I am in the last stages of getting ready for our first day back at school on Monday, and I tell you having a baby is easier than this!!! I know its hard to go from absolute freedom to back at work all in a day, trust me on this – I could so be on holiday forever… But we are keen to learn and read our new books and one person is chomping at the bit to get reading and another is dying to learn cursive – so all in all eager beavers…
I am in the home straight and browsing around for some links to inspire me and other short people when we get going. Our first day back is always hideous and I have learnt to not expect too much from it other than a tour of school with each kids explaining their schedule: “And then you get this book and you find that page in your folder and you answer these questions … and so on and on…” I find the more detailed I am on the first day, explaining my expectations, the better for all of us. Not just toss some answers on a page but to present their work with all your heart – it is their job after all!!!
Here’s our Back to School To Do list:
- Stationary and the Dresser – done it!
- Craft Materials and Science kits – done it!!!
- Books and the Book Nook – Almost done it!
- Files and the Instructors Guides Done it, thanks to an extremely capable twelve year old!!!
- Electives and extra-murals – that all depends on our goal for the year – plotted and planned!!!
- Sorting out a vague schedule – I will be able to see finally on Monday, how long the “school tour” takes to figure out our new schedule…
- The Lab – the room where we keep all our workbooks amidst the rest of the family dumping zone – DONE IT!!!! Not perfect but good to go. We can see the floor, the books are on the shelves and we can find stuff!!! And you thought I was just blogging!!!
So here we go Se7en links we will be playing with on Monday and in the upcoming weeks…
- LearnOutLoud: Heaps of free podcasts and audio files. Tons and tons of good stuff!!!
- Wonderful Science Page from InstructorWeb: Packed with just about everything.
- Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary: This is so cool pick a topic and learn things you never knew existed!!!
- BBC Schools: There are so many fun things on this sight, for every subject. Things to pop on i-pods, games to play, notes to print… their BiteSize goodies are great and so is their news.
- Ministry to Children: Some brilliant ideas for Bible Study.
- Activity Village: Is great. Their list of topics covered is enormous and growing – you can find fabulous stuff on history and brilliant printables for keeping journals and inspiring writers of all abilities!!!
- Mr Donn: Gotta love this sight and all the resources for history and generally around the world goodies… I always get lost here – always!!!
That’s it!!! If you have some fabulous links to share that you and your kids love then go ahead pop them in the comments!!! And I will take you on a school tour once we get going…
If you did something fun with your kids or made a great link list then pop over and link it up to our Fabulous Friday Fun.
And if you would like to enter this weeks GiveAway then just follow the link.
Tags: HomeSchool Questions · Se7en at School
How often do I get asked “Where on earth do you find the time?” Frankly there are only twenty four hours in a day. And alas we have to sleep for some of them!!! I think what happens so easily is we try and do too much, we spread ourselves thin. And I have to say my mantra is “Slow and Steady Wins the Race…” and this is the key for us having time to do what needs to be done and then time to do a bit more as well!!! We don’t have to grasp every opportunity, we don’t have to go on every outing… We do need to be ready for whatever each day brings, predictable or unpredictable as that may be!!!
- Where do you find the time to keep up with chores…
We have a rhythm to our chores and they follow on after each other… When I get up in the morning I make the bed, as I leave the bedroom I make sure everything is picked up… as I leave the bathroom I make sure everything is as I would like to find it. I usually mop the floor for the first time as I leave the bathroom (five boys – trust me I am intimately acquainted with the bathroom floor)… As I leave the couch, we always read a few stories first thing, I make sure the lounge is picked up. We don’t start breakfast before everything is ready for visitors – even if we aren’t having any!!! Some folk like to dress up for the day, well we like to be ready for any interruptions in our day!!!
- Where do you find time for big projects like household maintenance…
There are huge projects, I try and tackle a big project a week. Most of them I can do slow and steadily, seriously fifteen minutes of focus a day is phenomenal!!! Sometimes you just have to do a project in a massive kind of a way. The best way I have found is to just start, don’t wait for “the baby” to sleep, trust me kids know you are up to something and they won’t nap for a week!!! Last week I tackled the garden, tossed a blanket in the shade and Hood #8 was content to roll about and keep an eye on me – and get totally exhausted!!! This week I am organizing school stuff on a grand scale and he has been playing with finger puppets under foot. Really just starting, trust me I would rather never start but somethings really must be done!!! Once you get rolling you can keep at it. Progress is very motivating!!! I think the secret here is to just have one BIG project going at a time, this is my fatal flaw, I really want to conquer everything in a day and need to remind myself to start one thing and not move on until it is finished!!!
