Kids in the Kitchen

     The wonderful book, A Homeschool Mother's Rule, was so inspiring, but when I read it, I could not implement it because my children were so much younger than hers.
     But that has changed!
     All four older kids can do kitchen work now.  So now, we have 4 jobs, and they rotate the jobs every week.
1) washing the dishes
2) drying and putting away the dishes
3) clearing the counter and table of remaining items
4) spraying the kitchen table and counter

     They have stopped complaining about a job, since it is for a week; a group attitude has taken root, in which they accept whatever the job is, since it is not theirs for long.

     So I no longer clean up after any meal, on a good day!  Sometimes I'll help wash dishes if it is intense, but then 2 people dry and put them away, and it all goes very quickly.

     I cook in the morning, enough for 2 sit down meals at lunch and dinner.  Huge pot of stew with rice, 2 casseroles, 2 ovens' worth of roasted chicken and a huge salad.  I simply cannot believe the volume with which I am cooking now.  But if I put it together in the morning and let it cook before lunch, then I am done cooking and cleaning the kitchen for the rest of the day!  I LOVE IT!!

    I learned that from the monks at Christ in the Desert monastery.  I am SO grateful for their example!

Something Different Around Here

     On my silent retreat last month, I "heard" silence for the first time in ten years.  It was a beautiful sound!  I heard my heart and God's more clearly.
     In evaluating what needs to change and what should remain the same in my life, I discerned that only one main thing should change: NO MULTI-TASKING.  It is killing my joy, which is trying so hard to be strong and plentiful!
    
     So I have re-arranged my homeschool day:
-an hour for prayer and exercise
-an hour for housework, including putting dinner together
-three hours for homeschooling
-50 minutes for lunch (eaten together in silence, listening to classical music)
-10 minutes for closing my eyes and doing NOTHING
-three more hours for homeschooling
-10 minutes for closing my eyes and doing NOTHING
-50 minutes for business, phone calls and email
-one hour for housework
-one hour for dinner and clean up
-on hour for family music lessons and reading together in the library
-family prayers
-bedtime

Sundays, NO Cleaning, NO Cooking, NO Computer

     My favorite part about having implemented this plan is how much I have to deny myself!  I get so tickled that I "cannot" rotate the laundry while I am teaching math to someone, or that I "cannot" check my email until after school.  It is a strange feeling, to break the double-tasking experience, and I feel intense relief that I am just going to be where I am, when I am there!

     I LOVE IT!!

Feast of Rose of Lima

     Happy Feast Day, Rose of Lima!  She was a woman who transformed the face of South America because of her love for Jesus.  So inspiring!

     We cut ROSES in honor of St. Rose!