You should Quit Your Job!

Have you ever happened to have a rough day at work? Or even a whole week or even a whole season of hard times at work?? If your answer is 'YES'... then,

YOU SHOULD TOTALLY QUIT YOUR JOB! Seriously. Just quit!

Yeah well, if I told you that I get that advice at times, would you believe me? No really, I do.

I am a mother of 4. I homeschool 2 of them, grades K and 3. That means that I have a toddler and baby to take care of too. I also need to cook, clean and take care of my mental and physical health on top of the other million things that need doing. To top it off, my pregnancies can be quite testing to say the least, and I have been in situations at times where I've had to rely on other people's help. Yes, I've humbly asked or accepted a hand, to tackle my busy life.

I get a lot of advice and I hear a lot of opinions on how people think I should do things i.e. live life. When I've had a testing time in my life, as short as a hour or as long as a month (pregnancies for example), people tell me to give it up. They tell me we'd be better off putting our kids into school, stop having kids and to go get my life back (whatever that means???) To that I feel like saying,

-When the next tough time at work or in whatever you love to do happens, just give it up and quit! Life is supposed to be easy peasy all of the time, don't you know?? There are no trials, no testing, no growth, no negativity, no mistakes, and everything should be just great! If you don't have it good all of the time, you're obviously doing something wrong or don't know what you are doing, putting yourself into these situations... hello!

and that is what I feel like saying... but since I think before I speak type...

Okay, what I mean to say is that, life will always be hard at times in someway or another. We all have our trials, our bad days and we grow from them, we mature and we become more wise. We know the good days outnumber the bad by a zillion and we all make different choices in life, even though they may happen to have a hard journey to the destination and we may even have to ask and/or accept help to get there. Sometimes the journeys feel like they last forever! Hard work pays off. In my case, my pregnancies are hard, but they pay off, oh so well...

Children are a blessing, NOT a burden. My body might ache, my mind might be tired at times, well a lot perhaps, but my soul and heart leap for joy! Our children do not hinder our marriage but bring us closer together as a team, as husband and wife. 

This is my job. I am a mom. I homeschool them. I'm beat at the end of the day and cannot wait to put my feet up. There are days when I don't want to go to work, but I have to. There are days, I'm so tired, I moan about it and have a sour attitude about it, but it passes. There are times, I am so overwhelmed that I need to plug into the Word and prayer so that I can survive another hour... and I'd do anything for someone to just give me a hand. There are times I just want to scream... And it passes.

But guess what, I love my job. I love my calling. It's a holy calling. I love my family. Everyday I am taken aback by how blessed I am with all I have. I love teaching and spending time with my kids. I love watching them discover and grow. I love to menu plan and cook for them. I love taking them to activities and field trips. 

I love my job.

With or without kids, life can be testing.

"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise" -Oscar Wilde

Managing Your Home Part 2

I am almost there. Figuring out this master schedule has really been a challenge. It's a lot of work, it takes a lot of thinking and planning and praying about whether our decisions are the right way to go for our family. I haven't yet completed the weekly master schedule, and one reason is that I have to make 7 schedules for 5 people. That's a lot of brain work, and usually by the evening my brain is fried already. Well this is what I've done so far.

First, I've listed all the norm activities and homeschooling for each child, for each day. This gives me a clear picture of the 'slots' for the other things that need doing. I'm trying not to over crowd the days, but also, I'm trying not to give them too much time to get bored and misbehave either.

I've also made a list of house work that needs doing daily, weekly and monthly. Finding the right slot for it and the right person to do it, assures it gets done and nothing piles up. When stuff piles up, it can get so overwhelming, and we often find ourselves at each others throats and rushing around, because we were not prepared. Unfortunately, relationships suffer and there is not enough time left for one on one time or family time, when its all rush rush "I can't read you a book now, because mum is doing EVERYTHING!!!!!!!" I don't want that. My desire it to spend a lot of time with my kids and investing in their lives. We're working towards that.

