Seed Organizing

I finally did it.  I finally organized my seeds.  This has taken me years.  I did some googling to see what methods were out there and I liked this one the best.  I made a few personal adjustments but for the most part, this is what some others have done.

My labels on the front of the bins are just index cards set inside the front area.  That way they can be changed out if need be.  I tend to freak out when doing a project if I'm not sure I want something to be permanent and then I don't do it.  This way allows me to have the label and yet feel comfortable in case of 'change' (oooo scary right?  Sometimes, even though you know you are ridiculous, you just can't help it.)

I tried to put paper clips on all of my packets so that when they are opened I already have the clip there to reclose.  Aren't I so smart?

I have some oddball packaging because of seed sharing.  I discovered that to firm up the packet I could staple the baggie to an index card and it stays in place better.

Works even better with the smaller baggies.  This is a jewelry bag by the way.  Those are great for storing small seeds.

Here are my three bins.  I bought more just in case because you know I want them all to match.  (rolling eyes)  Anyway, there are two for fruits and veggies and one for flowers and herbs.

Oh and here's a shot of my dividers.  Yep, in pencil so they can be 'changed'.  Ya gotta love a quirky mind!

A Catch-Up To-Do List

I wish I had taken before and after pictures because it's amazing what we've done.  Just saying it doesn't compare.

Hub and I organized a bunch of stuff in the basement.  It isn't done but it's soooo much better.  Since we will be remodeling down there and had to rip out the carpet over a year ago, it has become a catch all/disaster area.  Our garbage bin is full and we don't get pick up until Thursday.  I have set aside boxes of stuff for a spring yardsale.  (One is full of vhs tapes as I am getting rid of most of those.  Yea Netflix!)

We had a family day over the weekend which was followed by my allergy attack.  I am still recovering from all of that.  However, I did manage yesterday to tear apart the master bedroom-dusting/vacuuming and organizing everything.  Plus vacuumed the boys' rooms, bathroom, hallway and livingroom.

Meanwhile, The King has been working on insulating some things in the attic.  Our free ac unit has the ability to be hooked up for gas heat.  We don't have that part hooked up so it had to be insulated to keep a draft from coming thru our vents.  He also insulated where we put in attic stairs this past year.  I don't think I've blogged about any of that yet.  I'll have to go back and check.  LOL

I've gotten dinner done for today and will be off soon to do my cleaning job.  At some point this week I have to grocery shop because we are running out of food.  I'm trying to use what I have in the pantries, but the boys are complaining.  (Pooh eats A LOT!)  Oh and I also cleaned out my fridge today because it's so empty.  That is the best and easiest time to do it.  :)  

And it goes on.....

Done 12/21/11

I'm just going to jump back in by posting what I've done today.   No explanations of why I haven't been around in a while.  I've discovered that I'm here when I'm here and I'm not when I'm not.  LOL  Hoping that this daily checklist will help keep me inspired to get things done.  It's rainy, cloudy and dark today.  Not a good day for people like me who only do well in the sun.  Bleh.  Anyway, here goes......

As of 10am:

• Breakfast: coffee, tofu scramble wrap, bacon.
• Posted my foods into Weight Watchers tracker.
• Bathroom:  scrubbed shower, wiped down mirrors/sink/toilet, picked towels up off the floor (I have boys.)
• Posted 'Mom's Daily Schedule' at computer, bathroom and message board area.  (see what I'm trying to work on?)
• Emailed owl pellet people to see if my order shipped.

As of 3:30pm:

• Got dressed
• Made bed
• Threw in load of laundry
• Cleaned up dishes: loading dw, putting away those in the drain, washing more for the drain, wiping counters
• Had lunch
• Had a mommy meltdown about the CHAOS (see Flylady on that one)
• Talked with family to try to help with meltdown
• Started organizing Tigger's recently refinished bookcase even though I couldn't find the pegs to hold up the shelf.  (reason for the meltdown beginning)
• Cleaned out and reorganized Tigger's closet
• Cleaned out and reorganized Pooh's closet
• Listened to narrations 
• Checked over math
• Made more coffee
• Ate some chocolate

Not necessarily all in that order.....

As of 7pm:

• Did more straightening in boys' rooms
• Made dinner (chicken and pasta and Wine!)
• Got another phone call
• Received and opened my amazon and owl pellet orders
• Went through the regular mail
• Hubby came home and we ate together and had a loooong conversation (a nice change from normal).  Discussed my meltdown and what we will be doing this weekend with his vacation days.

Now I'm spending 30 minutes on the computer before I leave to do my cleaning job (I clean a bank on business days).

Got home.  Ate a snack.  Watched a show and off to bed!

Working On A Smoother Day

I've been experimenting with our system of doing school to try to make it a little more organized and streamlined. It's still a work in progress, but I thought I'd share what we're doing so far.

