elevating homeschool

To be honest, even though we've homeschooled for two years now, when I hear the word I still envision frumpy moms in long denim dresses and a million (weird, unsocialized) kids running around with too-short pants. That's not at all what I want our homeschool to be like! And probably an unfair generalization, sorry.

In order to elevate our homeschool and our days, there are a few things we have incorporated and plan to incorporate.

We belong to a Christian homeschool co-op program called Classical Conversations. There's so much information on their website which can explain the concept much better than I can, but basically, we go to "class" once a week for 24 weeks throughout the year, learn things there, and expound on those at home plus learn other things throughout the week. It's classical education, done at home.

Baby also takes piano lessons. I love for our home to be filled with music, and I think it's important for him to learn at least one instrument. Piano is our starting point.

We study fine arts at home. Going along with our Classical Conversations curriculum, we study one artist and one composer at a time. When we begin a new artist, I will set one of their pieces of work as the background on my computer. I will have baby study it for one minute, then turn around and tell me as much as he can remember about the piece. Throughout the week we will review the names of the artist and composer. At the beginning of every week, I will set a new piece of work as my background, and have him study and recall. For our composer, we simply listen to a playlist of his work in the background while we play and do schoolwork. This is a super easy and not at all time consuming way to include fine arts in our studies.

Jake is beginning to teach baby how to play tennis. Any sport you play at a country club feels fancy to me, so that's why I've included it in this list :)

And finally, I can't wait to take baby to cotillion classes! They don't begin until 5th grade in our area, so we have a few years, but I want him to learn manners and etiquette, in an environment where he will be encouraged to learn those things. I can try and try until I'm blue in the face, but as all parents know, there are some things your kids just tune out until someone else teaches them.

So these are the ways we elevate our homeschool. They also happen to help make sure baby isn't a "weird, unsocialized" homeschooler.

Do you homeschool? What do you involve your kids in? Do you prefer finer things, or is your family more casual?

establishing morning and evening routines

My morning and evening routines, when I follow them, make my days run so much more smoothly. This idea is not mine, but I've borrowed it from a few of my favorite writers/personalities. I'll share with you my routines, touch on why they're so helpful, and encourage you to create your own.

Morning

• make bed first thing! - this makes my room look so much more tidy, gives me the feeling of productivity first thing in the morning, and enables me to go to bed at night in less-rumpled sheets.
• get dressed to shoes - this is a FlyLady thing (the "to shoes" part). The idea is that regardless of whether you work outside the home or not, you have a job to do, and it deserves to be done well. So get dressed and honor your profession, and those who see you throughout the day.
• hair and makeup
• listen to Bible app while doing the above - I'm working on reading through the Bible in a year, which I've never done before! This is not what I do for my daily devotions, it's in addition to that. So it's much easier to let the Bible app read to me while I get ready in the mornings. Plus, I don't have time to do my devotions first thing, so this enables me to still begin my day with God's Word.
• swish and swipe bathrooms - another FlyLady idea - I quickly run the toilet brush around the inside of each toilet. Then, I use a wipe to quickly wipe down the sinks. I keep wipes in each bathroom (right now I just use baby wipes, because that's what I have, but when I run out I'll likely replace them with Seventh Generation multipurpose cleaning wipes). This keeps my bathrooms company-ready even between weekly cleanings.
• get diffusers started - I have 3 essential oil diffusers in my open concept living area, plus one in the hall bathroom, so in the mornings I put water and my chosen essential oil in them and turn them on. This keeps my home smelling clean and fresh all day.
• unload dishwasher
• begin supper prep - I don't always need to do anything for this one, but I like to at least know what I'm going to cook, and if there do happen to be things I need to do (set out meat to thaw, put something in the crockpot) I can go ahead and do this before anything else.

I wake up at 7 in the mornings and try to do all of these things before 7:30, when we eat breakfast. It's usually not a problem to get this done before breakfast; so though it might look like a long list, don't be discouraged! It takes such a short amount of time.

