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Friday, April 24, 2015

Pressing the "Reset" Button

It was a full month before Pesach, cleaning, cooking, organizing and preparing.

It was a full week of Pesach, the Seders, hosting, cooking, entertaining and family trips.

Suddenly it all ends, and we need to get things back to normal, put away our dishes, get back into routine, back to life.

I am not sure why I have had such a hard time getting back into the swing of things. I felt like the second Pesach was over I was just running, with no direction, not stopping to catch my breathe, just going, going, going.


I didn't have time to plan my homeschool week so I was just winging it. All the kids have had different types of appointments making me feel so guilty when I leave them with the babysitter. I haven't planned my meals, or my days and I feel like I'm just going through the motions with no rhyme or reason.


But just like anything, when it just goes without stopping, its bound to either stop on its own or break. I figured that before I break, I better stop.


I learned from one of my organizing and time management Gurus Rivkah Caroline that sometimes you need to 'Take time to Make time'.

And so yesterday morning, I turned my phone off, sat down with my coffee. And I stopped.



I hit the reset button.

I refuse to continue like this. I just can't.

I realized its better to let the kids just play and do their thing for the morning so I can get my ducks in a row and head back on my shoulders then giving them a workbook so I feel good about myself that they did some 'work'.

It is all still a work in progress...

 



But I am feeling a lot better since I hit the breaks.

Everyone tells me that I'll blink and my kids will have grown up.
I feel that happened over the past 2 months.
I feel that my babies now want to join the big kids in their school work.
My kids are growing up and the dynamics are changing. 
So too, I need to change with them, and change is okay.


When we homeschool, the only rules we need to follow are the ones we impose on ourselves.
And sometimes we need to change those rules or make new ones.


So here is to new beginnings.


Lechaim, and Good Shabbos~

Always,

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Super Cute Homeschool Cart

Hey! I hope you guys are all enjoying your Pesach experience, wherever it may find you.

Things have been so busy here, as I am sure with you, but I finally got around to writing this post that I have been meaning to write for a while.

Target just opened up in my town {insert Happy Dance here} and I literally ran there the moment I could as its one of my most favorite stores (next to Ikea and Trader Joes, can you tell I'm a mom?).

While I wasn't really looking for anything specific I came across this absolutely adorable Toy Cart-

I thought to myself, how many times do we move around the house doing our school work? On a nice day we lay on the floor in the living room with the sun streaming on us. Some days we stay in our PJs at the kitchen table, or we sit in the dining room. And I am constantly moving the books and supplies around the house and it gets very annoying trying to remember where we left the crayons or the pencils last.

But after coming across this cart, I suddenly had a great idea...
I would put all the kids school stuff in this cart and we can wheel it from room to room.

How cute is this?



On the top shelf we keep our Tzedakah Box, Siddurs and current books we are using:

All English books in one Magazine folder (also from Target), all Hebrew in one and all Current workbooks or projects in another:

Supplies go on the bottom shelf, I used a cleaning supply caddy with Mason jars filled with pencils, pens, sharpies, scissors, glue sticks, sharpener and stapler with extra staples. We also have crayons and colored pencils on the bottom shelf.

Check out the wheels on the bottom, making it super easy to roll from room to room:

I stuck our daily (tentative) schedule on the side of the cart:

And there we have it!

Enjoy the rest of your Pesach Vacay and Good Luck getting back into the school zone!

Always,