Homeschool Room Spring Cleaning Motivation Video

I homeschool many children. We have a large homeschooling family. Our style is Relaxed Homeschooling. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Here is a quick video to watch for motivation to clean your homeschool areas of the house or homeschool room. Enjoy and get energized! If you like it, please sign up to receive my posts (which are not very frequent) in your E-mail box when they come out. If you are a WordPress blogger, please subscribe to my posts on WordPress Reader. Thanks!

Enjoy this very short video!

Motivation For You! Watch me Clean My Homeschool Room

 

Related posts

Housecleaning is Part of Homeschooling

Does Your Family Do Housework on the Sabbath?

Classroom Set-Up: Back to Relaxed Mormon Homeschool

Just Start Cleaning and Ask them to Help

Making Space for a Better Homeschool

 

Interconnected Family Health

Lately I have learned that everything I need to do for my personal health, affects our homeschool. I focused on my health. Today I came to the conclusion that my husband’s and my childrens’ health contributes to the success of our homeschool, too. I also decided that all of us can influence everyone else’s health. I observed that each aspect of health also affects every other aspect of health. 

Important are Spiritual, Physical, Emotional, Mental, Social and Financial Health. Each aspect of Health is intertwined with each other aspect of Health. Each family member’s health is interconnected with the health of each individual in our family. The things each individual does, contributes to or takes away from the good health of the family’s whole health.

I came up with a plan to make task lists daily for each family member which will help us all improve our personal healths, our interpersonal healthiness and our overall family health. It has been working well so far today.

For me, this blog post is great for my mental health today. This will contribute to the mental health of the family, as well. I am so excited for this personal mothering breakthrough. It is for me a great discovery!

I hope it will benefit your family to ponder this!

Oompa Loompas Chapter 16, with Math

My kids have been doing math this morning as I have read to them. Surprisingly, it helps them get it done faster, and I do not know why. It is some kind of brain thing. I think it is because they are using both sides of the brain at the same time. Maybe you could try it. It has been amazing. Of course, I did have to keep saying, “Keep doing your math.”

Today’s Agenda

These are my plans. We’ll see how it goes. Having a plan does not mean this is exactly what we will do. It means these are my goals for today.

1- sleep in, breakfast–catch up on rest after all the canning (whew)

2- get ready for the day (showers, etc.)

3- have life school/ discover the old testament lesson

4- housecleaning and lunch

5- complete life school /discover the old testament assignments

6- Speech & Debate homework

Update: We did do 1-5! Yay

My Book Recommendations for Homeschooling Moms & Dads!

I often get questioned about how to deal with this or that problem and I often give book recommendations. I love reading non-fictions books which will help me with my homeschool. Here are some of my favorite recommendations, the ones I recommend most often to more homeschool moms and the ones which have influenced whatever wisdom I have with which to homeschool. Some of them, I picked up long before starting to homeschool.

“Homeschooling Day by Day,” by Kristy Howard

“The Homeschool Experiment,” by Charity Hawkins

“Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe,” by Todd Wilson

“Things We Wish We’d Known: A Guide to Abundant-Life Homeschooling,” by Diana Waring

“The Underground History of American Education,” by John Taylor Gatto

“Unschooling Rules,” Clark Aldrich

“The Learning Coach Approach,” by Linda Dobsen

“The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child’s Classroom,” by Mary Griffith

“Discover Your Child’s Learning Style,” by Mariaemma Willis, M.S. and Victoria Kindle Hodson, M.A.

“Cooperative Learning in the Classroom,” by David W. Johnson, et.al

“Farenheit 451: A Novel,” by Ray Bradbury

“The Active Classroom Fieldbook: Success Stories From the Active Classroom,” by Ronald Nash

“Help! Around the House,” by Don Aslett

“Not For Packrats Only,” by Don Aslett

“Done!” by Don Aslett

“Unconditional Parenting,” by Alfie Kohn

“The Homework Myth,” by Alfie Kohn

“The Schools Our Children Deserve,” by Alfie Kohn

“Help! I’m Married to a Homeschool Mom,” by Todd Wilson

“Number Sense Routines,” by Jessica F. Shumway

“Spelling in Use,” by Lester L. Laminack and Katie Wood

“Whole Learning: Whole Language and Content in the Upper Grades,” by Pat Cordeiro

“The NDD Book,” by William Sears, M.D.

