Harvest Term 2011 Summary
Term’s Focus
Composer: Mendelssohn
Artist: Rubens
History: Greeks & Romans
Geography: Africa
Orderliness Habit: Keeping desks tidy
New Circle Time Content
Hymn: O, Come, My Soul, Bless Thou the Lord Thy Maker (Psalm 103)
Psalm: Psalm 115
(same as last term, but the boys have it 90% memorized, so I’m planning on hitting it twice a week and adding Psalm 139, which they didn’t get down well to our daily tab)
Passage: Ephesians 4:25-32
Creed: Heidelberg Lord’s Day 1
Mottos:
Leave it better than you found it.
Hustle to help out.
Soldier Stance (or, “Look sharp!”):
1. stand up straight
2. shoulders back
3. hands at sides
4. ready eyes
5. quick response
Bible Song: Apostles (12 Disciples, Jamie Soles)
Geography Songs: Africa songs
Hans’ Assigned Reading
Hans’ poem to memorize: Bilbo’s Walking Song
Jaeger’s Assigned Reading
Jaeger’s poem to memorize: Whole Duty of Children
My Assigned Reading
Preschool With Ilse
Alphabet Book: 
Picture Books: Frances
Mother Goose Book:
Bible Story Book:
Notes to Self for the Upcoming Term
Yeah, I think I need to repeat the last term. I only preread the boys’ books for the first two weeks, then let it slide. Sigh.
Make Friday teas a pleasant time for everyone.
Preread assigned books on Mondays.
Keep an eye on the goals.
I set the tone: stay cheerful, pleasant, and upbeat.
Summer Term 2011 — A Typical Day
The typical day this last term started with the alarm ringing at 5am, and a hand reaching over, turning it off, and cozying back under the pillow. If we’re going to cover the average and the typical rather than the planned or ideal or best day, that’s where we must begin.
The typical day opened with my reluctant rising at 6:50-7:10, dressing, addressing and dressing children, pulling out breakfast, starting my own eggs and coffee, and doing my best to stay cheerful rather than get nitpicky and critical with the kids. Spills wiped up, email checked, husband kissed and sent off with a solid lunch, corrections doled out, prayers made, the day begins. The children do not eat with their table manners; they poke each other, make faces, tell jokes, complain, or play “Guess what country I am thinking of” while staring at the map of the world on the wall in the dining room — RATHER than eat their breakfast. That sounds great, and I tell myself it’s great, but have you ever had to listen in for more than 2 minutes of a child-created and child-run guessing game? Oy. Well, anyway, they are supposed to be eating, not talking. Eating, not playing. Eating, not touching each other.
After breakfast ends either by finishing or by fiat, it is chore time. I turn on our composer music. Hans wipes down the bathrooms, Jaeger unloads the dishwasher, Ilse clears and wipes down the table, and I make my bed and start the laundry and put away breakfast stuff. And I check my email. And I check my Google Reader. And it’s usually 7:50 instead of 7:30 when this is all happening.
So, at 8:15 instead of 8 sharp, typically I am found ringing the bell to call the children from the four corners and printing off either a drill sheet or a Calculadder sheet or inserting the DVD for math, and as smoothly as I can, I get the boys started in on their math. Then I settle Ilse down with an activity or coloring page. Then I sigh and laugh and poke at Knox, wondering what in the world he’s going to do today. He is technically too heavy for the pack-n-play, and when he’s in it, he shakes, rattles, and rolls. He’ll end up breaking it for sure if I stuck with that plan. And at this point he’s already been in his booster for breakfast for 30 minutes and is not keen on getting back in. So I give him a children’s chair and the children’s table and try to get him enamored of blocks or letter magnets or tractors. He thinks that’s great until I start moving away. What he really wants is to be at the bar in the tall chairs with the big boys. With a pencil. Lead is tasty.
So I juggle Knox, manage Ilse, and keep the older boys on task. When they’ve finished their sheet, they hand it to me, I correct it with my red pencil. Any backwards numbers are circled and any wrong answers are checked. They have to then correct them and turn it back in to me. If they corrected it, I write a C over the check and a C at the top for “Corrected” and file it. If they had none wrong and none backwards, I write 100% at the top and file it. If they got 100% and did it in a timely fashion without using the blocks, they also get a “pass” to the next lesson. They usually finish math in 10-20 minutes, and I have 30 allocated. So, usually we’re back on schedule when math is over.
Then it’s Circle Time. What has worked best is to hold Knox on my lap and let Circle Time also be his cuddle time. After all, part of the point of Circle Time is for us all to enjoy it as a family. If he gets grabby-grabby and throws a fit over not being able to get into my markers or drink my coffee or tear my notebook pages, and a swat and a restoration doesn’t fix it, then he is banished to bed for Circle Time. Fussy babies go to bed. We start off by listening to a section of Psalm 119, then I pray. Then each child takes a turn praying, and Knox loves to be included. I give him his lines, he folds his hands and grunts, then grins when I say, “Amen!” The content of our prayers for school are primarily thanksgiving, that helps our attitude more than simply asking for a good attitude. Then we sing the Doxology and Gloria Patri — and Knox joins in with the tune but not words — then half the time we remember to say the Apostle’s Creed. Then I pull out our mottoes and we all chant them. Then I pull out Young Peacemakers and I read one page and we discuss it. Then we open our memory binders and sing our term’s hymn (I am sitting next to the computer and turn on our digital accompaniment), and then one review hymn (also with accompaniment). Then we go through our binder memory work, reading aloud together from the catechism, our term’s passage and Psalm, one review passage, and one review Psalm. Then I turn on our memory play list for the songs — Follow the Line (Christ’s genealogy set to music), a grammar chant (Shurley), two Geography Songs, and a Timeline song. Ending on the upbeat musical note has helped the kids enjoy this time much more; it has improved the mood substantially. Sometimes Jaeger and Ilse get out of their chairs and gallop around.
