I'm so excited to announce this! This fall, September 29, to be exact, I am hosting a Family Builder seminar. Here's a link to the seminar registration info.
It will be in Mukilteo, WA. Family Builder is the program Diann Jeppson and Jodie Palmer run to support family centered education. This seminar is 1 day long and very reasonably priced. Look at the agenda - I think it sounds pretty amazing and it will give you a good idea about whether or not this one is for you. The room I booked only has space for 50 people so register ASAP to make sure you get a spot.
Showing posts with label Home Economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Economics. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Dressing My Kids II
A couple years ago I wrote about my clothing philosophy and how I plan and shop for my kids' clothing. It's a hobby for me. See the original post if you are curious. People often ask me where I shop for my kids clothes. With that in mind, I recently started a pinterest board where I pin some of the clothes I have bought or plan to buy for my kids.
In the last 2 years I have used my clothing checklists a lot and modified them. Mostly, I removed things. I've learned that I need even less than I thought I did for each child. Some weeks I even -GASP- put my kids in the same outfit twice. High quality clothing washes and wears really well so this isn't a problem and means I need fewer outfits for each child. Isabel's clothes from years past are holding up really well so I buy very little for Chloe.
Here are my updated Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter checklists:
In the last 2 years I have used my clothing checklists a lot and modified them. Mostly, I removed things. I've learned that I need even less than I thought I did for each child. Some weeks I even -GASP- put my kids in the same outfit twice. High quality clothing washes and wears really well so this isn't a problem and means I need fewer outfits for each child. Isabel's clothes from years past are holding up really well so I buy very little for Chloe.
Here are my updated Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter checklists:
Spring/Summer Clothing Checklist
Liam
o Sneakers
o Waterproof/sandals
o Rainboots
o Sunday Shoes
o ooo 3 PJS
o swimsuit
o hat
SUNDAY
o pants
o shirt
o sweater or vest
o tie
o oo 2 socks
6 Everyday Outfits
o 2 jeans
o 1 pants
o ooo 3 shorts
o oooooo 6 SS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 socks
Chloe
o Sneakers
o Waterproof
o Rainboots
o Sunday shoes
o Sandals
o ooo 3 PJS
o swimsuit
o hat
SUNDAY
o oo 2 dresses
o white tights
o sweater
6 Everyday Outfits
o jeans
o shorts
o bike shorts (for under skirts)
o oo 2 skirts
o oo 2 play-dresses
o ooooo 5 SS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 socks
Isabel
o Sneakers
o Flip flops
o Sunday shoes
o sandals
o ooo 3 PJS
o swimsuit
o hat
SUNDAY
o oo 2 dresses
o white tights
o sweater
6 Everyday Outfits
o jeans
o oo 2 shorts
o oo 2 skirts
o footless tights
o 1 dress
o ooooo 6 SS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 socks
Fall/Winter Clothing Checklist
Liam
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday Shoes
o ooo 3 PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY
o Suit
o pants
o oo 2 LS shirts
o Sweater or vest
o oo 2 socks
6 Everyday Outfits
o ooo3 jeans
o oo 2 pants
o sweatsuit
o oooooo 6 LS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 sweaters
o oooooo 6 socks
Chloe
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Mary Janes
o Dress Boots
o ooo 3 PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY
o oo 2 dresses
o oo 2 tights to match
6 Everyday Outfits
o oo 2 jeans
o sweatsuit
o oo 2 skirts
o play-dress
o oo 2 tights
o ooooo 5 LS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 sweaters
o oooo4 socks
Isabel
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Mary Janes
o Dress Boots
o ooo 3 PJS
o Dress Coat
o Puffy Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY
o ooo 2 dresses
o oo 2 tights to match
6 Everyday Outfits
o oo 2 jeans
o sweatsuit
o oo 2 skirts
o 1 play-dress
o oo 2 tights
o ooooo 5 LS shirts
o hoodie
o oo 2 sweaters
o oooo 4 socks
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Woes of a CSA Subscriber
Beckie, this one's for you.
When you sign up for a share in a CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) Farm, in addition to fresh, delicious, local produce, you are signing up for work. It forces you to develop a totally new way of preparing food for your family. Here are the main challenges I’ve faced in my relationships with CSAs followed by my strategies for dealing with them. I don’t have it all figured out but I’ve made progress and I’ll keep at it until hopefully one day I will always know just what to do with the produce that shows up and never throw any rotten produce away.
One of the things CSA subscribing does is challenge the conventional wisdom that gave us grocery stores. I think that deserves challenging. So with all the struggles you face as a CSA subscriber consider the whys of everything – there are some really important answers to those questions and I’d like to see people think through those for themselves. Don’t just take what the grocery store or the farmer says and accept it—think about it for yourself.
Common Challenges For CSA Subscribers
I Don’t Like _______. What Do I Do With It?
Most CSAs offer you a weekly share of whatever they harvested that week. Which means you get what they give, no more, no less. If you don’t like something in the box that week, your problem.
What’s With All The Beets And Kale?
I don’t know why but most of the CSAs I know offer lots of beets and kale, regularly. Maybe they are easy/cheap to grow and underappreciated. I’m sure it’s different for every growing region and each one probably has its own “beets and kale” type of vegetable that grows well and isn’t terribly popular.
