Homeschool BlastOff! Mess to Success in 35 days - I'm a long time user & follower of Milestone's Academy. There was a yahoo group where the author/creator answered questions, shared her ideas, gave advice, and so much more, but it disappeared over the Christmas break. Very sad. I do not completely follow how things are outlined in Homeschool BlastOff- I make it work for me. There is a lot of practical advice that can apply to all families, not only homeschool families - routines, "touch it once," a place for everything, family work, and so on.
Motivated Moms - I've been trying this app and I don't like the system. I like to start a job and finish it the same day, so doing a little bit of laundry each day or washing one shelf in the fridge each day is annoying to me. However, others may be okay with that kind of a system so I wanted to mention it.
Managers of Their Home - I love the advice and support found in this book! However, it's also a little challenging. Planning my days in half an hour increments for every minute of the day for each person? I constantly have to remind myself it's only a guide and we can be flexible, but it's also really good to have something I can glance at and know what everyone should be doing.
It's also important to be realistic. Many times I've create our schedule to be what I wish we were doing instead of what really happens. It's important to work hard and have high expectations, but be realistic at the same time. I also have to chant my mantra - Simplify! Simplify! Simplify! - while I'm working on our schedule so I keep my plans doable.
Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday are our at home days, and so they are our main school work days- math, history, technology classes, & language arts. Austin & Nyah can do their school work mostly on their own, which leaves me to work with the little girls and do housework. Thursday mornings are piano lessons - Olivia & Jolie joined Austin, Nyah, & I this month - and afternoons are commonwealth clubs & activities. Friday mornings we do science & art, alternating with Olivia's speech appointments every other week. There are periods of time on Thursday & Friday where Austin & Nyah can finish up the school work they need to complete for the week. During the week we focus on maintenance cleaning and Saturdays are our big family cleaning days- bedrooms, deep cleaning, projects, and so on.
Below the schedule you can see my Kitchen Helper chart. The kids all have a job to do in the kitchen during meal times - cooking/preparing food, set table, clear table, sweep, dishes. This can be incredibly helpful, especially when Austin & Nyah are my cooking helpers, or it can be challenging and time consuming, such as when my little girls are my cooking helpers. But they all are happy to help and I'm looking forward to the time when they can take over the kitchen work.
My kids all have chore charts - get dressed, brush teeth, make bed, and similar stuff. The older two are also responsible for cleaning a bathroom each week, vacuuming a section of the house, trash/recycling, & pets. Every day after dinner we do a basket clean up as outlined in Homeschool BlastOff.
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