Weekly Wrap up & SOOC : Normal Week

We've completed another week and it was a good summer week... minus the itching!!

When you start the week swimming at your grandparents... it's going to be a good week;)

Tuesday we schooled:) The kids and I began our week of learning about the main parts of he Spanish Conquest of Central America... mostly the Aztecs and Montezuma;) Remember the explorer Cortes... yes we learned about him:) We colored and read... nothing too exciting :(

Since we were home all morning the kids did their summer school work, too!! Chris and Lydia did their reading assignments and Anna got to work on math facts and her journaling;) She's been faithfully reading 20 minutes each day with her Time Timer by her side (we're giving one away on SIMPLE!).

Oh and I got 1 hour alone to myself.... WHERE??? the doctors' office!! The poison ivy/oak finally got me enough to seek medical help. I got hooked up with some super steroid creme and some prednisone... thankfully it's Friday and I itch a LOT LESS:)

While I was away Brian did "math" with the kids... LOL!! Can't wait to share what he taught them!!

Wednesday we had a wild morning... including a rainstorm as we headed out to a pool party. Then some swimming with friends. Only to end our afternoon with a rainstorm at lunch. Drea blogged the adventure;)

Thursday we were back at home schooling again with Mr Cortes... LOL!! but this time we were armed with some library books we got Wednesday afternoon:) The kids worked on some their maps, colored a conquistador helmet and shields;) Then completed their individual tasks!

We did take a break to watch our new road being "made"!



In the evening we enjoyed biking around the neighborhood and down to our river;) We had a late dinner of pancakes;) LOL!

Friday we finished the week with more reading and math practice:) And then a trip to the big city to help Momma find some style... no luck... but we did it together;)

During our reading together time this week, we have been reading through the Abeka version of Swiss Family Robinson and passages from our Daily Bible Story Book;) I love having reading time together!

And we also implemented our morning chore system.... we need a little more practice and consistency from Momma before it's SET... but it make our mornings run soo much more smoothly! Hoping it will really affect our schooling times when we official begin FULL school days again:)

Linking up to :

A Season of Training

It seems like every couple of months we go through a "season of training or correction". Either we see things that aren't being done or the kids are becoming "less obedient" or there are things that we want to be done differently.... this "season" is a combo of all of those... LOL!!

It's probably also because we are gearing up for Nathaniel!! Before we had each of our kids we realized that in order to mantain "order" our kids, even though they were little (see the pic!!), were going to have to be obedient and helpful. They have HAD to!!! It's not possible to grocery shop or go to the park when I have a child not obeying, running off, crying when they don't want to leave, etc!!

OK, sooooo we still have to do some work;) But we have time! And these are the things that we are working on:)

*We have tried to teach the kids that "we're a TEAM!!" It's not just us bossing the kids around, but all of us working together! It warms my heart to hear Anna tell one of her siblings that she will help them with a chore/task..... then she goes into the room singing "teamwork, teamwork, what's going to work? teamwork" !!!

*We are having the kids complete "morning chores" which consists of getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and tidying up their rooms. These are basic I know... but it teaches them responsibility and they are ready for the day; whether it's schooling, going outside or grocery shopping;) And the kids have different jobs depending on their ages.... one nice thing is that Lydia is following the routine and doing more chores than I really had planned just because she sees Anna doing them. NICE!!!

*We are also trying to have the kids help during mealtimes. The kids help us tidy the eating area, set the table, put utensils away, put their plates/utensils/cups in the sink after eating, and clean up the table after the meal. Obviously, all of these tasks require us to "train" them... show them how, teach them how, encourage them to do the task correctly and then expect them to complete them each time we ask.

*Two more fun training opportunities are to play with "one toy at a time" and "putting items away where they were found"!! WOW, these have been a hard for us. The kids understand both, but excitement over the next activity and laziness with cleaning up have been a challenge to overcome. But these are becoming MUCH needed disciplines as I get bigger and clumsier... LOL! But seriously, being sleep-deprived with a newborn on my arms, a toy car or baby left in the middle of the hallway is just asking for trouble!!! (imagine how uncluttered my house could stay if all of us tried to follow these two goals???)

*And we are also going through the "obedience basics"! Those who have read Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp remember the 3 steps to obedience...

1. Obeying All the Way


2. Obeying Right Away


3. Obeying with a Happy Heart

So, if the blog gets a little "quiet" OR I only post pics.... you now know that our "season of training" is in session. And those moms out there know that actually training our kids to do what is right can be time-consuming and energy-consuming!

*** I have a little more that I've been learning and challenged by in my correction/training/disciplining.... I'm hoping to get my thought together soon to share what I have learned in order to encourage:)

A BIG Helper

Lydia has been soo interested in "helping"... she tried to do EVERYTHING herself:) It's soo funny to watch her do all these "Big Person" jobs!!!

Anna has a list of 6 "morning chores" that we encourage her to do every morning! She is rewarded with pennies in her penny jar, but Lydia LOVES to do Anna's "morning chores" as well!! Lydia dresses as soon as she wakes up, brushes her teeth with Anna and asks Anna to help her make her bed.... it's too cute!!

This morning, Lydia asked, "I help you MOmmy??" I was unloading the dishawasher at the time and intially thought, "no way... it's easier to do it myself".. LOL!! But I gave her the utensil basket and she went to town:)



Lydia did really well and saved me a couple of minutes:) Better yet was the ability to praise her for her help and joyful attitude. I am soo thankful she is soo willing to help:) She is also my vacuum-er:)

I think teaching my children how to take care of themselves, clean up after themselves and care for their clothing/home is important. While I try to incorporate teaching/training into some of our daily tasks, I also need to make opportunities to teach them more. And then praise, praise, praise them for all of their hard work:)

Chores in Undies

Maybe because we're still in the potty training mode, or because he likes "swimming" (AKA taking off his clothes until his BBP and all the couch cushions and doing cannon balls into the stack of cushions... the couch- our inside trampoline)...

But I can not keep clothes on Christopher!! The other day the kids were "helping" me with chores and this is what I saw:



Ha ha haaa!! The good thing about him and Lydia wearing less clothing is that my laundry doesn't get piled as high:)

BTW... teaching 3-year olds chores is fun!!! They still want to "copy" us and so he thought it was a treat to sort the silverware:)

Off to get cleaned up for my date night with Brian:)YAY!!

Helping?

I'm usually pretty good with getting laundry into piles, into the washing machine and dryer and out of the dryer. But I'm not so good with the folding and putting away....and I'm better at folding than putting away.

When Anna was 3, I began to teach her how to carry her folded clothes to her room, sort them and then put them in their correct drawers. She usually does pretty well although she's not always happy to obey! And lately she's been slacking a little and she's suffered some of the consequences when she can't find the shirt she wants because it's mixed in with the pants:)

I totally have slacked with training Chris... but a couple of months ago I started training him to put his clothes away. HE struggled and I quickly realized he wasn't quite ready. So instead of putting them away he is sometimes asked to bring his clothes to his room and I put them away!

This morning as we were in the "church morning rush" I found this in Chris's room.



I honestly wanted to yell when I saw all the clothes piled up on his changing table!!!

But then I realized that they were the clothes that had been folded on the couch, waiting to be put away! Christopher must have been wanting to help and "do his chores" and so he put them all up on the changing table:) Glad I held in the initial frustration:)

Here he is, "the little helper", climbing through the bushes after church this morning! Yes, he's in the bushes with his nice church clothes... just giving me more laundry to leave on the couch:)