Daily checklist

Today I slept in and didn't do very much but I did:
get all of one childs laundry done so that's an accomplishment in itself...
working on the second childs laundry and hope to have most of it done tonight...
oldest daughter unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher
I washed the pots
cleaned the counters, table, & stove
swept the kitchen....
doesn't sound like a whole lot but I did get some stuff done so maybe just maybe I can turn this disaster around and get a clean house again

When I look at what little bit I actually did do I feel like I haven't done anything because there is so much more that needs to be done but as Nony puts it on http://www.aslobcomesclean.com looking at things as a whole will always discourage us slobs... she takes one small step each day and slowly but surely she declutters and organizes her home... she changes her habits and makes a concentrated effort to change herself to change her house.... I am so glad I found her site... it's making me feel so much better about myself because I am not alone in my slobishness and if she can change then I have faith that I can change... With God's love all things are possible...He has faith in me and so I will have faith in myself that I can do this...slowly but surely I will get my life under control....

Daily checklist

I am borrowing an idea from http://www.aslobcomesclean.com and posting a daily checklist of things I need to do each day and things that I can check off my list...

Today I:

started supper at 9 in the crockpot
(chicken breasts cut up, sausage cut up, brown gravy,  can of tomato sauce, rotel, seasonings, and onions/bell pepper/celery)
as well as the rice needed for it

supper was going strong all day and was ready for supper at 7 tonight!!

Homeschooled the three big girls which was mostly tests today.. they all three did good jobs though we did have a setback or two but that's to be expected...

wiped down the bathroom this morning

Redo list: (Saturday)
After making this list and seeing that I didn't do very much and that I could have and should have done more... I went and put a load of laundry washing and then put it in the dryer to be folded later and put a second load washing... so I did do a little more...I am working on it.. and I will get better

and that's it for me today...seems like I didn't do anything but to be honest I really could have done more and even thought a couple times to go do something but well I am not the best at doing what I should...hence the following of http://www.aslobcomesclean.com . she is teaching me to not lie to myself about my faults.. I know I could have done more but didn't feel like getting up and doing them... I know I need to break that habit and so I am going to do as she has done and do a post about what I plan to do and actually doing them each day....

Y'all pray for me that I can follow through with this because God knows I have started a hundred times with a "new" cleaning routine and it never lasts more than a few weeks... I AM going to change that... I WILL get into the habit of cleaning as I go instead of waiting for the disaster to overtake my house and life...

About a month ago we started the girls on a new "help out" schedule and they are doing good when I remind them but alas I am bad about remembering that things are supposed to be done... We are all going to change that starting with ME!! As of today I am no longer going to allow mess to rule my life....

It's Friday!!!

yay!! it's Friday!! We have made it through two weeks of homeschooling... we are definitely still figuring things out but it is getting easier and much better.... We have had to do some rearranging of furniture and schedules to make it easier on the baby... she isn't liking not being in my arms every second of every minute of every hour.. well you know what I mean... lol... We moved her playpen into the kitchen so that she would have a place to play right next to me while the girls are doing their lessons... it so far has seemed to help a little bit....

Unfortunately, the baby and Vic are both sick today... both started running fever this afternoon for seemingly no reason. Both got a dose of medicine and are resting (well baby is in bed, Vic is watching Mirror, Mirror for the fifteenth time) lol.... hopefully they both feel better tomorrow because it is scheduled to be a busy day... they have a birthday party to go to during the day and then Vic is going to a sleepover at her cousin/best friends house... she has to be better by morning or plans are canceled and she has been looking forward to this all week....

and in other news... I stumbled across a blog that is absolutely amazing... this girl must be my twin.. everything she talks about is me in a nutshell... I am reading her blog backwards from the beginning as she recommends because omgosh to follow her story is inspiring... I have always been ashamed to admit my faults to others (outside of the family) and this lady has made me rethink myself and want to follow her path.... I am hoping to incorporate some of her ideas into my life and see if it helps me.... for those who want to follow her blog she can be found at  http://www.aslobcomesclean.com I love this lady and am so glad I found her blog...

Well that's all I can think of from our neck of the woods so I will sign off for tonight...

Better late than never...

I am so behind this week on doing this blog... but better late than never.... this week has been interesting to say the least... I got the paper work for the renewal application for Libs done so now it's a waiting game to see if they will approve us for another year of homeschooling... if not I don't know what the next step is...such a newbie at this.... We did have a good week homeschooling.. the girls all did really good on their work but we have had a few bumps along the road with them not doing their work to their full potential... because of that they have had a few bad grades which has upset them... unfortunately I cannot just give them good grades.. they earn the good with the bad.. which I had to explain to them several times. If you do not do your work correctly then you earn the bad grade.... but I am sure it will sink in eventually.
As for the major issues (spelling) all three girls have done GREAT this week... one passed the first pretest on Monday so doesn't have to take the test on Friday, the other two passed the second pretest today so do not have to take the test tomorrow.... I am so proud of them... (when I say passed I mean they got a 100%!!!)

As for our bible study we started at the beginning of school, we are up to Genesis 9 (today's reading) and the girls are enjoying hearing the bible... I am thinking this was a good idea to start doing first thing in the morning... we start our homeschooling day with them doing a to-do list ...

