My oldest son is graduating from high school and I have a big party to plan. We also have a family wedding and two birthdays coming up. And don’t forget about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day! Even if your family celebrations are planned for later in the year, this is the week to get a head start on them.
#1 Review your calendar
What family celebrations do you have coming up this summer and throughout the rest of the year? Do you have any milestone birthdays coming up?
When planning for occasions, consider celebrations that still have to be planned like showers. If you have family out of town, now is the time to find out their availability. We are scheduling my son’s graduation party to coincide with his godmother’s visit home for a wedding, for example.
#2 Discuss preferences
Getting organized means not making assumptions. We may assume Grandma wants a 70th birthday party, when she wants to take a family trip instead. Having discussions ahead of time can avoid hurt feelings and ruined budgets. This is important when planning Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations, too.
#3 Plan parties
I love to plan parties. We’ve enjoyed so many fun parties over the years. I will write up the creative birthday party ideas we’ve used another time, but I encourage you to have celebrations. Parties are memory makers and are worth the time and reasonable expense. One of the things we have done to control costs is ask family and friends to bring food rather than gifts.
Party planning is a great opportunity to get the kids involved. Let them express their creativity in planning with you or in making decisions (within reason). Stumped for ideas? Follow the Party Fun with Kids board on Pinterest. If you have an extended family celebration, be sure to allow everyone to feel included. My mom helped me cook for several birthday parties and seemed to really enjoy it.
#4 Organize cards and gifts
Family celebrations wouldn’t be complete without cards and gifts. This is a great time to have the kids make the cards you need for the year. A kit like this could get their creative juices flowing. If you’d rather not make cards, this Paper Magic kit includes an organizing box, so your cards are ready to go when you need them. If you like even less work, I recommend Send Out Cards which allows you to get reminders of family occasions and send cards right from your computer.
When it comes to gifts, you can certainly make treasures like scrapbooks if you start early enough (like now!). My best suggestion for being organized with gifts is to choose a standard gift for occasions like weddings, bridal showers, births, and baby showers. You’ll save time deciding and you can even save money, watching for the prices to drop before you buy. If you are interested in gift suggestions for kids’ birthdays, be sure to check out 60 of the Best Christmas Gifts for Kids. Finally, I love the mGifts app on iTunes. Sometimes I find a great deal on a gift, but I don’t know who to give it to at first. The app (and a gift storage area) allow me to stay organized.
What family celebrations do you have coming up and how are you getting organized for them?
I asked my friend, Sharla Fritz, to share this guest post with my readers in honor of her new book that will be such a blessing to young women. I’m pleased to say I am giving away a copy. Be sure to enter before you go.
“Hey Mom, can I buy this mascara?”
“Can I get this lip gloss? I’ll use my own money. Pleeeease?”
“Will you ever let me wear makeup?
When I was thirteen, these were the questions I pestered my mother with constantly. After reading teen magazines, I was convinced that makeup was what I needed to be beautiful. Just a little mascara, a bit of blush, and a dab of lip gloss and I would be able to look like the models on the glossy pages I read over and over. A few cosmetics were all I needed to make everyone at school like me—to make me like me.
Plenty of Products
Judging by the thousands of beauty products available, I’m not the only one who has ever had those thoughts. During a quick trip to the drug store today, I stopped to browse in the makeup aisle. I was astounded by the number of mascaras available for sale. Under the Maybelline sign alone I counted twelve different colorful tubes of the stuff. Almay had five. Cover Girl had thirteen. In all, I found 73 unique products guaranteed to enhance my eyelashes!
That doesn’t even take into account all of the other items offered in the cosmetic aisle. We can buy products to make our cheeks appear rosier, our eyebrows darker, and our lips shinier. Thousands of choices are available to buff up our appearance—our physical beauty.
But even when I looked up and down all the aisles of the store, I couldn’t find any products to help me enhance my inner beauty. I didn’t see any gels or lotions to help me develop a beautiful heart.
True Beauty is Inside
Which is sad, because that’s the kind of beauty God wants us to have.
In the book of 1 Peter, He tells us:
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
1 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV 1984)
Now I don’t think that Peter was telling these women that it was wrong to fix their hair or wear cute clothes. He isn’t saying we shouldn’t wear makeup or put on a necklace. I think he was telling them, telling us, that the latest hairstyle or the trendiest wardrobe isn’t what makes a girl lovely. True beauty comes from inside.
God tells us that instead of 73 tubes of mascara, instead of hundreds of cosmetics, there is only one thing we need to be truly beautiful: a gentle and quiet spirit.
What Does a Gentle and Quiet Spirit Look Like?
You’ll be relieved to know that a gentle spirit doesn’t mean being a timid, pathetic person. A quiet spirit doesn’t mean we have to sit in a corner all day never talking to our friends.
