ordering the chaos...

amidst the chaos, we have been homeschooling for a few weeks now.  in reality, we are catching up on last year’s math, writing and language arts.  we never quite finished up our curriculum from the 2010 year, so, we are hitting it hard right now to get things “caught up” so to speak.

but, we are living in chaos.  i would take a picture of it, but let’s just say, if you showed up on my doorstep right now, i would come out on the porch to talk with you rather than let you in our home.

we are a mess!  every two weeks, i frantically clean for 2 solid days while we get the house ready for our small group.  and even then it isn’t that clean. the clutter is overtaking me! 

a lot of it stems from the inability of my children (and my husband, bless him) to put their things away when they are done with them.  and my inability to make them (the kids, not the hubby) . 

so we are embarking on a few new things to get the house cleaned up.  i am going to start training the kids to clean!  i know, i know.  this is not a new topic for most of you reading this (does anyone read this?)...but i guess i have always just done things myself because it is easier.

faster.

and i don’t have to redo anything (usually).

But... NO MORE!!

every month i will train each child on one age appropriate chore.  i think this is do-able.  rather than try to eat the whole darn elephant, ya know? that way, each child will be proficient in one chore each month and we will slowly build up responsibility in each of them.

a much needed character trait.

my character will be stretched also.  i have very little patience with my children when it comes to teaching them how to clean up after themselves.  i know that i am going to have to learn how to hold my tongue and not blow my top when they don’t do as i have instructed or if it needs to be done over. 

or if they decide to use the broom as a rifle and the sponge as a missile.

i have boys, remember?

and so, i am coming up with a short list of chores for the kids to do.  as i look around the house, the major areas of need are the kitchen, bathrooms and dining room.  no surprise as we do most of our schooling in the kitchen and dining room.  laundry is also a HUGE need as things collect in various piles: clean, unclean, folded but unfolded by moose, sorted and need to be put away, etc. 

i am still contemplating who is going to get what chores, but i thought i would share this for now. 

wish me luck!!

lesson on the fly...

...ing bird, that is!

as we are preparing to move, i am emptying out our freezer. we had a 10 lb turkey hanging around from last Christmas just waiting for a good time to be roasted, and yesterday was the day!

after dinner, tic tac hung around the table, begging scraps of dark meat and watching me clean the meat off the bones. i usually loathe this task, even though it is so necessary to get all the really sweet meat off the bones. but on this night, it turned into school!

we dissected the bones, from legs, to wings, to breast bone and talked about tendons, ligaments and the (ick) veins running through everything. tic tacs favorite find though was the ...

spinal cord!

yep. we found several lengths of the spinal cord sticking out of the vertebrae, and he was entranced by them! we were able to get one segment about 3 inches long out of the neck, and it still had the nerves attached!!!

i thought it was pretty cool, too (must be the RN in me).

daddy...

well, let's just say, he stayed in the other room! he wouldn't come in to take pics for me, either... bummer. my hands were way too greasy to go near the camera!

a treasure for tuedsday

bonobo is 5 years old, and wants to be so much older! his level of frustration at what he cannot do as compared to his older brother is growing steadily! everything has become a competition. we are trying to deal with this as best we can, but honestly, it can be infuriating for me as a mom to deal with his explosion of emotion...usually voiced as anger. he is even creating curse words to spit out through clenched teeth. (hmmm, wonder where he picked up that talent?)

so yesterday, i was extremely grateful to have a truly gentle moment with him as they are few and far between lately.

bonobo takes his bath second most nights (unless he has 'earned' himself an early bedtime). after bath is teeth brushing and then the older sib takes his shower and brushes his teeth. while tic tac was brushing, he noticed something stuck between the drain stop and the drain:

bonobo's 2nd lost tooth!!

it had apparently come out in the 'wash,' so to speak!

tic tac was overjoyed to present the tooth to bonobo, who hadn't even realized it was missing :)

bonobo had already prepared a drawing for the tooth fairy sealed in a legal sized envelope and addressed! we taped said tooth to the front and he literally flew in joy to his room to put it under his pillow.

the best part?

he prayed with me for the first time in several weeks! he thanked God for saving his tooth for his brother to find. not earth-moving praying, i know, but for a little boy who is so angry most of the time that he walks around with his fists balled, this was HUGE!!

and as i prayed on my knees next to his bed (he was on his knees, too...another first!) i was able to express my gratitude to a God who takes care of every detail of our lives, no matter how big or small! out loud!! so bonobo was able to see that God loves him so much that He would keep that tooth for him because God knew just how much it meant to him.

how awesome is our God! He cares for every single aspect of my life! i am so glad He revealed Himself to my son last night...

and to me!