Ready to toss in the towel...

When I began homeschooling I had a 2nd grader, a kindergartner, twin 3-year-olds, and my youngest was weeks away from her 1st birthday (# 6 & 7 hadn't joined our family yet).  I almost never accomplished half of what I sat out to do in a day.  I enjoyed watching the Duggars on TV and asked myself regularly "If they can do it with so many, why can't I?"  I really struggled with what God had called me to do and what I felt I could do.  I went to bed EVERY night feeling inadequate.

Right now we are finishing our 3rd year of homeschool and I finally feel like I have enough of a hold on it that it doesn't weigh on me.  I still have hard days.  My husband will tell you that I call him every couple weeks and tell him that I just don't know if I'm cut out for this.  These calls used to consist of me telling him we would have to re-work the budget so we could send all the kids to the nearest Christian school... so it's improving.  :-) 

So what changed?  I read and read and read!  Many moms before me had been there, done that, and wrote a book or blog about how they made it through.  I found as many as books as I could get my hands on and used their wisdom as it applied to me.  Some were not very helpful but others helped to shape the mom I am today.  I compiled a list of my favorites.

In my personal opinion every homeschooling mom should read these 4 books:

1.  Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe by Todd Wilson will not tell you how to get it all done but will reassure you that you are not alone.  I think about this book often on "those" days and it makes me smile.

2.  Managers of Their Home by Steven & Teri Maxwell will give you wonderful advice on fitting it all into a day.  She has very practical advice for scheduling.  A word to the wise though; after reading this I developed the my most ridiculous schedule.  No one could have accomplished everything I had crammed into it.  Please start simple!  You do not have to try to be a super mom, she doesn't exist!

3.  Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman is for any size family.  I hate that the title is so misleading.  There is tons of wisdom in those pages.  She began the book as notes of what she had learned with the intent of passing it on to her daughters.  Don't get intimidated by its size though; this book is HUGE!  It's chapters are not wrote dependant upon each other.  This means if you want to know more about laundry you simply flip to the laundry chapter, you don't need to read the one before or the one after.  I LOVE that!

4.  Parenting from the Heart by Marilyn Boyer is a small book of wisdom wrote by a seasoned mother of 14.  It is very encouraging & practical.

Other books I have read and highly recommend:

Managers of Their Chores by Steve and Teri Maxwell
Homeschooling with a Meek & Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell
Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic
Love in the House by Chris & Wendy Jeub
The Duggars: 20 and Counting by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar
A Love that Multiplies by Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar    

Would you add any to this list?  I would REALLY love to know what books have helped with your homeschooling journey?

Little Tips & Tricks

I have wanted to share some of my little tips & tricks with y'all for awhile but have not had the time to write a long post about each of them so I thought I'd share a list of them with you and if you would like more info on any of them let me know. 

These are the kid's laundry baskets.  Each child has their own.  I wash and dry clothes then my 6-year-old son brings the load to the living room where each child (even my 3-year-old) sorts the clothes into the correct child's basket.  I bought these at the Dollar Tree and taped pictures of my kids to each one so the non-readers could work too.  Each child puts their basket away after the load has been sorted.  I don't care if it's folded because it will be unfolded in no time.  My kids don't own any clothes that can't be sprayed with water and tossed in the dryer for 10 minutes to get the wrinkles out.

.

These are the labels on my kids drawers. Each child has labels for all articles of their clothing. Each label is marked with the child's first initial. The labels pictured here belong to my 3-year-old daughter; she is able to her clothes away with minimal assistance.

I repurposed my baby play yard to contain my laundry mountain.  I was so tired of the mess spilling into the floor when I get behind.

This is my menu binder.  It has magnets on the back so I can keep it on my fridge.  I keep my coupons I plan to use (not a big couponer, I tried, just not for me), blank shopping lists, and the small menu cards for the meals we typically eat.  Love the movable cards because it makes it easy for quick changes to the menu.

This is our school cart.  At one point we had a whole classroom complete with desks and reading nook.  Then we realized it just worked better for us to school wherever we land (most of the time curled up on the couch.)  The cart is a audio/visual cart my husband purchased for me at our county public school surplus.
 
I have plenty more little things that use to make my day flow smoothly. I will publish more as I have time.

I'm no Super Mom!

The other day I had a friend wish me happy birthday she addressed me as "Super Mom" in her statement.  This is not the first time I have heard this.  I regretfully admit it happens frequently.  This literally makes me laugh out loud and makes me want to set the record straight.

I think that when people see me with a large amount of children they think I must have it all together.  "Super Mom" is a fictional character, much like Spiderman or Ironman.  She simply doesn't exist.  No one has it all together all the time.  We all have weaknesses in our planning, scheduling, housekeeping, & child rearing at times.  We all have lazy times that we don't feel like doing a thing.  We all have messy houses, dirty dishes, laundry mountains, & unfinished school days sometimes.  We all struggle with taking time for ourselves. 

I find it refreshing hearing from others that I am not the only one that has these struggles & love learning how they deal with them.  I find their words reassuring & their advice helpful.  I highly suggest that you admit that you are not a "Super Mom".  You must not only admit it to yourself but admit it to your friends.  Believe it of not, I guarantee your friends think you are a "Super Mom" too!   I really feel we moms need to debunk this myth, then we need to collectively agree to stop pretending or at least let our friends go on believing that we are "Super Moms" 

Find a friend and tell her one of your "I'm no Super Mom because..." stories.  You will be so glad you did because she will almost certainly relay her story to you.  I promise you will feel so free from having to act like something that you are not.  Then read the book "Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe" (even if you are not a homeschooler.)    

Here is one of my many  "I'm no Super Mom because..." stories:
Not long after writing my last post about keeping up on laundry my dryer broke.  It ended up being an electrical problem with the wiring in my home and took 2 weeks to get fixed.  This all happened right as the seasons were changing so as we got our warm clothes dirty, I just got out the fall clothes and let the kids wear them.  Well as you can imagine, a family of 9 can really rack up the dirty clothes.  It was not long before all summer and winter clothes were dirty and in a big, mixed up mess in my laundry room.  Now not only do I have a literal mountain of laundry to wash, but I also have my seasons of clothes that need separated.  I have dreaded getting this under control for so long that it has been 2 1/2 months and it is just as bad as ever.  We do laundry as needed at this point.  I will get it caught up one day but I dread the amount work it will take.  It is just much easier to wash clothes as needed and close the mountain in the laundry room!

What is your "I'm no Super Mom because..." story?