The word used for gentle in 1 Peter 3 means having a graceful soul. If we could buy a jar of cream that could give a gentle spirit, it would enable us to accept what God is doing in our lives. It would help us to trust that God knows what He is doing, even when we can’t make any sense out of it at all.
The word quiet in this passage describes a peaceful heart that is not upset by chaotic circumstances. A bottle of this kind of quiet gives a tranquility that isn’t dependent on having a perfect day. It’s like the one person who manages to remain calm and clean during a cafeteria food fight.
Although there aren’t any products available in the cosmetics aisle to give us a gentle and quiet heart we don’t have to lose hope. God is more than willing to give us the grace we need to be able to hold His hand in trust when we start to question what’s happening in our lives. He gives us His Spirit to quiet down our chaotic hearts.
I think our heavenly Father seriously wonders why we expect bottles of liquids and tubes of gels to give us worth and beauty. Because He has already done that.
God has made us beautiful.
Sharla Fritz is the author of Divine Makeover: God Makes You Beautiful, a new book for teens and young women designed to help them discover their beauty in Christ. She speaks to hundreds of women each year about experiencing a makeover of the soul. She lives in the Chicago area with her pastor husband where she loves to hunt for fabulous fashion finds at local resale shops. You can connect with Sharla at www.sharlafritz.com.
Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a copy of Divine Makeover and enter to win a makeover basket by May 1 here.
I worried that I wouldn’t have enough friends and neither would my children when I was deciding to homeschool. Today we are all blessed with wonderful friends. I don’t think we could have continued to homeschool all these years without them. This week, we will work on establishing friendships and strengthening those we have.
#1 Plan activities with kids’ friends.
If you already have friends and acquaintances, now is a good time to make plans with them. Often, adult and kid friendships fade simply because no one takes the initiative to plan a get together. This is especially true over the summer.
Some of the things we have done in the summers to keep friendships strong include camping together, having regular barbecues, and vacationing together. Ask the kids what they would like to do with their friends this summer and even into the school year.
#2 Discuss options for new friends.
One of the best choices we made was to participate in a homeschool P.E. class. I had learned from veteran homeschool moms that this was the best way for kids to make friends and they were right. Ask other homeschoolers how they have established friendships for themselves and their kids and take their advice.
Of course, friendships don’t all have to be centered around homeschooling. Your church, neighborhood, and extracurricular activities are also opportunities to make friends. Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move. Invite people to your home and see if you click. If not, try again. Discuss people you’d like to approach as a family and pray about it. God may suggest a friendship that you hadn’t considered.
#3 Plan mom activities
I have never felt guilty for being away from my family to spend time with my girlfriends. I need that time to be the best wife and mother I can be. My friends have helped me see that my struggles are typical and have given me wonderful, godly advice as well.
Being in a homeschool co-op and attending homeschool P.E. classes have given me the opportunity to talk with my friends. But we have taken it a step further by going out to celebrate one another’s birthdays, going out as couples, and as I mentioned, taking family vacations together. Participating in a moms’ Bible study and women’s retreats at church have also been ways to connect with friends.
Discuss potential activities with your friends for the summer and ideas you could use throughout the school year.
#4 Plan a May Day surprise for friends
One tradition I really miss is May Day. When I was a kid, we would put baskets of goodies together (usually for a neighbor), put it on their doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run away before we were caught. Once when I did this, the woman caught me before I could get away. She proceeded to chew me out for pulling a prank. When she looked down and saw the basket, she started to cry.
Most of us have a love-hate relationship with curriculum as homeschoolers. We love shopping for new books and materials and enjoy the excitement that generates, but we hate having to make final decisions for fear something won’t work.
This week we will take some steps to ensure the best curriculum decisions possible.
#1 Evaluate Current Curriculum
First, make a list of everything you’re using this year, leaving ample space under each resource.
Second, write what you like and don’t like about each.
Third, get your children’s feedback. Sunrise to Sunset Homeschool has created a great free questionnaire to give our kids for use in evaluating curriculum.
Fourth, Home-school.com recommends making a list of characteristics of your ideal curriculum for each student / subject.
Finally, The Curriculum Choice shares some great resources for deciding whether it’s time to change curriculum under “Changing Curriculum.”
#2 List Next Year’s Needs
You may have some new curriculum needs for next year. You may simply need the next grade level of a curriculum you like. Or you may need a completely different curriculum if you have a child entering middle or high school. The same is true if you are planning to study a new period of history or a different field of science. If you are going to tackle new unit studies or new electives, you will also add these needs to your list.
Meet Penny shares a free list for curriculum needs by student that may be helpful.