- Where do you find the time to do school and projects with your kids…
This one I cannot answer, it is one of those mysteries of life. As I come to the end of any school vacation I wonder how on earth we will fit school into our days and yet we always do. Everyone has a clear idea of what they are meant to be doing for school and while I am training the little scholars that a page or two from each book is actually required my older kids know the drill and get on with it. My little little ones are happy enough to putter along beside us or sit in the middle of the table tossing markers – whatever!!! We will manage each event as it arises and plod on from meal to meal… for certain growing lads that’s all that really counts!!!
I guess if you read our blog it looks like we are always doing projects and outings and we are… but seriously not every moment of everyday!!! We post one recipe, one craft and one outing a week… that isn’t really that much. I am not spending my days making pipe-cleaner people with my kids!!! That doesn’t mean my kids aren’t doing their own projects and getting stuck into new ideas… I am a firm believer in getting things done alongside them!!! My kids know I am their mother and not the actual entertainment!!! I am still on call to fill a cup, to pass a snack, to help with toileteering, to listen to a “he said/she said”… but this is alongside the things we are actually doing.
- Where do you find the time to read a book…
Kids are watching!!! And I must practice what I preach – seriously if they never see you reading why will they think you value it!!! And I do, value reading. I really want my kids to love reading. Books are the ultimate transporter and can literally take you anywhere. So while we read hundreds of books together, my kids are quite familiar with seeing me read a book for my own self – and not just Curious George!!! Also I grew up without a TV and our kids have no idea that there is actually a picture on that grey box in the cupboard, unless the father person is home on weekends. Really even if they knew I don’t think we would have time for TV because our days are full as it is!!!
- Where do you find the time for one on one with each kid…
I like my kids and I love spending time with them. I don’t have a stop watch to check that everyone gets exactly 27 minutes of my time each day, but I do spend time with each one… It might be a reading lesson in my lap, it might be hanging washing alongside another or watering their plants with them. I don’t spend time with just one child doing something and banishing every one else. I also don’t check to see that every one has exactly the same number of minutes. Mostly my kids know that time with me means work!!! I find if we are focusing on a job together it gives us a great opportunity to talk and just hang out with them.
- Where do you find the time for friends….
I have just recently learnt a truth about visitors and friends, for years I would gasp at the thought of folk coming round – getting school done before hand, the house picked up and so on. But “Lightbulb Moment” the house is pretty much picked up (we have a quick clean-up before each meal) and, as I said, school gets done!!! The thing about having friends over is that generally you stop and have a break with them!!! Lovely, why haven’t I noticed this before!!! If we don’t have visitors I am squeezing every last possible thing in until right before a meal and zooting off straight after. It is very hard to be content if you are always dashing onto the next thing. Visitors force me to get started timeously for meals and actually just enjoy a meal in my own home and linger a bit!!!
- Where do you find the time to spend time with the father person…
There are different plains and dynamics in a family, now while our kids are young we are able to have our own time “over their heads.” Taking the kids outdoors really helps, nothing keeps kids busier than a paddle in a river or a stroll at the beach and this gives us plenty of time to spend time together. Our kids go to bed pretty early and we have evenings with each other, often we work alongside each other and chat as we go… you can get a lot said in kid-free time!!! I still get taken out – but we like going out as a family and generally take our kids along with us!!! Yup it is expensive to take me out for coffee (!!!), shows great commitment when you have to buy a number of “Little Cups of Chinno’s” (capuchino) to go with it!!! But it can be done. We need a certain amount of oneness to parent and our kids have to know we are a team. We work best when we are up-to-date and generally we catch up each evening on who did what and what their latest tricks are!!!
And the “Se7en + 1″ th thing:
- Where do you find the time for yourself…
A huge chunk of my own time is spent blogging, I love it!!! If it ever feels like work I take a break from it… a blog does survive if you don’t post every moment of every day!!! Otherwise, I go to gym or run errands without kids – doesn’t sound too wild I know but lets just say the clear air and not having to listen to little voices for a stretch of time is all the break I need to feel recharged and to miss my kids and want to hurry straight back home to them!!!
I guess the secret to finding time is limiting yourself to the things that are really important to you and then getting on with them. We live in era where we must try everything, keep all our options open just in case of an opportunity!!! How many times folk say they can’t come over they are already doing four or five outings on a day – gasp!!! Slowing down has really worked for us. Starting things well in advance to prevent last minute panics… Seriously, “Less is so much More.” “Slow and Steady” really works for us!!!
P.S. If you did something fun with your kids or made a great link list then pop over and link it up to our Fabulous Friday Fun.
And if you would like to enter this weeks GiveAway then just follow the link.
This Post was hammered out as part of The Thirty Minute Mom’s Challenge at Steady Mom. The photographs took a bit longer than usual I didn’t have any clocks in my flickr pool and couldn’t even find se7en around the house!!!
