Heart to Heart with Diane

Does homeschool have to equal a messy house?

No!

Your house can be cleaner than ever, because homemaking is an important life skill, a valid school subject, and working side-by-side with you, your kids can learn to be pros! In my case, Mother is the worst problem . . . my clutter, my lack of follow-through. My kids know how to clean, and as long as I check their chore charts, the jobs get done.

How does a overworked mom get a hold of her house?

First, make a list of all the jobs that have to be done to maintain the level of cleanliness that you are comfortable with. (This will be different for each mother, because some like a more relaxed environment than others.) Divide the jobs into the frequency that they need to be done.

Write this on a paper:

Daily-

Mealtime-

Saturday-
(or Weekly, if you do chores on another day)

Now brainstorm and make a list under each heading. Here’s mine:

Daily-
Sweep dining and kitchen and spot clean floors
Take all garbage out
Sort laundry into each person’s bins
Fold and put away family laundry (towels, sheets, etc.)
Quick clean of blue bathroom
Quick clean of yellow bathroom
Quick clean of downstairs bathroom
Clean/declutter living room
Clean/declutter dining room
Clean/declutter family room
Clean/declutter school room
Keep phone counter cleared off

Mealtime-
Set table
Clear table
Put away food
Unload and load dishwasher
Wipe off counters
Empty dishdrain

Saturday-
Deep clean bathrooms (tub, mirrors, mop)
Mop all wood floors
Vaccum all carpeted floors
Clean pantry
Clean stove top
Windows/mirrors/light fixtures
Fridge clean-out
Mow lawn

Now, let the fun begin! Announce to the family that each one will get a chance to pick out the chores they’ll be doing. Go around the family one by one and let each child pick a number out of a hat to see what order they will get to choose them. Start with the child that picked #1, and let him select his favorite daily job. Keep going around, in number order, until the daily jobs are gone. (It doesn’t matter if someone got more than the next person.)When there is complaining, reinforce how fair it is, and how these chores aren’t permanent but will change in time.

Move on to the mealtime jobs, and then the Saturday jobs. Give everyone as much free choice in the job selection as possible, overseeing to make sure it is fair and no one takes on too much or gets all the easy jobs. If your children spand a wide age range, you might mark the easy jobs with a star and only allow those to be selected by the younger children. Make this process as happy and playful as possible.

When the choosing is finished, make a chart for each child of his jobs. I put a week’s worth of check-off boxes next to each chore and slip these charts into a page protector so the children check off each task with a wipe-off marker. Here is one of my children’s chore charts:

If you haven’t taught your children how to house-keep, you have some rigorous training to do. It helps to tape a detailed step-by-step how-to chart up inside a cabinet door in the room that explains just what to do. Young ones will need a simple picture chart so they can follow illustrated directions.

If you have older children, your workload is going to be hugely reduced once they can do their part to maintain a clean house. Little ones (and big ones until they are trained) need mother to work side-by-side with them until they are competent. Or you can give them an older sibling (that has been trained), the job to partner up with to teach a younger one. Don’t underestimate young children and cleaning ability, though. For one thing, the younger ones have the greatest enthusiasm for chores! Even a 3-year-old can do a pretty good job of cleaning a sink. Even if your family is mostly just young, housekeeping training is essential. And even if you end up working side-by-side with each child to train him, the truth is that you are getting more help than you had before!

Obviously, the more children you have, the less each one has to do. If you have a big house, it will get less dirty as it will have less occupancy per square foot, so some jobs may be reduced to twice a week, instead of daily. If you have a small house, it gets dirtier, so something like sweeping a heavily trafficked area might need to be done in the morning and after dinner.

Mom and Dad take on the jobs that the children can’t yet do, such as grocery shopping, changing the oil in the car, household repairs, baking bread, etc. Because Dad is earning a living and Mom is teaching school and caring for children, I feel as parents we are already doing our part. The kids need the skills, and the chance to contribute to the family, so they do the majority of the house upkeep.

As well as household chores, I expect the children to wash dishes, gather and put away their possessions, take care of their own rooms, do their own laundry, and eventually take on a Dinner Night.