#3 Research New Curriculum
After you’ve made sure you don’t already own the materials you need (wondering why I’m making this point?), it’s time to study your options. If you have an older student, ask for their help. They may enjoy doing the research or choosing from options you’ve pre-selected.
Talking to fellow homeschoolers. I honestly do this all year long. I ask friends what they’re using that they love and ask to take a peek. If you don’t have local people to ask, inquire via a homeschool Facebook page like mine. You’ll get lots of feedback!
Getting a hands-on look at a conference. I really appreciate online samples of materials, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. There’s nothing like paging through books to help make a decision.
#4 Create a Shopping List and Buy if You’re Ready
You may need to do this as part of step #3 if you’re going to a convention. If you are planning on attending a curriculum fair, try Donna Young’s shopping list for this purpose. The Unlikely Homeschool provides a simple shopping list that works well for online purchases. You could also create a Curriculum Shopping List board on Pinterest like Tiffany Scott did.
Remember that you can save a lot of money by buying used. I share the best places to buy and sell used curriculum in this post. Curriculum vendors often provide savings codes in late spring through summer, so make sure you’re on their mailing lists.
I shared my enthusiasm for using Classical Conversations Foundations materials independently in my post entitled, Why Classical Conversations Should Be a Part of Your Curriculum. My enthusiasm and my readership have grown since I wrote that review. I have discovered a vast array of fabulous ideas for enriching Classical Conversations learning whether you are studying at home like I am or you’re part of a community. Because I am easily overwhelmed, I wanted to simplify by compiling a list for myself of the best resources available. I thought it might help my readers, too.
I have grouped the resources into the following categories: general information, organization & memory helps, cycle-specific, and subject-specific (which includes Challenge and Essentials). I hope these resources will help make a great curriculum even more of a blessing for you.
General Information
Company Resources. The best place to go for general information about Classical Conversations (which I will refer to as CC throughout the post) is the primary website. There you will find a store where you can purchase materials, help locating a CC community in your area, CC Connected (a forum where CC users share ideas), and much more. This video shares more information about what a CC community is all about. Even more beneficial would be attending a local meeting in your area. CC has their own Pinterest account which you can follow to find new products and more. The founder of CC, Leigh Bortins, has also recorded many podcasts relating to CC that you can enjoy in the archives.
Reviews. You may be interested in reading reviews of CC after you’ve visited the website. I’ve already shared the link to my review, but I also recommend an interview on The Homeschool Sanity Show I did with a parent and tutor involved with CC. Mary Prather of Homegrown Learners, one of my guests, shares her own review here. Several users share mixed reviews on The Homeschool Mom. Nurturing Learning shares what she likes and what she doesn’t. The best place to get reviews is your local support group if you are thinking of joining a community.
Weekly Ideas. Beth at Classical Conversations at Home gives weekly suggestions (that correspond with the CC community schedule) for supplements to your CC memory work that you can use at home. Teaching Boys and Half a Hundred Acre Wood share how they organize curriculum and schedules around what is taught in community.
Planning. Using the following posts as guides, you can organize all the great ideas you get for each week of CC. Melody at And Here We Go, Mama shares an organizing tutorial with CC newbies. Her approach is very comprehensive and includes putting relevant folders in a hanging file organizer on the wall. Not Consumed also recommends weekly files for teachers and parents alike and includes a weekly memory printable in this post. She shares how she organizes her review and timeline cards here. Nurturing Learning gives instructions for setting up a memory box. Half a Hundred Acre Wood shares free weekly planning pages for CC to use instead of (or in addition to) folders.
Organizing a Notebook. I haven’t been using a notebook or CC notebooking with my kids, but I want to. The following links will help you join me. Not Consumed offers suggestions for setting up CC notebooks, with the most important one being to print forms well ahead of time! Half a Hundred Acre Wood offers a plethora of free printables for your kids’ notebooks in every subject. (Make sure you have plenty of printer ink!)
Displaying Memory Work. The memorization of key information is what I love best about CC. There are memory work printables linked in the last section for student notebooks, but what is out of sight can be out of mind. These are some great ideas for keeping memory work on display. Not Consumed and Half a Hundred Acre Wood share how they use a tri-fold display board to showcase memory work. Monilynlu shares a smaller memory board perfect for small spaces. My Child I Love You shows off this gorgeous display of framed memory work. Half a Hundred Acre Wood shares the option of using a large dry erase board with the week’s timeline cards incorporated. Taylor West set up an impressive timeline wall with all her cards.
General Memory Helps. And Here We Go Mama created a mini book of memory work that can go mobile. Not Consumed uses this door hanger to help track the memory work that’s been done. J K Dewey shares this fun Jeopardy game idea for review. Try this Pictionary Review Game from A Nurse’s Wildflowers. (She has the kids draw the timeline cards as they go). Quizlet has flash cards for CC cycles.
