I get it. You have so many posts coming into your inbox or feed reader and you can’t get to them all. I’ve already shared the top 10 posts from Psychowith6 for 2014, but that list doesn’t include some of my favorite posts. If you have missed any of these, I’ll give you a good reason to click through and read.
It never ceases to amaze me when people say they see me as being better than I really am. I’ve gotten some great feedback from homeschooling families who can relate to what I share in this post. And the truth is, I’m not even airing the really dirty laundry! I’m not a perfect homeschooler, but homeschooling is perfect for me.
I watched an Andy Stanley Bible study video that really motivated me not to wait on what matters. I was so inspired that I summarized the truths into a one-page poster that anyone can use to get motivated every day. Reading it can be like taking a vitamin–it’s good for you!
I love books that help me to simplify my life. My m.o. seems to be to make it complicated. Choosing just one thing in each area of my life to focus on gives me so much peace. I was thrilled to figure out how to create a form for tracking this way of thinking about tasks. If you crave more simplicity like I do, I recommend you take a peek–even if the form isn’t your cup of tea.
Does it make sense to do what everyone else does so you get the results everyone else gets? I don’t think so! This post may inspire you to do the opposite of what you’re doing or simply to be proud that you’re doing things your own way because it works!
This is such a fun book for kids to read and I was surprised when a real life Mr. Popper helped us with our homeschooling. I think your kids will enjoy this post even if they haven’t yet read the book.
I love to pin single posts that collect a lot of valuable resources in one place, so I created one. Pin this for later and you’ll have access to all kinds of goodies to make your kids better readers and writers.
Did I miss any of your favorites here? I love hearing from readers.
One of the reasons I am crazy about Pinterest is because I can find and print out just about anything I need to educate my children–usually for free! I did a little research to find the best boards for homeschool printables and this is what I found. You’ll want to pin this post and follow these boards so you can always find what you need. Happy pinning and printing!
I love to write, but I really love to write about the topics that matter most to you. The top 10 most popular posts help me determine that. Did you miss any of these? If so, click the title to read them.
Here’s to a great new year of discovery and sanity-savers. Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and sharing. You are a blessing!
Classical Conversations has become extremely popular with homeschoolers and this huge list of resources organized by cycle and subject area seems to be helpful for those enrolled in the program and those who are curious about it.
This guest post by Francis Wade really resonated with readers and with me personally. In fact, it made me change how I manage my busy life. Don’t miss this one!
I was really blown away by the quality of the free piano instruction Joseph Hoffman supplies and I couldn’t wait to recommend it to readers. Apparently I’m not alone in my opinion! I enjoyed a great conversation with Joseph on my podcast that I link to as well.
I started this challenge at the beginning of 2014 and it has grown in popularity as we begin a new year. I am going to be removing the dated calendars, so you can choose to do the challenges in order or when it works for you. Get your homeschool organized in just an hour a week!
My experimentation with a daily, weekly, monthly to-do list was very popular in 2013, so I wasn’t surprised when my recommendation of another list of this type turned out to be very popular. Would it work for you?
I will say that I was a little surprised by the popularity of this challenge, but happily so. I shared my approach to personal, couple, and family devotions and how to make them habits. I was surprised that so many haven’t found the right approach to make devotions a part of their lives, but I am thrilled by the heartfelt desire to make it happen.
Anything to do with to-do lists is popular on Psychowith6 and this post where I give suggestions for how to manage one is no exception. What’s most important is not the type of list you use, but your commitment to using one consistently. Get the inspiration you need here.
I knew bucket lists were popular, but I didn’t know what a happening time fall is on Pinterest. I you love fall bucket lists, pin this post so you’re ready way ahead of time.
Routines have changed my life. It’s hard for me to believe that I once had a willy-nilly-not-so-happy lifestyle, but I did. Complete this challenge for a routine that could change your life, too.
