Home Management | Heart of the Matter

April 9, 2010 By Montserrat 1 Comment

This is the second in a series of posts about cooking with children. Read the first post here.

Meal Planning

We all want our families to eat healthy. This can be hard when we have picky eaters that only like noodles, bread, and shredded wheat cereal. Not very well rounded, right? Teaching my children to cook also involves teaching them about proper nutrition and consequently meal planning. Meal planning has so many benefits: healthier lifestyle (less eating out), cost savings of groceries, knowing ahead of time what to cook thus decreasing stress, and when kids are involved – less picky eating!

If you aren’t already in the habit to plan meals ahead of time please change your habit! It really is a lifesaver. Once you get in the habit you’ll be more influential in teaching your children this skill.

An easy start to planning meals is to make a list of every type of main food dish you normally eat. I have a long list of chicken dishes, beef dishes, seafood recipes, soups, breakfast foods, etc. that I keep on the side of the fridge. When we try a new recipe that we like we add that to the list. When it’s time to sit down and plan out the meals for the week it’s handy to look at the list for ideas.

Another good way to plan meals is by looking at the grocery sales ads for your area. Planning around items that are on sale will help reduce the overall cost of groceries.

How Our Family Plans Meals

Every family situation is different. You may only need to plan for dinner for the whole family for the week. Because we homeschool and live on a farm we are able to eat every meal together as a family. I LOVE this! Our main meal is lunch because during the hectic days of summer the men all quit at a certain time in the heat of the day to go home for lunch, whereas dinner time varies depending on whether hay still needs to be hauled, or baled, or machines fixed before the next day’s work. Our farm is a good 40 minute drive from the nearest grocery store so having a menu plan is essential for us. We plan every meal for every day of the week because we can and need to.

The chores at our house are rotated on a weekly schedule which means each child has one week where they are in charge of the kitchen including meal planning, cooking, and cleaning. When it’s time to create our menu plan for the next week here’s what I expect depending on the age.

2-6 year olds will usually suggest just the main dish. I’ll add the sides on my own. As we cook together during their week I’ll usually say why we’re having certain side dishes so they learn that having a variety of vegetables, fruits, and legumes helps to keep our bodies healthy.

7-10 year olds will suggest every part of the meal with tweaking from me to teach them the importance of rounding out the meal from each food group. “Corn, potatoes, and bread? That’s a lot of starchy foods. Why don’t you think of a different vegetable?” The food pyramid is introduced. We also talk about having a variety of colors on the plate so a meal looks more pleasing.

11 and older I expect them to do it all on their own and they do! Occasionally I have to remind them to serve more vegetables or not serve beef dishes three days in a row but for the most part they are able to plan excellent yet simple meals.

The following sites have free menu planning printables you can use:

Organized Home Weekly Menu Plan
DonnaYoung.org
Money Saving Mom

It has been so fun to see the different cooking styles of my children emerge. My oldest daughter (age 14) loves to do “gourmet.” She really gets into cooking and consequently experimenting, and boy, if she doesn’t have a natural talent for it. Thursday we had homemade ravioli with two different sauces, a wonderfully rich and fattening homemade alfredo sauce and a sweet tomato basil sauce. I swear I always gain weight on her week of cooking. My second daughter (age 13) is more like me. We like to eat healthier, have more whole grains, lots of veggies and keep things simple but delicious. My third daughter’s (age 11) style is starting to peek through a little too. We know it’s her week to cook because we ALWAYS have tuna noodle casserole. Do you know any other person in the world, much less a ten year old, whose favorite food is tuna noodle casserole?

One benefit of letting my children meal plan, that I didn’t foresee when I started, was the whining and complaining of what was served dramatically went down.

Once my children realized how much effort is involved in planning meals and then cooking them they were less inclined to make negative comments, especially when they knew those comments could be made to them on their days of cooking. They came to appreciate the chef, sincerely thanking them for a nicely cooked meal.

Take a little time this week to plan your meals. Involve your children! Whether you give them a whole week to help or rotate days instead it doesn’t matter. Just give them the experience and chance to learn.

Have you had experience involving your children with the meal planning? Do you have any tips to share with us about cooking with your children? If you have any questions please ask away!

Next article in the series will cover grocery lists and shopping, yes shopping, with your children.

