{SQT} Schooling at Home and in Space

1. Epiphany

Click here to read about our various and fun Epiphany celebrations.

2. Back to School for Real

And then it was time to get back to school for real. I switched from homemade lists to writing out our plans in the Seton planner, and I'm excited about trying this tool.

Three grades, plus a preschooler tagging along

The girls painting together

Both little boys showed some leaps in drawing this week, no thanks to me, who doesn't manage to teach them any drawing.

Joseph (5 next week) drew a wonderful Christmas tree with St. Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus:

And Thomas (2 years 6 months) spontaneously drew on his own his first person! I just love when a tot draws his first person!

3. Starbase Rocket Camp

Of course, it wouldn't be a back-to-school week without some wonkiness, now would it? Our fifth grader son had a wonderful opportunity to attend a science day camp all week, so he wasn't even with us. Click here to read about this amazing experience!

4. Sickness

Back on the home front, I had a sick two-year-old and was so grateful to my eight-year-old daughter to be my right hand loving caretaker, whether of the healthy baby . . .

. . . or the sick toddler. He loves her so much, he will only let me, Daddy, or Mary take care of him (e.g., take him to the potty, dress him, feed him).

Feverish toddler

5. Revamped Shoe Area

Chris bought us three shelving units from Costco and I used them to revamp our shoe area. Normally he builds all our furniture, but he's been burning the candle at both ends this week and I'm impatient, so I gathered around the children for a homeschooling lesson of Furniture Assembly 101.

I don't know why, but having children help me in the kitchen (which I do allow) gets me all tense and anxious, and leads to bad temper on my part. But assembling furniture with not just one helper, but four little helpers (and one on my back) is okay with me. I give them screwdrivers, they listen to my instructions, and it's pretty fun. Even the two-year-old can insert pegs where they need to go and fetch me tools that I need.

Voila, the new and I-hope-improved shoe area! (We long ago gave up ever parking in our garage.) Each child has four cubes: one for shoes, one for socks, one for hats and gloves, and one for his or her backpack.

We have the last row in our 15-passenger van removed for extra cargo, so I leaned the seats (otherwise gathering dust in a corner) up against one of the shelving units for a place to sit and put on shoes.

For quite a few years, I've been a fan of saving time by no organization of socks, hats, and gloves, but finally we have too many children and now do require some organization.

Kids would spend so long digging through our giant Rubbermaid bin of gloves trying to find a matching pair that they wouldn't wear gloves. They'd spend so long searching through the family bin of socks, that they'd give up and go without socks. I'm hoping by having a bin for each child, they can actually find what they need.

6. David James

Meanwhile, this week David James turned five months old: click here for cute pics.

7. Bonus

I don't subscribe to all of the Maxwells' parenting guidance--and I make note of a foundationally Protestant vs. Catholic divide--but I have greatly benefited from her organizational techniques over the years and I recommend them. Her books How to Manage Your Home and How to Manage Your Homeschool changed and blessed my life when I had three children and was drowning, so to speak.

Teri Maxwell released this week a short video sharing her organizational principles in a calm, soothing way:

Help for the Time-Pressured Mom, a video by Teri Maxwell


For more 7 Quick takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.