John sent these images to me via email. I actually remember seeing ads similar to this when I was little. What a good lesson in the powerof media and advertising!

Left me quite speechless!

The view in my kitchen this morning at 9am.

Click for larger image

It has only taken me over 20 years but finally am able to manage a clean and shiny sink most days of the week. Yes, this has been regularly happening since before Christmas but I didn’t want to get overly excited too quickly and have egg on my face. But it’s been a few months now and I love it!

How did this happen?

1) My children grew up! No longer do I have toddlers, rather children who can contribute to the running of the home and do chores.
2) Clearing off most of the benches in the kitchen. I don’t know why but having a clear kitchen makes me more likely to go in there.
3) Getting rid of the dish drainer! The dish drainer was always full of clean dishes, just begging to be put away. But we never did. Put them away. We simply used the drainer as more of a second cupboard. So I got rid of it by hiding it in the cupboard. Now it only comes out for special occasions like a large family meal. So my mother as right all along. Who woulda thunk it? She always told me to dry the dishes as soon as you wash them. There, it’s quite simple really. Pffft! Easier said than done. Of course it also helps having a dishwasher.   :yes:

An apology

To the mums of younger children – I apologise. If I had read a post like this a few years ago I would probably have wanted to spit chips. But please don’t be cross with me for sharing my little celebration with you. One day…. a few years from now, you too may have a clean, tidy sink. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it’s just a hangup of mine. 😉  I remember often feeling that while the years seemed to fly by the days seemed to drag- nappies, mess, meals, laundry, etc. the never-ending-ness of it all is quite wearing. But… take heart, this too shall pass! Enjoy the journey, whatever stage you’re at.

Disclaimer

I don’t believe it is possible to be a homeschooling mum of more than one young child and have a clean, tidy sink. If you do- you need to stop fussing with the sink and go and be with your children!

There is something special and beautiful about hanging one’s clean laundry on the line. I love the fresh crispness of the clothes… knowing that they’ve been additionally whitened, brightened and deodorised by the shining sun. I still use the dryer for some things like socks and underwear and I might also throw the towels in the drier just to fluff them up a little. The added benefit of using the line to dry clothes is that they last longer! Have you ever noticed all the lint that collects in the lint filter of the drier? A lot of that is the clothes slowly wearing away… a good reason to line dry.

In fact I love my washing machine! I love the convenience…but I must tell you that the cleaning power doesn’t come close to that of twin tubs, let alone the old wringer washing machine my mum used to use. On more than one occasion dad offered to buy her an automatic washing machine but she wouldn’t take him up on the offer – she didn’t mind the hard work and she loved the results! I’ve often said to John that our next machine should be a twin tub machine…but we’ll wait and see. It would take a bit of a mind switch for me to develop a new weekly laundry routine, but I’m sure I would manage. What is your laundry routine?

We’ve always taught our children to apply themselves to a given task with intensity and purpose. This sometimes sees them succeed and other times sees a result such as the image below.

Yes, this is Miss A’s x-ray of her hand. Whilst playing softball, she slid into third base, doing an avoidance slide, and caught her thumb the wrong way on the base. The result was a nasty thumb dislocation. We have to go to a SportsMed today or tomorrow so that they can assess the hand and see if there is been much ligament damage. The downer about it all is that she has another Open Women’s Tournament in 4 weeks, heading straight into the U/19 Tournament. This is her last year in U/19 and she really wanted to do well. She is also Captain of this team. She’d hate to miss out on playing, so we are praying for a miracle. If you would like to join us in prayer, we would be appreciative.

Oh yes… she was safe at 3rd   😉

I am convinced that homes are not designed by women – at least women who actually work within the home!! Okay my current pet peeve is clothes- dirty ones, clean ones and ones in the ironing pile. Having in between 6 and 8 people live in our house throughout the years has given me lots of opportunity to ponder the stupidity of walk in robes or wardrobes in bedrooms. When newly married, we designed and built our own home and yes, we did build it with a walk in robe. But I would definitely not do the same again!

Next time, I will build a room next to the laundry. In that room I will have an area set up to fold the clean clothes (with an under-bench area for storage of ironing and other odds n ends) and an area for the ironing board- so it could stay set up. I would build my sliding door robes INTO THIS ROOM! As as usual, each person would be allotted one wardrobe each. Then, every evening or morning, every person could simply choose their clothes, take them to their room and get dressed.

Smart eh? I think so.

As it is now our kitchen table is covered in clean laundry EVERY DAY – clothes that are waiting to be ironed or put away!  (We don’t have spare rooms or anything like- nor do we have a separate family room or dining room in which to make use of) In our last few homes we had two lounge/family areas or two dining areas so we utilised one of those rooms as our clothes area. But now we’re living in a small house I am so frustrated. No, the answer isn’t to own less clothes because we really don’t own that many. I believe that the whole concept of individual bedrooms and wardrobes is ridiculous!

How much extra walking is it for a woman? I take the clothes from the dryer or the line to the table. I fold them into piles. I take them to each room. I then arrange the clothes on the bed while I put them away into the wardrobe. I might do this 2 or even 3 times per bedroom, depending upon how many clothes there are! Ridiculous!

Maybe when I’m finished homeschooling I’ll learn how to design the floor plan of homes and start a new business!

