Our REAL Day of Homeschool, Playing, Loving and Noise Making

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7am- lay in bed and listen while the Mr. gets dressed for work.

7:30- stumble out of bed and make coffee, prepare to nod and smile while the Mr. grumbles over the news. It’s too early for opinions, I just want to drink my coffee.

8:00- the Mr. rattles the house closing the front door, and Lil Man wakes up and immediately curls up in my lap. Spent 15 minutes chasing him trying to get a clean diaper on him. He is still diapered because his idea of potty training involves seeing how many things he can pee on before I catch him.

8:30- the 4yo stumbles into the room requesting chocolate milk and cartoons.

9:07- Spent 37 minutes starting the already loaded dishwasher (forgot to run it overnight), taking out the trash, realizing we were completely out of trash bags, hunting for plastic shopping bags to use in stead, clearing 1/8th of the kitchen table, turning the tv back around so that both children can see it (Lil Man kept turning it towards his side of the room), pull Lil Man off the step stool where he was trying to get chocolate his oldest sister left down too low, realize I made coffee at 8:30 and left it next to the fish, let the dog in, changed the cartoon, grabbed a pack of crackers (I need to eat before taking my meds) but only ate one……half, I think Lil Man stole it off the table and ate it himself. OH! I tossed some laundry in the washer and hit start…

9:46- dd11 is whining about oatmeal, and wondering why I STILL haven’t bought waffles. I have successfully (I think) negotiated something between the two little ones….  not sure who won but everyone stopped yelling. Printed out lesson plans for the big girls from my Homeschool Helper App.

The oldest is JUST now eating breakfast. No one has started school work.

10:45- still nudging girls to finish breakfast. Reminded hubby to take days off for the Homeschool Convention…. trying not to panic that after saying he took the days off, he told me he’s being sent out of town all week….and maybe the week after too. (focus on the positive: cheaper grocery bill)

I’m also going trough our folders and seeing what we have left to do (we are WAY behind) and reallocating them into the last 10 folders since I’ve decided to do 10 more weeks of school (yes, through the summer) to catch up.

11:18- Neighbor is watching Lil Man outside with her boys, dd8 reluctantly reading her History lesson, dd11 has spent 15 minutes finding her pencil pouch and extra pencils before starting her math work.

12:37- sigh. now have two kids playing with neighbor, both girls crying over math. One is refusing to watch the tutorial video even though she is devastated that she got all the problems wrong. She admitted she didn’t know how to do it, but that she would figure it out on her own. I am devouring a bag of Doritos to keep from sounding frustrated.

2:39- school done. kicked kids outside for a mandatory hour of sunshine since we’ve been stuck inside for days. Found a cool pdf Colors and Shapes Game and Activity Pack from Eastern Wind Academy on my hard drive and printed it out…. maybe by next school year I’ll get the stuff laminated for Bubbagirl to start Kindergarten. The girls emptied the dishwasher and I loaded it, and we started another load of laundry. I’m feeling run down already, and my eyes have started to burn a little.

2:43- 2yo came in crying because his big sister took rain water from the rusty dirty wagon and dumped it on his head, claiming they were both hot. She, who is 11, still can’t figure out why I laughed when she asked me for a towel- because she is now cold. She didn’t get a towel, he did get a dry shirt.

5:39- managed to make the Mr. some of Pioneer Woman’s White Chicken Enchiladas (total cooking fail) and he’s late getting home. I roped in the girls to finish their school work and after a pretty obnoxious meltdown over math with the 11-year-old, she finished her fractions work pretty quickly.

7:41- Hung out with neighbors, done. Enchiladas, despite how they looked, tasted pretty good; and I don’t even like enchiladas. I’m sitting on my bed with three girls in my bathroom tub while hubby drowns bathes the boy in the front bathroom. The kids leave (at least three of them) tomorrow around lunchtime for a weekend with Mr’s parents. I have not even begun to pack their stuff. There is still a load of laundry in the wash. The kitchen is a wreck. The Pioneer Woman uses a lot of pots and bowls ya’ll. The living room looks completely undone and it was just brought to my attention that the girls stopped up the front toilet again. With any luck, there will be only a small flood on the bathroom floor, a quick snack and a bedtime filled with more laughing than crying. I won’t hold my breath, but I can pray for a miracle.

Love and Blessings, The Tadey
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On Being Efficient

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I love Cheaper by the Dozen. Yes, I know it is a book. Yes, I know you probably think I never read books.

I do. Ok, I did. Long before I had kids.

My copy of Cheaper by the Dozen was purchased to read for school. I read it until the binding broke and pages fell out.

It fascinated me.

Not so much the family, just the dad.

He was an efficiency expert. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Doing things faster was a good thing right?

Shaving fractions of a second off of an activity had to be a good thing, right?

Efficiency was good.

