A Beautiful Notice Board

With me homeschooling a lot and Simon at work even more, communication is probably one of the most challenging things facing the family. If I tell Simon something verbally, within moments he's forgotten it (in his own words!). Not even latest technology seems to work. So, we have opted for a very functional, and dare I say, very pretty a way of communicating. A white board. I know what you are thinking, " what's so special about a white board!?" but this is no ordinary white board. I found this white board at Bed Bath&Beyond for 20 bucks. It is, essentially, a giant sticker. It's our very own family giant "post it note". I use the board for messages, brain storming, lists, grocery lists and most importantly a "Simon to-do list" :)

Lesson Record Diary for Homeschool

As a homeschooling mum, one of the biggest challenges I have had to face is knowing where we are and what we've done in the large number of subjects, books and activities that we have to do. So, therefore, we have implemented a lesson record diary. For sure, this is NOTHING new for those teachers of you out there, but this certainly helps a new teacher, like me. Each day we record each activity, subject and learning outcome that takes place. The diary really helps to keep on track, to check our progress and to help in reporting back to the moderator. Any diary that allows enough space for detailed notes will do. I got mine from Walmart and the Dollar Store.

Reward Chart

 If you need to motivate your child to do right, a reward chart is a good start. However, it would be good to teach the child to do right from the heart and not just because she/he will "get something out of it". There is a saying though, "what gets rewarded, gets repeated". I have created a Reward Chart for my kids with the areas that they are currently struggeling in. There are many areas they struggle in that I put on the chart, but I don't want to overwhelm them. So I choose the 'worst' that need dealing with a.s.a.p as in, bad attitude, ungratefulness, selfishness, disrespect, disobidience etc and then turn those into ' happy heart, sharing is caring, no back-chatting, instant obidience'... So far so good!

Restrategizing "Organizing my Home in 30 Days"

Okay, I know you all have been waiting for my updates on how my organizing has been going. Well, my start was strong. I had good plans for each area of the house. While I was organizing these areas, my plans changed from good to GREAT. Now, I have BIGGER plans for the areas I wan't to organize and this will take more than 30 days. I won't go over 30 days, as in, the tasks combined will not take more than 24h x 30. :) Are you curious about what my GREAT plans are?? Well I thought you'd never ask! Here they are!

The Shed will not be cleaned and organized, but it will be stripped, cleaned, painted and refurnished to be a very nice extention of our house! YES indeed! We will be getting rugs, a couch, scrapbooking table, shelving, mirrors, art- you name it! It will be a man cave, play den, pantry, art room and even during summers a great extra bedroom for visitors.

The Pantry will be dedicated for homeschooling and homeschooling only. Books, notebooks, workbooks, paper, crayons, art supplies, more books, more paper, craft supplies, board games etc

Laundry Room will be for linen, towels, blankets, basket etc

The Linen Cupboard will be extra space for clothes and other items.

Kayleigh's Room will have a whole new make over, paint job and a well organized toy area for her to maintain as well as a 3 years old can. We will go through her clothes and her princess dresses and give them a more accessable place for her to reach them.

The Backyard will be emptied from summer toys, gardening tools, pots, etc. We will decorate it to be a warm, welcoming back garden for the Autumn and Winter with logs, garden statues, Autumn plants and so on.

Joshua's Room will also get a make over, paint, toy organizing and so on.

Let the MAMMOTH task begin!

Organizing the Cuttlery Drawer (Day 4)

People should be extra tidy and CLEAN, when it comes to the drawers in the kitchen. Especially, if you live in a country that has those little gross bugs called ROACHES! Coming from a country where the worst kitchen enemy was a silverfish, I was utterly grossed out by finding a small roach in my kitchen drawer. Everything else in my kitchen was organized except the drawers. The drawers were on the top of my list for Organizing my home in 30 days thank goodness! Think about it, you and your family eat with those utensils right!? Imagine what is on them. Keep your drawers and cupboards TIDY and SANITIZE them at least every other week.

I am NOT joking, my drawers looked like that. Seriously.

and

Keeping the utensils that I rarely use in a seperate container, keeps my drawer organized and prevents them from sliding all over. I would've used sticky matt for the rest of the untensils but I ran out. Will have to purchase some more!

Homeschool: Creating a Classroom in Your Kitchen

I have been homeschooling my son for 2 years now. Officially 1. Untill now it has never really had that feeling of "school" that I hoped for. What I have tried to do is create a school like feeling that is one condusive to learning, but second, a place where I feel motivated to be a teacher. 

So, I went out and bought some things that would help me to create this educational enviroment, and spent the evening -and some of the night, putting up all the stuff. When we were done we had a white board, A-Z stickers, a month chart, days of the week cards, weather chart, and a reward chart up. 

In the morning when the kids woke up, they were amazed and happy.

 Click on the images below, to appear bigger.

Our Classroom.

 Months and weekdays.

 The blackboard and reward chart.

I look forward to teaching these little kiddos again on Monday!

T-Shirt Designs

 

Another fun craft idea to do with the kids! It was a great way to teach them how to design their own shirts and wear them with pride. They were really happy to create a shirt for themselves. It's special! 

I bought the plain t-shirts and fabric pens from Walmart.

Soap Cloud Experiment

Kids love it! Watch the bar of soap grow into a fluffy cloud! It has to be IVORY, else it wont work. Our first try did not work as well as our second go. The kids took the cloud to the bath afterwards.

 MUST be IVORY!

Ooh! Exciting!

 It's growing!

It's a cloud! (looks different every time)

My Organized (Imperfect!) Home in 30 days

Here it is, finally, my post(s) on how I am going to organize my home in 30 days. Most of the areas in our home are pretty under control, but I still want make them even better. I will figure out what works best for our family, with our schedule, our daily activities and rhythm.

The areas I am going to take control over are,

• laundry room
• linen cupboard
• kitchen pantry
• entry ways
• kids toys
• crafts
• dressers and wardrobes
• bathroom
• shed
• our bedroom 
• homeschooling shelves

I will also blog about de-cluttering, recycling, and re-using.There is no certain order I am going to do it. I know that I will start with the linen cupboard though, it has been bugging me for quite some time now. Also, the drawers in the kitchen look like a spoon factory vomited in them. So yes, that is on the top of my list too.

Let the organizing begin! Stay tuned!

Housewife University: Forgiveness

Housewife University: Forgiveness

Animal Collage From Your Pantry

I took the kids to Maplewoods Farm. We had a fun time learning about the everyday life that takes place at a farm and how to even milk a cow old fashioned way. I asked my kids to count the animals they saw (besides the 100's of ducks) and write them down on a piece of paper they carried with them. At home I asked them to chose their favourite farm animal and to make a collage out with whatever we found in our pantry. This was a fun and frugal way of making art.

 Mid way of our art project.

 Almost there!

 J's Goat Collage.

K's Horse Collage.