I had considered doing a form of the workbox system with Sterilite drawers I had purchased. But I let them sit there in the school room and kept thinking and thinking, finally discussing my whole dilemma with the King. I want to have a sorta, kinda workbox system. However, I am sooo not going to be filling workboxes each day. My goal was to come up with a system that I take care of once per week and then spend the rest of the days doing the work and having fun with other things.

I looked at different ways other moms have set up their systems. One thing that really caught my eye was Ginger's Setup for her Schedule Cards. I don't have the schedule cards set up AT ALL yet. First I wanted to try my plan and see how it all works.

Here is my bookshelf with a basic idea of my plan. There is a shelf for each boy. I have combined two different set-up systems. First you can see that each of the boys has a tote. This is for work they do every day such as: Math, Explode the Code, Copywork, Spelling, etc. Next you will notice that I have a couple of magazine holders on each shelf. I'm trying out using these for weekly work. I'll be getting some more magazine holders from Amazon and they each will have a set of 5 holders labeled Monday through Friday. In the holders is where I'll put their narration books for each day and any other activity that they need to complete. That includes their extras like music, art, handiwork, etc. I also have different games and manipulatives (and other things) that will be used more with this system.

I tried turning cereal boxes into holders but they are making the boxes differently now and the books just don't fit, although they are useful for smaller items. If something is too big for the holder, I'll just put a card or something in there with instructions on what to do. Then at some point, I'll have their schedule cards set up so they will have their 'Tote Work' their 'Weekly Work' and their 'Work with Mom" work interspersed with other things such as little exercises, snack time, etc.

It sounds sort of complicated explaining it, but it's very easy to implement so far. Their totes are almost always the same. Not usually much I have to change right now. Their weekly holders are easy to fill and they just put it on their desk, do the work and move on to working with me. I'm moving slowly on this because I want to be sure I like the setup. Too many times I've been really excited at an idea and been stumped along the way with unexpected obstacles that make the idea difficult to implement. I have to move slowly to allow myself to process what is working and what isn't.

Here is Pooh working with his Tote. Each assignment is divided with hanging folders. I found some hanging folders that are like bucket folders and I use that for his math. He's using Math U See and keeps his DVD in there for when it's time for the next lesson. No more hunting it down.

Tigger and his tote. He's got an old school desk someone gave me. In the storage area underneath he keeps his boxes of pencils, color pencils and scissors, etc. When he uses his tote he slides the lid under the chair out of the way.

The sit down work really doesn't last long. Weekly work usually is with me for narration and then we work on whatever extra for the day (nature study, art, etc.) The Work with Mom work is bible reading, recitation, poetry and any other spiritual study and reading we have assigned.

We are still a bit bumpy with our schedule but at least now I have a basic road laid down. The more we travel that road the more the bumps will get smoothed out I'm sure. When I ever finish the set up with holders and labels, I'll take pictures and post those too.

Chore Organization--Part 2 The COAR System

We have a split level house with a half basement. The stairs going from the kitchen to the basement have some nice large walls that were doing nothing so I turned them into a Scheduling Station.

This is the Notes side. Each of the boys has their own white board. This is NOT for them to write on. This is for Dad and I to leave them comments and write down any penalty chores they've earned. We always hope for them to have only the 'inspirational' notes, but there are days when extras must be thrown up there. I always make the positive comments in black because it's a bolder color that stands out. The penalty chores are written in their corresponding color (blue or green) because it's lighter and the idea is that it is less noticeable. I want them to focus on the positive as opposed to the negative. There's also a purple board that Dad and I can leave notes/memos to each other on.

A close-up of Pooh's board. Notice my "resilience sentence" that I leave for him. He's washing a few walls today.

This is my arena. I have my Flylady calendar on a peg board. I also pegged a little basket to it to hold my pen/pencil and some white board wipes. I can also use the peg board to hold invitations, lists, etc if I choose.

Underneath my peg board are these hangers again. These hold the Chore Cards. These aren't as easily flipped because I put them on a key holder (can't remember the name of those things). This way the boys can take their cards with them as they travel from one chore to the next. They attach them to their belt loops. They don't have pictures so Tigger comes and checks in with me to make sure of what to do next.

The chore cards are broken up into areas: kitchen duty, laundry duty, bathroom duty, 2 different bedroom duty cards, animal duty, basement duty, livingroom duty. Each area is broken down into daily chores and weekly chores. They do the weekly chores with me on an as needed/as we get to them basis. My goal is to train them in doing different things around the house and putting weekly chores on the cards tells me who to focus on for a particular job when I'm ready. The cards are grouped into two so they each get 4 areas each week. The next week they switch.

Here's a sample of what is on a card. (once again, 3x5 index cards covered with contact paper)

Bathroom Duty

Daily Chores—Do as needed all day.

• Clean toilet.
• Clean sink.
• Pick up towels & clothes.
• Sweep floor.

Weekly Chores—Do once per week or as instructed by Mom and Dad.