Next I pull out Covenantal Catechism. On Mondays we read the Bible passage, on Tuesdays we narrate the Bible reading then read the lesson, Wednesday we skip it, Thursday we go over the review and discussion questions, and Friday the boys draw a picture about the lesson.
Then I should pull out penmanship. When I do, I give them their sheet to trace (this is remedial penmanship), set the timer for 5 minutes, and see what they can do correctly for 5 minutes, putting myself on repeat: “Start at the top” “Down, up, and around” “Are you making the same shape?” “Start at the top” “Down, up, and around” “Start at the top.” The timer goes off and we are all relieved. Then I should pull out spelling. The boys get dry-erase boards, because it makes erasing easier (they have to immediately erase a wrong word and write it correctly) and it makes them happy. It doesn’t make me happy, but oh well. I give them both spelling words at the same time. It takes about 10-15 minutes to do half a lesson with one student, and about 15-20 to do them both at the same time. So doing them both at the same time makes me happy.
Then what I should do next is gather them all on the couch and read aloud, but I am always left feeling like I need a breather. So the typical day involved me sending the boys down to begin their independent work or sending them out for a 5-10 minute outdoor recess then to independent work. Then after moving the laundry to the dryer, chatting a bit online, or some other little change of activity, I sit with Ilse and read to her while Knox wonders around and on top of us.
By the time I’m done with Ilse, the boys are waiting in the wings and I listen to their narrations. Then they go back and I start some food prep or get on the computer or I set myself up on the couch with my crochet. I listen to another round of narrations. I field complaints and tell them to buck up. I call out, “Hey, where are you? Is your work done?” I say, “Can I see your work and your checklist?” I say, “Looks like you still need to ___.” I also handle interpersonal conflict about distracting noise-making, talking, not finding books, and the like. At some point I say, “Ok. Come sit, let’s read.” We read a chapter of history, then I ask one or both to tell me about something from the chapter, then we read a chapter of geography, and either I ask them to tell me about their favorite part or I ask them to ask a question. A few times we even looked up pictures and videos online to help us understand. Then Hans reads a few pages from The Big Book of Virtues, then Jaeger reads an Aesop’s fable. I whited out the morals on Aesop and so after Jaeger has read it I ask Hans what he thinks the lesson of the story is. Apparently the lesson from the boy and the nuts is that you should not try to grab nuts from a jar. Insightful. Then I read a poem or two or three, then a fairy tale or picture book, then I ask them what they remember from the previous episode of our current play (usually precious little), then I read a couple more pages from Nesbit’s Shakespeare. Knox is often loud or crying for half our reading time, and often I have to send Ilse to her room for whining, because it’s the boys’ turn next to me on the couch. The little ones do not generally appreciate this.
Then the boys finish up their independent work and I get a large drink of water and tell myself that’s refreshing enough, and that I don’t need to go hide in my room for half an hour. No, take a deep breath, I can handle lunch. I can. I can. I have a plan. Pull out tortillas and shredded cheese and make quesadillas and tell the children that this is lunch and if they complain about it they may have none.
And that is that.
Until it’s after lunch and I realize we didn’t do Latin. So after the fog has cleared and everyone is down for naps, I sigh, retrieve Hans, and we do Latin for 20-30 minutes. Then we’re done.
This, of course, is a typical day in which everything gets done, which was not actually typical. It’s a rare day that something — usually penmanship, spelling, and reading a fairy tale — doesn’t get cut. See that tactful use of the passive tense? I don’t know how it happens, personally.
It might not be how I would script the day, nor how I envision it when I am making the lists and dreaming, but it’s how we roll. My general principle is to handle correction immediately and get it righted rather than deferred, whether it be a math mistake, a spelling error, an attitude problem, a fussy baby, a disobedient action, or quarrelsome brothers. This makes for frequent interruptions, everyone having to make space and time for everyone else; it makes for loud mornings and it makes for a depleted feeling mommy. But it’s a good life. Life in the rock tumbler. Life in the pressure cooker. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out this reality is actually better than any script I could dream up.
Summer Term 2011 Report
I made a form for a term report for our records and for accountability. Here is the condensed version.
Statistics
Six Rungs
Worship: 30 days out of 30
Work: 30 days out of 30
Read/Listen: 30 days out of 30
Think: 30 days out of 30
Move: 30 days out of 30
Overcome: 30 days out of 30
Circle Time
Count: 19 1/2 days out of 24
Report: Circle Times have flowed fairly well and having the boys read aloud the memory work seems to have increased their retention. Starting the day off with everyone praying is a blessing. I need to work more on being cheerful to start us off.
Lessons
Preschool with Ilse: 12 days out of 18
Children’s Personal Devotions: 5 days out of 30
Daily Proverb: 0 days out of 30 – replaced Prov. with Psalm 119, and haven’t found a place for Provers again.
Listened to Composer: 20 days out of 30
Checklists Fully Completed:
Mystie: 8 days out of 24 (but most days were 80%-90%)
Hans: 10 days out of 24 (might not be totally accurate)
Jaeger: 18 days out of 24 (might not be totally accurate)
Literature Completed
Poems: 12 out of 18
Fairy Tales: 9 out of 12
Shakespeare: 15 out of 18 (completed 3 plays)
Aesop (read by Jaeger): 10 out of 12
Book of Virtues (read by Hans): 10 out of 12
report: Literature is by far the subject I’ve skipped the most. While I should make a more consistent effort with this and with finding a place for audio books, I think it’s a good spot to save time when needed. Stories & linguistics is not the children’s or the family’s weak spot.