Where’s The Fruit?
Fruit seems to be scarcer in most CSA boxes. Probably depends on where you are living and what grows well there. I think fruit is more challenging and expensive to grow, harvest, store, and deliver. But oh, organic farm fruit is the food of the gods – so worth the trouble and expense.
I’ve Never Heard Of _______. What Do I Do With It?
We are so used to the standard array of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store that it can be overwhelming when all these unusual plants start showing up in your box. Organic family farmers seem to have a special love for the underdogs that never make it into the US grocery system. It’s important to know that the produce that has made it is usually chosen for things like how little it bruises and how cheap it is to grow. Taste and quality are almost always sacrificed.
My CSA Lifestyle Strategies
I’ve been using CSAs for 5+ years. I have much to learn but here’s what I know today.
Strategy 1: Cook Your Way Through it All
When I have plenty of time (ha ha, who ever does?!) or I'm really in a cooking mood I spend a couple hours with my cookbooks, recipe files, and online searches to find recipes that will utilize all the beautiful and strange things that arrived in my box this week. I am always on the lookout for a good cookbook or recipe that emphasizes produce. Here are my favorite resources for this:
Cooking Light Salads
In Season
Mediterranean Kitchen
Williams Sonoma: Vegetables
Mariquita Farms Recipe Database
Giada De Laurentiis recipes
UPDATE 6/2/12 I started using Pinterest and have a board for Feeding My Family with recipes and more cookbooks I love.
Strategy 2: Try a Custom Order
Some farms grow certain things all year. Find out if yours does and see if they will let you have a weekly custom order of things you know you will use. For the last year I had a standing order of lettuce, potatoes, avocados, apples, bananas, and carrots. Now I'm back to the seasonal box and it's so exciting to see what's in it each week!
Strategy 3: Work With More Than One Farm
Most local, organic, family farms grow a limited number of items. More and more I’m seeing small farms band together for CSA purposes. My local CSA, Klesick Family Farm, sources out organic produce from several farms, including some in Mexico. So I get a lot more fruit and things like bananas, avocados and oranges that just don’t grow here. If there isn’t a combo CSA in your area, talk to a few of the farms and see if you can facilitate something.
Strategy 4: Order a Double-Share of Fruit
My family never seems to have too much fruit. Whatever shows up in our box, we eat in a few days. If your CSA offers fruit, ask for double or triple the normal share of fruit.
Strategy 5: Go Raw
The vast majority of fruits and vegetables can be eaten raw. Wash, peel, and cut up whatever you’ve got, set it on a platter with some dip and chances are it will be gone by the end of the day. For fruit I like peanut butter and honey mixed together or vanilla yogurt and honey as dip. For veggies I like hummus or ranch dressing. You can also grate or dice fruits and vegetables and toss them into a green salad.
Strategy 6: Use Master Recipes
Most fruits or vegetables can be prepared in one of the following ways. When you don’t know what to do with something in your box, try one of these. A basic cookbook can get you started. I suggest working on one of these preparations, say soup, until you find your favorite version and get good at making it. Then you can move on to roasting.
Pasta Salad
Basically all you need is cooked pasta, chopped and blanched veggies or fruits, and tasty dressing. You can add cheeses, herbs, sauces, and other condiments to fancy it up.
Soup
Spend some time finding a vegetable based soup recipe that you really like. Add whatever veggies you have on hand that week. Leave it chunky or puree if you like. I find the following ingredients make a great flavor base for any veggie soup: potatoes, bacon, pesto, tomato paste, and Parmesan.
Smoothie
Start with fruit and liquid. Bananas and oranges make a great flavor and texture base. I use water for my liquid but you could use juice or milk too. If you have a good, high-powered blender, it’s easy to slip some carrots and spinach in and no one will ever know. Frozen bananas or berries make it frothy. Sweeten with honey, sugar, or maple syrup as needed. If fresh mint shows up, this is a great way to use it.
Roasted Veggies
Wash, peel, and roughly chop whatever you’ve got on hand. Spread it on a foil/ parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 until tender (maybe 25-45 minutes?) Serve roasted veggies alongside meat, mix it with hot pasta or rice and herbs, or puree for soup.
Strategy 7: Get into a Routine
I’ve developed a lot of habits or routine’s that incorporate produce into my daily life. If it’s not part of my routine it won’t happen for more than a week or two. We eat pretty much the same things every week, which makes it easy. I don’t spend a lot of time these days thinking about what we’re going to eat.
First and foremost – process your produce the day it arrives. Get a lettuce keeper and some of those plastic containers designed to lengthen the shelf life of produce. They really work. I try to wash, chop, and dry my lettuce first. I keep it in the salad spinner in the fridge and it stays good for several days. Wash, peel, and chop anything you intend to roast, puree, or otherwise cook. Put asparagus and herbs stem side down in a tall glass or jar of water in the fridge, like you would cut flowers – but don’t wash them until you are ready to cook them. Wash, peel, chop or grate things you will use in salad or eat raw with dip. Don’t do any of this with fruit or tomatoes. Just wait until you’re ready to eat them. But things like potatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots, leeks, celery, broccoli etc. will do fine if you clean and cut them and keep them in the fridge, especially in those nifty produce containers. And you will almost certainly use them if the hard part is already done. This is the best way I know of to eliminate rotting produce in the fridge.