Originally written in May 2007 but revised to reflect changes for 2009.

Confession time! I am not a highly organised person. I like the cosy warmth of clutter. I love my ornaments and nick-knacks as they all have a story behind them…they have sentimental value. I can’t take them with me when I go to be with the Lord, and I can live without them, but they are like good friends- I like to have them around.

I used to love decorating and making my home a cosy place to retreat but it has become harder to do as we move around frequently. I also find that modern homes, while clean and lovely, don’t have the same warmth and character- they lack the homey ambiance of older homes. However, I didn’t set out to write about decorating or house style but organisation so I need to get back to the point!

So I’m not overly organised…my home gets messy but it’s always clean. I can look beyond clutter. Okay, I can even look beyond dust but I can’t look beyond dirt or filth. I loved homeschooling in our home! I could hang time lines on the wall…and draw the measuring chart on the architrave, and hang beautiful pictures on the wall. This is not practical in the homes we have been living in…especially as we’ve only been in them for approximately 12-18 months at a time.

DAILY

My mother always told me that the most important things to get done in the morning are the beds to be made, dishes done and the bathroom needs a quick wipe over. I can get this done. This way, if I have friends or company drop in unexpectedly I don’t mind. Since we’ve been in the rental homes I struggle with just doing this before lessons. I often want the house to be spotless (or my version of immaculate) before I start our lessons but the problem with this is that by the time all the work is done, I’m tired and it’s time to start cooking tea! So, I know that doesn’t work. I also put on a load of laundry every day. I’m also Out and About every single day…it wasn’t always like that but as children get older and we outsource to develop their interests it just means that I have to go out! Yes, our learning is based-at-home but isn’t limited or confined to the home only. I have days set aside where I aim to get certain things done. However, they may not always happen on those days- it depends on who is working on what days and who has to be where!

Each day, the boys unstack the dishwasher and drainer board. They also clean down the table and re-stack the dishwasher. Three times a week Master C vacuums the floors while master J is responsible for the shower cubicle as well as the kitchen benches and door fronts, etc.

On Monday, I like to go right through the house and clean all the floors– vacuuming and mopping. This gives me a fresh start to the week. Clean floors and a clean kitchen. But Monday is also my laundry day. I get any linen done along with the dark clothes from the weekend. I aim to have them washed, dried and put away by 4pm. I also like to clean right through teh house- bathrooms, dusting, cleaning bookshelves, etc. Monday is a full-on day.

Tuesday is another busy day as Master J has cadets Tuesday evening so I try and prepare a meal that can be eaten and cleaned away by 5.45pm. John takes Master J to Cadets and Miss A goes straight from work to softball training. We aren’t all home together until 10.30pm that night, by which time I’m usually in bed. Today is a fairly ‘light’ housework day with just a load of washing to be done and general kitchen maintenance. We do try and have a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy about 4pm, in time for Dad to come home to a fairly neat home.

Wednesday is another laundry day. Oh! confession time. I don’t hang underwear (except white singlets), socks, handkerchiefs or other fiddly, small items on the line. I used to but not anymore, for two reasons. I love the feel of crisp, sun bleached clothes but we only have one of those clothes lines that folds up alongside the dark, sheltered side of the house. (Why they install them in the shade, I will never understand) I also have decided to maximise my time. Honestly, socks don’t last that long in my house anyway so there’s no need for me to try and preserve them as thoroughly as I might other items of clothing. So, I tumble dry them! So much easier and quicker. I think to myself, “What would I rather do? Cook a meal, iron a shirt, write a blog post, read a book or play a game with my children, speak on the phone with my dad or hang up socks ‘n’ jocks!!!!” I would rather do all those things rather than hang up socks. Anyway, I aim to have the loads of laundry, washed, dried and put away by 4pm, but this rarely happens. Master C vacuums again this morning while Master J tends to the kitchen. I potter with laundry, bathrooms, meal preparation, etc. ‘Master C’ does excellent 15 minute tidies. He goes around and put all the stray things away where they belong- shoes in people’s rooms, blocks in drawers, books in booknook, pens, cups, papers, etc. I used to have my office/accounting time on Thursday but this has changed. I now try and do organise my finances and look through catalogues for specials in preparation for our Out and About Day on Friday. We do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in preparation for John to come home.

Thursday is the day where we’ll go shopping, pay bills, etc. If I haven’t cleaned the fridge and pantry on Thursday (in preparation for shopping day) I will do it today. Other that that, if I am home it is a fairly ‘light on’ housework day. or, I may end up doing the shopping on this day, leaving Friday free to do other things.

Friday is a big day for me. If it is not Out and About Day, we will clean the house, vacuum and do bathrooms, etc. It is also laundry day, in preparation for the weekend. If it is Out and About Day, we’ll go shopping, which is a pretty full on experience in our home! I like to look through catalogs and select where to shop but this all takes time and I don’t like to waste too much fuel just to save a dollar. Sometimes, if it is Out and About day we won’t have gotten the vacuuming and wet areas done…but I don’t try and play catch-up…it’s not going anywhere.