March 25, 2010 By Renae 30 Comments

My husband leaves for work early in the morning, but the rest of us are here all day, every day. Before breakfast, toys are dragged into the living room. I sling bowls onto the table and notice the library basket being emptied. The rug is covered with books as I pull out the cereal. Breakfast explodes all over the table and my coffee has disappeared in plain sight.

Balancing messes and lessons is a daily struggle.

Photo Credit: Melissa, A Familiar Path

I used to hide our homeschool stuff. I love libraries, but I didn’t want my house to look like a classroom. My lofty goal was sort of possible in our last home. We had a separate room for desks, bookshelves, and a closet full of craft supplies. It didn’t take me long to give up notions of a hidden schoolish area in our new house.

There is no extra room. Our school stuff is everywhere. After stumbling around the coffee table for a month, I threw it out and dragged in the craft table. We needed the work space for three students and their teacher. The table top is constantly covered with colored pencils, Lego bricks, and paper. Oh, the paper! My six-year-old can’t stop drawing.

It only takes a few things out of place and this home appears a wreck, but this house will not be here for eternity. Only what happens within these walls can be carried into the future. That is the joy set before me. The joy of seeing my children learn and grow.

And to keep my sanity in all this growing and learning, I figured out what gives me a sense of control in the spiraling chaos. I must deal with clutter daily.

Before dinner, everyone picks up. The ream of new artwork is stacked underneath the craft table in the largest basket we own. Toys are toted back to children’s rooms. Books are put back on shelves. Then since the floor can actually be seen, it might get swept or vacuumed. Another busy day tucked away. The house is clean enough until morning.

Do you have a chore that helps bring homeschooling and homemaking into balance? How to you deal with the daily book explosion?

Renae teaches her eleven-year-old son and two little girls at home. She has prepared lesson plans, enjoyed children’s literature, and delighted in discovery with her children for five years. By studying Principle Approach philosophy, she realized what she always suspected: the Bible lies at the heart of all subjects. Find her reflections at Life Nurturing Education.

February 24, 2010 By AmyF 5 Comments

If you have not heard, I am gearing up for a coupon class at my church. I am so excited about doing this! One of the topics I am going to talk about is organization. To get the full potential of savings, I believe you need to be organized. There is many ways to do this and there are no right or wrong ways of organizing it either. You just need to find what works for you. What works for me is a Binder system. I have everything in one place and within easy reach.

Jennie, over at The Coupon Binder, has generously donated one of her wonderful binders to give away here. Here is a little about the Binder she offers:

What I like about The Coupon Binder is the convenience. It is built for you already to use and start that instant savings. This 3 Ring Clear View Binder is not wimpy one either, it a sturdy one. On the outside of the binder in the back is place for a insert. Jennie has not left that space empty. You will find Sorting Mats that help you do just what the name says- sort your coupons. In the inside pocket, you will find a few tidbits of information that will either be new to you or review. The Main Characters of this Binder will surely impress you.

*50 Ultra Pro 9 pocket pages
* 30 Pre-defined Category Tabs (installed to match the general layout of a grocery store)
*5 Customizable Category Tabs
* 1 Set of Coupon Sorting Mats that correspond to the Category Tabs
* 1 Pencil Pouch
* 1 Highlighter and Pen
* 3 Store Envelopes
*Spiral bound Notebook
And you get a stylish reusable bag also because The Coupon Binder is also committed to helping the environment.

To enter this contest you must do the following two things:
1. Be a member of the Forum (REGISTER HERE)AND
2. Post here on how you save money in homeschooling.

Because of the cost,Only avaible to ship within the Continental United States.
Winners will be announced at the Forum on evening of March 3,2010.

Good Luck and I can not wait to see your answers at the forum, see you there!

Information can be found about The Coupon Binder at http://thecouponbinder.com

October 8, 2009 By Guest Leave a Comment

Home Management: How to Turn Up Your Efficiency Level

What do people need the most of besides money? Time. While we’re not all earning the same amount of money, everyone is given an equal amount of time. It’s the great equalizer–no respecter of persons. Like money, you can either waste it or save it. In caring for a lively family of six, I’ve learned to incorporate a few shortcuts in my daily management duties that actually put more time in my schedule.