Then you need a daily meal routine.
We eat fruit for breakfast almost every day. In the summer it could be in the form of a smoothie or alongside toast. In the winter it’s probably mixed into oatmeal.
For lunch we have sandwiches or soup, with raw fruit, veggies, or green salad.
For dinner we have one of the following accompanied by steamed, roasted, or souped veggies: pasta, rice and beans, polenta, bean tacos, soup and salad. Seriously, we just rotate through those same dishes over and over. I vary the flavoring here and there and make other things on special occasions but this is what we habitually eat. These are things we all like, I can make without thinking, I feel good about feeding my family, and they go pretty well with veggies. It has to be simple if I’m going to do it regularly.
Strategy 8: Learn What to Do With Beets and Kale.
Or whatever it is that shows up regularly in your box. Just this year I learned how to make Kale chips. What a revelation! They are so yummy! And easy! Wash and dry the kale. Tear it into chip-sized pieces and lay it out on a foil/parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 until crispy but not burnt, 10-20 minutes.
Now I gotta figure out what to do with beets…I should try roasting.
With some farms you can say, no beets for me thanks, and they will exclude them from your box.
Strategy 9: Keep Complimentary Ingredients in Your Fridge or Pantry at All Times.
If you know what flavors you really love with veggies and you keep them around all the time, it’s easier to bring a new veggie into your repertoire. Things with salt, fat and intense flavor tend to compliment veggies well. When I use them as condiments, and make veggies the star of the dish I see no problem with the fat or salt content. I try to keep bacon, Parmesan, olive oil, butter, sun-dried tomatoes, sea-salt, olives, tomato paste, pesto, nuts, and my favorite French vinaigrette around. With these I can make tasty salads, pasta, soup, rice, and polenta.
So how is it going with your CSA box?
When you sign up for a share in a CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) Farm, in addition to fresh, delicious, local produce, you are signing up for work. It forces you to develop a totally new way of preparing food for your family. Here are the main challenges I’ve faced in my relationships with CSAs followed by my strategies for dealing with them. I don’t have it all figured out but I’ve made progress and I’ll keep at it until hopefully one day I will always know just what to do with the produce that shows up and never throw any rotten produce away.
One of the things CSA subscribing does is challenge the conventional wisdom that gave us grocery stores. I think that deserves challenging. So with all the struggles you face as a CSA subscriber consider the whys of everything – there are some really important answers to those questions and I’d like to see people think through those for themselves. Don’t just take what the grocery store or the farmer says and accept it—think about it for yourself.
Common Challenges For CSA Subscribers
I Don’t Like _______. What Do I Do With It?
Most CSAs offer you a weekly share of whatever they harvested that week. Which means you get what they give, no more, no less. If you don’t like something in the box that week, your problem.
What’s With All The Beets And Kale?
I don’t know why but most of the CSAs I know offer lots of beets and kale, regularly. Maybe they are easy/cheap to grow and underappreciated. I’m sure it’s different for every growing region and each one probably has its own “beets and kale” type of vegetable that grows well and isn’t terribly popular.
Where’s The Fruit?
Fruit seems to be scarcer in most CSA boxes. Probably depends on where you are living and what grows well there. I think fruit is more challenging and expensive to grow, harvest, store, and deliver. But oh, organic farm fruit is the food of the gods – so worth the trouble and expense.
I’ve Never Heard Of _______. What Do I Do With It?
We are so used to the standard array of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store that it can be overwhelming when all these unusual plants start showing up in your box. Organic family farmers seem to have a special love for the underdogs that never make it into the US grocery system. It’s important to know that the produce that has made it is usually chosen for things like how little it bruises and how cheap it is to grow. Taste and quality are almost always sacrificed.
My CSA Lifestyle Strategies
I’ve been using CSAs for 5+ years. I have much to learn but here’s what I know today.
Strategy 1: Cook Your Way Through it All
When I have plenty of time (ha ha, who ever does?!) or I'm really in a cooking mood I spend a couple hours with my cookbooks, recipe files, and online searches to find recipes that will utilize all the beautiful and strange things that arrived in my box this week. I am always on the lookout for a good cookbook or recipe that emphasizes produce. Here are my favorite resources for this:
Cooking Light Salads
In Season
Mediterranean Kitchen
Williams Sonoma: Vegetables
Mariquita Farms Recipe Database
Giada De Laurentiis recipes
UPDATE 6/2/12 I started using Pinterest and have a board for Feeding My Family with recipes and more cookbooks I love.
Strategy 2: Try a Custom Order
Some farms grow certain things all year. Find out if yours does and see if they will let you have a weekly custom order of things you know you will use. For the last year I had a standing order of lettuce, potatoes, avocados, apples, bananas, and carrots. Now I'm back to the seasonal box and it's so exciting to see what's in it each week!