Content Completed
CHOW Chapters: 16 out of 18
CGOW Chapters: 12 out of 12
Trial & Triumph Chapters: 5 out of 6
Latin Chapters: 5 out of 5
Bible Lessons: 9 out of 9
Report: I have been very pleased with the history and geography books, as well as with the Bible curriculum. The boys are getting quite a bit out of all these things. Hans is eating up Latin.
Table Lessons & Notebooks
Math
Hans – # lessons completed: 10
Report: He seems to have hit a stride and is enjoying math
Jaeger – # lessons completed: 2
Report: He seems to have hit a hard patch where he just needs to get stronger in his addition before he’s ready to move on. Hans hit a roadblock at this same spot, so I’m confident spending a lot of review here is a good thing. He seems almost ready to move past it. He’s only been occasionally and mildly discouraged with all the repeat.
Penmanship
Hans – report: Doing better than anticipated. I’ve been working mostly on using proper capitalization.
Jaeger – report: Doing well. I’m going to keep him at the same spot as Hans. I think he can do it.
Ilse – report: She loves her sheets and does a good job with starting at the top.
Spelling
Hans – days completed: 5 out of 10
Report: This is a subject I cut when I need to save time; spelling seems to be a strength so far.
Jaeger – days completed: 5 out of 10
Report: This is a subject I cut when I need to save time; spelling seems to be a strength so far.
Nature Walks & Notebooks
Report: We did lots of outdoorsy things, but only brought our journal stuff once.
Board of Centuries
Report: The boys really enjoyed this and retained more than I expected.
Art Study Notebooks
Report: I’m not sure how much they are getting out of this, but they seem to enjoy it and it provides a nice change of activity and subject. My primary goal is exposure, so it’s mostly a fun thing.
Independent Work
Hans
Science: After a rough first week, he’s been eating it up
History: Enjoying the read-aloud, but not his biographies
Writing: Doing better than I anticipated; now I need to start doing tutoring sessions with him
Geography: Doing fine, but could be doing better. Could put more effort into his mapwork.
Drawing: His abilities are growing but he often puts little effort into his drawing lately.
Piano practice: He is really enjoying it and wanting to play for enjoyment at times.
Jaeger
History: he’s retaining more than I thought he was
Science/Geography: he’s doing quite well, and he really enjoys it
Drawing: Skill is really improving
Greek: He enjoys it; it’s primarily for motivation and it’s doing its job
Piano: started Pianophonics and loves it.
Mystie
History Book: Only one chapter into it. It’s fairly draggy.
Theology Book: Haven’t picked it up.
Study Subject: Have made it through 3 hospitality books and it’s giving me lots to think about.
Piano: Nope.
Penmanship: Practiced mine about 3-4 times this term. No progress.
Monday Housekeeping
This week is our first break week. We’ve completed a 6 week term! It went quite well, although I am reminding myself that the first term is always one of the better ones. So I need to keep up the momentum rather than relax in relief. :)
I’m continuing the 31 Days to Clean challenge, which has a link-up on Fridays, but after that is over (or before, if I have more to say), I will switch to my Monday Housekeeping post actually being about some aspect of housekeeping. For the catch-up-with-life post, I think I am going to join in with the Like Mother Like Daughters “Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real” link-up. While I won’t be able to bring myself to use curly brackets, I do love the tagline: “Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life.” And I’d like to get in the habit of snapping more everyday type pictures, too.
Speaking of the 31 Days to Clean challenge, today’s task is to clean out and organize kitchen drawers. I have 19 drawers, only 4 of which have ever been cleaned and organized, and at least 6 of which are in dire need of a cleaning. Two are actually empty, so that will be easy at least. I’m not sure if I can get them all cleaned in one day. It could take me all week! But today is housecleaning day and I cleaned the kitchen on Saturday. Since it’s in good shape already, I’ll devote my kitchen hour today to the drawers and see how far I get.
For break week, then, I have several projects planned. Today I will also switch out Knox & Ilse’s clothes for the next size & fall stuff. It’s not really fall weather yet, but this is when I have time and Knox really needs to make the switch to 2T. Tuesday I’ll take care of school stuff: reorganize the files, change out the memory work, tweak a few things, return & reserve new library books, etc. I’ll also write up some posts I have drafted about our year so far, including a “typical day” type post. Wednesday I will see if I can finish up my menu plan drafts. Thursday I have reserved to tackle the closet-that-used-to-be-a-bathroom (the previous owner converted it to a dark room and now I just use it for storage). It’s piled high with things that have no homes or things I thought I’d put in there “for now.” It’s time for that room to get a purpose and some order. I’m going to do the empty-it-all-out and put-back-only-what-belongs plan. I suppose that means that the storage room will end up with more piles. Friday, then, is my day off, and I’ll be driving over quite early to Moscow to go to the Femina conference. It’s over by 3, but I might stay for the NSA Disputatio with Driscoll and then have a quiet dinner and process the day a bit before heading home.
Ok. Get this. Breakfast on weekdays with granola and yogurt can take the children at least 30-45 minutes if I sit on them and prod them along and make them stop talking. On Saturdays, with pancakes, when a leisurely breakfast is allowed and encouraged, they are done in 15-20 minutes. I’m thinking we need timer training at breakfast.
Alright, on with the day!
31 Days to Clean: A Visual Well Done.
I have been enjoying the short but thoughtful daily chapters of the ebook “31 Days to Clean,” and the accompanying two daily tasks: one contemplative and one active. In this first week I have accomplished several deep cleaning tasks in the kitchen that I had not yet done at all in the two years we have been in this house, like cleaning the oven, or had not done recently enough, like clean the inside of the microwave and fridge. They might not be immediately obvious cleaning results, but it still is nice having it finally done rather than lingering in the back of my mind as something that should be done when I can get to it sometime.