When there are clear slots for i.e dishes, quick tidy ups and everyone is involved and in training, nothing should pile up and there should be enough time to fellowship and do other activities. the laundry piles up and you find yourself doing several loads a day, without having the proper time to fold them away, on top of that you still need to do your basic daily chores and activities. And usually we got more on our plate "to do" than just one thing. I end up trying to do more than I can handle and "mum just turned into the wicked witch" to top it off! Oh, and when will you find the time to fold those several baskets of laundry? When your kids are asleep, cause you didn't want to sit down and relax anyways?

So, I made a chore list for each kid according to their age, and scattered it throughout the week. This allows me to do my chores too in scheduled slots, while supervising the kids. Hopefully, the training will go well and they absorb the new schedule well. 

Like I said, it isn't ready, I'm nearly there... Once I got it together, I will post a pic of one complete day and then follow ups on how the new schedule training is going for all of us.

More on Managing Your Home Part 1 HERE

How to de-itemize your home HERE

 How do you schedule?

Managing Your Home Part 1

Since having more than one kid, fourth one on the way, I feel like I need to invest in training my children to be proactive and contribute a bit more to this household.

Lately I have been quite overwhelmed with keeping this home in a semi clean state, while homeschooling and living the basic daily life, you know, needed grocery shopping, meal making, diaper changing, nose wiping, hobby driving- life. Something needed to be done.

I ordered the Managers of Their Homes book, to get me organized once and for all. I have not gone through the whole book yet, but needless to say, I have picked up some valuable jewels along the way. I cannot, cannot, cannot, do everything in this home without sacrificing the relationships that matter the most to me, So, I have taken the very first steps to being more wise about the 24h we have been given each day.

There is freedom in structure, in scheduling, in rhythm. Yes there is. I've only tested a fraction of our new possible "master schedule" for the last few days, and we have spent more time reading, playing games, spending time together in general, while our home has kept afloat. *BIG SMILE* The house has not fallen apart! Which, to be honest, it usually does -one or the other suffers.

Sooooo, I'm so excited!!!! What are the few new (old but new) changes we have made?

Training the kids to be proactive.

Bathroom Training - Keeping the bathroom clean! No toys, no books and no toilet paper strewn all over the floor. No smudged toothpaste in the sink and no semi rinsed tooth brushes left out. 

First we tell them. Then we demonstrate. Then we supervise.....Then we remind them. 

I left a pack of wipes under the sink for the kids to give the sink a daily wipe if they see smudges. The bag of toilet paper is out of sight, so if the roll on the wall has run out (which they will learn how to change themselves) they need to ask for help. Otherwise, seriously, there will be several rolls and pieces strewn all over the floor. 

I wrote a temporary reminder on the wall saying,

"Bathroom Rules-

Keep it mess free! -No toys, no books, no papers...

Wash your hands with WARM water and soap. (My kids tend to be lazy with the tap and use cold only)

Turn off the lights, and close the door.

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The Dinner Table Training - 

1. No play No messing around, no toys on the table etc
2. Clean up after yourself Bring your dishes to the sink or dishwasher, wipe up after yourself and if needed sweep under the table.
3. Ruoka Rauha (direct translation food peace = dinner peace) 

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I purchased some pull out drawers for the cupboard next to our dishwasher, so that our kids could easily empty the dishwasher in the mornings. Usually it's been quite the hassle for them, since our plates and cups were directly on top of the washer and they had to get on and off the kitchen chair to manage the task. So for a while, it has been Simon and I doing the dishes. Well, after purchasing and after Simon installing the mesh drawers, the kids have easily been able to do this morning chore without frustration. This "small" chore has given me the chance to focus on getting breakfast done and changing baby Lucy's morning nappy, on top of other bits and bobs, that would usually leave me rushing around.

We have a long way to go yet, with finishing up a chore list for each family member, a daily schedule, a meal planner and making sure everyone gets enough one on one time with each other. We want to make sure, everyone -including the parents, get enough sleep each night, we want to plan and prep for healthy meals, we want to live a more stress free-rush free life, we want to teach the kids responsibility, we want to build relationships between family members and so on.

There is a pioneer family of 11, who inspired us to get this book. Have a look at her website! www.largefamiliesonpurpose.com

What are your ways of keeping your family afloat?