Strategy 3: Work With More Than One Farm
Most local, organic, family farms grow a limited number of items. More and more I’m seeing small farms band together for CSA purposes. My local CSA, Klesick Family Farm, sources out organic produce from several farms, including some in Mexico. So I get a lot more fruit and things like bananas, avocados and oranges that just don’t grow here. If there isn’t a combo CSA in your area, talk to a few of the farms and see if you can facilitate something.
Strategy 4: Order a Double-Share of Fruit
My family never seems to have too much fruit. Whatever shows up in our box, we eat in a few days. If your CSA offers fruit, ask for double or triple the normal share of fruit.
Strategy 5: Go Raw
The vast majority of fruits and vegetables can be eaten raw. Wash, peel, and cut up whatever you’ve got, set it on a platter with some dip and chances are it will be gone by the end of the day. For fruit I like peanut butter and honey mixed together or vanilla yogurt and honey as dip. For veggies I like hummus or ranch dressing. You can also grate or dice fruits and vegetables and toss them into a green salad.
Strategy 6: Use Master Recipes
Most fruits or vegetables can be prepared in one of the following ways. When you don’t know what to do with something in your box, try one of these. A basic cookbook can get you started. I suggest working on one of these preparations, say soup, until you find your favorite version and get good at making it. Then you can move on to roasting.
Pasta Salad
Basically all you need is cooked pasta, chopped and blanched veggies or fruits, and tasty dressing. You can add cheeses, herbs, sauces, and other condiments to fancy it up.
Soup
Spend some time finding a vegetable based soup recipe that you really like. Add whatever veggies you have on hand that week. Leave it chunky or puree if you like. I find the following ingredients make a great flavor base for any veggie soup: potatoes, bacon, pesto, tomato paste, and Parmesan.
Smoothie
Start with fruit and liquid. Bananas and oranges make a great flavor and texture base. I use water for my liquid but you could use juice or milk too. If you have a good, high-powered blender, it’s easy to slip some carrots and spinach in and no one will ever know. Frozen bananas or berries make it frothy. Sweeten with honey, sugar, or maple syrup as needed. If fresh mint shows up, this is a great way to use it.
Roasted Veggies
Wash, peel, and roughly chop whatever you’ve got on hand. Spread it on a foil/ parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 until tender (maybe 25-45 minutes?) Serve roasted veggies alongside meat, mix it with hot pasta or rice and herbs, or puree for soup.
Strategy 7: Get into a Routine
I’ve developed a lot of habits or routine’s that incorporate produce into my daily life. If it’s not part of my routine it won’t happen for more than a week or two. We eat pretty much the same things every week, which makes it easy. I don’t spend a lot of time these days thinking about what we’re going to eat.
First and foremost – process your produce the day it arrives. Get a lettuce keeper and some of those plastic containers designed to lengthen the shelf life of produce. They really work. I try to wash, chop, and dry my lettuce first. I keep it in the salad spinner in the fridge and it stays good for several days. Wash, peel, and chop anything you intend to roast, puree, or otherwise cook. Put asparagus and herbs stem side down in a tall glass or jar of water in the fridge, like you would cut flowers – but don’t wash them until you are ready to cook them. Wash, peel, chop or grate things you will use in salad or eat raw with dip. Don’t do any of this with fruit or tomatoes. Just wait until you’re ready to eat them. But things like potatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots, leeks, celery, broccoli etc. will do fine if you clean and cut them and keep them in the fridge, especially in those nifty produce containers. And you will almost certainly use them if the hard part is already done. This is the best way I know of to eliminate rotting produce in the fridge.
Then you need a daily meal routine.
We eat fruit for breakfast almost every day. In the summer it could be in the form of a smoothie or alongside toast. In the winter it’s probably mixed into oatmeal.
For lunch we have sandwiches or soup, with raw fruit, veggies, or green salad.
For dinner we have one of the following accompanied by steamed, roasted, or souped veggies: pasta, rice and beans, polenta, bean tacos, soup and salad. Seriously, we just rotate through those same dishes over and over. I vary the flavoring here and there and make other things on special occasions but this is what we habitually eat. These are things we all like, I can make without thinking, I feel good about feeding my family, and they go pretty well with veggies. It has to be simple if I’m going to do it regularly.
Strategy 8: Learn What to Do With Beets and Kale.
Or whatever it is that shows up regularly in your box. Just this year I learned how to make Kale chips. What a revelation! They are so yummy! And easy! Wash and dry the kale. Tear it into chip-sized pieces and lay it out on a foil/parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 until crispy but not burnt, 10-20 minutes.
Now I gotta figure out what to do with beets…I should try roasting.
With some farms you can say, no beets for me thanks, and they will exclude them from your box.
Strategy 9: Keep Complimentary Ingredients in Your Fridge or Pantry at All Times.
If you know what flavors you really love with veggies and you keep them around all the time, it’s easier to bring a new veggie into your repertoire. Things with salt, fat and intense flavor tend to compliment veggies well. When I use them as condiments, and make veggies the star of the dish I see no problem with the fat or salt content. I try to keep bacon, Parmesan, olive oil, butter, sun-dried tomatoes, sea-salt, olives, tomato paste, pesto, nuts, and my favorite French vinaigrette around. With these I can make tasty salads, pasta, soup, rice, and polenta.
So how is it going with your CSA box?
