Organizing

Organizing is hard, juggling a project along with running a farm, homeschooling, and keeping up with household and meals adds levels of organizing that I can't even comprehend much less put into action.  Baby steps!  Let's take this adventure together, we'll make a few changes, make some new routines, and throw out things that don't work and build on the things that do.  This week my 5 steps to healthy living and happy homeschooling will be:

1.  So how do you get breakfast on the table in a timely manner?  Crockpot!

Ok you've probably used a crockpot for dinner but why not start your breakfast with a jump start.  Oatmeal is a good starting point, so for the next two weeks I am committing to putting breakfast on at night in the crock.  4 cups of water 1 cup of oatmeal and some nuts and raisins.

2.  Planning time

Each evening during or right after supper I will plann the next days items with the family!  We have been using Google calendar for awhile and it has helped a lot!  I have different calendars for different reasons, my calendar, my husband's calendar, and even a cow calendar to keep up with who got bred when and due dates.  Google calendar allows you to view all calendars are select one or two.  You can accurately find things quickly that apply to an area of your life, like the dairy.  It only works if you use it and plan with it, so new step is to have a family planning meeting.  That way as a family we can decide when and what we want to do!  Everthing gets entered so that we know what is happening,  but we can chose one event over another in our planning meeting.  Great way to keep conversations going during meal time, what should we do and why? 

3.  Household organizing

This is an ongoing process.  My husband says it's a journey, not a destination! We have several living areas, one I call the craft cabin.  It is office, crafts, schoolroom, and any thing else you can think of.  I have been organizing this area for a while.  It isn't completely unorganized but could use more order.  Although this is an ongoing task, this week my goal is to make a huge dent.  Any suggestions are welcome!

4.  Exercise

We all know we need it but getting it done is the challenge.  This week if I haven't exercised by 7:00 I will do a corny exercise video, then maybe the next day I'll plan better and do something I like doing, although I do like workout videos I know I'm corny too!

5.  Waking up early

This is the hardest thing for me to do.  I'm a much better night owl!  But I really think that waking before 6 and get moving will help me to get more done.  It's all in the habbit, if I can do it consistently for a month it will become second nature and just be the way I am.  Now with this early rise I must go to bed early too.  So looks like I'm joining the 10`O clock club!  Whose with me? 

Lastley to keep up with this blog is another item I will work towards.  So here is my commitment to blog every other week.  Maybe once a week we will see how it goes.

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Taking a breath ....

New school year brings a lot of excitement.  New curriculum,  new supplies, and new adventures.  We hs moms struggle with am I doing enough, are there holes in their education?  I am discovering that by encouraging her ability to learn and desire to find the answers, if she has any holes when she discovers them she can fill them. 

I want to visit about tracking today! How do you track and keep up with what is going on in you school?  In the past I have always, they are stacked up on a shelf, made a book and spiral bound it.  Designed some of my own tracking pages, borrowed some, and edited others coming up with new forms. It had grade sheets, attendence, field trips, schedule,  and others.  It was a huge project that I would lock my self in the craft cabin and produce the best organizer I could.  UNTIL I found a wonderful little App for my tablet.  Yes, they have an app for that.

It is called Homeschool helper.  They have developed one for the ipad and the android, but tablets (pads) only, not for phones.  There is not enough real estate on a phone.  The app trackes grades progress reports and you can even email (the bigger kids) their lessons for the day, week, or whatever you want.  My 9 year old feels so grown up and responsible to recieve emails and to plan her time, learning time management,  get things accomplished.  Kind of sad because she doesn't need me so much, but glad she is becoming a responsible young lady. 

Hope this helps, and have fun tracking their school career. 

Some of you may have heard, WE HAVE THE CRAFT CABIN!  Well we are excited.  This will give us room and allow us to be more productive, but Alice thinks it is hers and the second it was ready she started moving in!  We are going to use it for Crafting and Classroom!  Most of the supplies for homeschooling also can be used for crafting so it kind of fits!

After we get it set up and operational, the goal is to have some type of Crafting Night for Moms or Mom and Me classes!  This will open a lot of possibilities for us here on the farm!

One of my first projects will be to make a produce bag, to hold greens and such, I found an article in Mother Earth News talking about it and how well it works.  If it actually works well you will be seeing them in your baskets soon, but remember to wash them and bring them back so we can reuse them!

When you stop by the Farm be sure and see the new "Craft Cabin"!  It's Cute!!!