Saturday– Is my Day of Rest. I don’t do housework or meal preparation on this day, unless we’re having a celebration or something in particular.  I like to read, spend time in God’s Word, listen to an audio sermon and write a blog post or two. I like to make myself available for John if he ever wants to do something. In the summer months we refresh, rest and then go to softball!

On Sunday I will usually put on two loads of laundry so that everyone has clean clothes for the Monday. Most people probably do them on the Saturday but that is my rest day so I do it today! I’ll get the clothes washed and ironed today. We may do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in the morning, as well as the vacuuming (if it wasn’t done on Friday) but this is so we can continue to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Focus Areas:

Monday: Floors | Laundry | General Housework and wet area
Tuesday: Odd jobs | Wet areas
Wednesday: Floors | Laundry | Finances | Grocery List
Thursday: Out and About
Friday: Floors | Laundry | Bathrooms
Alternate Friday: Out and About Day
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: Neat ‘n’ Tidy | Quick Clean | Laundry

This is the routine that I have created while in this house, in this situation. However, the routine changes with each move…and as the children get older. With ‘Miss A’ working full time,  and Miss R is a senior in High School, my laundry routine has changed. John also doesn’t come home for lunch nowadays which seems to give me a few extra hours in my day. I loved it when he came home from work but it did eat into my day a lot and I found I was often behind in work.

After being in any new house for a few months, allowing the new routine to settle, I ask John in what ways I can serve him better or more effectively. He does not like to answer this as we live by grace in our home but he has learned that I need this in order to focus- it is really helpful for me. So now, I try to always have the clothes washed, dried and put away. Does it always happen? No way! But it is a focus point…without it, we’ll never have clean clothes that are easily accessible but I’ll get loads of lessons done or wonderfully lavish meals cooked.

My other focus point is clean floors, (I hate crunchiness or stickiness under my feet!) and wet areas. Looking after wet areas is something that I’ve learned slowly, after being in army homes. It makes sense though. Wet areas are subject to moisture- thus susceptible to mould, grime and bacteria. They’re also hard to clean when left for too long and they can be expensive to mend. Don’t fuss over the dust, but keep on top of the wet area!

How about you? what is your weekly domestic routine? If you share, please drop me a note so I can visit your blog post…I’m needing more ideas and inspiration. 🙂

Note to self:

I am knee deep in cleaning and putting things in their place when I found out the my rubber backed bathmat is stuck to the bathroom floor! After making a mental note to NOT use rubber backed bath mats again I have tried to get it off. It’s hard work, and a lot of elbow grease. But I have found something that makes the job easier.

WD-40

Spray it all over the rubber, leave for as long as possible (I left mine for about 2 hours) and then attack it with a plastic scraper! Only thing that worked!

It’s not just for the car and shed. Must remember to keep a can of WD-40 in my cleaning cupboard.

So much of real life is happening that I don’t have time to post any inspiring or deep and meaningful posts. Instead, I’ll post some things I try to do each day. These are also things I encourage my children to do each day.

What about you? What are some important things that you do daily?
Smiles, hugs and positive, warm words.
Prayer.
Some Scripture reading.
Good books.
Some discussion
Some copy work.
Some ideas to ponder
Free time
Positive work
A work of servanthood

Motivated by Jacqui’s post on ‘running a home‘, I will preface this post by saying that I am not a highly organised person. I like the cosy warmth of clutter. I love my ornaments and nick-knacks as they all have a story behind them…they have sentimental value. I can’t take them with me when I go to be with the Lord, and I can live without them, but they are like good friends- I like to have them around.

I used to love decorating and making my home a cosy place to retreat but it has become harder to do as we move around frequently. I also find that modern homes, while clean and lovely, don’t have the same warmth and character- they lack the homey ambiance of older homes. However, I didn’t set out to write about decorating or house style but organisation so I need to get back to the point!

So I’m not overly organised…my home gets messy but it’s always clean. I can look beyond clutter. Okay, I can even look beyond dust but I can’t look beyond dirt or filth. I loved homeschooling in our home! I could hang time lines on the wall…and draw the measuring chart on the architrave, and hang beautiful pictures on the wall. This is not practical in the homes we have been living in…especially as we’ve only been in them for approximately 12-18 months at a time.

My mother always told me that the most important things to get done in the morning are the beds to be made, dishes done and the bathroom needs a quick wipe over. I can get this done. This way, if I have friends or company drop in unexpectedly I don’t mind. Since we’ve been in the rental homes I struggle with just doing this before lessons. I often want the house to be spotless (or my version of immaculate) before I start our lessons but the problem with this is that by the time all the work is done, I’m tired and it’s time to start cooking tea! So, I know that doesn’t work. So, here’s a brief run down of my weekly routine.

I have days set aside where I aim to get certain things done. However, they may not always happen on those days- it depends on who is working on what days and who has to be where!

Each day, the boys unstack the dishwasher and drainer board. They also clean down the table and re-stack the dishwasher. I tried something new last week. John could either the whole kitchen (which is not easy after a cooked breakfast) or I’m happy to clean it but he must do copy work for the whole time it takes me to clean. This gives him a choice…and it helps me to get done quickly as I know he can’t write for an hour!