Evening

• clear and shine sink - Jake usually cleans up after supper since I cook, so I put away any clean dishes that have been left out to dry, put any dirty dishes in the dishwasher or wash them, wipe down the counters, then finally dry out the sink with the kitchen towel so it doesn't have water spots. This is a FlyLady signature task, and for so long I put off doing it. But I promise it's worth the effort! Your sink looks amazingly cleaner when dried out. After this I put the dish rag and kitchen towel in the dirty clothes, and set out a clean set for the next day.
• begin dishwasher
• set robot sweeper out and turn on - we have an automatic sweeper robot thingie, and since we have hard floors and an open concept living area, it's both convenient and helpful to run the robot every evening. This keeps floors decently clean between sweep and mop days.
• set table for breakfast - seriously, it's so nice to have this done when you wake up. Jake cooks breakfast, but always forgets things that we need when he sets the table. When I do it, everyone has napkins, water glasses, necessary meds, and utensils.
• sweep kitchen - the kitchen gets used much more than we realize throughout the day. When I wipe the counters, tons of crumbs get knocked onto the floor. Since the kitchen has a different type of flooring than the main living areas, it doesn't get touched by the robot.
• remove makeup and brush teeth

My evening routine doesn't take very long at all, either. Many parts of it can be done before baby goes to bed, which means my actual pre-bed routine doesn't even have to be as long as this short list.

It's so nice to know that when I utilize these routines, not much time is taken out of my day, but every single area of my home and self is taken care of, without even doing any sort of designated cleaning. Just try it! Add one task at a time until you get used to it, and you'll see how great it is.

Do you already have a morning and evening routine? Are they different from mine? Or are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person?

a few specific resources for kids in frugal/simple/classical/whatever families

Today I want to share with you a few resources we have used/are planning to use for baby. These are things we feel have enriched his life, without draining our energy or wallets. I'll give a brief review, if you will, of each one.

• Classical Conversations: this is the homeschool co-op/community we belong to. You can read so much more elsewhere, but basically I'll just say that we have fallen in love with CC. Our first year of homeschooling we did not do CC, and the growth baby experienced when we did join was phenomenal. He has learned so much more, so much more quickly. His favorite part is that for 24 weeks out of the year, he goes to "school" (community), and has a "teacher" (tutor) and classmates. It feels to him a lot like the private school he attended when we were fostering him before our adoption (in our state, foster children can't be homeschooled). There is a low tuition cost. I put money back monthly for this so it's around $85/month the way I budget for it.

• Bible Study Fellowship: again, there's a ton more information out there, but BSF is basically a worldwide interdenominational in-depth Bible study. There is "homework" (a lesson) each week for 30 weeks. This gives accountability that you are actually studying, and it deepens your study at the same time. I was involved from ages 20-29 and only stopped because we were homeschooling, and the class closest to us (still 45 minutes away) only accepted pre-school aged children. There is no cost for BSF.

• Community Bible Study: I have never participated before, but we have registered for a class for the fall. From my understanding, it's very similar to BSF. The closest class to us is in the same city as my BSF class, but CBS has a program for school aged children as well. We will use the "homework" as baby's Bible curriculum. There are low registration fees for both adults and children. For me it was $35, and for baby it was $10.

• Wild Explorers Club: such a cool experience! Sort of like Scouts but on your own. Baby sort of lost interest after awhile, but I imagine this could have been remedied with siblings or friends to do it with. It's $14/month. We will likely join again when it's been long enough that baby will be excited to start back - and we will pick up right where we left off with his assignments and badges.

• Kidstir: my parents got this for baby for Christmas, I think it's around $30/month (too high for my budget, but grandparents seem willing to do anything for the grandbabies!). Every month, he receives a box with 3 recipes, and a new kitchen tool/gadget per recipe. The recipes are themed, like "desserts" or "soups". The box does NOT include any ingredients. When I've purchased ingredients using my typical grocery guidelines (like, organic if we eat the outside, grass-fed if possible, otherwise just cheap), it's cost $20-$30. My parents generously cover that cost as well so that it is more of an actual gift for baby and not so much an additional obligation for me. He has enjoyed getting the box every month, and shopping for the ingredients, and watching me make them :) He's a somewhat reluctant helper in the kitchen if the gratification isn't quick.