Friday, May 14, 2010
Keeping House and Raising/Homeschooling My Kids Can Be Done in Tandem
I have had an amazing, life-altering, paradigm-shifting week. Over the last month I’ve been particularly stressed out and overwhelmed by my efforts to balance cooking, cleaning, and teaching my children. I’ve questioned whether it was possible to do it all as my standards for cleanliness have continued to slip and even considered the possibility that I’d just have to live in a dirty home for a few years. Well, Hallelujah, I was wrong. It is possible. It can be done. During this month I’ve also listened, and re-listened (like 4 times) to a couple lectures from the TJED 2010 Forum and then read more from the speakers’ websites. What they were teaching finally came together in my mind and I really “got it.” I must emphasize it took me several times through their lectures and writings before it started to make sense to me.
Beginning on Tuesday I began applying what I’d learned and I just can’t believe the amazing results! My house is cleaner than it’s been in years; my family is happy, peaceful, and content; my relationships with my kids have improved and Isabel especially made progress this week in learning how to work without complaining, my kitchen is full of healthy, homemade food; and I feel like a great wife and mother.
Here are the two lectures I’ve listened to so many times now:
A Journey Through Core Phase by Keri Tibbetts, and her website where you can register and then receive her free e-book http://www.headgates.org/
Teach Your Kids to Work Their Little Britches Off by Lara Gallagher and her blog http://www.lazyorganizer.com/blog/
I have realized that I was struggling before because I had a false paradigm about the way things could or should be done in my home. I’m reading Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits right now for bookclub and that has influenced my thinking too. He teaches that before we can make any progress with managing our time or working more efficiently, we have to make sure we are working on the right things, that our paradigm is correct. He likens operating under an incorrect paradigm to using a map of L.A. to try and navigate New York City (or something like that, I probably have the cities wrong). Once you find and use the correct map or paradigm, everything opens up and you can be effective. That is exactly what my experience this week was like. I found the right map! Wahoo!
I’m going to summarize my old paradigm or false beliefs vs. the new truths I’ve learned and accepted from Tibbetts and Gallagher. I can say that for me, this is really working and I believe it’s true but reading my post is probably not going to help you much unless it inspires you to go and listen to what these ladies have to say and then find your own way to implement the principles (assuming you come to believe they are true too). No ones situation looks just like mine so lots of what I’m doing won’t apply to other families – but I believe the principles are true and you can find a way to apply them to your unique situation.
Might also be helpful for me to remind you what my situation is: My husband and I have been married for 12 years and have adopted our 3 children. Isabel is 6, Chloe and Liam are 18 months old but act more like 14 or 15 month-olds (they were born 4 months early and are still catching up). We are homeschooling our kids in the TJED or Leadership Education model. We live in suburbia and my husband has a full-time job away from our home. I had brain surgery last fall and still need a tremendous amount of sleep to be functional (9-10 hours each night). Thank goodness all my kids sleep 12-13 hours/night and the twins nap 2-4 hours during the day! A lot of the terminology I use comes from TJED. Core Phase refers to children ages 0-8 + or – several years. Love of Learning Phase refers to children ages 8-12 + or – several years. These are developmentally based and every kid develops differently.
My False Beliefs
1. To fill Isabel’s love tank I must spend a significant amount of time reading or playing with her.
2. It’s not right or possible to ask Isabel to do more than personal chores and a few, small family chores each day. Someday when all my kids are older I will finally be able to teach her how to do all the cooking and cleaning I want her to know how to do and “get my promotion.” (This is a reference to Cherie Logan’s statement that a Mom with older children who is still doing all the cooking and cleaning missed her promotion.)
3. Isabel should be able to go do a simple chore by herself, without my supervision.
4. Because it took her so long to do it, it wasn’t reasonable to ask Isabel to make her bed, clean her room, and get dressed before breakfast.
5. Core Phase children should be read to for hours and hours, several days a week in order to inspire them to progress to Love of Learning Phase.
6. At this point in my life, while I am homeschooling young children, it’s not possible to have a clean house.
7. At this point in my life, while I am homeschooling young children, the only time I can really read to myself is early in the morning before the kids wake up or after they go to bed.
My New Truths
1. Spending time working together and talking for several hours each morning totally fills Isabel’s love tank! And after working so hard she is ready to go play independently for the rest of the afternoon.
2. Core Phasers 4 ½ yrs old and above need to spend the whole morning working alongside Mom. It develops the character and work habit they will need to later do the hard work of learning to read, write, and calculate. And Isabel has never been happier than during this week of 3-4 hours of cleaning and cooking with me each day. I see my “promotion” on the horizon. When the twins are about 5 I will have 2-3 years (before Isabel moves to Scholar Phase) of supervising the family work while my 3 kids actually do most of it. I finally feel like I’m really teaching Isabel how to work and she is feeling so proud and confident. She’s happily envisioning the day when she can do everything on her own without my supervision. She’s been saying things like, “Someday I’m going to be a good Mommy because I’ll know how to do all the chores!”