Plan weekly menus – Write down meals on a small, dry erase board. I read this tip in some form or fashion for years, but never made the effort…no time. However, once a friend declared it worked, I finally sat down determined to give it a try. First I compared our weekly schedule to the contents of the fridge and the pantry. Might as well start planning with the food I already had. If this experiment didn’t improve my life within two weeks, it was a goner. Within two days I noticed a difference. No longer, was I baffled by what to prepare each day. The simple pre-planning not only saved me time, but also money. No mid-week store runs since I only scheduled food items on the menu whose ingredients I either had, or had shopped for earlier that day. Sunday afternoon was my grocery store run, and Sunday night I planned the weekly menu.

Keep your meal plan as simple as possible. Draw a grid with the days of the week on the left, and daily meals on top. Include what works for you: dinner only, or all three meals; every day of the week or just weekdays. I assign meals Monday through Friday for both lunch and dinner. Weekends are more of a free-for-all with lots of time away from home, so I don’t even bother to plan. Easy prep entrees are assigned to days when we’re extra busy. During breakfast I pull out ingredients for the evening meal and set them on the counter. That way meat can thaw during the day and when I’m ready to cook everything is at my fingertips.

The whole idea of planning, writing, and assigning your meals to different days of the week takes the guess work out of daily dining. But, as is often the case, a day can get off track. Not fulfilling your meal plan one day here and there during the week shouldn’t cause extra stress. Your menu board isn’t house law, it’s a guideline. If a meal doesn’t work out one day, bump that night’s entrée to another day of the week. The point is, you have meal options on the board to shuffle through to accommodate your changing schedule. Frankly, it is possible to make mealtime less hectic in your home. Why not try matching your weekly menu to your weekly schedule and see if you don’t notice an improvement.

Do laundry daily – I learned this time-saver while on bed rest with my third child. The only reason I was supposed to get up during the day was to go to the bathroom, which happened to be past the laundry room. Every time nature called, so did dirty clothes. I’d simply move piles from the washer to the dryer, to the bed for folding, and then to the appropriate bedroom as I made a slow trek past each stopping point. Granted, the process took all day, and getting laundry done was the extent of my productivity, but by the end of the night when the clothes we had worn the previous day were already clean and back in their rightful spots, it dawned on me that this was actually much easier to manage than when I was up and around and doing laundry twice a week.

Five or ten minute chunks throughout the day handling a couple of loads of laundry minimized my burden. Now I throw in a load first thing in the morning and scoot the cycle along throughout the day. I don’t go to bed until it’s folded and put away. Of course, I enlist help from others in the family. Different children are in charge of different stages. My young children can remove clothes from the dryer and the older ones can fold and put away. Clean clothes are a must whether they’re 3, 13, or 23 and the sooner they learn how to manage one of their future responsibilities the better.

In the grand scheme of daily life, meals and laundry are the top two time-consuming household chores. But with a little meal pre-planning and a few minutes invested daily on the laundry, you can greatly increase your efficiency level and use the time you save on a pursuit of your choice.

By Guest Writer Shawnee Bowlin

September 27, 2009 By Luke 15 Comments

The Bible on Stewardship

“I don’t care if ‘the cattle on a thousand hills’ are the Lord’s (Psalm 50:10), because He isn’t giving them to me.”

“I need to be good steward of what I have or else it will fly away (Proverbs 6:10-11). That’s stewardship.”

“I wish I could buy this or that, but I can’t. I have to serve God with my money, what little of it I have.”

“I can’t just buy whatever I want. Certainly not with the way my finances are right now!”

Right?

Actually, no.

While we need to be good stewards of our money, God has a slightly different perspective on what stewardship means.

See, I used to rather despise God’s provision for me. “Sure, God,” I’d say. “You give me enough to live on, but that’s it. My life is miserable because I’m just barely making ends meet.” And all the while I knew that I was just being ungrateful, because He really was blessing me more than just to get by… though not by much. So I was just ungrateful, wasn’t I?

I was poor and ungrateful. And did I mention miserable?

*****

In January of 2007 I had had enough. It was right after another really horrible Christmas: you know, the time when it is better to give than to receive? I couldn’t bear to give because I didn’t have any money in the budget for presents. I couldn’t believe how much we had spent, and was convinced that Brittany and I were going to lose our house or something for our irresponsible spending during the holiday season. I was at a breaking point.