“How to Negotiate With Kids Even When You Think You Shouldn’t,” by Scott Brown

“How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk,” by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

“Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live, Too,” by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

“Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach…” by Hal Edward Runkel

“A Parent’s Guide to the Montessori Classroom,” by Aline D. Wolf

“Montessori Madness,” by Trevor Eissler

“Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years,” by Elizabeth Hainstock

“Teaching Montessori in the Home: The School Years,” by Elizabeth Hainstock

“Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky,” by Carol Garhart Mooney

“Called Home,” by Karen DeBeus

“Superwoman Syndrome,” by Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz

“Toxic In-Laws,” by Susan Forward

“The Tender Heart: Conquering Your Insecurity,” by Joseph Nowinski

“Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate You,” by Susan Forward

“The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk,” by Diana West, IBCLC and Lisa Marasco, M.A., IBCLC

“Numbers in Pre-School and Kindergarten,” by Constance Kamii

“Young Children Reinvent Arithmetic, Second Edition,” by Constance Kamii

“Young Children Continue to Reinvent Arithmetic, Second Grade, 2nd Edition,” by Constance Kamii

“Young Children Continue to Reinvent Arithmetic, 3rd Grade,” by Constance Kamii

“Achievement Testing in the Early Grades: The Games Grown-Ups Play,” Edited by Constance Kamii

“How to Raise a Child With a High (E.Q.) Emotional Quotient,” by Lawrence E. Shapiro, Ph.D.

“Teaching Children Empathy, the Social Emotion: Reproducible Worksheets…” by Tonia, Ph.D., Casselman

“That’s My Son: How Moms Can Influence Boys to Become Men of Character,” by Rick Johnson

(Utahns) “The Utah Adventure,” by John McCormick

“Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” by Seth Godin

“Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family,” by Mary Ostyn

“Getting to Dry: How to Help Your Child Overcome Bedwetting,” by Max Maizels

“What Your Explosive Child is Trying to Tell You: Discovering the Pathway from Symptoms to Solutions,” by Douglas A. Riley

“The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller,” by John Truby

Just Start Cleaning and Ask them to Help

I felt depressed because of the state of the house and my desire to can peaches. I was almost unable to feel, think, or do anything. I just got up, barely survived an extremely exhausting day being a homeschooling mom and teaching academics, and went to bed. I told my husband how I feel, expecting him to help relieve me of the pressure and the depression. He did not. He didn’t really know what to say. He said he would help. That was not what I wanted.

I did not know what I did want. I prayed a lot and asked my husband to pray for me. It took introspection and prayer to realize that I was in exactly the state President Monson was wanting me not to be in when he told the parable of the molting hens. I was a hen in a molt. 

When I finally realized this, I decided to just do the housecleaning, no matter how little I would or could get done compared to all the things on my do list. I worked and worked and worked. Heavenly Father helped by softening the hearts of my children. I did not yell at them at all, but politely said, “Will you please…?” for task after task. When they were done with one, I asked them do do the next. Surprisingly, the 2 oldest just kept doing task after task. It was beautiful and my own little miracle. I think that my working alongside them, not depressed or angry, went a long way, and they decided if I was working cheerfully, they could, too. 

My whole attitude about things was different. Instead of focusing on how far behind I was and all that I would not be a le to accomplish, I just did a baby step, then another, then another. I washed the dishes. The kids loaded the dishwasher and ran it. The kids swept and I mopped with the exhuberant help of a toddler and a preschooler (and 3 mops) who love getting wet and playing with the mop water! We all washed the table together, as it needed lots of tlc and extra work scraping. 

This made an amazing difference in my attitude and I am so pleased with how much more positive my attitude is and how much better I feel today. I still have not started canning yet, and who knows when I will get to it. I am going to take one step at a time and we will progress every day.