3. Until a child has had a lot of experience working alongside Mom and learning how to do things with her, they won’t be ready/able to consistently do chores on their own, unsupervised. My expectation that Isabel go clean her room and make her bed by herself wasn’t consistent with what she’s ready for and that’s why it would take her so long. When I figured out a way for us to be together while we both cleaned our rooms and made our beds, she felt so much happier and motivated. Our bedroom doors are directly across the hall from each other. We put a gate up in the hall so the twins can’t get to our doors, open the doors and then talk while we work on our rooms. Isabel likes to race me while we make our beds. For almost all of the other work we do, we’re in the same room, working alongside each other at different tasks.
4. Now that I’ve figured out how to motivate Isabel to get her personal chores done quickly, we can be at the breakfast table with personal chores done by 8 or 8:30 each morning. That is early for our family. I’ve made an effort to be at the table with her this week and we’ve started having our devotional at the table each morning. It feels better this way.
5. Core Phase children should spend the morning working alongside Mom, with time for a daily devotional fit in, and the afternoon playing. Work and play, in large quantities, is what will prepare them best for Love of Learning phase. Being read to is important but daily devotional (focusing on our core book), 30 minutes of story time during the day and 20-60 minutes of evening family reading are sufficient to inspire a desire to learn to read and love books, if the available books are classics (worth reading and studying multiple times). Seeing Mom and Dad read and study will also inspire this desire.
6. It was such a thrill this week to discover how wrong I was! With the way I structured our time this week, Isabel and I spent 3-4 hours each morning cooking and cleaning together. I used to aim for keeping the kitchen sanitary, most of the time, and cleaning the bathroom before anyone came to stay from out of town, and I did a lot of cooking/baking but usually felt like I couldn’t keep up with my family’s appetite. This week we have kept the kitchen clean all day, every day; cleaned the bathroom and maintained it; mopped the kitchen floor; vacuumed the whole house; emptied all the trashes; dusted; washed windows; and prepared tons of healthy food. My fridge and cupboards are full of good stuff and we’ve had great dinners every night. I didn’t think it was possible. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish next week. I feel so much happier and my husband has really noticed. He feels much more relaxed and peaceful when he gets home from work. I’ve never seen Isabel so consistently happy and we’ve had no real discipline issues. The twins seem just as happy as before – I don’t think they’ve really noticed.
7. Now that I’m getting so much work done with Isabel during the morning I can work on other things like bills, email, phone calls, reading and writing during the afternoons. I don’t feel guilty or like I’m neglecting anything or anyone. I hope the twins hang on to that afternoon nap for a good long while. I know the transition period while the twins are not napping but also not playing independently will be tough but I’m not going to worry about that right now. I am so loving today!
In case you want the detail, here is what our new day looks like:
· Wakeup – if early enough, Mommy exercises and showers
· Make Bed and Clean Rooms, get kids dressed
· Make Breakfast with Isabel, have devotional around the table (song, prayer, pledge, scripture memorization, read from the Bible)
· Isabel and I clean the kitchen together
· Isabel and I spiff up the bathroom together (my mom’s term – it means wipe down the mirror, counter, sink, and toilet)
· Twins go down for a morning nap if tired, if not they play while all this is going on.
· Isabel and I do the days work for 2-3 hours. I have a stack of cards with chores on them and I chunk them up into 5 groups, one group for each day, that becomes the days work. These are all weekly or monthly chores. If we are only going to be home for 3 or 4 days that week I’ll divide the cards into 3 or 4 groups and we’ll work longer on those fewer days. I anticipate adding lots of chores to this stack – I know we can actually do it now!
· Isabel and I make lunch. We all eat lunch. Isabel and I clean up lunch.
· The twins go down for a nap.
· I read to Isabel for about 30 minutes
· Isabel goes to play outside or in her room for the afternoon while I work on the computer, make phone calls, or study.
· I call Isabel in to clean up what she’s been playing with.
· Isabel and I make dinner, set the table and help the twins clean up their toys.
· Daddy comes home, we eat dinner.
· Isabel and I clean up the kitchen while Daddy gets twins ready for bed.
· We read as a family for 20-60 minutes. The twins may go to bed during this time if they are tired.
· All kids go to bed.
· Mommy and Daddy read and talk and get to bed by 10pm.
To me, this is a beautiful way to live!
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Dressing My Kids
I have a personal philosophy on clothes buying, especially for my children because it has to be done so often. I have a lot of fun dressing my kids up and I’m kinda picky. I have always enjoyed fashion, one of the reasons I follow The Sartorialist blog, and I’ve learned that even children can become fashion victims at their parents hands.
I hate the mini-rockstar/tough kid style that seems to dominate a lot of kids clothing. I want my children to look like the sweet, innocent, precious little ones that they are. I tend toward classic styles that I could see me or my husband wearing. Ok there are a few things I put my kids in that no respectable adult would wear like ruffle bum pants, wildly striped tights, and rompers – I can’t resist. I’d like it if my kids skipped the whole teenage dressing thing and moved straight into dressing like adults when it’s time. Laugh if you will but I’ve witnessed kids who’ve done this and no, they weren’t outcasts. They fit in with their peers just fine and looked stylish.
So today as I was unpacking from a week out of town I started going through the twins clothes and that turned into an inventory project which turned into a fall clothing planning session. I know, it’s only May, but I love shopping for clothes in the fall better than any other time of year and all the new stuff will be in the stores in 2 or 3 more months.