Here's how it looks

Name

Date

To-Do List

Memory verse:

Bible study

Subjects

Their subjects are in order of how they are supposed to do them each day... Each child has a different schedule... it makes it easier on me to follow... no child is on the same subject at the same time so that I can teach Math to just one child at a time which means they have my one on one undivided attention... makes for better grades and better understanding of the material... (I hope).... 

Anyway this week hasn't been real exciting...other than we have run out of dish soap finally so I am making my own today.... have the recipe working now so hoping it turns out right and works.... yall pray for me.... I made laundry soap a few weeks ago and it's working beautifully so I am really excited about that... cheap and easy and I love saving time and money.... 

Well I am off here again... the girls are playing family game night on the xbox while I do some afternoon free time (YAY!) 

So Excited

After finally receiving our homeschool paperwork from the state, I was able to go get the textbooks from the school board. So of course I had to then organized what to teach and when so that we could complete the necessary subjects within the time frame allotted.... After figuring out calendars for each girl, I then plugged in what chapter, what lesson, and testing days into each calendar... yes the calendars are different for each child... One needs a school based calendar because she has to have public school breaks off to go to her moms, and the other two are in different grades so need different curriculum put in.... It took me Friday afternoon/Evening/night, Saturday all day and half the night but as of right now I am completely done putting everything in so now all I have to do is actually teach them the material on the day given.... They can open their folder for that subject, read the calendar for that day, see what they are supposed to do, turn to the correct section, and complete that work. Then they just check off that they completed that assignment and voila they are done.... I think that having their assignments already organized will give them a little more independence in their work... Instead of waiting on me to finish with another child they can pull out their work and get started and I can help along the way... no more sitting there waiting on me.... I hope this works out well.... We shall see... This first year is sort of a trial and error run... We are going to see what works and what doesn't and change it as we go along... All I can do is pray and ask God for guidance and He shall led me down the path He wants me to follow.... I just have to remember to relinquish that control to Him....

Day four

Today was both good and bad.... the good news was our paperwork finally came in from the state so we were able to unenroll the girls from public school officially so yay... no more public school worries for us.... the other good thing about the paperwork coming in is that I was finally able to rent their textbooks so now we can do science and social studies which we couldn't do this week... so yay again... the bad parts were behavior... omgosh sometimes I question what I was thinking taking on 3 girls into homeschooling ... but then I remember how bad it was with them in public school and I don't regret it at all.... they had such a hard time in public school and I hated seeing how bad they felt, how low their self-esteem was getting, and how little they were really learning... it seemed like every time I turned around they were taking another standardized test... dibbles, scantron, leap, ileap... the list goes on... lately the teachers are stuck teaching to the test rather than teaching them all they need to know... plus the biggest drawback to public school is the lack of God... they won't let the children learn about God and actually punish those children who talk about God or read the bible during free reading... My oldest brought her brand new bible to school with her that she had gotten from Sunday school she was sooo proud of it so of course wanted to show it off to her friends... Her teacher took it from her and wouldn't give it back to her until the end of the day and told her NOT to bring it back to school... I am sorry but that is unacceptable in my view... She was so discouraged that day and could not understand why such an important part of her life wasn't allowed in her daily school life... I refuse to let my children ever feel that way again... The Bible and God are first and foremost in their lives and is the first thing we study in the morning which is as it should be.... Well today was an awful long day so I am going to cut this one short and head on to bed... May God bless those who need blessings and heal those who need healing whether physically, mentally, or spiritually....

Introduction

I started thinking last night when I went to bed... as I was laying there I realized that although I have started this blog and shared how the first two days of homeschooling went, I completely neglected to share about our family.... so here goes.... We live in Louisiana... Me and papa bear have been married for 13 years this past January. One short month later we got pregnant with Bug (12) (Girl) who was born two months premature (27 weeks) at a very tiny 3 lbs 5 oz. Then almost three years later we had Vic (10) (Girl) and we thought our family was complete.... we thought about having more but health problems prevented me from conceiving again so we just thanked God for our two beautiful girls and went on with life. Fast forward 8 years and I came down with the "stomach flu" and it just hung around and hung around and I could not shake it.... Mother in law insisted that I was pregnant and it wasn't the stomach flu so finally I tested and sure enough I was Pregnant after 8 years.... come to find out I was already 4 months along and didn't know it... surprise here comes Chichi (16 months) (Girl).... so there ya go... we have three beautiful girls now....

