The Hope of Friday

I just love Fridays. Not because of the old TGIF....or even the hope of the weekend. No, it's more like "school is wrapping up and I can finally get a grip on this house!" Not that it ever really happens the way it plays out in my head on Friday mornings, but I am ever hopeful on Fridays.

This particular Friday calls for a major shopping trip. We are out of everything. Payday finally came and I will be stocking the house up. That feels very good. I love it when we are freshly stocked up.

As for the house, I realized the other day if I could wish for anything (well, anything house related) it would be this:

For all the rooms in my house to be clean at the same time!!!

Some of you organized, non-cluttery types are like, what? Folks, I'm not talking about "oh I haven't dusted that shelf in AGES!" I'm talking about I want to not have to close doors on several rooms of my house when company comes over. Or pray that no one needs to use our second bathroom.

And every Saturday evening we have folks over for Bible study. I also teach sewing classes to a friend's little girl on Saturday afternoons. So the Friday cleaning spree is very necessary. But I never, EVER have all the rooms clean.

It's getting better though. The girls are 500% more helpful than they used to be. I can send them to do whole jobs and they will do them quite well. So perhaps there is hope as they grown into young ladies that we will all be able to tackle the house together? But, to quote Violet Beauregard, "I want it now!"

So even though it's terribly discouraging looking around my house, I can't help but feel optimistic on Friday mornings. Probably foolishly so. I nearly always end up focusing on the "main parts" of the house and never get to those rooms I will end up shutting the door on.

I used to have a clean house. Really, I did. It was back when Sweetheart was 1 or 2 years old. I have pictures to prove it. When little Bit came along, all bets were off and it went downhill rapidly from there. I KNOW! I ONLY have 2 kids!! What is wrong with me? We found the calendars I kept from 2003-2004 (Little Bit's first year) the other day and I was reading them. Sweetheart said, "Man! We were BUSY!" She wasn't kidding. I was tired just reading them. It was ridiculous. I was balancing work, doctor's appointments, a newborn, a preschooler and all the activites that entails, the house, church, etc. It was crazy. No wonder that whole time period is kind of fuzzy.

And I was just sure that when I quit work all would be made right.

So why isn't that working? Huh? I feel very cheated. First I was sold a lie that I could work and raise children and keep the home and then I was sold the lie that if I just stayed home, I would be able to keep up with everything. Neither one has panned out.

What room do you always have to shut the door on?

(And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you are invited over for a work party today!)

In the Parking Lot at Church

That's where Little Bit and I spent our time last night during Bible study. Part way into class she came over to me and whispered that she needed to scream. So we went outside where she could.

These vocal tics are new to us. To be diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, you must have motor tics and at least one vocal tic for a year. When she was diagnosed she probably only had one vocal tic---clearing her throat.

But this is something else entirely. She says words over and over again (oy-uh, cup, etc.) and then there is the screaming. So she screamed and said her words and we did all sorts of things to keep ourselves occupied in the parking lot. S came out to check on us and gave Little Bit a hug. She kept saying, "Sorry Mommy. Sorry you can't go to Bible class." She even told me I could go in and she would stay outside. I made sure she knew that it was no problem for me to sit with her outside.

I know if you have never dealt with TS you might be thinking, "Really?" Because I know it sounds so weird. You HAVE to? That doesn't even make sense! Just close your mouth and don't do it! You are in control of your body!

I know. I've thought the same thing. It's strange. But here is how Little Bit explained it to me. There is this tic she always "needs" to do that is physically impossible. It has to do with her knees. She told me the tic tells her to do it, and it travels down her body to her legs. Or, she said, if it's a "hand tic", it travels down her arm to her hand. I told her that makes sense if the tics come from her brain and the brain sends messages to the body. She agreed.

Then I told her she should write a book about Tourette's. She was very excited about that! She had many questions. She wants it published. Well OK then.

And last night I started researching ways to help with these vocal tics and stumbled on more information about vitamins and diet and supplements than my brain could even take in. Yikes. It'll be worse than learning about diabetes. But I know we can clean up our diet more and I will try that for sure. Even though we highly suspect the reason the tics have been bad this week has to do with Grandpa being in the hospital for 6 days.