So here is my clothing philosophy, favorite stores, and plan for this fall.
1. Only buy it if it’s a “10”. One of my friends shared this gem with me. When you’re tempted to buy something rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 and only buy if it’s a 10. It doesn’t matter what a great deal it is, if it you don’t love it you won’t use it. If you have the slightest hesitation, just don’t buy it. Wait for something to come a long that you just love and have to have. I spent 2 very cold winters in Seattle waiting to find the perfect coat. I wasn’t willing to spend money on anything I didn’t love. Finally in the 3rd winter I found my lovely green wool coat and I truly adore it. I get compliments on it all the time and I’m so glad I didn’t settle for something else or waste my money on something I would just get rid of later. I will have this coat for at least 15 years.
2. Buy things that last. Some clothing items just won’t last more than 1 season no matter how much you spend but I’ve found that it pays to spend a little more for high quality items that will last and to choose styles that are more classic so they can be worn years later. Obviously kids wear things for a year or less but high quality items make great hand me downs. 5 years later, my Chloe is wearing many of Isabel’s hand me downs. It’s worth noting that most of these clothes have also been worn by 2 or 3 cousins and they still look great. And because most of them were “10”s I still love them.
3. Choose your best colors. Everyone looks best in certain colors and not as good in others. Spend some time figuring out what colors those are for you and your kids. Only buy things in colors that look great on the individual. My girls look good in many of the same colors but there are some that Isabel looks good in and Chloe doesn’t, like pale pink. So now when I shop for Isabel I try to choose colors that look good on both girls. If you have a sort of dominant color scheme for each person it makes mixing and matching their clothes to create outfits a lot easier.
My son looks really good in bright blue, navy, orange, and bright yellow so I buy most of his things in these colors and all his stuff coordinates. My girls look great in orange, bright pink, yellow, red, and deep lavender.
4. Less is more. I’ve mentioned before that I keep my laundry in check by limiting the amount of clothing each member of the family has. This cuts way down on laundry, makes getting dressed easier because there aren’t so many choices, and allows me to spend more money for high quality on fewer items. I’d much rather have 2 really nice shirts than 8 cheap ones that won’t look good after they go through the wash.
5. Have a plan. This may sound neurotic but for me it’s fun. I actually have a written plan of what I want to buy for each child twice a year. I do my biggest shopping for Fall/Winter and just fill in with a few things for Spring/Summer. This doesn’t work as well for infants because their sizes change often and unexpectedly and you can’t always predict what size they will be at each season. Start planning once they get to 2T and can most likely wear the clothes for a year.
My plan for each child includes shoes, outerwear, 2 to 3 church outfits, PJs, and 6 everyday outfits. Buying whole outfits is key. If you just have a bunch of cute separates that don’t go together you’ve just got a pile of useless clothing and that person will always have nothing to wear. It can feel expensive and time consuming to get several complete outfits but it will ultimately save you time, money, and stress. Make sure you have the socks, tights, shoes, and belts to really make outfits. And because I have a personal color scheme for each of my kids, it makes mixing and matching to create many outfits, easy. So even if you only have 3 or 4 complete outfits, if each item is a high quality “10” and they all color coordinate, you can mix and match the pieces to create dozens of outfits that you love. Many items can be worn more than once before washing. Some little ones do get dirty every day but probably not every item of the outfit is dirty. Maybe your son needs more shirts than pants to deal with this, for example. PJs can almost always be worn 2-3 times before washing.
Also if you save up and then plan to shop for a whole season all at once it’s easier to coordinate the wardrobe and get complete outfits. Also, retailers often have sales on new merchandise in the Fall so you can definitely get all the sizes/colors you want.
And if you have a checklist of things you want to buy for next year, shopping end of season sales can be very productive. For example I know I’ll want 2 pairs of little boy lightweight church pants in size 2 next spring so if I see some I really like on sale this summer I can get them and check off those boxes on my checklist. It also prevents me from going crazy and buying more than I need. I’m always tempted to get too many dresses for my girls.
I have a friend who dresses her kids adorably in mostly designer clothes from the Goodwill. With a plan and shopping list you can do this too.
Also, when Grandma generously sends adorable clothes for the kids, you can check things off your list and avoid buying more than you need. Do the same with hand me downs from family and friends. And be discriminating. If you don't love the hand me downs or they won't look good on your child, don't use them. Why let something you don't like take up space in the chest of drawers or add to your laundry?
6. My Favorite Stores. I do a lot of online shopping these days. Here are my favorite stores for kids clothes. I almost always buy things on sale. The one sort of exception is Mini Boden. Their stuff usually sells out at full price. But if I buy things all at once at the beginning of Fall I get 15% off my order.
Mini Boden - this is my very favorite. It’s an English brand that’s classic and sweet and pleasantly quirky.
Janie and Jack – This is Gymboree’s upscale cousin. I love the classic, tailored style of their stuff and the quality is excellent. Tucks, smocking, and peter pan collars abound. They have great sales regularly.
Gymboree – I don’t like this as much as the first two but I do find some good stuff here and the quality is great. If you can figure out how to use gymbucks you can save 25% - 50%. Also they have regular special sales for customers on their friends and family list. Their outlets are good too if you can find one near you.