I was avoiding cleaning my inbox cupboard above my computer, because in order to clean it I’d have to deal with this:
But after finishing all the other cupboards and still, sadly, having enough time left, I buckled down and forced a start by simply pulling all the contents out onto the counter.
Yes. Alarming, but true. This is the full view:
So, I put things back one by one in an orderly fashion, setting back only what belongs up there and that in an organized fashion. I made piles of things needing to go to other various rooms and fetched them off (and just set them into the right room but didn’t get everything to its right place; that’s good enough for now, isn’t it?). Within 15 minutes of starting, this is where I ended up:
Not bad, eh?! Five more minutes after plying the children with food and the job was done and oh so worth it. For, when I open that cupboard (which is often), I am greeted with peace and order and a visual “well done” rather than being visually assaulted with another piece of order I lost and another task I should do.
Purge a feared shelf and wipe it out and set it to rights; you’ll be glad you did.
Homeschool Tactics: Student Accountability
One goal I have for our homeschooling is training the children to work independently. There will always be work we do together, of course, but I want to be able to entrust to them a task list and have them handle it responsibly.
This year both boys have an independent work checklist. On each day, the second-to-last item to check off is “Show mom your work and your checklist.” The last item is “Put all your books and papers away and tidy your desk.”
This has worked out swimmingly for us. Neither I nor my children are meticulous types, and it does appear my two oldest have inherited my ability for self-deception and self-justification: “I will check that off as done because, well, I am done with it — it’s all I’m going to do right now, so it’s good enough.” I still do that. And as soon as they got a checklist, my boys started doing that.
But having that item on their list has saved me innumerable times.
So, when I catch a boy playing, I can say, “Are you done with your work?” He says, “Yes.” I say, “No, because you haven’t shown me your checklist, and that’s on your list.”
So, when a boy brings me a checklist all crossed off and I say, “But where is your drawing?” He must admit, “Well, I didn’t want to do that.” And then we can have a discussion about various forms of lying. And, importantly, that discussion happens on the same day rather than days or weeks of such practice.
So, when a boy comes to me with his checklist all checked, but one line item having a line drawn through it (which is how I have marked a few times that they didn’t have to do it that day), I can say, “Um, why is your mapwork assignment crossed out?” and he has to admit, “Well, I didn’t have a map in my desk and I did it last week anyway, so I didn’t think I needed to do it today.” And then we have another discussion. And I print him a map and he does his mapwork.
So, when I send him on his way with a “Good job! You’re done!” I have that reminder there on that list I just looked at to add, “…after you put your books away and tidy your desk.”
So that when the school books, crayons, and such are still out on the floor hours later, there is no excuse, “I didn’t know!” “I didn’t remember!” And we add in a discussion of what our 18 month old would do with said books and crayons when he finds his way to them.
I commend to you the practice. It is my own little way of teaching us all Luke 8:17. :)
Homeschool Resource Meme.
One homeschool book you have enjoyed.
One resource you would never be without.
My printer. After going through several ink printers in several years (and loads of ink!), we got a Brother laser printer/copier/scanner that prints double-sided and has a feed like the big fancy machines. We’ve had it for almost 2 years without any problems, and one toner cartridge lasts at least a year and a half.
One resource you wish you had never bought.
Draw to Learn the Life of Jesus was a total waste. I will be selling it to Exodus when next I go to Oregon.
One resource you enjoyed last year.
I think it was last year that I really became sold on Math-U-See, because its mastery-based approach worked well for both my son who whipped through the concepts (although now he’s hit a wall) and my son who couldn’t seen to get his facts down cold (who is now starting to whip through the concepts. It speeds up and slows down as needed and is easy to suit to the student. Not only that, but the author of the program really emphasizes mastery, battles against the idea of a student being behind in math (if you are teaching the student where he is and moving at his pace, you are in the right place), and encourages staying in the first two books as long as needed to get the basic facts and concepts solid. Math discouragement and failure often comes when you move on to more complex equations when you still have to think about what 7 + 4 is. I love having the lessons taught on DVD. I am not a math person at all, but seeing the video helps me see what teaching math with a sense of humor and while having a good time looks like. And it helps the boys see that this is not something mom has made up for them to do. :)
One resource you will be using this year.
We are 5 lessons into Latin for Children and loving it! It teaches not only Latin, but grammar and vocabulary intentionally and thoroughly. There is no working the text on my part to draw those things out of the lessons. We haven’t done any grammar previously, and this is giving us what we need at a slow and well-presented pace. I keep looking at each lesson thinking, “Really? That’s it? That’s all the lesson for the week?” However, you really do have to cover it 4-5 days a week. No cutting corners on the time allotment. You have to spend time with the words and paradigms in order to learn them.
One resource you would like to buy.
I’m looking forward to using Lost Tools of Writing, but we’ll wait for fifth or sixth grade. And I’ve been looking forward to Omnibus ever since they came out.
One resource you wish existed.
A live-in maid.
One homeschool catalogue you enjoy reading.
I go through Veritas for book list ideas. I don’t really read them anymore because I am online enough for a print catalogue to not really be useful. It’s rarely new content. If I want a review, I always check out what Exodus Books has to say. Exodus is my online catalogue.
One homeschool website you use frequently. Yes, probably Exodus. Charlotte Mason Help is useful, too. And, of course, Brandy’s blog.
I’m not going to tag anyone, but if you want to participate, feel free to put your link in the comments section!
Menu Planning Project Test
I have had a menu planning system that has been in constant evolution for about 3 years. I am finally coming to the point where I’m happy with what I have and where it’s simple enough to use easily, with little on-the-fly thinking. Over the last 3 years, the amount of brain power I’ve had for on-the-fly thinking has greatly decreased, so the system has been simplified and simplified and simplified.