Doing Dinner Night at my house means deciding what to make, thawing frozen foods ahead of time, checking that we have all the ingredients, and preparing the whole dinner. They get to choose whatever they want to eat as long as it follows our Balanced Meal chart that I have posted in my kitchen. Young ones need lots of mom-help to make a meal, but by about 11-years-old, they can cook dinner all by themselves—something they find very gratifying. They enjoy everyone’s compliments and the praise for making a good meal! And they love the freedom to choose what to eat. I love what it does for them by way of training. My kids will never go hungry for lack of know-how!
Once you get the kids’ chore charts up and posted, it is just up to us, Mom, to check them after morning chore time, and in the evening before dinner. Being consistent is the biggest factor in our success. If we can discipline ourselves to check and follow-up on the children’s chores, the whole family will soon be enjoying a much cleaner house. And the children will be more self-reliant, more responsible, and more capable!

A-h-h-h, this feels good!

My daughter Louisa (13) and I

We made it, Louisa and I! Yesterday was our 100th day without sugar! Of course, we had to celebrate, so she and I went on a dinner date, and NO, we did not eat any sugar . . . hee hee.

How did we ever make it to Day 100? It seems impossible, but Louisa and I stayed sugar-free all summer long—through a graduation party, birthday parties, a camp-out, and 3 family reunions.

What have we learned in the last 100 days? We learned it is definitely not about willpower, it is about making up your mind! The book, Suicide by Sugar, really helped me realize (once again) that I was doing a “self-destruct” and as I treasure life, and value my body, I really don’t want to harm myself, or cause my family to suffer the repercussions if my health is impaired. I don’t know if God will remove the desire from us, but we can pray for God to help us with changing our mind, and once your mind is made up, the rest is comparatively easy—it truly is!

That first week can be a little rocky physically for some. My daughter Louisa felt better than normal. I felt dizzy, sort of ill, constantly craving sugar, shaky and headachey for about 3 days, proof to me that I was totally addicted. And I still thought about sugar continually and wanted it a lot for about a week or two. After 21 days though, (the time it takes to break a habit), it really became pretty effortless. I don’t think about sugar or treats anymore. It’s just not for me. I know that. It isn’t good for me, it harms me, and I won’t be able to eat it again. I look at the treats in the grocery store the same way I look at cigarettes or liquor. Not for me. That is that.

Before I started this crazy idea, I would talk to the weird people who had gone off sugar. I would think they were nuts and/or lying. How could they just be “over it”? Over something that had its hold on me daily? Last night at the restaurant, the waiter asked what we were celebrating, and when I told him “100 sugar-free days”, he just laughed if off: “Yeah, right. Who can get through the day without it?!”

I don’t care about dessert much anymore, now that I don’t eat sugar. I’d like a cherry, a piece of watermelon, or a ripe juicy peach or something like that, but the whole man-made sweets thing no longer has very much appeal. Honestly, I don’t know how it ever happened, and I sure didn’t expect it to!

Do I still want sugar? Sure! I want all of it: the whole carton of ice cream, the whole jumbo bag of peanut M&Ms, the whole package of Oreos. A little sugar is not enough for me. One cookie does not work for me. I wish I could understand people who have a candy bowl in their living room. I’d have that finished off my 9:00 AM every day! I’d take a handful on the way to the laundry room and detour over to it for a handful on the way back, I’d stash them in my pockets . . . it would keep me coming back and back and back. Can you relate?

I don’t tell anyone except my close associates that I am sugar free. I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty! Or spoil the party. Or make a political statement. Or seem unappreciative for a lovingly made dessert. Or give them (more) reasons to think I am odd. Louisa and I came up with some “rules” for dealing with social activities where sugar is served (which means, all social situations!):

How-to Instructions for Being Cool, Sugar-Free and Not Making Others Feel Guilty

1. Don’t mention you are sugar-free.
2. Smile and say “thank you” when someone serves you dessert. Then just leave it on the table.
3. If someone comments, reply: “Oh, I’ve had plenty to eat, thank you.”
4. Give it away. Most people (especially kids) will think you are being incredibly nice and generous!
5. If you are being served something when not seated at a table, just circle back and return the plate to the serving table nonchalantly.
6. Under extreme duress, cut a bite sized piece with your fork and move it around on the plate, and then leave it. It will look like you had intentions to eat it.

What has being sugar-free done for me?

Physically-
It has taken a huge load off my body. I feel so different. More stable physcially and more energetic. Lighter. Less draggy. I used to feel very fatigued, and easily dizzy or headachey. I looked at bed longingly. There were days when I felt “toxic”. I don’t feel that way anymore. I have lost about 10 lbs. That isn’t much considering how long I have been off sugar. I have other body chemistry issues that keep my weight on. But others I know have lost dramatic amounts of weight. Depends on if you have a soda pop habit (which I did not) and how much junk food you are used to eating. I started out eating whole grains, veggies, etc. so my sugar habit was an occasional (to regular) indiscretion from an otherwise healthy diet.