On Monday, I like to go right through the house and clean all the floors– vacuuming and mopping. This gives me a fresh start to the week. Clean floors and a clean kitchen. But Monday is also my laundry day. I get any linen done along with the dark clothes from the weekend. I aim to have them washed, dried and put away by 4pm. I have one more load to do but can’t do them until after tea, as it is ‘Miss A’ ‘s white shirt that needs soaking (it gets covered in coffee) and then washing.
I try to prepare a meal that I can divide into two meals as I will be out on Tuesday night so I like it to be prepared so it can be just reheated and eaten.

Tuesday is a day where we watch a movie, clean a particular troublesome area, spend more time on lessons – we just enjoy being together. We do try and have a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy about 4pm, in time for Dad to come home to a fairly neat home. If I bake treats, then today will be the day.

Wednesday is another laundry day. I have soaked ‘Miss A’ ‘s whites the night before and they can be washed and hung out in the sun to dry and be sun bleached. Oh confession time. I don’t hang underwear (except white singlets), socks, handkerchiefs or other fiddly, small items on the line. I used to but not anymore, for two reasons. I love the feel of crisp, sun bleached clothes but we only have one of those clothes lines that folds up alongside the dark, sheltered side of the house. (Why they install them in the shade, I will never understand) I also have decided to maximise my time. Honestly, socks don’t last that long in my house anyway so there’s no need for me to try and preserve them as thoroughly as I might other items of clothing. So, I tumble dry them! So much easier and quicker. I think to myself, “What would I rather do? Cook a meal, iron a shirt, write a blog post, read a book or play a game with my children, speak on the phone with my dad or hang up socks ‘n’ jocks!!!!” I would rather do all those things rather than hang up socks.

Anyway, I aim to have the loads of laundry, washed, dried and put away by 4pm. Along with a meal on the table after ‘Miss A’ has cleaned the kitchen. She is home today so she does this job for me. John Jr. vacuums on Wednesday – the whole house. ‘Master C’ does excellent 15 minute tidies. He goes around and put all the stray things away where they belong- shoes in people’s rooms, blocks in drawers, books in booknook, pens, cups, papers, etc.

Thursday is the day where I sit and organise my finances and look through catalogues for specials in preparation for our Out and About Day on Friday. We do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in preparation for John to come home. If I bake treats, then today will also be the day. I’ll also try to organise an easy meal that can be reheated as I am out at softball again tonight. It isn’t that I’m gone for a long time, rather that it is just at our usual meal time.

Friday is a big day for me. If it is not Out and About Day, we will clean the house, vacuum and do bathrooms, etc. It is also laundry day, in preparation for the weekend. If it is Out and About Day, I’ll only clean the fridge and kitchen so I have somewhere to put groceries once we’ve done the shopping.

Saturday– If it is Out and About week, then I won’t have cleaned the house so I try and organise everyone with jobs so we can tackle the usually mammoth task of cleaning the home in preparation for the weekend- I like to make myself available for John if he ever wants to do something. This is usually my Rest Day.

On Sunday I will usually put on one load of laundry and this will be John’s clothes from work. I’ll get them washed and ironed today. We may do a quick Neat ‘n’ Tidy in the afternoon, so that we get a swift start to Monday morning but this doesn’t always happen.

This is the routine that I have created while in this house, in this situation. However, the routine changes with each move…and as the children get older. With ‘Miss A’ working 2 full days per week now, my laundry routine has changed. John also doesn’t come home for lunch nowadays which seems to give me a few extra hours in my day. I loved it when he came home from work but it did eat into my day a lot and I found I was often behind in work.

After being in a new house for a few months, allowing the new routine to settle, I ask John in what ways I can serve him better or more effectively. He does not like to answer this as we live by grace in our home but he has learned that I need this in order to focus- it is really helpful for me. So now, I try to always have the clothes washed, dried and put away. Does it always happen? No way! But it is a focus point…without it, we’ll never have clean clothes that are easily accessible but I’ll get loads of lessons done or wonderfully lavish meals cooked.

In summary:

Focus Areas:

Monday: Floors | Laundry
Tuesday: Bake | Meal Prep | Odd jobs
Wednesday: Laundry
Thursday: Finances | Grocery List | Meal Prep | Bake
Friday: Floors | Laundry | Bathrooms |
Alternate Friday: Out and About Day | Clean fridge
Saturday: Quick Clean | Rest Day
Sunday: Neat ‘n’ Tidy | One load of laundry

Recently ‘A’ reached the wonderful age of 16. Either of us are exactly sure why it’s supposedly so special but there you go! We had Baked Spinach Gnocchi for tea and a Boiled Fruit Cake for dessert. A few days later we had planned to drive into the city to watch the Play of the Passion but the lines of communication were having interference and I forgot to tell John where it was so we hadn’t allowed enough time to get there and find a parking place…so we ended up at Sizzler instead!

This was ‘A’s first week of a back-to-normal work/lesson routine. She has dropped down to only 2 days per week of work and then rest of the week is devoted to lessons and softball.

So while it’s a little belated I will still write, as I have for the other children:

vegeieblog tagged me!? If you get tagged you have to tell what your day TODAY was like…really!? Not what you wish it’d been like or what you’d planned for it to be like, but how it really turned out.

