Everybody Can Do Something...

 This is currently one of our favorite songs! We love listening to it, the kids are constantly singing it!

It has motivated me to move out of my comfort zone, to do little things to change the world. My kids and I have been blessed by so many people who give to us... It is important to pass on the blessings...

  

I also want to teach my kids to appreciate what they have... 

Several weeks ago, we joined a bunch of other homeschool families to serve lunch at a local men's rescue mission. It was a really neat experience, very eye opening for my kids.

I am thankful that we have these opportunities. We homeschool, we don't do co op or other things where we are committed. I may struggle with commitment issues.. lol So we often ahve time to do fun spontaneous things. We are not tied to a schedule. We can decide last minute to drop everything and serve where needed. 

Advocating...

We live in a country where we can have an opinion, a voice in making laws and the freedom to advocate for those things which we feel strongly about. I happen to feel strongly about people killing babies! So I was excited when an opportunity came up for us to "do something"!

The kids and I were blessed to be able to volunteer with the Pa Family Institute and Council.

We took a stack of signed petitions to the Capital.

 We were blessed to meet several state representatives.

This was a new experience for us. It proved to be quite the interesting day! We did a lot of wandering around, trying to figure out what we were trying to do.

We believe not only in advocating for the unborn, but also fighting for the children who are born!

This is what I posted on my facebook page after our day at the Capitol.

I am not into politics. I understand very little... I tend to think that government is all corrupt. But I am a firm believer in doing what God calls us to do. I want to teach my kids to change the world. Today I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone. The highlight of my day was my conversation with our local representative, David Zimmerman. 

1. His chief of staff got so excited when she saw what we were doing. She had all kinds of questions and kept saying "we are working so hard on our end to defund planned parenthood". She wanted us to hang around until he came back from his session so we could talk to him. 

2. When we finally met him, he invited us to go up to the house floor. You can only go with an "important" person. It was such an honor.

3. David Zimmerman shared that defunding planned parenthood was a passion of his before ‪#‎defundpp‬ was the in thing. He explained to me the plan they are currently putting together to defund PP. 

4. He told us the story of his son and wife adopted their daughter from Uganda. 

5. He thanked us profusely for being an encouragement in defunding planned parenthood. (I actually felt a little guilty cause all we were doing was passing out petitions that others had done all the work on) 

6. He gave us some educational materials to watch.

I say all this to encourage you to step out... encourage those who are fighting for God's Truth in our government..

We  walked from 10:15 until almost 1 pm, handing out petitions.

My children were STARVING! We had packed a picnic lunch but it was in the car, 3 blocks from the Capital. These kids had walked and talked, handing out petitions without complaining for hours. So we stopped for Chicken Gyros!

This day was one of the most amazing of my career as a homeschool mom. It was very educational not only for the kids, but for mom!

Homeschool Schedules

The key to surviving my life, is having a good schedule. We all hate chaos. So I am constantly assessing our daily schedule.

We had a nice schedule at the beginning of the school year. We worked hard at getting into the routine, after a very carefree summer.  It took us about 2 weeks to get into a good routine.

But I was still overwhelmed with the amount of time I spend cooking and cleaning up. Our mornings were hectic and stressful too.

So we made yet another adjustment. Now I love the schedule we have. The kids struggle to stay on target but with some reinforcements we are doing well. The schedule also allows for flexiblity to fit Dr vacations and fun outings.

Currently our average day starts at 7. (my ultimate goal is to get up at 6, but it rarely happens) Usually I wake with a little boy in my face demanding his morning bottle. I get him and I dressed, both our beds made and rooms cleaned up. The boys usually wake up as we are getting ready.

I, then head downstairs to wake the girls and dress Nesiah. The big kids all dress themselves, make their beds and clean up their rooms. There are always dreams and stories to be discussed and hashed out, before they head out for chores.

The 3 oldest kids  go out for chores. They feed the calf, the goats, dogs, the barn cat, the rabbits, the horses, and milk the one goat. They make sure everyone has fresh water and a clean pen.

Bubbie loves to go to the barn. currently it is his job to feed the cat. He loves all the animals.He loves on the goats.

Fayth helps me in the house and starts school. I get Nesiah dressed and give her morning meds.

Nesiah gets on the bus right around the time the kids get inside from chores.

I am a big fan of a hot cooked breakfast for my kids. They can function so much better with a good solid breakfast. However, it is a royal pain to get all that done first thing in the morning.

So we adjusted our schedule. The kids come in from chores, they get to eat a gluten free muffin or bar along with a fruit smoothie. Then they start school. My ultimate goal is to start school by 8 am. It rarely actually happens but we are pretty close.

The kids do school, I clean up the house, plan my menu for the day. Bubbie generally gets into trouble, makes messes and acts like a typical toddler!


At 10, I try to have a full, hot brunch ready for the kids. I love that I can clean up my house and slowly create a full, yummy breakfast at leisure. I also try to work on preparing dinner during this time. My goal is to cook once but serve two large hot meals a day, then serve gf muffins and smoothies for breakfast and occasionally at bedtime.


We eat breakfast and try to clean up from 10-11 am. The kids are in charge of breakfast clean up.

They then return to school work with the goal of being completely done by 12.

I love love that I am not cooking in the middle of the day.

We finish school, then I assign each kid one job to be done between 12-1. Usually it is cleaning out a cupboard or corner, wiping down fingerprints, folding laundry etc..

Bubbie  and I usually nap from 1-2. The kids have to either finish up school or get to have free play. Everyone gets 15 minutes of either gameboy or tablet time between 1-2.


After naps, we usually either run errands, laze around or finish some projects.

3 to 4 or 5 pm is horse back riding time.  Right now we spend approx 2 hours every other day riding. The kids love riding and the more they ride, the longer they ride.

Nesiah gets home at 4 pm.

I try to have dinner in the oven when we head to the barn, that way it will be ready to serve when we come in.

 On the days we don't ride, the kids like to bake things. The majority of my kids are excellent bakers and create very yummy muffings/cupcakes etc..

We eat dinner around 4:30 to 5. The kids clean up while I catch up on projects. Generally dinner clean up is rather drawn out. I don't battle it.

Of course by 6:15 everything is done and the kids are ready to listen to Adventures in Odyssey! While they listen to AIO, I get Nesiah and Bubbie ready for bed, adminstering meds etc..

At 7 the kids clean up all their toys, projects,and messes. Everyone gets their pjs on and ready for bed. Then we have Bible Journaling time. Each kid has a (paper) tablet, where they choose a scripture and draw a picture to go with it! This has been such a fun way to end our day!
7:45, we have prayers and family time. 8:00 everyone is in BED!

Generally after the kids are in bed, I clean up and make sure floors and counters are nice and clean.

We tend to need a strong basic schedule, but once established we find that we can go with the flow. We know what needs to be done when, yet we are not rigid. If we have to adapt we do.
It does really help that my toddler finally works with my schedule. It keeps peace in my house!