Here’s a sample. If people find this useful, I might end up making it into an e-book. Early reviewers and faithful readers would, of course, get free copies. ;)
Quick & Easy Dinner Vegetables
This year I have been trying to add more vegetables into our menus, and one of the ways I’ve focused on is more generous servings of tasty, appealing vegetables at dinner. I thought I should assemble those preparations that have become my go-to “recipes,” share them, and solicit new ideas from you, my lovely readers.
Here are my requirements for and definition of “quick and easy”:
No or very little washing (this excludes most greens & salad).
No more than a cutting board, a knife, and one dish gets dirty.
Pulling the vegetables from the fridge to putting them on the table should happen in under 30 minutes.
My kids are not picky eaters and usually enjoy their vegetables and often ask for seconds, so “appeals to children” is not a big hang-up in our house. I do promise, however, that our children do eat all the following preparations with relish, but mileage at your house might vary:
glazed carrots: Dump baby carrots into a skillet with half an inch of water — bring to a boil. Boil til the water is gone, if they aren’t done yet, add more water and boil until they are, but don’t let there be excess water. Just before the water evaporates, add a pat of butter. Let that brown and sizzle and make the carrots delicious. Lightly salt. Serve. Obviously, you can do this with regular carrots that you’ve peeled and sliced into rounds or sticks, but since my family easily eats a pound and a half, that becomes time consuming. I like to keep a bag of baby carrots on hand for those nights I don’t have time for peeling and cutting (or if I need a quick-to-pack picnic lunch).
glazed green beans: Trim ends. Toss into a large skillet in shallow water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Dump off any remaining water, then add olive oil or butter, saute on high heat until the fat sizzles and browns over the beans. Salt. Serve. You can do the same thing to asparagus, too.
coleslaw: Finely slice and dice a red cabbage. Grate in several carrots. Drizzle and toss with olive oil. Drizzle and toss with white wine vinegar. Sprinkle salt. Sprinkle a few dried cranberries atop each serving (or a handful into a family-dinner-sized portion). The greatest thing about this salad is that it holds for 4-5 days. My kids especially love this one, too. I think it’s because of the cranberries.
roasted brussels sprouts: Spread out fresh brussels sprouts on a cookie sheet (I tried frozen, but they don’t roast well). Drizzle olive oil and roll around until they’re coated. Sprinkle garlic salt on top and roast at 425-degrees for 30 minutes.
roasted broccoli: Cut the broccoli head into florets (and cut the stem pieces into similar-sized portions, too). Toss onto a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat, sprinkle with garlic salt and roast at 425-degrees for 15-20 minutes.
roasted sweet potato “fries”: You can cut these any way you’d slice up and roast potatoes, but they count as a vegetable. I like to slice them in a fry shape and season them like so: slice into strips (no need to peel) and toss them onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle over the top cinnamon, paprika, and garlic salt (you can also add cumin if you like it) in about even proportions, but a little more generous with the salt. Toss it all around and then spread them out so they are in a single layer. Roast at 425-degrees for 20-25 minutes.
roasted green beans: Trim ends and, on the cookie sheet, toss with olive oil and garlic salt. Roast at 400-degrees for 10-15 minutes. You can do the same thing with asparagus.
grilled/broiled zucchini: Cut into slices or steaks, toss with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt or garlic spread and seasoning (Johnny’s, at Costco) and grill for 10-15 minutes or roast at 450 for 10-15 minutes or broil for 5-10 minutes.
frozen broccoli: I finally found a decent way to prepare frozen broccoli after tolerating microwaved versions for 10 years. Pull the package out of the freezer at any point after lunch, but at least an hour before dinner so they’re somewhat, but not totally, thawed. Toss them into a skillet sizzling with olive oil and saute until they are heated through, then sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Yum!
fresh tomatoes: Core tomatoes & quarter or slice. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar and lightly salt and pepper. If available, top with fresh chopped basil or parsley or chives.
And one final super quick and super easy vegetable trick: Each one of my children absolutely love to eat frozen green peas — frozen.
Monday Housekeeping: Grocery Shopping Edition
Today is our main grocery shopping trip for September. I have decided that we will fit in in on the Monday closest to the first of the month and it will be our expedition for the day. I could arrange to go myself on an evening or a Saturday, but I don’t. I fall into the “take the poor kids to the grocery store” camp, though I break my own resolution often enough and I wouldn’t try to sell it to or push it on anyone who is happy with their other arrangements. Honestly, I find taking them on the major haul trip is easier than the little fill-in-the-gap trips. I think the difference is my mentality. I realize the major haul is the main thing we’ll be doing all day and it will take a long time. On the quick trips, I feel like I’m pushing and pulling and “come on” “hurry up” “ugh!” the whole time, because I’m thinking about how quickly I could be in and out if I were by myself. So I have been doing the quick trips by myself (sometimes early in the morning before anyone else is up), but the large haul grocery trip is the day’s adventurous expedition. Sometimes a boy pushes an extra cart with Ilse in it and we make a train (which is why we have to go in the morning when the store is sparsely populated and that mostly by grandmas who smirk and smile and maybe a few first-time-moms-with-new-babies whose eyes grow wide). I figure being able to take the kids to the grocery store is the payoff — for both them and me — of the at-home discipline and training. They do a good job.
At this point Hans can go to an aisle over and get 3 onions or 2 cans of olives or other such errands. In the bulk section, both boys write the numbers on the tags for me and plead to put the foodstuffs into the bag for me. I’m starting to show them how to compare the price per ounce on the tags. Our main grocery store is a bag-your-own checkout, and all three of them work together and bag almost everything. I stand halfway between them and the checker and snag the raw meat and the eggs. But they put like things together and keep to my system of all cans together, all cold things together, and the like. Then we head out to Costco, which is usually a faster trip, and then — IF they have been positively helpful and not whiney or complaining — we have Costco hot dogs for lunch. Giving the children jobs and real duties and responsibilities has been the key to being able to take them to stores. When they are just accessories dangling off the cart, they get restless and I feel put upon when they interrupt my deal-seeking-zone. If they are my helpers, my apprentices, my partners, then we can all work together — them to help and me to see ways for them to help — then we have a good time together. Usually. Sometimes.