Okay, but of all days to get tagged it HAD to be today…OF COURSE!!!!!! Today was not a usual day for us…but in the spirit of honesty, here goes:

The alarm pulsated in my ear, forcing my face deeper into the pillow. How rude- it was only 5.45am and I was NOT ready to greet the day. So, for the first time in *ages*, I didn’t get up before my hubby and I didn’t even make his breakfast! Instead, he made some toast for the children and brought me a cup of tea and a panadol before he left for work. My head hit the pillow again and I started to ZZZZZZZ off again when 14yodd came in to say good morning. I asked her to supervise the boys cleaning the breakfast mess while I continued to doze and hoped that the thumping headache would subside. The peace and quiet lasted for a whole half an hour before same 14yodd came in to *talk*. This is only alright because she didn’t come empty handed. She brought me another cuppa.? So, for the next 2 hours we sat on my bed and talked…chatted about life, relationships, siblings, the future, this weekend, her social life and her softball life.

I emerged from the shower feeling a little more eager to greet the day…only to go into the kitchen and see that nothing had been cleaned up. Where was this darling 14yodd? Oh, suddenly she is busy doing her lessons! Yeah right!!!! Hang on a minute, now both boys are also SUDDENLY engrossed in their lessons! Now, before you get the wrong idea, let me tell you that this was not a history or geography lesson but it was English and Maths! Oh Puhleeze!!!!!!!? Meany mother that I am, I pulled them away from their ever-so distracting yet obviously engrossing lessons and I shadowed them as they cleaned and tidied the kitchen. THEN, they could go on with some lessons.

I did a quick email check and decided that it was about time I moved my blog from its previous residence. Yeah well, these things never happen quickly, do they?

Hubby came home for lunch, then it was clean-up. The girls had a few more lessons to finish and then they also helped the boys a little with their own lessons while I pottered on the computer.

Before I knew it, it was 4.30pm and hubby was home. Thankfully, 12yodd was more than happy to cook tea for tonight, which is no easy feat in our home of 7. We’re having a Tuna Pie and she has also made a Fruit Crumble with Whipped Cream for dessert. 🙂

I feel physically lousy today, and usually when I feel like this I start to feel mentally and emotionally lousy too…however, I have at least given some one-on-one time to each child today. they have had some uninterrupted time with some eye contact and hugs, so all is not lost.

So, I ask myself, did I learn anything today about the nature of God, myself or the children? I have to be honest and say that I can’t think of anything, thinking makes my head hurt today…but tomorrow’s a new day!

14yodd informed that I am just not posting regularly enough! So, in an attempt to do so I’ll let you know about our last week, although I warn you now it wasn’t overly exciting…just normal everyday family activities.

15yodd was at work and lessons. We didn’t teach PE at the primary school this last week as the rain meant we had to cancel. 15yodd attended her first ever youth group camp this past weekend! Yep, that was exciting and she enjoyed it immensely. I’ll let her talk about it though as we have decided to share this blog. In between family, lessons, work, softball and church friends she just wasn’t getting around to writing on her own blog so we’ll share. I think she’s learning a lot through church and youth group although I’m glad that she hasn’t always attended…I think there are *seasons* for these things as well and having such a strong family bond, and such intimate relationships with her parents has been the best precursor to going to youth group.

14yodd has been at school but she has also done a little ‘homework’ as agreed between her and I. Neither of us feel she is having enough or adequate instruction in the art of composition so she is going to do a few things at home. I’m proud of her for recognising this and agreeing to work extra on it. She has made a good friend at school, a girl that DH and I like.

The boys and I have slowly pottering through some lessons. We’re having most of our table time in the Bible, which is great! They’re also powering on with Maths. Did I mention that I am so thankful for Math U See?

I feel for my DH though. Late last year, he had an accident at work and after a few weeks of agony, he had to have a shoulder reconstruction, which had him out of action for months. Well, he isn’t fully recovered yet but he has hurt his back at work. He had a horrid weekend at home, went back to work today where the Dr sent him for an x-ray. The Dr. thinks it is a ‘blown disc’…that there is no cartilage between 2 vertebrae. Ouch! So, he came home and then I took him for an MRI. He has several appointments with doctors this week, so I guess all this will keep me busy for the next week.

And me? I’m enjoying my time of intense Bible study as I delve into the word. It is consuming my every waking hour of late. God is revealing Himself to me in ways that enable me to teach my children every day…many things. God’s word truly is worth studying! Lord Tennyson is reported to have said “Bible reading is an education in itself.” Oh boy, do I agree!

And, last but not least…during the week I heard that another family member reads our blogs so I want to say a special hello to Damian! I hope you’re doing real well at your job. I’m proud of you. Leave me a comment here one day eh?

Saturday

I’d like to be able to say that we all sprung out of bed at 5.15am to take Stef to the airport so she could go back home. But in reality, I sprang out of bed and had to drag everyone else out of bed! However, we did get out of the house on time so all was good. John and the boys dropped us (the girls) at the airport so we could wave goodbye while he took the boys a few kilometres down the road to a small aviation museum.

After seeing Stef safely on the plane, we headed a few hours down the coast to go to the beach. We stopped at Surfer’s Paradise and did a little shopping and then we went to Main Beach and caught some rollicking waves. We had a great time, although the girls and I did get sunburnt. Why is it that we, who use sunscreen, do get sunburnt and the other’s don’t?