Spiritually-
I removed an addictive substance from my life, and it has empowered me! Made me feel strong, able to control and direct my life. It gave me some spiritual freedom. Choosing to take in addictive substances seems to dull our sensitivity a bit, limits our freedom, and controls our soul to a degree.

Mentally-
Being sugar-free helps me feel in harmony. Self-betrayal is what happens when you know one thing and do another. And self-betrayal does not feel good to me. It has an element of shame with it, a feeling of living beneath my full potential. Since I teach my kids to eat healthily, I was acting pretty incongruently to feed them nourishing meals, and then break out the treats afterwards (or once they went to bed).

Emotionally-
I am so much more even in my moods. I generally feel happier, less uptight. Sugar can cause mood swings, irritability, and depression. I wonder why I always believed that sugar was a fix for those things, and that it would make me happy?

Some of my friends are undertaking this project on their own, and tell me what day they are on. And some of my blog readers. That is so gratifying to know we are in this together, and that we can take action to improve our health dramatically! If you have any question if sugar is affecting you negatively, try a 24 hour challenge. Can you stay off that long without craving it?

I asked Louisa where we were going with this, on day 101, since she has been the director from the start. She said we’ll finish out the year and then go from there. Sounds doable to me!

Now, my mode of operation is “Diligence”. Knowing that it is an addictive substance for me makes me feel determined not to get hooked again! Life is still great without sugar. Even better, really, as I am not a slave anymore. There are sweet things I can eat when I feel a need. Only I seldom feel a need. Dessert, sweetened with something else than my hook (sugar), just looks like more food to me. And after I’ve eaten a meal, I really don’t want anymore food. No thank you.

Louisa and I decorated our paper table covering at the restaurant

P.S. I found another yummy sugar-free product that helps me along the way. This is a product of Brazil and it is rich, delicious, real chocolate cocoa powder mixed with stevia that stirs easily into milk. It’s like Nestle’s Quick for the sugar-free. Actually better, because it is not chocolate-flavored, but real chocolate! Just stir a teaspoonful into a big glass of milk and you’ll have real chocolate milk supreme! For Louisa, it fills the need for sweets. I love it too! I am still debating if chocolate (without the sugar or fat) is good for you or not. In the meantime, it is ultra delicious and helping us stay off sugar!

See it here: Stevia-sweetened Chocolate “NesQuick”

It has been so nice to have fresh herbs all summer: parsley, basil, rosemary . . . I didn’t want to part with them. So I dug up my rosemary plant and brought it inside. We’ll see if it likes that or not. The rest of the herbs, I cut and hung to dry.

It is amazing how potent and delicious homegrown herbs are! They capture summer’s flavor, and I know I’ll love that basil in a pasta dish in January. Preparing your own culinary herbs is a snap. Here’s how:

1) Pick your herbs, preferably several long stems. (There is an ideal cutting time, but suffice it to say, if you can get out to the garden and get them cut, you’ve done good!)

2) If they look fairly clean, just go on to step 3. If not, rinse and shake well. Lay on your empty dish drain rack to drip dry.

3) Gather the dry stems into a bunch no bigger than an inch across. If you get too big of a bundle, the inside will mold. I’ve never had it happen, but keep the bundles smaller just in case.

4) Put a thin rubber-band around the bundle. (Thin rubber-band so the herbs gets maximum air exposure.)

5) Secure a twistie or a paperclip onto the rubberband to make a hanging hook for the push pin.

6) Hang from your ceiling in a dry, warm place—not in the sun.

7) Leave for several days, or longer. Crumble the brittle leaves, keeping the stems out of the leaves. I just leave the rubber-band on and squeeze and the stems stay connected and the leaves all fall off. Rub them to break them smaller.

8) Store in a recycled spice bottle. Label. This one says: “Parsley, 2009 Garden”

You’ve got yourself a strong, fragrant, delicious capture of summer!

Zucchini in the home garden can be overwhelming! Not quite sure how those huge monstrosities grow overnight, but they always sneak up on me. Here’s a gourmet recipe to the rescue! It is so delicious, you’ll be searching for zucchini just so you can make it one more time.

Um-m-m-m, this is so yummy. Something about the oregano and sour cream makes this so tasty!