So that’s today’s project. Housecleaning will get the slapdash touch and my goal will be to have all the purchases in their right homes by the end of the day.
Weekly Checklist
I’ve been in heavy-duty routine-establishment mode these last couple weeks with the beginning of school.
I feel very pleased with myself. I knew I was still in working-it-out mode, so I kept myself to jotted notes and lists and refrained from working on a pretty, computer-generated version. Well, I am relieved and pleased. I believe, after three weeks of working through it mentally and actually, I have found the right balance for our family where we can actually maintain the housekeeping and stay on top of it with approximately 45 minutes or so of work by the kids (broken up between 2-3 times a day) and about an hour and a half of housecleaning a day for me, plus an extra hour or hour and a half on Mondays. That hour and a half counts laundry and cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. It’s about 15 minutes or so in the morning, 15-30 minutes around lunch time, about 45 minutes in the afternoon, and about 15-30 minutes after dinner. Just as I have admonished my children, so it is with me: dawdling and daydreaming (or “thinking”) can quickly and easily double the amount of time it takes to do these things. Wouldn’t it be preferable to work quickly, focused on the job and getting it done? And, just as with the kids, a timer helps even me.
So, pleased that I have found a workable plan and system, today I did create my chart. I do use an online to-do list — Remember the Milk — which is great for being able to enter a task like “call x about x next Tuesday” and have it pop up automatically on the day I need to do it. However, I have come to admit my screen-time problem, which is half the solution, right? My mind and eyes get sucked into the screen readily, and a “check my list real quick” suddenly becomes a 30-45 minute “bury my head in the internet sand and ignore my life” session. So, I do need a paper copy schedule and basic checklist for those quick orientations. I do hope that after a month or two of sticking to the routines I might not even need the list at all, because it will become habit. But right now I need crutches and helps. I am still part lame and blind.
So, my crutches, my glasses to help me refocus, my cattle prods, are these: a timer, automated alarms, weekly checklist, and a daily index card.
Timer
I use the timer function on the clock on my iPod Touch. It’s quick and easy to use, and I am almost in the habit of keeping it with me at all times — I just need to get better at the apron-wearing habit, because my clothes do not always have pockets.
Alarms
These are also set on my clock on my iPod. This is the cattle prod, the electric shock to bring my out of any haze or daydream. I have alarms set for starting school, for lunch preparations, for my afternoon chore time, and for the kids’ afternoon chore time. Now, it’s not like as soon as the alarm goes off I drop everything and do that “next thing.” It’s more that with an alarm going that has to be turned off, I am forced to acknowledge what time it is, forced to acknowledge my duty, and forced to make a choice, “Will I do what I should do or will I ignore it and fritter this time away?” The hardest part is starting. Usually I feel crummy at first, bitter at the alarm for interrupting my revery or my clicky-clicky internet void time, but if I follow through and do my duty, within a couple minutes my mind has cleared and it feels good to actually be transforming my world in a visible way.
Weekly Checklist
This is what I created today, getting down onto paper what has been working so that, I hope, I can do it all with a little less effort of decision until it becomes habit. What is on the list are the bare essentials to keep things going smoothly at our house. My list was a mix of Large Family Logistics, Reasonably Clean House, and a few standard business-productivity time-management tips. Plus, I added in eating accountability.
You can see my checklist, and if you find it useful, feel free to use it yourself (here’s a more generic version) or use it as a springboard for creating your own.
Daily Index Card
The upper right hand area of my checklist is left intentionally blank so that when it is on a clipboard, that corner can also have an index card at the top. I fill out my index card after my morning devotional time, writing the date at the top, then I list two or three things that I need to do that day in addition to the routine stuff — pay a particular bill, write a certain email, figure out the grocery list, spend 10 minutes decluttering or organizing the office etc. I might copy a verse or quote or write a general reminder to myself on it. Much as I prefer to keep my lists and plans digitally (coffee spills and grubby toddler fingers can’t ruin them and they don’t get lost), there is still something calming and even centering about writing things out by hand.
Decoding the Acronyms
EHAP: Everything Has a Place (with the implication that everything should be in its place)
MIT: Most Important Thing. This was the acronym used by the business-productivity guy I was reading at the time I got the index-card idea, so I used it. It’s not the best acronym for a homeschool mother’s life at home, since getting a task done or chipping away at a project is no where near the most important thing we do. Maybe it should stand for Most Important Task, instead. Any suggestions for a more appropriate acronym?
Chicken Pasta Salad for a Crowd
This is a great meal to make if you’re serving a crowd or if you’re taking a meal to another family. I have served it for birthday dinners when our extended families gather and just recently I made it when I was asked to take a meal to two families who had just had babies. A meal for 12 adults and a handful of kids? A meal for three families that can be transported in disposable containers? This recipe is the ticket. It is easily scaled to whatever quantity you need.
Of course, I don’t have precise measurements, but you want your ratios to suit your tastes anyway, right?
The great thing about this meal is that it can be put together in batches. Some boiling in the morning, some chopping at noon, some assembly during quiet time — or make it all the day before. Or, better still, make it the day before in batches.
Poach several chicken breasts & boil some penne or rotini pasta until just al dente. Drain and rinse the pasta. Drain & chop the chicken.
While those boil away, dice some jack or pepperjack cheese. I used an amount about equal in volume to the chicken.