Then we headed to another beach which was quieter and less waves as we *thought* ‘Master C’ would have more fun there, but he didn’t: he preferred the other place although he didn’t venture in very far.

All this led me to thinking about life…some people like to go on all the roller coaster rides; they go from one to another and they have such fun. (I used to be like this when I was younger) but there are other people who really do like the merry-go-round; they are happy, content and filled with fun at that. I used to wonder how that could be (I loved the scary, fast-paced rides) but as I’m getting older, and having more responsibility in life, I find that I’m extremely happy and content to go on the merry-go-round. I simply don’t need to go on the fast-paced rides anymore. ‘Master C’ is like that. While the other children are trying to tell him what he ‘is missing’, he just doesn’t see it that way. I think that is beautiful. Life is like that, isn’t it?

Anyway, we went from there to another shopping centre and had a stroll around (had one of the best cappuccino?s I’ve ever had!) and then we started to drive back…we pulled in and had tea, which ‘Miss A’ had prepared earlier (Chicken Caesar Salad) and then we went to the Drive-In. We love the Drive-In, although there aren’t very many around nowadays. We actually hunted this one down and planned the whole day around it. We backed our van in and got ourselves all set up to watch Happy Feet and Night at the Museum. While we didn’t really enjoy either of the movies, we thoroughly enjoyed our time together as a family. Being out and about from 6am until 1.30am certainly left us all very tired the next day, although I managed to stay up long enough to catch the tennis.

Argh HSB is not allowing me to post piccies at the moment so here is the URL of us at the Drive-In. The photo isn’t great because it was pitch black and I couldn’t see what I was taking a photo of!

Now, it’s back to normality. John is at work, ‘Miss A’ is at work, ‘Miss R’ is at school and it is the boys and I home today! I have some jobs to do which will take most of the day but I will do some Bible study, reading aloud and maths with the boys before heading out for softball training tonight.

Family…I’m so fortunate and blessed to have a wonderful family!

Here we are midway through the year and it’s time to look back, to assess and take stock of how things are going.

In January of this year, I decided to have a Sabbath period.? I called it a Sabbath year but later changed it to a ‘Sabbath Season‘…I was content to take up to a year but didn’t want to be bound by that.

The point of this Sabbath Season was to not strive. Not to plan. Not to be so consumed by homeschooling. Not to feel so driven most of the time but to relax in Him. To focus on relationships. I knew that this should/could be the way of learning-at-home but it wasn’t reality for me. Not really.

So, where are we now six months later? What have we been doing? Surely we haven’t just been sleeping in late each day and doing nothing? No. As I had posted? we really have been focusing on the 3 R’s – Rest, Relationship and Refreshment.

Yes we?ve been moving interstate, having visitors stay with us and going away for softball trips but we’ve also been doing some things that could/should/would be classified as lessons.

How is this different to what we were doing last year when I thought that God was directing our home? Well, it’s the same but different. The change is in *me*. I didn’t realize exactly how many layers of self I had wrapped up in homeschooling- but there’s a few. A few years ago, I thought I had given it all over to God…that He could do what He wanted with me and that I had died to self and let go of my ideals. And I did do that. However, I believe that there were still parts of it, my goals that had to be given over to God. I’m learning at a deeper level what He means when He says to commit our ways to Him.

So far this year, we have read history, science, done math’s and English, watched many movies and had great discussions on the nature of man, practiced real life skills, trained our physical bodies, and implemented new chores and routines. But more than that, we have spent more time in God’s word- reading, studying…immersing ourselves in Him.

It’s not that we have stopped learning how to write or spell or do math’s…rather that I don’t plan. We simply pick up the lesson where we left off and if this means that we don’t do math’s for 2 or 3 weeks then so be it!? It isn’t going anywhere and we’ll get back to it one day. Meanwhile, there are other things for us to learn or do.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how much my children have been able to achieve independently WHEN THEY ARE READY. Oh, I used to try and have them read this and that…to do this report and that essay…but it was a bit of a slog. Now I see that as they are ready, (and I’m watching all the time to see when the time is right) they are able to go through 3 -4 times the amount of work that I could have ‘taught’ them. But the added bonus is that they have done it themselves and so they taste success in doing something themselves.

So where to from here? I’ve often said that learning-at-home is a marathon, not a sprint. Maybe if I only had the one or two children at home I could do it with 100% focus but I don’t- I have four beautiful children. This means that it is truly a marathon…the long haul. It has to be a lifestyle for it to be sustainable (for us). This means that I approach the educating of our children a little differently to someone who is homeschooling for a year or so or until high school. This is our 9th year…and I have approximately another 7-8 years before my youngest son finishes yr 12. It isn’t about ‘resting’ and not planning for another 8 years. It’s about not being consumed by that planning. It’s about truly trusting in Him and commiting my way to Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.? Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.? For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I’ve come to learn that this Sabbath Season isn’t meant to be just for a month or so, for me. Rather it is to be the way we live for now, until the Lord directs us differently. This will come too, I think as there is a time for work and a time for rest. But on a much smaller scale, I’m even finding this to be true WITHIN our Sabbath Season. There is a time to focus on spelling, on math’s, on history…but I don’t need to focus on them every day, every week, every month. Seasons – what a gift from God!