The real thing we must do and do right now, is learn to cope with them. They are here. We still must live. So after a while in the parking lot, Little Bit told me she needed to visit the restroom. Just before we went in I said, "OK--one more time." and she screamed. Then we went in. She immediately clapped her hand over her mouth and walked to the restroom. When we were washing our hands though, she couldn't hold it in any longer (it's like when you need to sneeze). So I slapped a paper towel over her mouth and said, "Not too loud, OK?" And she screamed into the paper towel. Worked great. She took the paper towel from me and said, "Let me just keep that."

I noticed after church she was playing with her friends and their baby sister in the cry room and she would put the paper towel over her mouth and scream quietly ever so often. Awesome. And then on the way into the hospital to visit Grandpa she asked if the hospital would be a good place to do her tics or not. But it didn't matter. She climbed up into Grandpa's lap and they started to melt away. All was right.

And I guess now I will begin my research on cleaning up our diet. I may want to scream myself before I'm through.

Listening and Doing

The curriculum choices I've made require a lot of reading on my part and a lot of listening on the girls' part. There are three main subjects that we do together that require a lot of these things: Bible, History, and Science. We enjoy these subjects, and usually tackle them all in the morning when we are fresh, but something needed to be done.

For one thing, Little Bit, my 7 year old daughter, was having trouble keeping the story lines straight in History. I don't blame her. Some of the lessons are long and complicated for a first grader. It's hard to keep up with all the characters when you are covering some one's entire life in one lesson.

Also, our science curriculum is dependent on a narrative response from the children. You know, "Tell me what you remember about ants." Pretty hard stuff when the lesson has been broken down over a week or more.

And then there is Bible. Bible doesn't confuse anyone. We are learning our way through the Old Testament chronologically this year. Many of the stories are familiar. But still....too much listening makes Jane a very dull girl. Right?

Thankfully, my children are both artistic. (That doesnt' mean they are gifted in art necessarily, but that they enjoy it.) We've stumbled on some ways to make listening more fun and learning more concrete this year and they have really been working for us---even with a four year gap between the children.

For History, I simply take some paper out and fold it so there are 8 rectangles to draw in. Then i read the lesson, stopping at important parts to suggest what they might draw. Sometimes they interrupt me, "I know what I'm going to draw, Mom!" Other times I make several suggestions and let them choose. They really stay with the lesson this way, and remember more afterward as well!

The 1st grader's drawings are not as clear as the 5th graders, but she knows what she drew!

A close up of the Pocahontas lesson by Sweetheart.

I don't remember what lesson this is from but the characters are saying, "No" and "YAS." :)

Even though these are done quickly, Sweetheart's attention to detail lets me know she really is listening.

I used an example about ants for science. Last week we illustrated each type of ant job and made little books out of them. We did the same for bees this week. The girls have already spotted two "scout ants" while out and about. The drawing really helps things stick in their minds. I believe in narration--don't get me wrong. But narration is oral and auditory. My visual learners need more than that. (So does their visual Mom!) I firmly believe the more modalities you can use, the better! (Especially kinesthetic if you have boys!)

Little Bit can't read this page, but she knows it's the ants that take care of the babies and larvae.

Sweetheart's take on the "robber bees" who steal honey from other hives.

The last subject we added something to help out with was Bible. This one was quite by accident. The book called for the girls to make a cave out of play dough for David to hide in from King Saul. We grabbed some play dough, some "Biblical looking" Playmobil people, and got to work.

And it just went from there...

"Moses" hits his staff on the water and turns the Nile into blood. Dora's Papi....um...the Egyptian, is shocked! I guess the Playmobil people were not handy this day.

Can you guess it? Rahab and the spies! See the red ribbon?

David and Goliath. See the stone in Goliaths forehead?

The serpent tempting Adam. Well, maybe we needed to grab some female Playmobil people too.

Would drawing or building help your children listen better? Would it drive you crazy as a mom/teacher? Would your children's listening be worse because of the "toys" in front of them? I suppose it varies depending on family.  But, I encourage you to give it a try and see how it goes! If you've sat in any long meetings lately, you might realize the need for something to do in your hands. Do you doodle? Twist your hair? Can you listen while you do those things? Do you already use something like this in your home school?

The Frugal Bug

Has bit me again! I know, frugal is not something you DO, it's something you ARE. But, there are times when more frugality is called for and times when you can let up a little. Actually, I guess anyone who is homeschooling could be considered frugal since no matter what, you are sacrificing to have one parent at home. (AND pay taxes for your local schools AND purchase all your own school stuff as well. Ahem.)