I finally decided to try a thing I’d heard about many times before that my dad called “The Party Tithe.” This concept comes from Deuteronomy 14:22-26. I’ll quote you the KJV because that is often considered the strictest translation, but feel free to look this up in your favorite version. Here’s verse 25:

And thou shalt bestow that [tithe] for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.

We are told by God to take a tenth of our income–on top of the tenth we’ve already tithed for His Kingdom purposes–and spend it on whatever we want as a way of rejoicing before Him.

Brittany and I agreed to put a tenth of what I make into a Party bank account. This account, then, would pay for gifts, eating out, games, movies, splurge items, vacations, and anything else I feel like slipping in there.

Parties and Stewardship

I cannot express how incredibly freeing this has been.

My guess is that it feels as good, if not better, than being debt free. Why? Because I am no longer indebted to my “stewardship” to scrimp and save every penny. I can rest in the joy and peace found in trusting God to take care of the rest. And He has. Because, just like regular tithing, this is about resting in God rather than trying to make ends meet on our own. He provides, and He also gives us rest. That’s the point of taking a Sabbath, of tithing, and the Party Tithe. When you start doing it, life gets better.

Imagine that: The Bible suggesting a way of life that leads to greater freedom, more joy, and even more partying.

That’s exactly how God works. But when I was trusting in the god of money, I wasn’t free, I didn’t experience joy, and I never really partied. I felt poor, beaten down, and constantly enslaved to a budget. Now, I have an entire “spend without guilt” fund that is God ordained. God has commanded that we spend a tenth of our money on rejoicing before Him.

It has been over a year and a half since we started the Party Tithe, and life is so much better. I’m still learning to let go of money and spend it with joy because of God’s goodness to us, but we go out to eat once a week, we can purchase gifts (even for ourselves), and we flew out to California last Christmas to spend time with Brittany’s folks.

And the Party Fund has never been larger.

Luke Holzmann is the son of John and Sarita Holzmann, founders of Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd., in Littleton, CO, where he is the Media Relations Specialist. He attended Biola University, in La Mirada, CA, and earned the BA in Motion Picture Production. You can find his work at http://www.sonlightblog.com/, production-now.com, and lukeholzmann.blogspot.com.

March 14, 2009 By Belinda 13 Comments

I’ve started with the annual start of school fever. I’m finished buying curriculum, minus a book or two. Planning gives me the same energy that shopping gives some women. Even the kids got excited this year about getting new planners. I guess I can say that this was one idea for ordering our day that was tremendously successful. As for my own planner, I definitely fell for packaging in buying my new Mom’s Plan It. This planner has tear-out grocery lists, a huge plus for me. However, as a scrapbooker at heart, I think what I really fell for was the opportunity to use these stickers:

As I got home and started to play with my new toy, I couldn’t help but look in more detail at the stickers, and about the larger implication of what is deemed important to today’s Mom:

Parties, birthday and otherwise (27 stickers)
Lunch dates (18 stickers)
Dinner dates (an additional 18 stickers)
Haircuts (18 stickers)
Games (school-related—18 stickers)
Phone calls (9 stickers)
Play dates (9 stickers)
Weekend getaways (9 stickers)

There were 54 total school-related, non-game stickers, including school events, class parties, no school and half-day stickers, open house and field trips. However, I couldn’t help but think, what does this allocation say about the new millennium mom? I don’t begrudge anybody a hair cut, but sadly, the message seems to be that a “busy mom” might be busy because she’s far more consumed with self interests/indulgences than with any higher callings of wife and motherhood. This is echoed in current feminist agendas that look upon the stay-at-home mom with disdain.

I know personally I’d be a lot wealthier if I had a dollar each time someone looked at me and asked something along the lines of, “Do you work at all?” Translation: Is staying at home with your kids all day all you do? What’s even sadder to me is my own emotions as I answer the question. As I continue to grow more comfortable in this relatively new skin, I find that I, somewhat proudly, respond with a detailed list regarding my work history and current income-bearing pursuits (I always state first that we homeschool—hooray for some level of redemption).