My Favorite Zucchini Casserole

1/2 lb. hamburger (optional or substitute chicken)
4 medium zucchini, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 cup cooked brown rice
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 cup sour cream
4-5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped (reserve a few for garnish)
Italian cheese (mozarella, parmesan, asaigo, etc.)

If using meat, brown hamburger in a large skillet. Drain and set aside. Put chopped zucchini in the skillet with a tablespoon or two of water, sprinkle with oregano, and cook over medium heat with a lid on the skillet, to steam it. (You can add some other veggies to sneak in some extra nutrition here, such as a few leaves of swiss chard, shredded, or a bell pepper.) When the zucchini is tender, turn the heat to low and stir in brown rice, hamburger, salt and pepper to taste. Top with a thick layer of chopped tomatoes (you should have equal portions of zucchini and tomatoes. Dot sour cream on top of tomatoes. Sprinkle cheese generously on top. Add the reserved chopped tomatoes as a garnish. May either cook covered on low heat until the cheese melts, or pass it under the broiler to melt the cheese. You don’t want to cook the tomatoes. Serves 6. Nutritiously delicious!

My son Ammon cooks up a skillet-full of my favorite zuchinni casserole

Structure—such a beautiful word, and such an essential concept! A structure is a framework on which to build. A skeleton is the structure your body’s muscle and flesh hang on. A curtain rod is the framework that enables soft draperies to hang at your windows. The frame of your house—whether it is stone, brick, steel beams or wooden 2 x 4’s—is what the walls and ceilings and floors are built on. Nobody would argue that structure is not absolutely necessary.

Likewise, structure is essential to a child’s day. Homeschooling is a lifestyle in which we enjoy a lot of freedom to choose our activities and learning subjects, but structure is still vital. Consider structure in your home: do you have a good framework for your child’s daily activities?

Mealtimes should be the most reliable event in your dally life. There is plenty of research that verifies the fact that family mealtime is critical to a stable family life, good transfer of family values, self-esteem in children, reduced drug use in teenagers, less teenage pregnancy, and more. Pick a time for each meal and let those times become the anchors of your day. All other activities should arrange themselves around mealtimes. It gives the family a chance to come together, to talk, to nourish their bodies, as well as socialize and love each other. If the family can be together at meals, it will really pay off in the long run.

Waking up and going to bed routines are very important. With them in place, children know what to expect. Family life feels reliable. Children are well rested and don’t have so many emotional breakdowns. Mom can cope better. Sometimes I see children late at night out in grocery stores, just a-crying and losing it, and it really is no wonder. I listen to the parents scold them, but really it is the parent’s fault that they are crying. Children need to go to bed at a regular time and expecting them to behave properly when their bodily reserves are expended, is expecting too much. 8 o’clock is a good bedtime for little children. Older children can go in their rooms and quietly read, but the home needs to quiet down at night. Off with the TV and the music. This can be a real challenge, but it makes a big difference! Any day in which we don’t keep our waking up and going to bed routines is termed “vacation” at my house. Staying up late, not having a dependable bedtime, sleeping in, not knowing when the day is going to begin—these can wreck havoc in family life! Plus, sabotage your homeschool.

What is a “waking up” routine? Alarm clocks set (except for Saturday, our sleep-in day). Personal prayer—your first “good morning” to Jesus. (I teach my children to slide out of bed onto their knees in the morning). Scripture study first thing, still in pajamas, and before chores or breakfast. That’s our waking up routine. Learning to take responsibility for one’s self, contributing to the family’s happy function, is a priority in the morning: grooming, chores.

Bedtime routine: Stories or games together, the house settling down and getting quiet, scripture reading, quiet talking alone with each child privately about their day for a few moments. . . these activities end the day and get children ready for sleep.

God’s word can take any form you like, but getting it into our children’s minds and hearts before they sleep and when they wake has made all the difference in my family. It gives them a stable set of standards and conduct to live by.

Now that structure has established the framework, we have those lovely long hours in between for some creative thinking and freedom! This doesn’t mean freedom to do nothing. This means freedom to pursue interests, to choose to use your time wisely. Kids depend on mom to order their day, and as they grow, they learn to govern the use of their time and order their own day.

I think an ideal homeschool day would look something like this:

Wake up
Family Devotional
Chores (while breakfast in being prepared)
Breakfast
School time (3+ hours to enjoy learning!)
Lunch
Quiet Time (some nap— including Mom, some finish up school work)
Afternoon time: service, outings, activities, play, hobbies, work projects, errands
Dinner
Bedtime routine
To bed

Never underestimate the power of structure in your home, and in your homeschool. It gives us order, establishes a framework for children to rely on, and frees up time to enjoy life more fully.