Well last year a friend of the family's little girl was having a hard time in public school... she was being bullied and was contemplating suicide because she was so depressed... when we realized how severe her problems were, her family started talking about homeschooling but they didn't feel they could do it on their own so I volunteered to help them out by taking on the bulk of her schooling... so from January until May I was homeschooling Libs (10) (Girl).... Well once I saw how much she improved in her mental state, grades, and behavior I decided that maybe that would be a good thing for our girls too... I had always wanted to homeschool but family and friends talked me out of it because they didn't think I could do it and it would be bad for the kids....
Well for once I decided to stop listening to them and start listening to my heart... After much talking and praying me and papa bear decided it was time to take the girls out of school and start teaching them at home....
Several factors led up to that decision but the biggest one was the amount of bullying going on at the school... The girls would come home in tears begging to be homeschooled because they were miserable being picked on and made fun of.... Another factor was that I had been substituting before becoming pregnant with Chichi and saw 6 yes 6 6th graders pregnant, a few in their third trimester at the beginning of the school year which signaled to me that they had gotten pregnant in 5th grade.... talk about shock the daylights out of me... I was stunned... and these girls were happy and proud about being pregnant and showing off their bellies and saying oh look it kicked come feel look how cool.... oh wow is all I could think.... And the final reason was the drugs that were being talked about and distributed in school under the teachers noses... ummm hold up ... what is the teachers job? isn't it to teach and protect our students... umm allowing these children to get away with that is showing me that you are not paying close enough attention to what is going on around you....
Now I am not saying that all public schools are bad or that even that public school is bad but I don't want MY children around that atmosphere.... they deserve a more godly life where drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, and violence are not the cornerstones of their lives.... I feel that by bringing them home I can give them a more solid secure life.... now a lot of people do disagree with me but my thoughts on that are that if God had wanted me to keep my girls in public school then He would not have put homeschooling so heavily into my heart and mind... He obviously wanted me to take this step and so who am I to argue.... (not smart to argue with the Lord) He knows best...and so on that note I will leave you with todays memory verse

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11

Oh and yes our day went good today... we had a few incidents of misbehavior that were quickly resolved and we even got done early today.. yay! Oh and our homeschool approval letter FINALLY came in from the state so now I can go get their textbooks so we can actually do all the work... YAY!!

Day two

Well day two of homeschooling has come and gone.... we started out a few minutes late today but eventually got everything done and done well I might add.... We started our new bible lesson series... it leads you through the bible in 4 years (created for children so they don't get so overwhelmed)... We read the whole first chapter of Genesis (was supposed to be the first 19 verses but they wanted to go on and how could I tell them no) and the girls wrote the days of creation in order to be memorized.... surprisingly they knew more than I thought they did... I often wonder how much of what I say to them and how much they hear from others actually sticks with them... I am proud to say our girls have good minds and do retain quite a lot more than I thought (shame on me for underestimating my girls, tisk tisk tisk).... and yes I made the sound out loud lol.... We also created privacy blinders (their offices as they called them) so that they cannot look over and see what the others are writing (no cheating allowed) plus I felt that it would help with the "she's looking at me.. mommmmmmmm" syndrome that was going around.... we shall see... we also had to deal with a touch of disrespect and bullying by one of the girls who needs an adjustment on appropriate behavior when she's with me but again it's a work in progress.... but then we all need adjustments on behavior occasionally even the momma... Overall day two was another rousing success and I am thankful once again that I followed my heart and God's will to begin homeschooling. My girls seem much happier and of course that makes the momma much happier as well....

Today's memory verse

"Thou God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee"

Daniel 6:16

Day one

Day one in the adventures of homeschooling in the Domingue house.... Today was for sure an adventure.. Our first official day of homeschooling was a complete success (in my humble opinion). We completed all of our work and even had some fun. There weren't any tempers flaring, no arguing amongst the munchkins, and somehow we even had time for visiting the grandparents... And of course the best part of our day was yay!! Daddy found a job finally... God has provided for us for a year (well for way longer than a year but a year with no employment) through no jobs, unemployment payment delays, and beginning our homeschooling journey.... At my lowest, I was terrified of how we were going to pay bills, buy household items (food, diapers, formula) but not once were we without a need (yes we sacrificed a lot of wants) but our needs were always met and met wonderfully. Never did  we go without... and that my dear friends is the beauty of the Lord. We never lost faith that God had a plan for our lives and we took each day as a gift and kept on keeping on (gotta love Joe Dirt)... We successfully paid our bills and even got out of debt, successfully worked on a curriculum for the girls, and learned that even a year home together we still can get along.... Everyone always says they don't think they could handle having their spouse home for months at a time but honestly I wouldn't have traded this past year for anything. We are all closer for him having been home with us. Tonight was the first night in a year that he wasn't home to kiss the girls goodnight and that was hard on them but I am sure not even as hard as it was for him. Thankfully we have a schedule that means he will be home during the day so plenty of daddy time for us.... Granted if we weren't homeschooling and the girls were going to public school, then we would have some major daddy withdrawals going on with him leaving within half an hour of them getting home... but once again... The Lord always provides a way for everything to work out smoothly.... our Lord is a good Lord and we are blessed to know Him.... For all those doubters and naysayers who think we can't successfully homeschool, I say this... The Lord WILL provide the strength, knowledge, and know how for me to do this. It is God's will that I homeschool our daughters and so He will provide for me to do just that. Our memory verse for today even proved that to me.... we are following a new 21 day challenge that will get us into a stronger habit of worshiping the Lord and the verse given for today is 

"He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

Job 23:10

I know that my life is not mine to command but rather to follow the Lord as He sets my life down the path He has for me. At the end of that road, I know I too shall come forth as gold.