I popped this post onto the Works For Me Wednesday Site – go and have a look there for all sorts of tips on absolutely anything.
Tags: Organizing Se7en
March-ing on… Here are the calendars and celebrations of the week…
Here is our weekly picture celebrating Hood #8.
And here are a few links for this week:
- 8 March 2010: International Women’s Day.
- 10 March 2010: Harriet Tubman (1820 – 1913).
- 11 March 2010: Johnny Appleseed Day .
- 11 March 2010: World Kidney Day.
- 14 March 2010: Pi Day.
- 14 March 2010: Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955).
That’s us – have a great week!!!
P.S. If you did something fun with your kids or made a great link list then pop over and link it up to our Fabulous Friday Fun.
And if you would like to enter this weeks GiveAway then just follow the link.
Tags: Celebrity Calendar
Another Sunday Snippet and Another GiveAway. As usual I have to thank Christian Book Discounters who kindly supplied the book for this GiveAway…
Now I know how you all love Patricia St. John Giveaways… It is historically proven:
One thing about Patricia St. John books is that you know once you open them you will not be moving until you have turned the last page and these two books won’t disappoint you!!! She has a writing style that can describe a place and time so well that you quite literally feel you are living it. Don’t make the mistake of thinking her books are just for kids – they aren’t, I have been riveted by every one of them. This week I have two of her books to give away. Both of these are historical fiction and worthy books.
I wouldn’t use these ones, like most of her books, as family read-a-louds for small children – they both deal with real and serious issues. I would certainly let my older kids have a read of these on them to read and expand their horizons regarding other people’s lives, also she has a way of tackling an issue without being totally graphic, she is skilled in describing an event or a process without providing more than the reader actually needs to know. My eight year old would battle with the topics but my “ten and ups” would enjoy it and would like the mental stretch to see how other people’s lives are so different to theirs. Not to mention that their lives are really privileged!!!
- The first book is set in Lebanon during the 1980’s and follows the life of a sixteen year old girl and her family, as there life changes from one of peace to one wracked with pain and loss in a war torn country. She has to deal with a deep betrayal that results in the death of her twin brother. She has to come to terms with and deal with her need for revenge. She never despairs, she discovers a surprise in the orange grove that gives her family hope and a reason to live and is the driving force in her growing understanding that nothing else matters apart from love and forgiveness.
- The second book in this GiveAway is set in the time of Jesus, in the town of Tyre. It is the story of a boy, Philo, whose sister is ill and talk of the town is that she is demon possessed. Philo runs away to avoid all his problems at home, not least his mother’s desperate quest to cure his sister at any cost. He keeps hearing about a prophet, “The Victor” read on to see what happens!!!
The GiveAway works in the usual way, comment on this post before the end of this coming Friday, 13 March 2010, and I will draw and publish the winner next week on Sunday! – I won’t respond to your comments as I do on our other posts because I don’t want to be included in our own giveaway.
Our GiveAway Books are open to everyone: If you have won a GiveAway before never fear – enter away. If you live on the far side of the world – enter away. Postage takes forever from here but eventually it should get to you!
Good luck and get commenting!
Tags: GiveAways and Swaps · Sunday Snippet
The Crafty Crow is having a virtual world tour this month, you have to stop by and look at it!!! With a goal to writing a post on a local craft we went on a quest, photographing street art wherever we visited this past week. Now street art here is bright, colorful and mostly recycled. It is made from very easy to find materials, how often I have thought – I wish I had thought of that!!! So here you go a photographic tour of street crafts:
Our street art really goes beyond postcards and t-shirts!!!
There are vendors on almost every corner and this is where you learn the masterful art of bartering. Heckling to take their photographs and more important paying in cans of Coke (mid-summer currency) to take photographs of their merchandise. Mostly wire and beads. There is metal and creatures made out of soda cans, there is a reason for their currency!!!
And you have to love the beaded bowls:
We couldn’t find all the crafts we were looking for, they are seasonal and trendy, a craft you loved last week might well be so last week and so not on this weeks street corner. So we headed for a store that sells street crafts in Noordhoek Farm village… and has so much variety that you could probably spend a year there and still find new products to oooh and aaah over…
This man was fabulously friendly – offered the opportunity to photograph his products and entertained the kids while I photographed away. Not to mention letting eight kids loose with his merchandise and then being kind enough to let us test drive.
Instruments:
Beads:
Vehicles:
And more…
And this is what my kids loved on the day – pull the string and the arms and legs fly!!!
We had to take these two home with us:
That’s it… Hope you enjoyed our whirlwind tour!!!
Tags: Saturday Spot · shopping
So there we are back in the sunshine!!! I made a mistake with our calendar and had to start a fresh one… so fresh and new!!!