I am convinced that as a community of women, we’ve bought—hook, line, and sinker—into a lie that says that something is wrong with a woman whose primary goal in life is to minister to her family. There is even a television show—the 1,000,000th reality show—featuring stay-at-home moms who decide that they want to “see what they’ve missed out on” for a time. I’ve never watched it; having worked “a real job” and then coming home to the “real-est” job I ever had, even the commercial preview bothered me. I would love to ask them, what do you think you missed? Your interests and passions being sucked right out of you with all kinds of organizational policies and politics that have nothing to do with why you’re there in the first place?

I’m thankful that most of these stickers will land in the notebook of a soon-to-be 5-year-old. However, the stickers I used were the ones that are most important—to me and to God. They deal with the uplifting of family, of ministry to them and to others. Every drop of water I pour, every nutritious meal I prepare, matters to Him. May He bless my efforts to serve Him in my own small way.

belinda Belinda Bullard is a wife and homeschooling mother of three, Belinda is an author and the owner of A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources, a literature-based history curriculum featuring African-American presence in history, as well as the contributions of other races to American history. A chemical engineer by formal education, she also serves as adjunct faculty for college distance learning programs.

January 23, 2009 By Suzanne 12 Comments

Confessions of a Beginning Homesteader

Although my daddy grew a garden every year and my mama canned at the end of each summer I was a mall-goin’, car cruisin’ kind of girl. When I got married all I brought to the table was my ability to make macaroni without having to look at the directions on the side of the box.

But I have a secret. I want to go green.

Bake my own bread. Can my own produce. Make my own soap. Sew. Mend. Darn (as in socks, right?). I was so gung-ho. When my mom brought over all of her old canning equipment and even a few “vintage” how-to books I did a little dance and got giddy over how my cabinets would look full of beautiful jars, how much money I could save, and how wholesomely my family would eat. All by my own hands.

I dream big.

But I fear bigger. So I stashed those canning supplies in a cabinet set aside just for them and kept telling myself I would tackle that challenge soon. My excitement grew stale and my defeat found roots before I’d even begun.

“I can’t do this.”
“I have no idea where to start.”
“I can’t even keep one house plant alive, much less feed my family from a garden.”
“If I don’t have a garden, then there’s no point in learning how to ‘put up’ my own goods.”
“I can’t afford a deep freeze, I might as well just keep doing what I know.”
“My days are full enough without having to add more stress.”

I closed the door on that cabinet and allowed life to happen. Feed those little mouths, wipe those little bottoms, change nothing, risk nothing, fail at nothing. I can’t do it all, after all. It’s overwhelming to know exactly what to do. Studying all of the must-have’s, just-so’s, best way’s put my perfectionist heart into a stand still.

But each time the toddler opened those doors and pulled out those jars and pans and lids to play with them – I would dream again.

I decided if I wanted to really do this and make it a lifestyle that I needed to make one small change at a time. I accepted that I could not transform myself from Consumer Extra-ordinaire to Producer Supreme in just a few months.

I started smaller than small.

Baking bread seemed so intimidating. So instead I went to my regular grocery store and found a pack of 3 loaves of bread in the freezer section. I still had to let it rise but I started the process a few steps ahead instead from scratch. I spent one-third the money I spent on the regular bread aisle. And I pulled from the oven golden mouth-watering confidence. I did it! I baked bread for the first time ever! I focused on that success instead of the lingering “but I still don’t understand those little yeast packets and all that kneading stuff.” I continued to bake that kind of bread until it was “normal” –just something else I cooked in the kitchen. That allowed me to conquer one fear before moving onto another. And each accomplishment is one more habit that becomes a part of our every day life.

I say all of this to say, this is not a how-to. I’m no expert. Please know: I don’t have the foggiest idea of what I’m doing. But I’m trudging forward. I’m willing to learn. And I really want you to join me – everything new is easier with a friend, plus, I’d sure like to share some fresh-baked bread with you!

Join me, as I keep you updated on the progress of my currently ungreen thumb and the rescuing of my cabinets from that brightly colored parade of store-bought labels. Email me at suzanne@heartofthemattermagazine.com with ideas of what you’d like to see me try next. And by all means, please keep the suggestions, links, and encouragement coming.! Just remember, living off our own land is attainable. We only have to start… somewhere.

