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Cop an Attitude about Organization

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Copping an attitude is not just for our two year olds. If we want to be successful at organization we need to cop a positive attitude about it.

A positive attitude affects what we want to achieve and sticks with us longer than any negatives we keep bringing up about our lack of self discipline or lack of consistency. Until we visualize the kind of homeschooling life we desire, we won’t get motivated about it.

What motivates me won’t motivate you. So how can you be determined to stay motivated? It comes from having a very clear picture of what YOU want.

In our August workshop, we encourage you to WRITE DOWN your goals and what brought you to homeschooling. Did you do that? Did you include how you do not want to be unorganized? It is your MISSION STATEMENT and your personal vision. This is different than a plan. Plans (or curricula) on how we achieve our personal vision will change, come and go and they should, but not our vision.

What you have done is set very clear expectations for your journey. You have determined your success.

So what do you really want? Do you really want to live in a chaos free household or stress free ? True, we know there are no guarantees as "life happens", but when you remind yourself daily of what you want, organization can be achieved.

Overcoming organizational hurdles like how we balance our time each day and clean our home can be reached through routine. Routine and organization do not stifle creativity, spur of the moment responses or cause boredom.

A consistent routine allows time for creativity and taking advantage of spur of the moment decisions we want to make in our day because our time and home are relatively uncluttered. Time to respond to the moment and live carefree are so much more exhilarating when we know we have kept our routine. We can savor the freedom.

Routine can be defined as "ordinary and regular". It is a blessing to have taught children and it is accomplished through "ordinary and regular" days not boring days.

Establish a routine that works for you. Teach the quality of orderliness to your children.

Blemishes are part of homeschooling. Our houses are our "hearts" and our hearts are not perfect. Strive for clutter free homes with some blemishes. That is realistic and not extreme.

No amount of articles and books on organization will be of any value unless you have attitude.

Attitude affects EVERYTHING, do you have it? :o)

©Tina Robertson

Menu Planning – A Lifesaver!

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If there is anything more satisfying in your endeavor to be organized and one of the very “first steps” to the “organization road”, it has to be meal planning. It gives a satisfying “return” quickly. We all want to see a “profitable return” on our time.

Meal planning is tops on the list for that profitable return.   How so? Look at this list.

menu planning in homeschool organization

 

1. Less time is spent in the kitchen (it’s true)

2. Direction for what to fix for supper at the end of a hard day of homeschooling is a stress reliever

3. If your family has special health needs, they can be filled

4. Less time in the grocery store

5. Less money spent because we are not making several trips and we are getting everything we need

6. More variety equals more enjoyment by our family

Now, since we live in a “different world” than most folks when it comes to everyday living, I won’t share with you crazy things on how to add variety, choose foods for eye appeal, contrast and balance foods,etc. Although it is good advice to follow, when you are trying to survive in the homeschool world, those things are secondary.

In reality, my family doesn’t mind simple meals and will eat chicken two days in a row. Of course, each family is different but the most important thing is to menu plan.

 Menu Planning – A Lifesaver?

1. Start with the recipes your family enjoys the most. When I first started, I could only think of 5. So it made me start to try out different meals. My family appreciated the variety.

2. Think of a system that works for you. I prefer a 5 inch notebook with page protectors. I don’t store cookbooks, I throw them away after going through them. See, in my ideal perfect world all of my pages would look the same in my ideal perfect cookbook, you know same font, same border BUT I don’t live in that world.

So my page protectors are filled with handwritten pages, recipes on index cards, typed pages, pages torn out from recipe books and various other assorted colors. BUT it is organized and tabbed for ME and how my family eats.

Don’t wait until you have the “perfect look” as THAT is NOT organization and you won’t take the FIRST STEP. Again organization is about making it work for YOU.

Some moms prefer an online free planner or even recipes on index cards or even a Word Document that you can add to each time. Find a system for you.

3. Spend time on your Grocery List. My Grocery List is set up “Aisle by Aisle” for Kroger (The store I do most of my food shopping at). If you take time to type one Master List and then put it on the refrigerator, then ALL family members can contribute to checking off when they used the item last.

I can’t express enough how much my printed grocery list has been a huge help to me through the years. I can update it any time. It also allows my sons to shop with Dad independent of me and now that my oldest will be driving, he can shop alone as he has a list “aisle by aisle”

Too, some moms prefer to laminate their list. ME, I prefer to print off like 20, keep them in my binder and then pull one out at the end of the week and put on the refrigerator.