One of my favorite books for children is a favorite because of the impact it has made on my family. We live in a land of freedom with an amazing amount of rights and privileges. Most of us have enough food, access to education, freedom of religion, and the blessing of medical care. Many of us have air conditioning and heating. We go to the dentist. Our children have shoes. And toys.

Imagine the mind expansion that happens to a child when she reads the direct words of a girl her own age in Africa whose only toy is a ball made out of a wild tomato wrapped in grass! Suddenly she feels quite humble that she is privileged to live in such lush circumstances when others have so little. This is the incredible effect that Children Just Like Me had on my children, and had on me!

Part of feeling grateful is the awareness of differences. If everyone has shoes, I may feel whiny about what color my shoes are. But if no one has shoes but me, I am rich indeed. In my homeschool, we used Children Just Like Me along with our geography studies, reading each child’s first person description of his daily life: what he eats, what he plays with, where he lives. Becoming more globally aware of how the rest of the world lives can have the effect of intensifying gratitude for our blessings! It also makes us realize that in regard to the important things in life—like being in a family or the joy of a new baby—we share these common experiences with other human beings all over the planet.

The authors of this fascinating book spent two years meeting and photographing children from more than 140 countries. The book is divided by continent, and introduces each country with photos of children, their names, and nationalities. Then a double-page spread shows you just where each child lives, what they eat and what type of utensils they eat with, where they go to school, their friends and family— all in color photographs! Learn about each child’s favorite games, friends, and hopes for the future.

Children Just Like Me—a mind-expanding children’s book that I highly recommend!
See Children Just Like Me here.

What do you do when someone treats you mean? When someone makes decisions that frustrate you? When you want to change someone’s behavior?

Do you have a talk with them and try to persuade, lecture, pressure, scold or threaten them into doing things your way? Do you persecute them with snide remarks, shun them, or belittle them? Do you draw back from them, being emotionally distant and cold-shoulder them?

Christ’s doctrine to love your enemy was rather shocking in the ancient world where revenge, protecting one’s honor by violence, and cruelty were the norm. As Christians, we know in theory—but it seems even some adults haven’t yet learned in practice—the very simple and wonderful truth that love is the solution. Or maybe we don’t yet really down-deep-inside believe it.

I am inspired by this very insightful scripture found in the Bible:

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.
Proverbs 25:21-22

The way to deal with an difficult person, someone who is perturbing us, or frustrating us because they won’t be nice (or accepting, flexible, cooperative, obedient, etc.) is to “heap coals of fire upon their head” through caring kindness. Love always wins. Whether it be a supervisor or your little child who is giving you trouble, love is hard to resist. Almost impossible to resist. And isn’t it interesting that love is the exact opposite reaction than what springs up in our heart. The natural man inside us wants to fight, argue, get revenge, be hot-headed, and force somebody, too. Christ’s doctrine is soothing, cooling words of peace.

Have you ever caught a glimpse of one of those judge shows on TV, where the opponents are accusing, shouting, and doing all manner of embarrassing behaviors because they are so upset with their ex-spouse, ex-partner, or ex-friend? It makes me cringe, because that is so not the way a Christian should act!

This idea of “heaping coals of fire” upon another’s head by showing love and kindness is illuminated in one of my favorite Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories. It is a wonderful story, and I read it to my children over and over when they were young, and we talk about the concept still. (Read the story). And when they come to me upset by something one of their friends or associates did, I remind them to “heap coals” on their head with positive attention and kindness, and things will go better. And things do go so much better. The reminder is good for me, too.

Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories—fabulous character training through stories

Someone was causing me some grief and as I was praying about what to do, the thought came into my mind to pick some apples from my orchard and write a little note of gratitude to that person and deliver them. Those kinds of ideas come from God, as I sure don’t feel like delivering presents to someone who complicates my life. It is wonderful to see how it softens and alters my perspective as I try to please and serve them. That is the magic. “Heaping coals upon their head” must burn the meanness out of them, too, so God can work with us both.

What a happier way to live!