Financially we've been in upheaval for about 6 months. It's been good--we payed off a lot of debt. And things have changed--we've added a car payment. The end result is I never really know how much we're going to end up with or how much I should set aside. For six months each month has been entirely different from the previous month. I'm not complaining....just saying that things have been different.

Frugal Tip #1: Have whole family help with side business for extra money! :)
(Little Bit helping Daddy with his mowing job.)

This morning I read Connie's news over at Smockity Frocks about her husband being laid off. I know they are not the first family, or the first homeschooling family to undergo such a trial. Far from it. But their plan of action was wonderful and very inspiring. Reading it made me start thinking about frugal again.

It also started me thinking about getting a clothes line and putting ads in my sidebar. I know some people are very opposed to ads on blogs, but when you read her post you'll understand why I'm willing to try it for a time! (would anyone stop reading if I did?)

Frugal Tip #2: Don't waste paper! Do spelling on the closet doors.

Summer is definitely the time for frugality. We just invested in a backyard pool. The kind they sell at Walmart and Target. We had the money to do it. We are very blessed. (So we don't have groceries this week? Big deal. We have a pool. Just kidding.) (Kind of.) Anyway, one reason we decided to do it is because to not have a pool (like last year when we were trying to save money) means driving to public pools. And swimming is really the only outdoor thing you can do where I live in the summer. Without dying of heat stroke. And driving when gas is this high is not smart. Especially when getting in the car to go swimming is invariably going to end up in "well, let's just stop in here or there" to shop or run through the drive through to get a drink, etc. Staying home is the best frugal move to make in the summer for us.

And since we'll need to save money this summer to buy the curriculum I want next year, we don't need to run around to this fun spot and that fun spot all summer. And with our pool, maybe we won't need to.

Spending money to save money. Not sure it makes sense.

Frugal Tip #3: Homemade play dough! Cheap, better, and lasts forever.
(Little Bit acting out the Bible story with play dough.)

But I can be more frugal than that! Oh yes I can! And since summer is the perfect time for us to all buckle down (hello electric bill and gas prices!), maybe we can encourage each other? Share our frugal tips? Should we linky? What do you think?

Sweetheart not doing a blessed thing to help our family save money, but I had to include her cute self in the post anyway. Wait! She's wearing a shirt Carrie got her from the thrift store! Way to go Sweetheart!

Pulled

It's the Monday after a long weekend. We've GOT to get back to school. The homeschool room didn't get picked up this weekend like I wanted so we face a mess this morning. At least a 15 minute delay in getting started on work.

We need groceries in a bad way so I HAVE to go to the store today. I don't even have a list made yet and this needs to be a really frugal trip.

We set up the pool this weekend and the water is not quite right and I'm stressed about it because it's always so hard to get the water right. I NEED to take a sample to the pool store and see what needs to be done today so S can do it this evening when he gets home.

We also NEED some stuff from the dollar store. Gotta find time to run by there today.

Dad is still in the hospital so we WANT to go visit him this morning. He's so bored laying there.

So how do I fit in picking up, schooling, grocery shopping, pool maintenance, the dollar store and a hospital visit without losing my mind?

By figuring out what matters most. So here goes....

1. Dad is the most important thing on that list, but we don't have to get there first thing this morning. We can visit him after school. He's not going anywhere.

2. I'll get school out of the way first because there is no benefit of going to the pool store right away this morning as S can't help me fix anything until tonight.

3. We can swing by the grocery store and the pool store on our way home from the hospital. And the dollar store is right across the street from both the stores.

Busy? Yes. Impossible? No. Yes, the chemicals are off in the pool but it won't turn dark green and slimy during the course of today. It actually looks quite clear. We have some food so we won't go hungry and no one said I have to buy the whole weeks' worth of groceries all this afternoon. I can just pick up a few things we need if that's all I have time to do. And school will always be there. My finish date is self-imposed and there will be other days when nothing is in the way to interfere with us getting lots done. Today might not be that day.

The most important thing for me to realize on a "stressy" day like today, is that I can't really fix any of this. It is what it is. We have a lot to do today. We'll be busy. But worrying about food isn't getting us any groceries. Going to the store will. Worrying about the pool levels isn't fixing them--but finding out what we need and getting it for S today IS helpful. And a first step. Worrying about how much school we have left to do isn't helping anyone. But getting started is. I hate the phrase but it's really true--how do you eat an elephant?

Guess I should get started on that first bite.