So when it’s time for the grocery store, your list is half done. It saves time too while you are cooking since you don’t have to stop and write, just check off on your list what you need.

4. The last tip, try menu planning for a MONTH and not a week. This doesn’t mean you can’t buy weekly and take advantage of coupons but it means you have taken the time to plan for the MONTH and have flexibility within that month if you need to change things around.

Planning weekly is exhausting as the end of the week is here before you know it and there you sit on Sunday with what to fix the next week.

Menu Planning is a KEEPER when your day is full of homeschooling, activities and children.

Don’t deprive them, take time to do it and it’s WORTH every ounce of work you put into it.

Hugs to you and WHAT’S FOR SUPPER?

©Tina Robertson

Just breathe……..

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Be selfish, very very selfish because we will all face the same decision soon. Will we homeschool through to high school or turn the teaching reins over to somebody else?

I use to read articles about homeschooling through high school and would quickly glance over them. Sometimes, I would not read them at all{me bad} because that time seemed so far off. I figured by the time we get to high school, someone else would be teaching my sons.

Feeling vulnerable and being concerned that we are not going to adequately prepare our children for life can be gut wrenching.

Yet the time is almost here when my oldest son graduates next year. It is possible to go from vulnerable, scared, unprepared and not confident to being very, very selfish. Yes I get plain jealous thinking somebody else should teach him at the most critical time of his life. I won’t share his training for the future with anybody. Yes I’m selfish that way.

When the time came for high school and even a year or two before, it just seemed a natural continuation of the journey to keep on schooling him.

High School Years | Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Three things that helped me to remember that during the high school years we are still our child’s best teacher.

Look ahead. My husband and I feel that we have a junior partner in his education. No longer is he this 4 or 5 year old boy looking at me in wonder. He is a young adult, not a bigger child. He comes with a plan {although not always perfect}, an individual mind set, goals for his education, personality and oh yes strong opinions opposite of his father and myself at times. Bravo.

Look past it. Look past transcripts, chemistry, calculus and algebra. Homeschooling through to high school is not just about academics. While it’s true that knowledge is power in understanding your options, it’s equally important to remember that high school options are clear cut. The method to arriving at your options are precise. Will he go to a four year college? Will he do some missionary work? Will he go to a technical school? Will he do college courses at home?

You probably already have some idea. There is not as much guesswork as there was in the earlier years. For example, colleges have very specific guidelines they want you to follow. There are specific guidelines for scholarships, the work force and yes even when he obtains his license to drive.

Look past the mechanics and focus your energy on his heart. When he is a grown man sitting there weighing your advice against his own judgment, does he know in his heart your advice is for his eternal welfare?

Look back. Take time to savor the past. As my oldest son sat in my lap and I helped him mouth his first words or put the pencil in his tiny hand or helped him fold his hands in prayer, I was still the best teacher for him. Looking back, I realize that homeschooling through high school doesn’t mean I can’t get help from tutors, co-ops, or even classes. As long as it fits in what my end goals are, I am still the teacher.

I regret worrying so much about “that time”. So be jealous, very, very jealous and revel in teen life. My teen sons want to be treated as individuals. They need more than anything to be understood and help with their goals.

Place a high value on your time during the teen years and then you’re not so ready to swap your time. When the teen years come, remember that learning is lifetime. Just breathe and take the next step.

{I think I have a graduation party to plan!}

The Selfish Mom

I think we are ready for the next part for our Home Management Binder. Do you think we can have it done by spring? Then it can be all ready for spring cleaning and those projects.

Here is a quote I think about today as we choose homeschooling and dare to venture on to high school.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

~ Apple Inc.~

Hugs to ya

Tina

Can I really homeschool my special needs child?

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homeschooling a special needs child

Before I share a tidbit or two about this for those with a special needs child, please accept my hugs, love and prayers. Too, I want to say I do not have a special needs child. Then how can I write this?

Because for years and years I have been mentoring them, supporting them, crying with them and lovin’ them. I don’t know if it qualifies me anymore or less, but I want to share with you what I have learned in mentoring them, in the hopes it can give you comfort, strength and courage.

Homeschooling A Special Needs Child

First, nobody TRULY understands your circumstances more than you do. As each new learning approach and curriculum comes along, you will have to analyze it and see if it works for you. Your love for your child and understanding their heart along with prayer will guide you to successfully navigate your way through this journey.