Vegetable chopping: open one or two cans of black olives and halve the olives; halve grape or cherry tomatoes (about equal to either the cheese or the olives); dice a red or yellow or orange bell pepper or two; dice a zucchini or two or a zucchini and a summer squash.
Toss all your chopped foods into a gigantic mixing bowl or two, and add italian dressing. Last time I cheated and used a Kraft bottle, but Italian dressing is fairly simple to make.
It’s good if it sits for a couple hours in the fridge before serving. If you let it sit overnight it might need a touch more dressing when you serve it (the noodles will absorb the liquid, which is why you want to be careful to not overcook them). It seems to hold well for about two days, but after that the noodles are less than appealing.
Of course, another option — either a no-carb or a gluten-free version, however you want to look at it — is to simply leave out the noodles, maybe adding another zucchini and some more tomatoes. I made a bowl for myself without the pasta, and it was delicious. I made another such salad the next week, and it held strong in the fridge for three days. It might have lasted longer, but the children polished it off for me on the third day. Even they loved it without the pasta.
To take it to other families, I packaged it in a gallon ziplock and added bread and cookies and cut up watermelon.
I think this salad will become a summer staple around here.
Monday Housekeeping: Same Old, Same Old
Housecleaning day, today, and boy do we need it. Last Monday we spent the day blueberry picking, so the Monday chores did not get done and this weekend not only was the normal weekend house-wrecking (someday I’m going to figure out how to stop that tendency), but Saturday I was down and out with a fierce cold that, thank the Lord, was mostly passed by Sunday morning. Matt, as always, was a trooper and did some laundry and ran the dishwasher in addition to his Saturday projects and watching the kids, but nonetheless I feel behind.
I’ve been going over a combo of Large Family Logistics, Power of Less (or see his blog), and Reasonably Clean House (look for the series links on the sidebar) this last week. I always feel like I’m teetering on the brink of real change and progress in the housekeeping department, and I’m always looking for something to push me over that brink — on the right side. Doing a thorough kitchen clean, a bedroom tidy, and a laundry catch-up on Mondays has been working out swimmingly and seems to have stuck, and I might have pinpointed the reason: I came to the conviction that if it didn’t happen Monday morning, it wasn’t going to happen at all. The “Well, I have all day to get it done” procrastination trap no longer applies. It used to be true, but it is no longer. I have a hard time believing and acting upon false deadlines. I can’t stick to arbitrary or baseless rules or deadlines. But I have reached the point where even if they are self-imposed, they really are true. If I don’t get up early in the morning, I won’t exercise and I probably won’t read my Bible and pray. If I don’t do the dishes after dinner, they will sit there for days. If I don’t clear the counters after dinner, they will be sticky when school stuff is set there next morning. If I don’t do a load of laundry a day, we will run out of clean clothes. If I don’t weed the garden, it will turn into weeds.
So, yeah. This weekend we ran out of clean clothes and my garden is 5-foot weeds.
I know what I need to do. Now I need to assign the times and then treat them and believe them to be true and honest deadlines. I will probably be writing more about this, because I find thinking through it twice — once while reading and once while writing — helps it stick in my head and firm up in my mind.
I am pretty much out of steam in the downsizing (that is, my attempt to return to size 8) department, as well. I have no easy cuts left to make, and the cuts that have now become normal are merely maintaining what I reached. For months now the only loss I have achieved has been after what I consider drastic measures: no starch at dinner, very little starch and mostly vegetables for lunch, and zero treats with Sunday as a sabbath. I can only keep that up for so long, and now I’ve done it 3 times for 2 or 3 week stretches. I’m trying to gin up the necessary enthusiasm or determination to give it another go — it has, at least, given consistent results. But my enthusiasm and determination is feeling spread rather thin at the moment, what with applying it to school and housekeeping lately. Hence, the now three weeks off that drastic plan. Plus, last week I was not consistent about getting up (the not feeling well started gradually before Saturday), so I wasn’t consistent with exercise, and then that makes it seem like a lost cause anyway.
I’m playing around with the concept of budgeting. As one must budget money to make it do what one wants, so one must budget one’s energy (food/exercise) and one’s time to make it go as far as it can. Budgeting is a means to accomplish one’s goals. But before it’s habit, it feels limiting and cramping and depressing. I know there’s a perspective and attitude shift that can happen that turns budgeting on its head and makes it a game. It can be fun to see what one can do within the established limits. It is more satisfying to make a small amount stretch creatively than to just willy-nilly do whatever you want without thinking. It would be good to take that paradigm shift to the schedule and the exercise/diet plan, because neither is something one outgrows, just like a budget. It can become second nature, recede to the background, and not take so much effort and thinking and restraint, but if it disappears, then effectiveness will slowly fade as well. The good side of me is trying to convince the skeptic side of me that living within boundaries in all these areas could be fun and satisfying, if I would just admit it and take it on in that manner. So far I’m not buying it, but I think it would be good if I could or would.
Tea Time Discussions
With two tea times now under our belt, I am a little more clear on exactly how this will work for us and how to prepare and what to expect. Here’s the nitty-gritty on this aspect of our plans.
Set-up
We start at 2:30 and have a treat/afternoon snack. We’ve had coffee cake muffins, oatmeal raisin cookies, and today will be scones. I hope soon to create a standard repertoire.
I make iced tea by putting a quart or so of water in a glass container with 4 herbal tea bags and 1 or 2 decaf green tea bags. I microwave it on high for 5 minutes. I let it sit for another minute or two. I put a cup or two of water and a bunch of ice into a pitcher. I take the tea bags out of the tea and pour it into the pitcher. Ready to go. When the weather turns cold, of course, we’ll switch to herbal tea in a tea pot. I’ll let the boys decide if we use mugs or teacups.
