Friday, April 13, 2012

Spring Cleaning

I'm so excited to have GREAT energy and the physical ability to be busy spring cleaning this year!! The past two days have been spent outside doing various things in the gardens, barn, and yard. Yesterday we were so busy that by 5 I was spent... but it felt really good to be able to do it all!

We try to spend the nice days outside in the gardens or outbuildings doing much needed chores. On rainy days we focus our energy on school and inside cleaning projects. That is usually how we spend our spring. It does mean that teen daughter has to finish her school work during the summer months but it all gets done.

We've been doing some family "spring cleaning" too. Working on attitudes and trying to make sure our hearts and willing to be cleaned up, cleaned out, and filled with what God wants in them! It seems our family is going through a lot right now... I expect it is only the beginning!! I know that the discipleship of our children will only increase as they grow into adulthood... what a HUGE responsibility.

Today while Teen Daughter & I were cleaning the barn she commented, "Daddy will think we were robbed because it is so clean up here!" Then she said, "Ya know mom... it looks a lot bigger up here now. I had the chance to tell her that when we allow a little bit of clutter every seems to add to the clutter thus making a small mess a big one, then it becomes overwhelming. That is why we have to clean up the clutter, in our homes and in our hearts so we are free, to move, go, do and be!

Have a great day everyone!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Shirley!
    There really is something to spring cleaning because I've been doing the same. I don't have a barn or anything like you do but feeling the same about de-cluttering. Question for you.... I homeschool my daughter who is 11 and she really struggles with math. I need to sit with her for every single math problem. Can you recommend any math cirriculum? I use Time4learning & love it for everything else but MATH ugh! She'll be in 6th grade this fall. Thanks! Wendy

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  2. Wendy, I have 2 that have struggled with math and my absolute FAVORITE math curriculum out there for those that struggle is called Math-U-See. It isn't "cheap", I think the with student & teachers books for each level it is around $90 a year. BUT even my kids that struggle are able to do this math program completely independently with success. It comes with a DVD where the creator of the curriculum teaches each lesson, then they do 3-4 worksheets with that less and some review each time. I do not always have my kids do all the lesson pages if I see they "get it". It is a hands on learning, you will want to order the cubes, fraction inserts, etc to help your daughter learn. The physical aspect of the learning really helps my kids. My son needs the cubes, my daughter does not. Yours may benefit from them since she is struggling. If you were to ask my kids about it... they would tell you they LOVE Math-U-See. My daughter hates math but after 3 years of Math U See she is very comfortable with math and enjoys it.

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  3. Shirley,
    Thank you so much for this. I've heard of Math-U-See before and I will definitely look into it. I really need her to independently sit down and be able to learn. She has an A in math but I don't feel like it should be that. She has a private tutor for every bit of math she does (me!) so why shouldn't she have an A? If I let her do it herself, she tanks the activity and then starts to cry. This could really help me to build her confidence. Thank you so much again. I hope your weight is either steady or dropping! I've been solid as a rock but leaving on a 7 day cruise Saturday. Wish me luck, I'm going to try not to indulge too much or at least get a BAB in the morning!

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