When I wake in the morning are my thoughts about curricula, lessons or history or are they on the Lord and how I can best serve Him this day?

Oh, I think that others such as Marilyn Howshall and Robin Sampson say all this much more eloquently and concisely than I do…but I have to speak from my own experience.

Okay, I’ll confess…I’m a Flylady Flunkie. Nope, not just once but three times!!!! Yes, three times I’ve tried to do the Flylady program as it looks so good…but I just couldn’t tweak it to suit, nor could I apply it to myself.

However, I stumbled (actually it was more clicked) my way through a site which has helped me! It is called Large Family Logistics. While I don’t have a large family, or as large as some of these families, I certainly do need all the organisational help I can get. I have tweaked some things to suit my family and for a few weeks now, I’ve been organised, tidy and clean and spent time with the children doing good things.

My household routine is:

• Monday ~ Laundry & Kitchen Day (All washing, drying, folding, ironing and putting away.) ‘Miss A’ does cleans the kitchen.
• Tuesday ~ Bathrooms and bedrooms.
• Wednesday ~ Home Office/Study Day. Organise finances, file all papers, clean study area, post letters, meny plan, and shopping lists. This works well as it is the day before…Town Day.
• Thursday ~ Town Day. The kitchen is clean ready for the groceries. The finances are in order, ready for shopping and bill paying. The meal for today is organised from the day before.
• Friday ~ Cleaning and/or Town Day. On pay week, we will go to town again and get further supplies or when it is off-pay week, we go through the house from top to bottom.
• Saturday ~ Outside Day. The girls and I go to softball while John stays at home with the boys and sometimes tends to the yard and garden. (Also John’s Shed Day)

Particular Protocol for Jobs.
After spending time at this site I decided to make my own Protocol Sheets, which have been laminated and are in easy reach. We have protocols for? Dishes Duty and Pre-Tea Chores, Bathroom and Bedroom work. I’ve always liked using standard sheets so that I can refer to them – I also feel that it makes me not nag.

Anyway, just wanted to post about this site as I have found it helpful.

You may have guessed that we did in fact manage to leave home and actually reach our destination on the third try! Dad, Mum, and four kids (22yods, 12yodd, 10yods and 8yods) all bundled into the van, complete with the dog’s kennel in the trailer, about 4.30am and set off for Melbourne to pick up 14yodd, who had been staying with others while training. Of course, with our family nothing seems to be simple and this trip was no exception. We were making good time until we got to the West Gate Bridge? where they just happened to be be doing maintenance work and heavy delays were expected. Both ‘A’ and I are a little scared of heights and what shoulda/coulda/woulda been a 10min drive across took nearly 40 minutes on the now 2 lane bridge, sandwiched in between impatient motorists and trucks. ‘A’ and I found it pretty stressful, to say the least.

17 hours after setting off from our home we finally arrived in Adelaide- seven stinking hot, sweaty, tired, hungry, sore bodies emerged from the car on what happened to be the HOTTEST South Australian day in December on record since 1939!!!!! That is so …*us*. Oh, and did I mention that our only form of air conditioning is the four windows??!!! The family calls us the Priowalds – and we had finally reached our Wally World.

It was great to catch up with Nonna and Nonno and all the other relatives. It’s been 3 years since we last saw them and the nieces and nephews have all grwon so much. We didn’t do an awful lot aside from rest and catch up with family. I had planned on seeing a few people but we just couldn’t manage it.

We did, however, get to make our traditional visit to the Drive-In Theatre to watch “NARNIA~The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe“. We backed the car in and put the back seat down so that the children could lie on their tummies and all watch the big screen while John and I sat out on chairs. Everytime we go back to Adelaide we go to the Drive-In; it is a ritual that we all look forward to.

‘A’ had to catch the plane back to Melbourne on the 3rd of Jan to join her team. She’s becoming quite the seasoned traveler nowadays. In fact, I’ve missed her so much as we would’ve only been together for 4 days out of 25 in the last month. But, she’s home now.

Two days later we bundled up again and headed for Canberra, only this time we weren’t so squashed. ‘A’ was in Melbourne and ‘D’ (22yo) had stayed in Adelaide for a few weeks. Twelve and a half hours later we reached our home. We were so tired that we slept in the next morning but, as soon as we arose we headed straight back into the car for another 4 hours until we reached Canberra. We managed to find our way to the cabin…eventually. In all the caffuffles of leaving and not leaving, I had accidentally left the directions at home!

I’d thought I was fortunate to find some accommodation for a good price and I truly wasn’t expecting a palace but I was also taken aback when we saw our cabin for the week. I hadn’t realised that it was a ‘communal’ type cabin where each family cleans after their stay and that’s it for the next family. Suffice to say that it wasn’t in the cleanest condition. But I could cope with that- nothing that a little soap and water wouldn’t fix. It was the Nature and Wildlife that I couldn’t cope with. The park was in the middle of a grasshopper plague which also brought out lizards and many spiders. Once we got through the front door, it was almost like cutting through ropes, such were the spider webs. I didn’t sleep too well that night, in our one room cabin, as I lay tossing and turning, feeling (or imagining I was feeling) creepy crawlies all over me and the children. John bought some surface spray the next day and cleaned out the cabin. It was still really hot and there were no windows in the cabin but there was an air conditioner so we used that…but it couldn’t be adjusted so we started to freeze. That’s okay, we thought – we’ll just open the door, letting some fresh air in. Great idea eh? Yeah, it was …except that the screen door fell off the minute that John touched it! Tehee, John had had some tools in the trailer so he fixed it the next day.