Format
We sit around the dining room table with our snack and tea, and I have my clipboard and pen. This last week I took notes on plain paper, but based off of that I now have a form to follow. I say a quick prayer about my own attitude and cheerfulness, since I am an authoritarian type and having fun with the kids is not my strong suit. I remind myself that my main goal is to get to know my children, to form and develop friendships with them, and to find out what they’re thinking. The goal is not to quiz them.
Procedure
First, I ask each child in turn (the three-year-old included) what their favorite thing that happened this week was, and also what their favorite part of school was. I do my best to keep this conversational. Speaking habits are part of what we are working on, also. We talk about the week.
Second, I ask the children to chime in with as many nouns — as many people or places or things — from the weeks’ readings (of all sorts) that they can think of. I got this idea from reading Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy of Education, where listing nouns was part of her evaluation. So far my children have needed a little prompting to get going — reminders like, “What about geography? What about Shakespeare?” — but I’m hoping as they get used to it, they’ll not need that. Because they are boys who enjoy competition, I might begin tallying up the number as a “score” to attempt to beat out each week. It is a collaborative exercise, though.
Third, I pick one of the readers and take them through Buck Holler’s process for discussion literature. I was surprised with the quality of their answers on this so far, after some minor frustrations over figuring out the difference between something that happens to a character versus something that a character did. After it was Hans’ and Jaeger’s turn, Ilse wanted to tell me her favorite book, too. It was Barnyard Dance. I didn’t ask her to tell me if one should promenade two by two.
Conclusion
I haven’t figured out a satisfying ending, except to tell them that I’m pleased with them and happy they are learning so much and reading so well. I probably don’t say that enough, so that probably is the best ending for the week. It takes only about thirty minutes, and it is pleasant, as long as I remember to keep my tone pleasant and happy, instead of tired, thinking about what I’ll do after we’re done with this.
In case you are interested in implementing something similar, here is the sheet I created for recording our times and prompting my prompts. I changed out my students’ names with blanks.
Memory Binder Pages
Ok, you asked, so here they are.
I have explained how our memory binders are set up, now here is how they are populated. We started memory work beyond Psalm 1 & the catechism in 2008, so this is 4 years’ worth of material. The passages listed include the ones planned for this coming school year. The hymns listed do not, so that’s only 3 years’ worth. Also, the Scripture is all ESV.
The hymn pages are just photocopied from our hymnals; I don’t have them in digital form right now.
Now, the Scripture memory work is, unfortunately, in no particular order. This bothers me to no end, but not enough for me to fix it. In our notebooks, they are all in order by their references. Because I have been helped immensely by those who have posted their lists of memory work, I thought I’d share that here, too, without making you download a file. In correct order, then, and not their order of appearance, I give you the table of contents.
But, before you freak out, and because you might not make it to the end of the page to see a caveat, know that my children can perfectly recite very few of these. They are very familiar with them all, and I hope our new review system will help us get to fairly-close recitation. I have most of them memorized now, but that’s because for me it’s mostly re-memorizing — they were already familiar, many were previously memorized, so I have a deeper foundation this is building on for me, whereas it’s all fresh for the children. I’m seeking more to begin and set their deep foundation that will be continually and cyclically renewed and built upon throughout their lives rather than perfect rote memory. I want familiarity, language patterns, and ideas to seep in, and because I am not a meticulous person, and much more a hack, we recite one passage and one Psalm daily for one term (6 weeks), whether it’s memorized in 2 weeks or not memorized yet by the end. Then, for better or for worse, it is replaced by the next term’s passage and Psalm and moves into the review tab, where it gets hit when we get to it (right now they all get reviewed about twice a term). This is my own personal “good enough” and “works for us,” because my priority is on keeping it simple, no-pressure, and about exposure, familiarity, and whole-idea rather than perfect articulation. There is a place for that, and if you can achieve that without stress and it’s working for you, then keep it and run with it! However, if memory work has been a stressful thing, don’t give it up! Just pare it back, remove the pressure and expectations, and remember that God’s Word is active and will bear fruit — getting it to them (and us!) and in them (and us!) is what counts. Also, perfectly articulated memory is easily and quickly lost if not reviewed constantly, as I know well from all I memorized week-to-week when I was young, having little to show for it a few months later. Even so, it was a foundation of familiarity that was not unfruitful.
Anyway, here’s what’s on the sheets:
Scripture Memory
Exodus 20:1-17
Micah 6:6-8
Matthew 6:5-13
Matthew 22:37-40
John 1:1-5, 9-14
John 3:14-18
Romans 10:9-11
Romans 12:1-5
1 Corinthians 13
Galatians 5:22-26
Galatians 6:7-10
Ephesians 2:4-10
Ephesians 4:25-32
Ephesians 6:1-3
Philippians 4:4-9
Colossians 1:9-23
Colossians 3:12-17
1 Thessalonians 5:12-24
2 Timothy 3: 14-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Hebrews 11:1-16
1 Peter 1:3-19
1 John 1:5-9
Psalm 1
Psalm 8
Psalm 19
Psalm 24
Psalm 25
Psalm 29
Psalm 32
Psalm 42
Psalm 46
Psalm 92
Psalm 104
Psalm 112
Psalm 115
Psalm 139
Creeds
Apostle’s
Nicene
Heidelberg Lord’s Day 1
Heidelberg
Q&A: 1, 2, 12, 13, 27, 32, 60, 66, 81, 86, 116
Hymns
Be Thou My Vision
Christ Shall Have Dominion (Psalm 72, Psalter Hymnal)
The Church’s One Foundation
Crown Him with Many Crowns
For All the Saints
The God of Abraham Praise
God the Lord is Known in Judah (Psalm 76, Cantus Christi)
Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah (Psalm 148, Psalter Hymnal)
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Holy, Holy, Holy
Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun
Let Israel Now Say in Thankfulness (Psalm 124, Cantus Christi)
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
This is My Father’s World