The year of organized homeschooling has come to a close and now we can have a peaceful, joyful Christmas. More than that, I hope that by employing these challenges, you have enjoyed a more peaceful year. If you didn’t get to many of the challenges this year, there is always next year! Plan 15 minutes into your calendar during the weekdays to take action and next year can be THE year for a more organized homeschool. Here’s what to do this week:
#1 Discuss stress and God’s peace
Go over this short explanation of stress with your children. Talk about how you each experience stress. One interesting new research finding is that if we don’t believe that stress is negatively affecting our health, it doesn’t affect our well-being, even if stress levels are high.
While the word stress isn’t in the Bible, the Bible has a lot to say about fear, worry, and the peace of God. Find a verse to memorize that will help you when dealing with stress.
#2 Christmas Eve
#3 Christmas Day
#4 Discuss the joys of the season
I have a journal that I used to record the best memories of that year’s Christmas. Sadly, I got away from the tradition. But this year, I will ask the kids to complete this journaling printable I created. It will be fun to read them together in future years.
I have a little bonus mission for you to end the year.
Review the past year and set new goals.
Tom Dixon wrote about goal setting for Psychowith6 and Michael Hyatt has created free videos around goal setting. I love to set goals because they can turn what feels like a humdrum existence into an exciting adventure. I want my children to know how to set goals as well. I absolutely LOVE these student goals forms from Baking, Crafting & Teaching.
Finally, I want to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. It’s been a privilege to take this organized homeschool journey with you. Do you know someone who could benefit from this series? Please share it with them.
My youngest three kids read Mr. Popper’s Penguins for the literature class we do with another family. Two of my kids also completed a unit study using the book through a larger homeschool co-op. They enjoyed it, but I was stunned when the book unexpectedly came to life for my family. I will share some ideas for turning the book into a fun winter unit study, but I will end with the information that really brought the study to life for us (and no, we weren’t sent a penguin!).
The Book
You’ll want to start by getting Mr. Popper’s Penguins from the library, or purchase it in paperback or digitally very inexpensively.
My husband’s friend, Paul Dowkontt, recently wrote him and other friends about his research and visit to a penguin colony in Antarctica. The kids and I were so fascinated by Paul’s superb writing and photographs that I asked if I could share this with you. If you enjoy it like we did, please comment so we can let Paul know. I have added a couple of notes of explanation.
We’ve been making good progress on assembling and testing our ANITA instrument. On Sunday we were given our first day off. My friend Dennis the Ice Driller has a good friend who does penguin research out at Cape Royds. She arranged for us to go out with her for the day to see the penguin colony at Cape Royds. We went by snowmobile. The 25-mile trip out there took us about an hour going non-stop.
Here’s a map of Cape Royds.
This is the McMurdo parking lot for snowmobiles. It is at the edge of McMurdo Sound. Observation hill (Ob hill) is on the left:
Getting our snowmobiles ready for the trip:
Here we are strapping down the survival bags to a sled. Because the weather can change so quickly here in Antarctica, we are required to take survival bags for everyone, radios, and all our ECW gear. The survival bags contain tents, sleeping bags, and food. We radio the McMurdo firehouse our destination, departure time, estimated return time, and number of souls going. If a storm would kick in, we might not get back to McMurdo for a few days. If we don’t report back in by our estimated arrival time, they will send out the search-and-rescue crew to find us. Safety is of primary concern here in Antarctica.
I am ready and excited to start our snowmobile trip. I’m wearing all my ECW gear, including “big red” parka, wind pants, bunny boots, gloves with liners, balaclava, wool ski hat, and helmet.
On our snowmobile, Dennis the ice driller was the driver and I sat behind him. He weighs about 230 lbs and I weigh 136 lbs. I had about 10 inches of seat space while Dennis kept complaining that he didn’t have enough room. As soon as we started, it became clear that I had to hang on for dear life. We were travelling at about 25 MPH. The sastrugi on the surface of the sea ice gave us constant bumps, jolts, and sideways jarring. After my first 6 breaths, my sunglasses and helmet visor fogged up completely. And on every bump, my wool hat under my helmet slipped slightly down over my eyes. After the first 8 minutes, it was lights-out for me until we reached our destination.
