What I've been up to.

Thank you sincerely to everyone who offered their encouraging comments on my lost post. Obviously I've been feeling a wee bit frazzled lately. A teething baby will throw off the schedule in just about any home, I suppose. And Chris has started a new job where he is away for long hours every day. Yet, I am learning to manage this new life with four children. I am learning to pace myself, to take time to recharge myself, and most importantly to engage the children in the work that needs to be done.

I decided to declare a no-school week this week--instead we are having a Life Skills Week. The time I would normally spend "doing school" with the children--about 2 hours per day, usually--I will dedicate to teaching the children how to help me more around the house. Today I worked with the boys for a while ensuring they knew how to put their own laundry away and tidy their room. Later today I will teach Kira how to do laundry. And the week will continue like that. I hope that this will be a good investment of time and that things will go at least a little bit smoother in the future.

Yesterday too, when I planted some garlic in the back yard which I had sprouted, I made sure Owen helped me. (I know, it's rather late to be planting garlic in Canada, but I had a whole bag full that was going to go bad before I could use it so I figured, might as well give it a shot! I put some cloves in a container with wet paper towel, and almost every clove sprouted within 24 hours.)

I pulled out the few straggly chamomile plants I had to make room for the garlic. There were a few blossoms on the chamomile, which strangely were the nicest and largest blossoms I've had so far. But there were only a few, not even enough for a good cup of tea, so out they came. I am sure the chamomile didn't grow very well because of the lack of sun in my back yard--for that same reason, I'm sure the garlic won't grow well either, but it's fun to experiment anyway.

I am going to try my best from now on to involve the children in my daily tasks. There is just no way I can comfortably manage our family business, take proper care of the home, cook all our food from scratch, tend to the baby, and facilitate the children's education besides, all by myself. I need to learn to delegate jobs, and ensure everyone in the house is resposible for their own messes.

But enough about that. I also wanted to mention a small sewing project I did for Halloween. Owen wanted to be Toad, who is character in the Super Mario universe who looks like a toadstool. I was rather proud of myself that I whipped up the right kind of hat at the last minute with some scrap fabric, although since I was making it about 5 pm on Halloween I had to glue on the red dots instead of sewing them by hand. Here is Amy modeling the hat:

In other news, I harvested my humble herb garden a little while ago, and some bunches of sage, lemon balm, rosemary and oregano have been drying on my clothes line in the back hall. It makes me so happy to see bunches of herbs drying! I'm not sure why, but it's just a happy sight. (No basil; my plant was huge, but it all withered away after a light frost we had one night. That's what I get for procrastinating.)

Remember my post on Unplugged Sunday? Well, we have been continuing this, and I must say it has been wonderful. I really enjoy having a day free from electronics. The house is so quiet and peaceful, and we have been doing some really fun activities in place of television and computer. My husband, for example, helped the children make their own board game. It's based on the video game MarioKart, which is ironic I know, but they have all been working hard on the game and it's such a joy to see the whole family work together on a project. (And fun to play together, as well).

Of course, with a seven month old girl around here, a lot of cuddling has been going on. Amy's older siblings all adore her and sometimes fights break out over who gets to cuddle with her! I guess there are worse things children could argue about. And I guess I understand. She's pretty darn cute.

(That's milkweek fluff on her shoulder--we had just gotten back from a walk!)

Life is full and good. :)

Comments

[Emily]

Just out of curiosity- what do your children do for the rest of the day? I too homeschool and while the actual school work part of the day is rather short I find myself organizing the whole day- crafts, stories, etc etc. This makes it hard for me to keep up with everything else I have to do. (as you mentioned last post). Just wondering what works for you guys!

[Leah]

So much good stuff going on there Laura! I look at having the kids help as part of homeschooling! I can relate to having a husband who works long hours away from home, but in the end it's only made me become more organized. We usually get through most of the housework and lessons before noon, so our afternoons and evenings allow time for all the other stuff- whether leisurely, productive, or both!

[Caroline Pestka]

Glad to see you are getting your kiddos involved in the housework. It really works for us. And you should get that book I mentioned, "Managers of their Homes." It is great. A little religious, but still useful. In our house, each child makes their own bed. My 7 year old does the breakfast dishes, my 5 year old feeds and waters the chickens and takes out the trash, the 7, 5, and 4 yearers take turns brining down the laundry and putting it into the washer. They each take turns watching the baby. Then they each have a "jurisdiction" - an area of the house they are responsible for keeping clean. Hope this helps! You are doing great.

[Laura @ LivingOurWay]

Thanks so much for the picture of the herbs drying. I have had a hard time understanding what people meant by drying herbs and now I get it :)

[Ellen]

Life skills are so important and yet they do seem to get pushed aside for other pursuits in school. I think the earlier you teach & train them, the easier it'll be (at least in attitude, maybe not execution of tasks/chores - you may have to redo what they do or it takes extra time). I wish I had when my kids were younger. You have a lovely looking blog - thanks for visiting mine. I'll be back for more hellos. What a sweet face your little one has! Boy, the time goes quickly!

[sara]

Hi hun...glad your getting it sorted..i too have my little ones do little jobs for me..making the bed,picking up toys and sorting out the books...also just started to show my eldest little one how to sort the laundry and pop it in the washer..the littlest one follows me around with her own duster..they also help their daddy with the chickens and collect the eggs...
These things always have a way of working themselves out..mostly down to mums organizing it..

Be good to yourself
love
sara