The next few days brought softball and more softball which was great. Having lived in ACT for nearly 4 years meant that the kids were very familiar with the softball grounds and so we hardly saw the boys as they were off playing with a mate only surfacing for meals.

As we used to live in Canberra and I had a few homeschooling friends, they had decided to have a meeting while I was there on the Monday evening. Well, was I shocked or what??!! The size of the group had tripled and there were so many new faces…but some very family ones too. It? was great to catch up with Shelso, Jocelyn, Chris, Liz, Susan,? and Janette. We talked about Language Arts – copywork, narration and a few different resources. I felt like we didn’t get through a lot of ground but it gets like that when we all get together. I had a wonderful time and it reinforced to me how much I missed them and what a truly lovely group of families they are.

I received a distressing phone call from my Dad on Wednesday lunch time. He asked how we all were and he sounded ‘weird’. I knew something was wrong as we hadn’t planned on talking for a few days as our schedule was all over the place and yet here he was calling me. He had been having very bad chest pains for a few hours and didn’t know what they were so he wanted to hear my voice before he tried to drive himself to hospital. Here I was over 8oo kms away, fretting over my father, telling him to call an ambulance and feeling horribly useless. He refused to call for an ambulance or a friend which made me more concerned. Dad was meant to go to a friends’ house for tea but had called and canceled so this friend called another mutual friend and asked him to pop in on Dad. This friend arrived at Dad’s just as he was trying to get himself into his car! Meanwhile, I was on the phone trying to call the pastor of Dad’s church and see if he could help. I was worried sick until I heard that after arriving at hospital and having a? shot of morphine Dad had settled a little. He was in intensive care but at least he was in the hospital. But the worst thing was that we had to go back to the cabin for the night where I couldn’t get any mobile reception! We stayed at softball for as long as we could (I could get phone reception there) but I didn’t sleep much that night as I tossed and turned, praying, thinking, remembering, hoping…

I hated the feeling of not knowing anything and not being able to be contacted. I felt so useless. We didn’t know if we should jump in the car and head to Broken Hill or wait and see or what???!!! We headed into town the next morning as early as possible and I was very relieved to hear that Dad was okay and the pains had subsided. I called the hospital and spoke to Dad. Apparently it wasn’t a heart attack (he had one 25 years ago) but they did find that one of the valve’s on the lower part of the heart isn’t working properly. (Dad said it wasn’t firing on all cylinders)? Once I knew he was okay and not in immediate danger I told him off! Yeah, John can’t believe that after all that I’d tell my Dad off but I did. I told him that next time anything like that happens he is not to muck around and be silly and that he is to call an ambulance. I told him to reverse our positions and he’d understand me- to which he agreed.

Meanwhile, a friend had offered the use of a relatives home as they were away. We couldn’t take it earlier as we had already paid the deposit on the cabin and the boys were thoroughly enjoying their adventure. But, not being able to be contacted by phone was enough to drive me to distraction so we were blessed to be able to move that day into the friends’ relatives home …and I could get mobile reception and speak to my Dad whenever I needed. (Praise God)

During all this, ‘A’ was still playing softball and doing quite well. We chose not to alert her unless it was absolutely necessary. ‘R’ left us on the Thursday and had gone to stay with another homeschooling family about one hour from Canberra. She’s good friends with this family and she will have lots of fun there, even though I’ll miss her.

The Victorian team managed to play their way into the finals and ‘A’ had opportunity to pitch on Saturday morning in the Final. She pitched very well against QLD taking 10 strikeouts, gave no walks and allowed no runs to score. They then had to play NSW who were undefeated all tournament and had been the Champions for the last four years consecutively. It was a tough ask but our girls took the challenge. NSW were very strong and usually mercied their opponents and our girls did very well to keep them to only 3 runs while also scoring 2 runs themselves. It was a Grand Final loss but they played to the best of their ability and fought hard.

I’m so amazed at how much my daughter has learned through her sporting life- the life lessons, character training, personal development, health and nutrition, team work and much more have contributed towards building her personality and strengthening her character.

We picked ‘A’ up on the Sunday morning and started to head for home, expecting a slight detour to pick ‘R’ up but the family called and asked if she could stay for a few more days…to which we reluctantly agreed. It’s great for her to be with them and they are wonderful but we’re also desperate to just be at home with our own family and regroup. But, she’s coming home later on this week and for that, I’m thankful.

Since we’ve been home we have just rested and vegged out. I have tried to check emails and forums but my head just isn’t really ‘there’. I’m not quite ready to jump back into the online world…it will happen soon enough anyway.

So, that’s our journey – there and back again. Praise God that we are all safe and well, albeit tired, weary and very sunburnt.

This is no longer a holiday. My husband is on a quest…a mission…this is bordering on obsession!? We are living out the quote,

“If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, Try, Try again.”

We’re heading off in the small hours of the morning again…to head for our home town. Let’s hope that it’s third time lucky eh?