• piano/other instrument: baby just started piano lessons a few months ago, but he's got a natural knack for it. Music is beautiful, and instills character qualities such as perseverance, diligence, and excellence. For the sake of transparency: we pay $20/week for a 30-minute lesson, which is an average of $90/month, when you don't include skipped weeks because of vacation, holiday, or illness (so really $90/month is a conservative amount to budget).

• sports (one at a time!): baby loves soccer, and also plays basketball in a league our church created. But we only do one sport at a time. Neither fall soccer and basketball, nor basketball and spring soccer, overlap. And if there is ever a sport-playing sibling for baby, we will likely cut his sports down to 2 per year. For us soccer is $50/season because we aren't residents of the town the league is in, and basketball is $20. Both sports include the jersey in the price of registration.

So that's all I've got so far. What are your kids involved in? Do you have any tips for how to simplify OR expand their involvement to enrich their lives without making parents go crazy?

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...

...please shine down on...well, not me, because I have fair skin and medications which make me sensitive to it. BUT today I'm going to talk about the different benefits of sunshine (or being close to sunshine but out of it directly if you're like me and "allergic to the sun" as baby thinks). You might/probably already know them, but it seems a good follow-up to our laundry discussion :)

• quick-dry clothes - have you ever hung your laundry out to dry? If so, you know that in warm weather it dries FAST! Sometimes as fast a dryer. But especially after a winter of hanging clothes inside, switching over to hanging them outside goes SO much more quickly.

• sanitizer - part of the reason I'm ok with not using hot water to wash our clothing is that it usually gets hung out in the sun. The sun (and even fresh air) can do a lot to kill germs on laundry. This is based on my highly scientific research of: it just makes sense to me. Sickness in your family? Air out the house! Germs on your laundry? Hang it outside! (See? I followed the scientific method and everything.)

• vitamin D - one time my mom got sick and the doctor said she was vitamin D deficient so she took like 1000mg capsules. The former sun worshipper literally needed some sunshine in her life! I say that not to embarrass her (sorry, Mom), but to point out that not getting vitamin D can actually affect your body. And sunshine provides vitamin D. Okay, so I do actually try to be in the sun for even just a few minutes daily. If it's a comfortable temperature and I need to go anyway, I'll walk to either the bank or post office or Dollar General or the movies (the last two are the farthest away at exactly half a mile). If nothing else, we have a sunroom and I'll sit in there.

• mood enhancer - many times, being outside just makes you feel good. It's good for your body (I did more scientific research on this one) to breathe fresh air! That first spring day when the temperature climbs above 60 and the sun is shining and a breeze is blowing...that is pure bliss. So if you're down, get outside. 

Can you think of any other ways the sunshine benefits us? Share in the comments below!

time- and money-saving laundry tips

This is what works for my family and has for nearly the whole time we've existed (as a family unit, I mean. so like 5 years). No judging please :)

1. don't sort your laundry. woo-hoo! That's all there is to this tip. Read on for why it works...

2. don't use hampers. yep. we toss our dirty laundry directly into the washing machine. the exception is that right beside the washing machine, we have a trash can lined with a cloth diaper "wet bag", into which we toss towels and linens. Read on for why...

3. use mostly cold water. when the washing machine is full, I run it. Now that I've been doing this awhile I've figured out that I typically do this every Monday and every Thursday. When that load is done, IF the "towels/linens" can is full, I then put those in the now-empty washing machine, along with sheets (whichever bed did NOT have its sheets washed most recently). I run the towels/linens load on hot water to kill germs.

