A jar of dry beans can offer at least 30 minutes of fun for a three-year-old…
Enjoy yours!
Bringing a little joy to our home, especially in the dreariness of winter, doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive. We found these little buckets at The Dollar Spot in Target- yep, a dollar each! We made little tags with each family member’s name and then put them on the kitchen counter. The children sneak little homemade notes and treats into each other’s buckets and then they get to discover them on Valentine’s Day. Super cheap, super easy, super fun!
Christmas and birthdays consume a lot of our year. There are eight, soon to be nine of us in our immediate family, with two grandparents living on the same property. When six children each want to give a gift to the birthday boy or girl, we can easily spend the better part of a week transporting everyone to the store(s) to purchase the items they have in mind.
Several years ago, I created "Mom Store", an idea I gleaned from a mom on a board I can't remember. If you know to whom I should pay credit, let me know. Anyway, I look for things that would be enjoyed by the recipient and then stash them away. Typically the items are around five dollars, and the older children do save their money to purchase them. The last Mom Store contained two board books, a Pez dispenser with candy, bubble bath, a box of circus animal crackers, and a CD. I display the items on a counter and allow everyone to parade through and choose what they want to purchase, and once purchases are made, the children set to work wrapping.
The Mom Store has been very successful for us, simplifying and bringing peace to our lives in yet another area.
One year for Valentine's Day we spelled out "We Love You!" for dad using all the little people in the house. He loved it so much, we've done it several times since. This year I am too hefty to attempt getting everyone into position, so here are the photos from last year...
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Every once in awhile their stuffed animals and dolls have to be washed, and they look so cute hanging on the line!
Recently a friend and I were chatting about when we were first exposed to well-managed, godly large families. For me, it was 1993 and I had just one baby boy. I was listening to a tape by a homeschooling mother of eight and could hardly believe what I was hearing. This mother was organized, efficient, and joyful.
In 1995 I met a friend who at the time was expecting her fifth. I remember the first time I had lunch at her home. The children liked each other, there was a joyful and relaxed atmosphere, and they actually helped without complaint. I remember driving away thinking, "I want a family like that."
I learned a lot from these women and others God graciously brought into my life. But I have learned something more by living this life of managing a large homeschooling family: jobs don't always get done the way I want them to.
Did you catch that? Because I think it's important that those of you who are just starting to walk this path understand what I didn't: often children don't do a job the way or to the standard at which I would. Or you would.
So when you read that my 13-year-old is cleaning the kitchen or that my 11-year-old is winterizing the kitchen garden, realize that they aren't doing it perfectly. They are still learning, still developing skills, still needing mom and dad to check their work and sometimes still needing to go back and re-do the job entirely.
Don't let it frustrate you. Your job is as trainer, and although I highly, highly value the help my children give me, I still need to mop floors, clean toilets, and iron. If my standard was child-sized, I probably wouldn't have to do those things. But my goal is to raise adults, not children.