Suzanne is wife to one and mama to four. She “eclecticly unschools with lapbooks the Charlotte Mason way.” In other words, she doesn’t have the slightest clue what she’s doing, but does it anyway. She lives in a world where there are few absolutes. The dishes don’t stay cleaned, the laundry doesn’t stay put away, and the children don’t remember what she told them yesterday. But in their chaotic lives they have found joy. Visit her at www.thejoyfulchaos.com.

December 27, 2008 By Lori 3 Comments

It’s time for Chapter 9 in our book study of Sheila Wray Gregoire’s, “To Love, Honor and Vacuum…”

Bringing Your Wallet Under God’s Control
15 years ago I likely would have skipped over this chapter and insisted that I handled money just fine.

That was then.
This is now.

When I married him, I had an idea that he LIKED numbers, but I didn’t realize how much he LOVED knowing where our money went. It wasn’t long after the honeymoon that he introduced me to “Budget Time.” Now just the sound of that makes you feel all fuzzy inside, right? Me neither.

I tried to avoid it, but every few weeks he’d corner me and we’d go over all of our expenses and little by little, year by year I began to appreciate it. I won’t lie to you, I’d rather be sipping lattes somewhere rather than “doing budget,” but the fact of the matter is that the money for the latte comes from somewhere and I need to know where!
Sheila gives us some Scriptural references in regards to money and they are a fabulous starting point in any family.

Everything we have comes form God. (James 1:17)

Our most important possessions are heavenly ones, not earthly ones. (Matt. 6:19-21)

We must be financially responsible. We should make sure we do not depend on others for our livelihood. “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” (2Thess. 3:10)

We should be content no matter our circumstances. Paul says, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1Tim. 6-8)

Our identity is based on what Christ did for us and not for anything else. (Gal. 2:20)

We are to be generous and give to those in need. (1Tim. 6:18)

There really is no better place to begin.

We began with a plan and for each family that plan will be different and that is something that a couple has to discuss. The example that parents show to their children will follow them throughout their lifetime. Our children will often walk in and find us “doing budget.” They understand that we have to be responsible and accountable for the money we’ve been blessed with. Without being unnecessarily involved they see us taking fiscal responsibility.

money We’ve made the decision that I be at home with the children and when we began homeschooling, my working outside the home was put on hold for a season. I do however generate income in other ways. My children take classes on Friday’s at our homeschool group. The tuition for my children to take these classes is simply not in our budget. Several years ago, I offered my services in teaching in areas that I’m gifted. It has proven to be a win~win situation. My children take enrichment classes for free and I am blessing others with my gifts, while exchanging my services for theirs. While I do not get a “paycheck” each week, I “trade” my teaching for nearly $1,000 a semester in fees. It’s an option that works for us.
The bottom line is that before we make any decision, monetary or otherwise, we must place ourselves in prayer. It’s the only way to ensure ourselves that we are making these decisions for the “right reasons.” Sheilas words are ones that resonate with me;

“When we try and find value in anything other than Christ’s sacrifice, we are listening to lies.”

Our worth is not found in how much we or our husbands make, what trendy clothes we are wearing, or the bottom line of our bank accounts. Our worth is found only in Him. What freedom we’ll find when we FINALLY come to understand and embrace that fact! This means that we’ve got to look at how we are using, distributing and valuing the gifts that HE has placed in our lives.

With money being at the center of most marital problems, it seems that we’ve got to communicate better with each other. Again, for each couple and family this conversation will sound differently. What our family spends money on will likely not be what another family prioritizes. Bitterness and frustration that builds up is never good in any relationship. Discuss the spending, discuss the tithing, discuss the “fun money.” We’ve sat down on many Saturdays to find that three weeks into the month, we’ve not been as “careful” as we needed to be and in order to stay on track we’ll have to “tighten the belt.” We are in this TOGETHER! If you find yourselves struggling in the areas of money and finances, seek professional Christian counseling, your family could depend on it.

In many families there are unhealthy cycles to be broken. Many couples grew up not witnessing their parent’s tithing and are reluctant to do so as adults. It really comes down to trusting God. Trusting God with our money and trusting God with our lives. Money is a challenging issue for most of us, and it’s one that takes continual reflection and responsibility, in a world that is constantly pressuring us to “have more.”

“If we look at money the way God does, decisions about work, values, and spending will be much easier. Money will lose its hold on us, allowing God to grab us tighter. And as we move closer to Him the money problems standing between us are bound to diminish.”