4. hang dry. Nearly all of our laundry gets hung to dry. When it's warm out, I use the clothesline. If I'm doing two loads in one day, I put the towels/linens on the clothesline, and use our hanging racks for the other load. I put the hanging racks on the front porch in nice weather, otherwise I leave them inside (we conveniently have 3 hanging racks, and 3 people in our family, so I will typically hang each person's clothing on a different rack, and place that rack in their room/side of the bed). Sorry for the tackiness of hanging laundry on my front porch, but it saves approximately $0.50 per load! If it's cold but sunny, I hang the towels/linens on the front porch railings so I don't have to be outside for as long as it takes to hang on the clothesline. If it's frigid and/or monsooning, I use the dryer for towels/linens ONLY.

Some notes about why this works for us (and MAY not for you - but still try some of the tips if you can!)

We are a family of 3, all of us with smaller than average (for our demographics) wardrobes. It seems counterintuitive, but I promise I've tried it both ways and it's true: the fewer articles of clothing one has, the less laundry one generates. We tend to wear our clothes a few times before washing them - which also extends the life of the clothes, by the way. Because of these reasons, we don't have a need to do laundry more frequently.

You'll notice I only use hot water for towels/linens. Because I use cold water for the rest, color bleeding tends not to be a problem. Seriously the ONLY incident I've had in FIVE YEARS was when I washed baby's red tennis shoes in a regular load, and some of our clothes got pink spots on them. It was some underwear, and a couple (I think literally 2) of dark clothing pieces where it's not really noticeable.

I haven't figured up how much money it saves to use cold water, but I do know that every load dried by a dryer costs about $0.50, so that's up to a $2/week savings when I hang every load. Of course there are times when I've had to do more laundry, like when someone is sick or we have guests, but that's not the norm.

Each bed (our queen and baby's full) has exactly one set of sheets; we wash, dry, and replace them in the same day. We have one extra queen set (that can and has fit on the full bed) for emergencies - like if someone has an accident or gets sick in the middle of the night and no one feels like doing laundry that second.

What are some ways you save time and/or money on laundry? Would you ever or do you already use any of my tips?

meaningful decorating

I do love a good Pinterest or Instagram find when it comes to interior design. I appreciate many different styles and I love following accounts with beautiful images. I enjoy recreating some in my own home.

But what's most important to me when it comes to decorating - especially since I have a son to whom I did not give birth - is infusing meaning into our décor. I want baby to look around and know where different pieces came from, and that they're part of his story, his history, as much as they are part of mine. I want him to know who he is, regardless of his DNA. And I want people who visit our home to know who we are.

I'll share a few ways I've decorated with meaningful items in our home, and hopefully they'll spark your imagination as to how to do the same in your own home.

• use family furniture first. My beloved maternal grandparents were killed in a car accident when they were 64 and 66. They never even got to see their first grandchild (me) graduate from college, let alone the other graduations and weddings that followed. I am so grateful that I inherited a few pieces of furniture from them - namely, our Thomasville master bedroom set (my parents are from Thomasville, NC). It's beautiful. We also have a pie safe that was made (yes, made) by Jake's great grandfather. I had a friend once tell me she registered for the same piece from Pottery Barn - she was surprised when I told her the origin of ours :) If you have any pieces of furniture like that, use them all around your home before investing in other furniture. Even get rid of some of your more modern pieces in order to make room for family pieces. We use my original baby dresser in our playroom to store toys, though that's not as old as the other pieces, and we purchased an antique armoire-turned-media-cabinet from some friends. Even though that last piece isn't from our family, it tells a story.

• use family pieces as art. We have Jake's great grandfather's tobacco basket leaning against the wall on top of his pie safe. I have my grandmother's sun hat hanging on a wall. I found Jake's silhouette from when he was little in a box, so I framed it and hung it on the wall. 

• decorate with words or numbers. I made a super cheap, super easy piece of art representing our anniversary: white canvas and galvanized "Roman numerals" (really just letters) from Hobby Lobby, arranged in an eye-pleasing fashion. It hangs on our living room wall. We also have a Scripture verse handpainted by a family friend on reclaimed wood, which hangs in our dining area.