Homeschool: History Books for Kids to Explore (Child-Led Learning)

I have not too often encountered questions on how to teach history. However, now and then I do. I love History and my kids do, too. There are a plethora of boring, biased and inaccurate ones. There are many without the right perspectives, or with perspectives which are too narrow and one-sided.

I have enjoyed buying history books which are more well-rounded, entertaining for kids and adults so we will enjoy them, and here, I will help you find them. If you are into child-led learning, you will love these as I have loved them. They do not come in a box all together. You have to order them one by one. That is what amazon.com is for! Since we homeschool, we do amazon prime. It is worth it! We pay a yearly fee and then do not have to worry about a lot of the shipping. Some of the shipping, we still have to pay (to third party sellers).

I went onto wikipedia and (yes, time-consuming, but, later, saves time) I make a list of what I wanted my kids to learn each school year. I cannot afford to buy books on everything. Amazon wish lists are for waiting, and having what you want, on the ready for when money comes. We budget an amount each pay period for education expenses. Every 2 weeks, we can spend a certain amount. It is not a lot bit not too little, either. You can decide on something like this, too.

When I am in the mood, I search up books on rach topic I want covered. I click on “look inside” and look through it. I read the description of each and readnthe reviews. I choose the book that looks the most information-packed, accurate, well-rounded, informative and entertaining for kids (not in that priority order).

Here is one example of a really great children’s book about hostory! It’s great! It was written by someone who is passionate about this topic and was illustrated with the same passion! Johann Gutenberg and the Gutenberg Press

I have told a few people about this method of mine and they have said they do not have time to go through all that, to search up thr best books. I don’t get it, because it is so much fun. Hopefully, this post will give you relief and lighten that (sarcastic) BURDEN of sifting through books. 

 You Choose Interactive History Books Series

These books are amazing! They are historical fiction and historical fact mixed. They are written in a “Choose Your Own Adventure” style with real facts mixed in (you can tell by the way it is designed what is fact and what is fiction). It is a great way to see history from multiple perspectives and put yourself into that time period. My kids and I read all of the paths anyway, because we want to.

Ride Like The Wind: A Tale of the Pony Express

This one has an amazing way of telling about what it was like for pony express riders. It shows what the time period is like. The text is so well-written, I feel like I am reading one big, long, poem. I can feel the gorgeous sunsets and can taste the cowboy meals. I can feel the heat of the cowboy fire. I can feel the wind, cold and heat on my face as I ride. When I read it to my kids, we are all pony express riders, cap

Homeschooling with Uncle Steven Lessons

I just read an article about things that will ruin your homeschooling day and year. A lot of these rules are o.k., but number 6 really bothers me. Number 6 rule says to not to allow for interruptions, such as visits from people. She said she only allows phone calls from her husband, during the homeschool day.

If I had told my Uncle Steven that we could not be disturbed during certain hours of the day, my kids would not know him. He passed away this year in the end of September.

Whenever he came, all my kids gathered around to listen to his stories. He always wondered why we were not “doing school” or outside playing. He did not know that my kids and I adored him and that they would come in from outside just to visit with him.

He did not know how much we loved him. He did not know that I felt like they could learn more about life, and more wisdom, from listening to him than from any “academic” lessons out there. He did not know how wise I thought he was, or how I wanted so badly for my kids to learn everything they could from him.

My point is, do allow for “interruptions” in your “homeschool day.” Let all of life interrupt your academic and book studies. Everyday life is far more important than formal academic studies. Perhaps you think that later, when they are 18, that is the time that they are less busy learning important academics and time for them to face “the real world.”

At age 18, kids graduate from High School and many go on to technical colleges, community colleges, Colleges, Universities, or jobs. Active young men in the LDS church will go on missions. At age 18, they will leave home or be away from home most of the time.

If things are the way they were for me, perhaps Grandma will have dimentia when they get back. That grandma time will not be over, but very changed and very hard on the heart.