Carrots really can grow in just 6″ of good soil

Carrots in the Square Foot Garden? How could that work? You only have 6″ of soil in your garden box when you do Square Foot Gardening, and that hardly seems like enough for carrots. Of all the surprises I got this year, my first year of Square Foot Gardening, carrots were the biggest surprise. I never could grow a good crop of carrots because they require such attention to get started in my area, where the sun can be brutal. I could never keep the soil evenly moist for the long period that carrots need to germinate. I tried putting boards or burlap bags or even pieces of cardboard over the carrot patch to keep the sun from drying out the soil, but basically all I ever got was a few here-and-there carrots. And they grew so tight in the soil, that I had to shovel them out, breaking them often. They were not long, straight carrots, but multi-rooted creatures that looked like they’d had a battle.

So, imagine my surprise to get these beauties!

Square Foot Garden soil is a special blend of water-holding nutrients (peat moss, vermiculite, and compost). So just shaking your seeds out into the soil and patting it down is enough to get things germinating. I watered as usual, but didn’t cover them or baby them, and I was stunned when carrots seedlings started popping up all over!

The great thing about carrots in this soil is that picking them is super easy! First, I rub off the soil around the top to see how big the carrot is. Then I poke my finger down into the soil next the the carrot to feel how long and fat it is. The soil is so soft and loose, that this is easy. If the carrot is big enough, I just slide it right out. No shovel needed. Wow! I can send the kids out to pick them as it is not job at all. And because the carrots didn’t have to battle to grow, they are straight, sleek and only have one root. Amazing!

The carrots are sweet and delicious, too. This is fun!

My sweet granddaughter Rebekah, going no-where fast! 

 

 

I talk to homeschoolers a lot. New homeschoolers seem to get into a flurry. They are so excited at the prospect of being able to teach their children, and perhaps so overwhelmed at all the wonderful things they want their children to know, that they can slip into hyper-speed mode which makes them tense. And homeschooling becomes rushed and stressful rather than the fun, easy, loving-learning, being together, happy experience it should be.

Over the years, homeschooling has ceased to mean schooling to me. It is a lifestyle, a way of living that draws your children into your world to share all things, not just academics. You have their whole childhood in which to transfer your values, teach your beliefs, explore God’s beautiful world together, do the art projects and the science experiments, listen to great music, and read the classic children’s literature. You don’t have to do it all this week!

If I could give new homeschoolers some advice it would be this: relax and live with your kids. Most of what we teach our kids is caught, not taught. Our attitude, our religion, our worldview . . . these things are transferred by our expressions, the gestures we make, the look on our faces. Children are so perceptive!

When thunder roars and lightening strikes, I love to turn off all the lights, open the windows to let the noise and wind in, and enjoy the majesty of the storm, feeling awestruck at God’s power. My children, of course, “caught” this attitude. My daughter was babysitting during a thunderstorm and the children all ran to her crying and hid their heads under pillows. She was so amazed that they didn’t enjoy it! Later, while visiting their mother, I learned she was terrified of thunderstorms. Caught, not taught.

So, spending time with your children, drawing them into your life— your chores, your acts of service, the thoughts you think, the books you read, your music, your friends . . . your world—will teach them how to live and what to value and seek after. And there is a place for academics and study too. Just not first place!

While I had my 7 in homeschool, I rotated from child to child to help them, and I could get overwhelmed with the things they each needed work on. I could get boggled easily. So I started carrying a spiral notebook with me. I divided the notebook approximately into the number of children I was schooling and made a makeshift tab with a colored paperclip for each. As I helped them correct their writing, or do their math, or other schoolwork, I would privately jot down the glaring problems: Emily is making her “j’s” backwards, Nathan doesn’t have his 7x mastered, Julianna is repeating misspelling “because”. . . and so forth for each child. Recording the teaching needs helped me remember, and feel assured that I could focus on it in days to come, without interrupting the flow of learning at that moment. This is especially important with teaching a child to write. Mechanics can bog them down and take the joy out of writing if too much correction is done at one time.

There is a lot of good food to eat in this life, but piling it all in a huge heap to force feed in one meal is overload and not enjoyable or even nourishing. There are wonderful things to learn, much more than one lifetime, or one childhood, can hold. But trying to cram it all in results in little really being absorbed. Choose carefully what you feel is important to teach, write out a reasonably-paced plan, and then teach your child according to your plan year-by-year in a relaxed, playful manner. Don’t panic. Don’t move into hyper-speed mode and try to stuff it all in. Kids don’t need grammar in first grade. They don’t need academic pressure. There is next year and next year and next year. You can make course corrections along the way. You’ll get better at teaching your children as you go, as you learn. Get close to your children and get to know them and, you will know their talents and aptitudes and be able to fine tune your plan and offer just what they need. Enjoy. Don’t get stressed.

Easy now. You’ve got a whole childhood.