight out of the Bible and then we did some crafts. Little Bit's Bible class also did some things in church so we hung those up too. The donkey papers have Zechariah 9:9 written on them.
Monday we learned about Passover and read the instructions the Lord gave Moses and Aaron to give to the people. We baked bread without yeast and ate it standing up, with our shoes, belts, and walking sticks. We talked about how we don't celebrate Passover, but how we partake in the Lord's Supper and the significance of it.
We set out some of our bread and some "wine" to remember the lesson. I'm sure these are as hard as brickbats by now.
Tuesday we read the passages about the garden of Gethsemane. Actually, no where could I find the word "garden" when referring to Gethsemane. Maybe some of you know where that is found or where that came from? The Bibles I looked in did talk about it being an olive grove, so that is what we made. Well, kind of.
Then we placed Jesus in the garden to pray.
Wednesday was all about errands but Thursday in school I read the rest of the story out of God's word and showed the kids this movie. It tells the whole story of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection but without scaring the children to death. Honestly, Sweetheart is old enough to see a more realistic movie, but this one is still good for Little Bit. They pointed out a lot of errors though.
We also have our Resurrection Eggs that the kids have played with this year, but we haven't done much else with them. We will do some things with those over the weekend.
Hope you all have a blessed Sunday!
Monday we learned about Passover and read the instructions the Lord gave Moses and Aaron to give to the people. We baked bread without yeast and ate it standing up, with our shoes, belts, and walking sticks. We talked about how we don't celebrate Passover, but how we partake in the Lord's Supper and the significance of it.
We set out some of our bread and some "wine" to remember the lesson. I'm sure these are as hard as brickbats by now.
Tuesday we read the passages about the garden of Gethsemane. Actually, no where could I find the word "garden" when referring to Gethsemane. Maybe some of you know where that is found or where that came from? The Bibles I looked in did talk about it being an olive grove, so that is what we made. Well, kind of.Then we placed Jesus in the garden to pray.
Wednesday was all about errands but Thursday in school I read the rest of the story out of God's word and showed the kids this movie. It tells the whole story of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection but without scaring the children to death. Honestly, Sweetheart is old enough to see a more realistic movie, but this one is still good for Little Bit. They pointed out a lot of errors though.
We also have our Resurrection Eggs that the kids have played with this year, but we haven't done much else with them. We will do some things with those over the weekend.
Hope you all have a blessed Sunday!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
March Wrap Up
When I actually sat down to upload pictures the other day, I realized we'd been pretty busy lately!
(taking questions)
The girls participated in our home school group's science fair again this year.
Little Bit, who has a tendency towards shyness, actually gave a presentation! In her memory, she did it "without any help from Mama." We might differ on the details of that, but she did really well.
(taking questions)Sweetheart got her orange belt in karate! (her 3rd belt)
We went to a free outdoor play and picnic with some friends.
The girls helped daddy (and Grandpa) with the garden.
And we took a miniature (overnight) vacation to a hotel and to see Sam Houston's homes. (Sweetheart was studying Texas history.)
We had a fun month!
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