First things first a scientific report back… After a week or so of crystalizing: we have a heap of crystals in our jars but not a whole lot on the string – could be because “NOBODY” kept fiddling with them.
But the most interesting thing is the trail of ants that have drunken an almost entire jar of sugar water this past week… I have heard of penguins on ice-flows before but we have ants on sugar crystals.
Otherwise we did some painting:
We did some outings:
We had haircuts:
We went for a drive in the country and found a napper:
We read some books:
And this is our book of the week: It is one of our schoolbooks and I have bought this book so many times that its quite embarrassing!!! My kids have read it to death so many times!!! From one year to the next it is shattered, I mean loved and totally tattered!!! We would have to say this is one of our all-time favorite Sonlight books!!!
And this is what the hoods got up to:
Hood #1: Built an igloo:
He invented a game and kept everyone busy…
Hood #2: Got grooving with his sax, and he takes his baby wearing seriously… Out with the sling, in with the babe and off to sleep. Thank-you very much!!!
Hood #3: Did some crafting. Did some tending. Any ideas what we are to do with this impending nursery?
Hood #4: He built a yacht and did some wild um wild… wild wild thing…
And he conquered more than a few friends and siblings in cross-country racing…
Hood #5: I noticed his shoes when we were siting in church this morning and asked him what had happened to them…He tells me his shoes have rusted – he could have a point, where have I been!!!
He also discovered that if he whips up a chocolate fudge cake before breakfast he will be very popular amongst his siblings… and welcome to visit in almost any home!!!
Hood #6: Took up-side down living to new heights and was very “in-charge” of all picnic ventures…
Hood #7: After weeks of saying “no” and the last word you said to her, which our friends from the UK quickly turned into “no pwobwem” (no problem)!!! I am afraid our cute days could be over … we have a new word: e for egg, y for yellow, followed by sssss for snake… and that would be “e.y.s”, which is a three syllabled word meaning yes in “South African,” where most people don’t actually bother with the y. She did some arting, and some sorting…
Hood #8: Has discovered the art of play… and nothing will distract him!!!
Occasionally he stops to fly:
And even more occasionally he is overcome by fatigue:
That’s us!!! Tell us what you have been up to!!! Have a Great Week!!!
Tags: The Week that Was
A good week, and a sense that summer is coming to an end!!! The outings are getting crammed in and and all the things we wanted to do this summer are piling up and getting done NOW rather than later!!!
Here are se7en of my favorite things from around the blog world this past week. Hop around you are sure to find something that inspires you:
- Ohdeedoh has a pack of brilliant kids food sites – you so want to visit these!!!
- If you are not following Kristen adventure to Kenya, then click on that button already!!!
- Free Recipe Printable Cards from Skip to My Lou: Where have I been aren’t these brilliant and don’t I wish I had had such a spectacular idea!!!
- Don’t you just love this bright funky desk from Ohdeedoh!!! Don’t I wish our house was big enough for se7en + 1 little desks around our house. And that cushion is so fun – hmmm I may have to settle for a cushion project!!!
- We were on Kireei again!!! I just love Kireei!!! Have a look at this add on their site it is full of the most magical things!!! Lots of “The Little Prince” goodies, love it!!!
- Look at these stunning Mehndi inspired cookies, from Sprinkle Bakes. WOW!!!
- Measuring the speed of light using your microwave, from orbiting Frog: This is the experiment I wish I had done last week when we had our science extravaganza!!!
And the “Se7enth + 1″th thing…
That’s Us!!! And Now it’s your turn to Link UP:
Link up a Fun thing you did with your kids this past week… or if you have a post of your favorite links this week then go ahead and add them to ours… or any post you wrote this week and loved…
Here are the rules:
- Anyone of our crafty/mom blog reader friends are welcome to join in.
- Any of your kids who want to write a blog post and link it in are welcome to join in.
- Please mention “Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun” in your post and direct the readers back to our Carnival. For example: “I linked this post to Se7en’s Fabulous Friday Fun” would work for me!!! Or pop our button onto your site. so that other readers can enjoy a couple of your favorite favorites… and get to meet all of you.
- Make sure you link to your fabulous post and not your website, so that it is easy for readers to find your favorite… rather than wading through everything!!!
- Enter a very brief description of your post in parenthesis in the Mcklinky line where you enter your name, so that we know what to expect when we get there.
- Visit and leave comments on other folks’ posts who enter the Carnival – it is the nice thing to do!!!
- Finally this is a family blog and remember some folks kids are reading it – please keep your posts appropriate. I reserve the right to delete any post that would not be appropriate for my kids to glance at.
Thanks for playing, Link away, Comment away… I am dying to hear from you all…
Tags: Fabulous Friday Fun