Too, homeschooling a special needs child takes courage but also there will be times that you will need to get away from them. In order to be refreshed and renew your energy, take time to do that. You need this more so than any other parent that is homeschooling. On a daily basis, you may be dealing with outright acting up to almost no input receive from your child.

A networking system of either support from your spouse, extended family members or an agency set up to help you is absolutely necessary so that you can persevere.

There is not really a curriculum for a special needs child. However, there is curriculum that is more “user friendly” as far as making it fit your child’s need.

READ, READ, READ everything you can on your child’s disorder and determine to become “THE EXPERT” in whatever your child was diagnosed with.

Here are few book I enjoyed:

Taking Charge of ADHD – Russell Barkley. Also, his website has some  nice fact sheets that you mind find helpful.

Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level – Dr. Sally Shaywitz

Also, look at Jan Bedell’s site who is a homeschooling mom and neurodevelopmentalist. She does have some curriculum that is more “user friendly”. She has a free auditory test kit as well on her site.

http://www.littlegiantsteps.com/.  They are constantly given free evaluations.

Lastly, accept your child for who he is and not what you think he should be. Remember, love has no limits.

From my heart to yours, please know that all you moms and dads of special needs children have a soft place in my heart. You CAN DO IT!!

©Tina Robertson

Purdy Purdy Pink – Homeschool Graduation

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I fibbed. I know I said the inspire me review & giveaway was next, but over the weekend, I went to a homeschool graduation from one of the  families in my group and  it was so jaw dropping beautiful I had to share with you some visual eye candy. I don’t know if it was because we got our first day of cool weather or if because the graduation reminded me of the traditions I grew up with on my dad’s side of the family but it was a super Sunday for us. If I would have had a girl {sigh} this party reminded me of some of the girly girl things I would want.

Besides, who else but homeschoolers can have graduation parties anytime of the year and the rest of us not think anything about it?

This was the table you saw when you entered. I had to use white over her name but I don’t think that takes away from her beautiful entry table. I heart how she decorated a keepsake graduation hat.

On another graduation hat on the entry table they had all the guests to sign it. You see those guys in the back ground with white shirts and black pants. They were servers. We had a sit down meal with our own servers. Can you guess by now her favorite color?

Purdy purdy pink centerpiece table decorations.

The candy buffet was so beautiful and intricately done. It took me a few pictures to look at every detail.

Look at these numbers. She had taken pictures of her field trips, family and friends and added them to the numbers 2012 as another keepsake.

Mr. Senior 2013 may not be so interested in things like that but I know it is a great keepsake idea for graduation.

All the eye to details made the candy buffet eye candy.

You can see the reaction of Mr. Awesome when I ask him if he sees any ideas I could use at his graduation party. Okay, okay, I know you appreciate this "fine art". So the candy buffet table was not to be out done by the 3rd table.

The cake table.

There were three different flavors of cupcakes to choose from.

The cakes were as delicious as they looked.

Did I tell you one of the things I really heart about this graduation was that everything was lovingly made by all the family and extended family? The aunt made the cupcakes and cake and help decorated. She homeschools too and her boys are young. I can’t wait to see her boys’ graduation parties. The meal was prepared by the dad who loves to cook. It was so DE-LISH. It was smoked chicken strips and beef tenderloin in a southern cajun seafood sauce on a bad of jasmine rice.

Mr. Senior 2013 snapped this picture of the Mr. and me before the party started. I told you it was cool weather here because my hair gets more wild and big. Hubby is feeling better each day. It has been a long road to recovery. Some days good, other days not so good but one day at a time we take it.

There is the guest of honor. Her parents had got her the most frilly foo foo purdy pink dress. I snapped this picture of Mr. Senior 2013 right when the dance started before anybody else got up. My travel point and shoot camera is not so good on moving action photos but overall it was such a fun night for all of us. The family went to such great lengths to show their appreciation to not only me and my family for helping them on their homeschool journey but for all the support they got from friends. Going sappy on you here. To see little girls turn into such beautiful Christian woman, it stirs my heart.

I hope maybe it gives you an idea or two when it comes time to prepare for graduation in your family. It comes quicker than you realize.

I promise this time, a giveaway is next.

Meso-America Free lapbook is in the works. I have a printable for the student planner that was a special request. Pictures to share of the few changes I made to our school area and a little bit on organization of the kitchen is still coming.

Hugs today, you know I love ya,