• Mop floor.
• Clean mirrors.
• Scrub bathtub.
• Dust ceilings/walls.

Throw rugs in hamper

I hope to one day figure out the file sharing thing and get some of my documents available to you. I just have to pick a file sharing site that I can trust.

One thing I haven't quite decided yet, is if I'm going to continue having them work on chores before school or what. I only require the daily ones before school but at this time, they goof around so much that it's taking too long. My first goal is to get us consistently started earlier in the day and then I'll be better able to tell what to do with timing of the chores.

It's interesting to see which chores that each excels at. Pooh always remembers his laundry duty and does really well at it. Tigger has kept the bathroom sink very neat this week! Once Tigger got over screaming about the bees, he's been fine with animal duty. It was quite hairy there for a while though! They are both lax lately with their bedroom duties. I feel a weekend cleanup coming on!

Hope these posts give you all some ideas. I know that I found other bloggers' posts invaluable in deciding what I was going to do.

Chore Organization-Part 1

I started thinking back in the spring that I wanted to set up the boys' chore system a bit differently this year. I spent A LOT of time looking at different chore set ups. My favorite one that I read described was for the MOTH chore system. It has little carrying clip on cases for the kids chores to be in and then they move the cards to the back of the case as they finish. That sounded good, but I wanted to be able to put my own clipart on the cards and I wanted to be able to make our own cards and change them out whenever the need. I decided to use this system--Chores On A Ring. COAR? LOL That's it! My system is the COAR system. Seriously, that just came to me this second. ;D

Anyway, you can see in the photo below that each of the boys has one of those stick-on-the-wall hangers to put their routines on. In their bedroom is where we hang their morning routine cards and their evening routine cards. Before they just had a chart on the wall. Now I can change out one or two cards or change the order anytime I want. (These cards are 3x5 index cards that I contact papered.)

Here they are in a lovely 'fan' fashion.

Morning Routine is as follows:
A Rooster Crowing is the Morning Clip Art
Wake Up 7am (in theory-some days it happens-some days it doesn't)
Make Bed
Put on deodorant
Clean Underwear
Get Dressed
Put pj's away (they either put them in the hamper or place on their pillow if still clean)
Brush teeth
Wash face. Use toner. (Pooh is getting pimples already.)
Brush hair.
Dirty clothes to hamper. (there's usually something that's been left on the floor)
5 Minute Room Rescue
Put away clean clothing. (they each have a hamper where I put their clean/folded clothes--they put away)
Eat Breakfast.
Take vitamins.
Work on chores for day.
Check schedule. (school schedule)

Evening Routine (wolf howling at the moon as an evening clipart):
Lights out by 10pm (once again, in theory...sigh)
5 Minute room rescue
Bath (as needed basis)
PJ's
Snack
Brush teeth 1 minute (using a timer). Then floss.
Wash face. Use toner.
Check schedule for tomorrow. (Pooh reads my calendar to see what's happening.)
Set out clothes.
Storytime.
Prayer.

We are still working on consistency. Pooh, especially, tends to just forget to look at the cards and then will 'accidentally' skip a step here and there. Usually the brushing of the hair in the morning. Tigger forgets to put his cards back on the hanger. It's good that he usually remembers where they are, however.

Things would go better if Mom were more consistent about checking behind them. *cough, cough*

Stay tuned for part 2 of the COAR system. ;D

School Has Begun

We started doing a 'light' school this week. I was going to wait until the 31st but got impatient for getting the feel of it. I wanted to go ahead and start so I could then start working out the kinks. I really would like for the boys to be more focused and to be a little bit more independent with some things. They need to learn to move from one thing to the next without me telling them several times what to do.

I've looked at the new fad 'Workboxes' and while I don't necessarily wish for the extensive layout that goes into the system as designed, I do like how it seems to make the day flow a little better. That's what we need here, a better flow.

I had thought about doing some type of system similar to chore cards to have them move from one subject to the next, but I think what I'm in the process of setting up will be better. I'll take pictures eventually. Basically, they each will have a 7 drawer craft cart where their work will be stored. They will be working on the drawers systematically after we do our morning work together.

Our morning work consists of prayer, daily text, poems, recitation, spanish, spiritual reading and some math instruction. After that they will have boxes with books to narrate, copywork, phonics, calendar work, mapwork, etc.

What I've been doing so far is using a wipe off board for each of them and writing their assignments for the day. They like checking them off, so I think they'll like completing these boxes too. Formally they've each had one bin that all books, papers, math, etc go in. The bins are difficult to keep neat and organized as they are moving from one thing to the next. The drawers will keep their stuff a bit neater. And I can put a pencil in each box if I need to instead of hearing "What did I do with my pencil?" That's the hope anyway. LOL

With both of them needing a lot of time with mom, I'm hoping to streamline it so that one can be doing some independent stuff while the other is getting help.

I'm really sleepy so I hope this made sense. Once I get the whole thing under way, more details and photos will come.