Although CC has been studying Cycle 2 during the 2013-2014 school year, using CC independently means you may be interested in Cycle 1 resources any time. If you’re studying with a community, you can refer to this list during the appropriate year.
Grammar. This video reviews helping verbs covered in Cycle 1. Jaki Glenn shares this cute idea for using hand cut-outs to remember the weekly helping verbs on Pinterest.
Geography. A girl points out each area for Cycle 1 memory work in this video. And Here We Go Mama shares her cute geography review book for Cycle 1. CCing it One Day at a Time shares her picture flash cards for geography.
Fine Arts. Nurturing Learning shares lesson plans for use with Drawing with Children for weeks 1-6.
Science. And Here We Go Mama recommends this science curriculum as it corresponds to the latter weeks’ science memory work of Cycle 1.
Geography. This 4D U.S. puzzle would be a great addition to Cycle 3 geography.
Latin. This Latin video goes with Cycle 3 Latin work.
Science. The My Body science book dovetails nicely with Cycle 3 science. This body puzzle would be an excellent adjunct to your lessons. This video covers the first few weeks of science.
Math. Nicole Lopez has a Pinterest Board for CC Math.
Geography. CC Happy Mom has produced geography song videos that will help the kids memorize their geography faster. Kid World Citizen has a thorough guide to map vocabulary that will enrich your geography studies. Triumphant Learning sells a geography field guide that also works well for Challenge A.
Essentials. This video gives an overview of the Essentials program. This video on irregular verbs is an Essentials resource. Allison2524 shares a video playlist for use with Essentials. Michelle B explains how to set up an Essentials notebook in this video.
We often underestimate our children’s willingness to get involved in meeting family financial goals. With America’s tax deadline looming, you may be thinking it’s time to organize your finances. This week we will spend an hour doing just that.
#1 Set a family goal
If you’re a family that has a comfortable income and aren’t interested in saving for something for your family, consider saving for a charity that is important to you. Kids and adults, too, like to donate money for something in particular, so ask about special needs. But you may already have a financial goal in mind like getting out of debt, saving for another vehicle, or a trip. Regardless of your goal, you’ll want to get the kids to buy into it. I love Dave Ramsey’s money books for kids and his finance course for high school students. Dave does a great job of helping kids embrace the goal of good stewardship. Reading a biography of George Muller as a family will remind everyone that God provides. Be clear about the amount of money you need to save to meet your goal.
#2 Identify Wasteful Spending
You don’t have to meticulously monitor your spending for months to identify money wasters. First, look over the last couple of months of account statements for credit cards and your bank. Look for service payments you aren’t really using like cable or a home phone. Second, consider ways your are spending more for things you do need. Are you shopping at a more expensive grocery store? Are you paying higher fees for memberships that you could get cheaper elsewhere? Could you take a lunch on trips out rather than buying? Finally, discuss as a family what you spend money on that you would be willing to sacrifice: new clothes, expensive gifts, movies out? Pray that your discussion wouldn’t cause conflict and encourage everyone to consider others’ needs before their own. Money Saving Mom is a great resource for ideas on trimming spending.
#3 Identify Ways to Increase Income
You may be able to meet your goal simply by eliminating wasteful spending, but more likely you will want to find ways to increase income. If you have a charity goal, consider a fund raiser. My kids have loved setting up lemonade stands and bake sales to raise money. If you’re needing income for a family goal, pray about adding work hours or making employment changes. If you’re interested in blogging as a business, be sure to check out my interview with Jimmie Lanley on The Homeschool Sanity Show. Kids can pet sit, babysit, mow lawns, or referee before they are old enough to work other jobs. Teens can get a traditional job or might start their own business. The money kids earn can help contribute to the goal, especially if the kids are motivated to help. If working more isn’t an option, consider selling items you no longer need on a rummage sale, Ebay, Craigslist, or Amazon. For example, I describe the success I have had selling my used curriculum on Amazon in this post.
#4 Create Tracking Systems
To help everyone stay motivated and accountable, you will want a tracking system. A large wall thermometer with a picture of the goal at the top like this one is a great visual tool. If you want each child to work toward their own goal, this free printable from Parenting Fun Every Day is just the thing. I absolutely love this Savings ATM toy from Young Explorers. It would absolutely make saving fun for the kids. It isn’t inexpensive, so it would be a great gift to request from a grandparent. As an adult, you may need more help tracking your spending and savings. I love the resources available from Crown Financial. They offer everything from a counselor to money management software. Need help organizing your bills and you don’t like ebills? Check out this monthly bill organizer.
What financial goal would you like to pursue as a family?
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