Our world doesn’t work efficiently anymore. We cut corners and take short cuts and call it “being efficient”. In reality, things are being done quickly and poorly. This leaves others, later on down the road when the clock is not being watched, to redo the work. It means things must be done again. It means someone is going to have to fix it when it breaks.

All because we tried to save two seconds.

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We were lazy. We were trying to save a few pennies. We were trying to meet an irrational deadline. We were multitasking too much.

Not all of our reasons are inherently bad. They all result in the same problem.

Two seconds saved here, costs two hours later.

I get frustrated with my husband’s job when they do it.

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I get frustrated with my kids when they cut corners. {no, shoving the entire contents of your room under your bed is NOT cleaning your room}

Then, I catch myself doing it. I wait until tomorrow. I do just enough to get by today. I don’t take those two seconds to do it right the first time – to show that it mattered enough to give it the time it needed to be done properly.

Dishes. Laundry. Writing. Playing. Reading. Talking. Praying. Any of it. All of it.

It has a time.

For the past week, I have been working hard to give everything the two extra seconds it needed, to get done right.

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I’ve had a clean sink before bed.

I’ve kept a tidy school room.

The living room was picked up when Daddy came home.

I replied to emails.

I took a shower {or 4}.

I can already see the changes in attitude in our home.

Just Two Seconds for Dishes @TheTadey

Slowly, people are stopping to do it right the first time….

to finish…

to show that it’s important.

Love and Blessings, The Tadey
This post may contain affiliate links. Proceeds from affiliate links go towards the cost of hosting the blog and helps to support our homeschool books, supplies, and classes. Thank you in advance for your support! If you would like to read more about our affiliations please see our Disclosures page.

Spring Cleaning Anyone??

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I posted this to Instagram this weekend.

Snow and TShirts

Sitting on the porch in a t-shirt, looking at snow.

I was so happy to be in a t-shirt. I almost begged my husband to crack a window. He said it was still a bit too chilly for airing out the house. Seems all that snow laying around was keeping things on the cool side.

I was so thrilled to have the kids outside for bit. I had to resist the urge to start spring cleaning early. I am SO ready to shake off winter and air out the cobwebs.

I’m not the type to pull down mini blinds, and I rarely remember to do something with the baseboards. I will clean up by donating clothes and de-cluttering toys. Those items are high on my list of things to do when the seasons change.

My four kids make a circus event out of trying to get ready to go outside and play. By the time I get the out the door, I’ve totally forgotten what it was I wanted to start on. Sometimes a little help and direction makes the process less intimidating.

This spring cleaning eBook bundle has all the tips, tricks and support I need to get me motivated and moving toward a more organized home. Baby steps ya’ll….. baby steps.

For the next week, they are being offered as a package for a steal of a deal! Won’t you take a second to check them out and we can start planning our spring cleaning together!

 

 

BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

 

 

Spring is just around the corner, and this spring cleaning bundle will walk you through decluttering, cleaning and organizing your home! This week only, get all 5 ebooks for just $7.40 (a savings of more than 75%)!

31 Days to Clean by Sarah Mae
Part cleaning handbook, part devotional, this ebook is not just about the how of cleaning, but about the why. In 31 Days to Clean, Sarah Mae provides you with two challenges each day — a Mary challenge to encourage and engage your heart and a Martha challenge with a specific cleaning task. At the end of 31 days, your house will be clean, and you’ll have a new perspective on housekeeping as well!

Simple Living by Lorilee Lippincott
Deal with tangible and intangible clutter in just 30 days with Simple Living, which will help you have a simpler and cleaner home…and keep it that way. Tackle thirty different clutter areas in under an hour a day and create drastic and permanent changes.

A Simply Homemade Clean by Lisa Barthuly
Rid your home of commercial, toxic products without the high price of all natural, organic products that line the shelf. Learn to make everything from your own laundry soap, to homemade dryer sheets, antibacterial spray cleaners, potpourri blends and fabric softeners!

Project Organize Your Entire Life by Stephanie Morgan
With a simple and customizable approach, Project Organize Your Entire Life helps you walk through your daily habits and weekly routines to conquer some of the biggest obstacles to living the simplified life you’re yearning for: decluttering, cleaning, organizing, meal planning and more.

Pulling Yourself Together by Becky of Clean Mama
In Pulling Yourself Together, Becky provides you with the tools to declutter and organize your home in the midst of a busy life, implement a cleaning routine that really works and strategies to continue with the perfected plan!

The Spring Cleaning bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 3/18. Get yours today:


BundleoftheWeek.com, 5 eBooks for $7.40!

Love and Blessings, The Tadey
This post may contain affiliate links. Proceeds from affiliate links go towards the cost of hosting the blog and helps to support our homeschool books, supplies, and classes. Thank you in advance for your support! If you would like to read more about our affiliations please see our Disclosures page.