Well said Sheila!
As we ready ourselves for a New Year, perhaps it the perfect time to reevaluate our attitudes towards money and how we handle family finances. Perhaps its the perfect time to “Bring our wallets under God’s control.”

Lori is a 5 year homeschool mom to 3. Currently a 8th grader, a 6th grader and a 4th grader. Lori insists that when she was wrestling with the decision to home school, a gentle voice guided her with the words, “you know what you should do.” Never looking back, accepting the challenges and rewards and CONSTANTLY clinging to THE ROCK…”No Storm can shake my inmost calm when to this ROCK I’m clinging.” Lori hopes to impart peace and inspiration amidst the daily chaos. Be sure to visit her blog at All You Have to Give.

November 3, 2008 By Marybeth 6 Comments

Atmosphere affects our attitude…we become what we think about. If you’ve ever read anything about Charlotte Mason, chances are you have heard this quote. Perhaps you have even tried to implement these elements into your own educational experience. Maybe you have created an atmosphere of learning for your children, enforced the discipline of good habits with them, and helped them grasp that all of life is learning.

But have you done this for yourself? Today I want to challenge you to discover Charlotte Mason for moms! How can we embrace her theory of education in our own lives?

Atmosphere: We can create an atmosphere that gives us joy and peace just by walking into our homes. Why is atmosphere important? Because atmosphere affects our attitude. Think about your home’s atmosphere. Do messes abound? Does disorder rule? Does chaos cause your blood pressure to rise? A negative home atmosphere isn’t good for any of us—not the mom, not the children and definitely not the husband. While I haven’t done a scientific study, I have yet to meet a husband who thrived on disorganization and messiness. Most of them enjoy walking into a tidy home and a meal on the table at the end of the day. While my husband doesn’t expect it—and definitely understands when that doesn’t happen—I know our marriage is better and our lives are richer when I do the extra work it takes to make our home a haven. We can create a peaceful atmosphere and involve our kids in helping us do so. In our house, we take several times a day to tidy up messes and attend to household duties. Just spending these few moments helps me feel capable and calm. At the end of the day, some soft music, a lit candle, and something yummy simmering on the stove seems to settle us all.

Discipline: If we want our children to live disciplined lives, we have to live disciplined lives in front of them. We can preach about the importance of time with God, doing daily chores, and living out our priorities, but if our children see us ignoring our duties, talking on the phone and surfing the internet instead, our words will most likely fall on deaf ears. How can we form good habits? How can we make time for the things we want to make time for? How can we implement methods that allow our days to flow more smoothly and our homes to be a place of peace? Reading books about areas we fall short in, asking our friends for advice, and visiting blogs like this are all ways to make investments in our own discipline. We become what we think about. So I want to spend time learning from wise people who can help me become disciplined in my weak areas, constantly forming better habits and refocusing on what’s important.

Life: If all of life is learning, then what are you studying these days? I don’t think that just because we graduate from school, we should ever stop putting ourselves through courses of study. The fun part is that, once we graduate, we can choose what we want to learn! As moms we can take advantage of the time we have to immerse ourselves in learning new skills, reading great literature and pursuing creative activities. Whether its writing or painting or pottery or knitting, we can take advantage of the abundance of opportunities that are all around us. Check out community classes in your area. Visit the library and wander up and down the adult aisles. What piques your interest? What have you always wanted to know more about? I am constantly learning about the craft of writing, discovering new techniques and ideas in homeschooling, and gleaning from the wisdom of moms I respect by reading their books and blogs. I see opportunities to learn and grow in my knowledge, my character, and my relationship with God everywhere I look. I think that seeing me always learning makes a much bigger impact on my children than just telling them that learning is fun and exciting.

How have you created an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life for yourself? I hope we can encourage each other that Charlotte Mason’s ideas aren’t just for the children. They don’t get to have all the fun!

Marybeth Whalen is homeschooling mom to six children ranging in age from teen to toddler, as well as a speaker for Proverbs 31 Ministries. In her writings, she addresses things like burnout, dealing with interruptions, and handling homeschooling from a very practical perspective. Be sure to visit her blog, Cheaper by the Half Dozen.

October 6, 2008 By The Amies 11 Comments

** The winner is Gwenn Mangine

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