• decorate with photographs. Probably the most obvious suggestion, but for a long time I actually didn't do this. We now have some wedding canvases hanging in the sunroom/playroom, a family portrait hanging in the living room, and a gallery wall of not-as-pretty-but-still-important photos in the hallway. The last area is where I have framed a picture of my late grandparents, and my late great grandparents, as well as a picture of Jake when he was younger - because baby says "Daddy looks like me here!" I've made a point to try to take Polaroids of significant family events this year to add to the gallery wall so baby sees himself in the pictures, too. 

• decorate with other meaningful items. Jake and I have been on two mission trips to Guatemala together, and I had been on a couple when I was younger. We brought a small painting back with us one year and have hung that over the thermostat in the hallway. It displays the painting, and hides an eyesore! Win-win. I have a basket my mom gave that I think is beautiful, so it's hanging on a wall. And I'm anxiously awaiting the shipment of two hymns on canvas I ordered from a deal website. They will hang in our living room opposite the family portrait. Jake made our dining table. Baby and I made our coffee table. Neither table is perfect, but they're special.

How do you infuse meaning into your home décor? Is it important to you to display your family's heritage?

on enjoying daily rituals

Do you find yourself singing, Cinderella-esque, as you dance into your apron and bend down to scrub a toilet?

Yeah, me neither.

But there are ways to find pleasure in the little tasks we do each day. And personally, anything that makes chores more enjoyable is something I'd like to sign up for.

We all have rituals, whether we intend to or not. The first step to enjoying our daily rituals is being more intentional with them. Do you wake up to kids screaming they're ready for breakfast, then rush downstairs to pull out whatever boxes of cereal still have something more than crumbs left in them? If that's you, I imagine your day doesn't get off to a pleasurable beginning. During this season of life you're going to have to be more intentional.

Wake up before the rest of your family. Do what it takes to make this happen. Go to bed earlier. Make your kids stay in bed later. Baby used to wake up wayyyy too early. We nipped that in the bud by getting him an alarm clock and telling him he wasn't allowed out of his room until it went off. Eventually (it really didn't take very long), his body got used to that, and now I can control when he gets up. Obviously make it reasonable - he doesn't go to bed at 6 and get up at 9.

That's all much easier said than done, but this post isn't about creating rituals (there are plenty of other blogs and posts to discuss this, and maybe I will sometime); it's about enjoying rituals. So set you up some and let's go.

The easiest thing to say is that certain things are necessary, and we should enjoy that we are able to do them. Like scrubbing toilets. When you catch a stomach bug and have your head in the toilet, you don't want to remember that it's been a year since you convinced someone else in your house to clean it. You want to think about keeping your hair back, and rest (somewhat) easy knowing that at least you aren't getting toilet germs on you.

But that still doesn't quite address the issue. It all boils down to your attitude. And believe you me, I can have a stinkin' one with the best of them. But ultimately, I recognize that I have chosen homemaking as my job, and I always want to do an excellent job. I try to teach baby to do excellent work on all his schoolwork, not just when I'm standing over him or reminding him. As a Christian, I am to work as if I'm working for God Himself - because I am. It's a happy bonus that my family and I get to live in the clean home afterward.

I have set days that I do certain housekeeping tasks. I like this better than trying to do one big clean in one day. It makes it feel like I really don't have to do all that much. I highly suggest FlyLady if you are having trouble keeping up with basic household tasks. She will help you set up a schedule and stick to it. Doing the same thing on the same day of the week every week also takes out the guesswork. At this point I always know on Mondays I'll need to clean bathrooms, and on Thursdays I'll do a thorough clean of the kitchen. I don't even have to think about it. And if you have kids - involve them!

Sometimes I'll play music, or sometimes I'll secretly challenge myself. "Let's see if I can get glistening tubs by the time baby finishes his math worksheets!" Such a thrilling life I lead. But these things get the job done, and a job done and done well are really where the pleasure comes in.