If I had waited for my kids to feel the real world, and had told Steven he had to leave and come back after we were done with our homeschool day, they would not have had the chance to know him at all. Steven did not have until they are finished with High School or a mission. He passed away while most are elementary school aged and one is 12.

Most of the very most valuable and important lessons in life will go away and be gone by the time a child becomes an adult. At 18, is there more time for such important family life learning? No, there is not more time. In fact, there is less time. When in the mission field or away at school or in a full time job, an adult does not have time to sit and listen to his or her great Uncle tell stories. There is too much to be done.

When that person is steady dating, becomes enganged, gets married and has kids, there is not more time to sit and listen. In short, if I had not decided on purpose, to make listening to and visiting with Steven, a priority, even with 6 kids to take care of, homeschooling to be done and housework to be done, I would have let that time with Steven be lost. I could not have made it wait until my kids were married and gone.

I have something important to say here. Life will not wait until you are ready for it. It must be lived now. Long visits with loved ones cannot wait. They must happen now. Time given to our children, our siblings, our parents, our cousins, our aunts and uncles, our friends and neighbors, must be given now. Time for people cannot wait until later. People are the important part of life. Academic studies are not.

This is big. This is true. This is real.

The Current Mix of Our Homeschool Day

We were asked in an Eclectic Homeschooling facebook group about our current (not year-round average, just current) mix.

I have been changing the numbers around and this is my guess, including the “homeschooling hours” Mon.-Fri. between 9 am and 4 pm only.

This is how we learn at our house, in order from the most to the least

Mom:

breastfeeding
cleaning up Vomit and getting more pedialyte
keeping kids dressed and fed
responding to kids and their needs
Teaching and correcting academic work
helping with Hope Haven Events, and preparing presentation and booth for Winter Homeschool Conference
Reading aloud to kids

Kids:

Playing with other siblings
Reading books/ magazines/ news of choice from our home library & internet
Legos and other toys
Self-Directed Learning
Fighting, discussing, negotiating and learning to get along
Playing with the Baby and teaching him to walk
Childcare
Learning about and Discussing our religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
Learning about and Discussing Current Events and Politics
Housecleaning
Personal Grooming, Health & Nutrition
Early Childhoold Education
Life Skills
L.I.F.E. School Curriculum
math via Utah’s former core curriculum (before common core) via worksheets, iPad math and Constance Kamii math
iPad and YouTube learning by taking turns
Discover the Old Testament
God’s Design for Science
Serving each other, and others
Art and Art History (my own curriculum)

I love that homeschooling is so auto-flex. What we need more and what works best, always naturally becomes what we do more of. What we need least naturally falls off of the bottom and just becomes a memory when it no longer serves us.

New Homeschool Routine For January 2015!

Jeff said, “They only get 10 minutes of one on one time per day?” I said, “That is not all of the one on one time they get in a day. When they need help with Life School workbook, math, or discover the scriptures, they get one on one, but that is usually 2 minutes for this one, then 2 for that one, when they say, ‘I need help’ or when I check their work.”

Lest any forget, they get a ratio of 6 kids to one teacher (mom) all day long. That’s better than 25 kids to one teacher! When they have a question, it gets answered. Everyone’s every question gets answered almost every time. When they need help with their work, they wait in line behind one or two siblings for a couple minutes per sibling, then they get their one on one attention and help.

That is not even to mention that my 2nd grader can get help from my 5th grader or from my 7th grader if I am momentarily busy. My 5th grade son can get help from his 7th grade sister. Sometimes, my 7th grader can get help from my 5th grader (especially in Science, but, sometimes, he remembers some math things better than she does, and he reminds her). My kindergarten sin can learn how to read from 3 older siblings, when they read aloud to him. My 7th grade daughter makes teaching preschool and kindergarten one of her free time hobbies, which is wonderful and very helpful! She even uses the standards I have written up and in a book for each individual child, and asks me about teaching methods. I love that she is so willing to help in that way!

In case you are wondering, Life School teaches all subjects except dance and math, I believe. DTS is Discover the Scriptures,

I am excited for this, so I hope this works!

Peace out!