After an hour we arrived at Cape Royds. Dennis and I are both 63 and neither one of us could move to get off the snowmobile because our muscles had stiffened up during the long jarring ride. I finally fell off sideways and then waddled around like a duck for a minute or two. This is our arrival at Cape Royds:
Cape Royds is on the coast and is a roosting site for Adelie penguins. Walking out to the penguin colony:
In 1908 there was a British Antarctic Expedition led by Ernest Shackelton. [Here’s an article for kids about Shackleton.]They built this hut here at Cape Royds. In the past, we were allowed to enter all of the original expedition huts. Inside, they were “frozen in time” exactly as they had been left in the early 1900’s by those early explorers. Today, we were not allowed to enter this hut in order to preserve its historical value.
Fortunately, Google has given us a 360-degree tour of the inside of the hut!
Boxes of food stacked outside the Shackleton Hut from the British Antarctic Expedition of 1908. Roast Mutton was on the menu.
This is the Adelie penguin colony. We were not allowed to go close because it is a protected area. Researches have permits allowing them to walk amongst the penguins. Because they have no predators out of the water, the Adelies are unafraid of humans walking amongst them. Our host researcher, Jean Pennecook, does Skype video calls to school classrooms back in the USA while surrounded by Adelies. The kids love it.
Adelies are cute little penguins about 20” tall. They walk with a funny waddle and with their wings spread out wide to the side. On the ice, they waddle and also slide on their bellies. It amazes me how they can get around this rugged terrain with such short legs. In the water, however, they swim with great speed and agility.
I was surprised how far the Adelies had to walk from the colony on land out to the open sea where they could feed. The frozen sea ice extended over a mile and took them a long time to get to the open sea. Here are two Adelies walking back from the sea:
Cape Royds also has a hut used by researchers. It has an outhouse, a phone to McMurdo, and some cooking facilities. The researchers usually stay in tents because the hut is small. They can stay out here for a month or two during the Summer roosting season, getting resupplied by helicopter.
Do you have company coming for the holidays? Even if you don’t, this week we will get your house company clean (well, I’m actually not going to come and help you, but I can tell you what to do!). The holidays will be more enjoyable if everything is in order. But don’t worry. The process will take less time than you think.
#1 List rooms that require extra cleaning
Ask the kids to help you come up with the list. Sure, you could do it yourself, but this is a good learning opportunity for them. Where will your guests be spending their time? Discuss how to prepare for guests with your children.
If you won’t be having guests, what rooms could you clean that would give you a sense of peace as you celebrate?
Include appliances as well. For example, when people come to my house for Christmas, they want to put things in my oven and refrigerator. That means these appliances need special attention.
#2 Declutter
Most of you are about to acquire more stuff–whether it’s gifts or outright clutter from a white elephant game or two. Either use this time to declutter company areas of your home (like the fridge) or to make room for gifts you’re likely to receive. This is a great time to teach the kids to declutter and to make it fun.
#3 Team Clean
There are a couple ways of team cleaning that I’ve used effectively. First, the whole family works together. We go room by room and I give instructions to each child. It’s amazing how quickly this gets my house clean. The key is NOT to allow a child to leave the room. Instead of saying, “Please take this upstairs,” have them put the item in the next room that you’ll be cleaning. Most mothers reading this will know exactly why I have this rule.
The second team clean approach is to have kids pair off. I like this approach less, because it requires that I check teams’ work. I may also have to show each team what to do. But if your children are great about doing theses cleaning chores and they already know what to do, this kind of team cleaning can quickly get the house clean. If you choose this approach, you may want to have each room or area that needs special attention on a 3 x 5 card and hand one to a team to accomplish. When we team cleaned this way when I was a child, we raced the other team. There was an adult on both teams, however, so keep that in mind. It does motivate!
#4 Team Clean
You say you didn’t take the time to do the previous steps and company is coming TODAY? Use this two-hour checklist to whip the house into shape. If you all work together, you could easily get it done in less than two hours.
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.