When guests come to my home, I never (ok, rarely) have to wonder if the hall bathroom is presentable, or if the house stinks from the trash piling up. Having set up my rituals and them becoming second nature, things like that are just naturally taken care of. If we want to have a dinner party, we maybe change out the hand towel and run the vacuum over the main floors really quickly. Ten minutes, tops, and my home is ready to entertain.

So I get the satisfaction of productivity, my guests feel welcome, and my family feels at home. That's really all I want out of this homemaking job, anyway.

Do you have certain daily rituals you dread? Or if not, share your tips for enjoying all the little necessary tasks!

setting up a functional, beautiful, simple kitchen

Oh, how I wish there were a manual for first-time on-your-owners. There probably is, but since you're here, I'll save you the trouble of looking for it. Here's the basics of what I wish I had known when creating my wedding registry/using wedding gift cards/agreeing to take other peoples' castoffs.

I'll do this two ways. One, for those who have never set up their own kitchen or are registering for a wedding, things like that. The other, for those who have established kitchens they wish to streamline.

You might want to read through both lists to see if any ideas apply to you.

For the new (or new-ish) homemaker:

1. Do NOT register for or purchase everything you think is cool or beautiful or you might possibly someday use. Preferably, try living with just what you already have kitchen-wise. Use your old college dishes and ask for giftcards to the stores you'd like to purchase from.

2. Think in terms of, what is the least I could get by with? Personally, I came to the marriage with TWO sets of china from my grandmother. I was also given a set of dishes (for which I did not register) at a shower. There was never any need to purchase more dishes than that.

3. Think about what kind of foods you like to eat or, more accurately, cook. Are you a gourmet chef? We have friends who love to cook new and exciting things, so for them, cooking really doubles as entertainment. They spend way more on groceries than we do and have way more gadgets. But they fully utilize all of that.

4. Place things in "zones". Dishes near the dishwasher for easy cleanup, pots and pans near the stove, etc. Of course keep all like things together.

That basically sums it up. Live with it before adding.

For the established homemaker:

Try to imagine you're moving into an RV for the next year to travel the world like you've always dreamed. And now...

1. Pull EVERYTHING out of your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Don't leave one single thing in them. Put it all on your dining table so you can really see how much you have. You may have to work in shifts to accomplish this - all upper cabinets, then go back and repeat the steps with lower cabinets, for example.

2. Sort by type. All dishes together, all cookware together, all trash in the trashcan.

3. How much of each do you really need? Really? If you are a family of three and never entertain, or only ever entertain up to 10 people, guess how many sets of silverware you need. No more than 10. Do this with every. single. category.

4. What do you rarely use that you could get by without? I hated seeing our microwave sitting out on the counter, so I decided to temporarily remove it (to the basement) to see if we could live without it. That was five years ago.

5. Seriously, go do the last two steps again, thoroughly. When you're done, begin putting things back into zones. Like items together.

6. Make sure you have room in your cabinets for things you used to keep on the counter. Clear counters are such a breath of fresh air. We keep out our dish soap, small compost bin (mainly to remind us to use it), utensil crock, and knife block. A bowl of fresh fruit usually lives either on the counter or kitchen table. Just try clearing off EVERYTHING and then only adding back what you find you reach for multiple times throughout each day.

7. Keep your counters and sink wiped down. Periodically you'll want to try the 100% clear counters trick, to ensure you haven't let too much creep back into sight.

Remember, it is both ok and desirable to use your best every day. I love using my china, even if it means we have to hand wash the dishes. Jake broke a plate a few months ago and felt so bad, but I assured him that my hardworking sharecropping great grandmother who probably saved up for over a year to purchase that set from her local grocery store - she would have been sickened to think of them just sitting around collecting dust. One getting broken means it was being loved.

Do you have any other ideas on how to set up a kitchen? Are you a kitchen minimalist or kitchen maximalist?