Nordstrom – I only buy things here on sale and I have to weed through quite a bit of rockstar/tough kid clothes but they do have high quality stuff that I like. The Anniversary sale every July (I think) is all new fall stuff at 15%-25% off. The Nordstrom Rack is great if you live by one and take your checklist so you know what you actually need.
Shop It To Me - This is a website that will send you email notices whenever your favorite online brands or stores put items on sale. You tell them what type of clothes and sizes you want and then twice a week they send you emails with dozens and dozens of items on sale. It's easy to scroll through the pictures quickly and check out the 1 or 2 things that interest you. Especially useful when you're looking for something specific like a winter coat. Just keep checking the emails until you see what you're looking for at a great price.
7. My Fall Plan. Here’s my plan for each child this fall. I already have some of this stuff, especially for Chloe, and will get the rest when Fall clothing hits the stores. If I don’t love what I see I’ll wait and watch for the good stuff to show up.
Liam
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday Shoes
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY (2 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 1 Suit
o 1 pants
o 2 LS shirts
o 1 Sweater vest
o 1 Sweater
o 2 pairs of socks
6 Everyday Outfits
o 3 jeans
o 2 pants
o 1 sweatsuit
o 6 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 6 pairs of socks
Chloe
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Casual Mary Janes
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY (3 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 3 dresses
o 2 tights to match
6 Everyday Outfits
o 2 jeans
o 1 sweatsuit
o 2 skirts
o 1 dress
o 2 tights
o 5 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 4 pairs of socks
Isabel
o Sneakers
o Rain Boots
o Sunday shoes
o Casual Mary Janes
o Dress Boots
o 4 pairs of PJS
o Dress Coat
o Puffy Coat
o Hat/Scarf
o Mittens
SUNDAY (3 outfits, 1 of them for Christmas)
o 3 dresses
o 2 tights to match
6 Everyday Outfits
o 2 jeans
o 1 sweatsuit
o 2 skirts
o 1 dress
o 2 tights
o 5 LS shirts
o 2 hoodies (1 of them for the sweatsuit)
o 4 sweaters
o 4 pairs of socks
Update: My sister just asked for my help developing a clothing checklist for her first baby, a little boy who should be here by October. Here's a link to the post she did on her blog with the list we made.
Update: Here is a recent pic of my kids in their 2012 Easter outfits. Also, I've slimmed down my checklist some. I'll post a new one soon.
Update: My sister just asked for my help developing a clothing checklist for her first baby, a little boy who should be here by October. Here's a link to the post she did on her blog with the list we made.
Update: Here is a recent pic of my kids in their 2012 Easter outfits. Also, I've slimmed down my checklist some. I'll post a new one soon.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Online Coupon for Spud
I just got my spud.com grocery order (yea!) and noticed a coupon code for my friends who sign up. If you are in Seattle, Portland, LA or San Fran and want to give it a try use this coupon code for $5 off each of your first three orders and $10 off your fourth. CRSEA-JARJEN
Saturday, March 06, 2010
What I Don't Do
I discovered, in the last few years, that the secret to getting a lot done is in what you don’t do. Whenever I find a new, inspiring friend who seems to accomplish amazing things and who I’d like to emulate in one way or another I try to learn what it is she doesn’t do and this helps me determine if/how I could also do some of things she does.
It’s a fact that we all have the same 24 hours a day to do things. How we each spend that time varies wildly. No one can do it all. And there are times in life when the choices you made earlier mean you don’t have a lot of wiggle room now, like when you have a houseful of babies and toddlers, a really demanding job that you want to keep, or a time-consuming volunteer assignment. Yes, some people can operate on less sleep, work faster, or multi-task but that really doesn’t explain how most of the “amazing ones” do what they do. Their secret is in what they don’t do.
Please don’t think I’m trying to lump myself in with the “amazing ones” as I share my don’t list. I just thought it might be helpful to know all the things I don’t do. I’ve traded a lot of things in for more time and I’m generally happy with the choices I’ve made. Also, I am NOT suggesting that my choices are “the best ones” or trying to convince anyone to make the same ones. I’m thinking for myself and I want to inspire others to think and choose for themselves, which means we will likely choose different things.
1. I’m not very social.
Other than 3 nights a month for booklcubs/classes with my home school group, I don’t do much socially. When my husband is not at work (nights and weekends) we spend time as a family. On occasion we get together with another family but not that often. Most evenings are divided between time together and time where we aren’t interacting but are in the same room doing our own things. This is when I get a lot of reading done.
2. I don’t do my hair or wear makeup, often.
My college roommates would really laugh at this. Back in those days I would spend over an hour every morning on hair and makeup and then after school, wait for it, I would take a shower and do it all again so it would be “fresh” for my evening social activities. Ridiculous, I know.
After brain surgery I had a shaved patch of hair on the back of my head and had to wear an eye-patch for a couple months, which totally defeated the purpose of doing hair or makeup so I didn’t. I lost a lot of vanity and it became a habit and I found better ways to use that time in the morning. I do makeup for church, dates with my husband, and anytime I want to look my best but I think my kids prefer me in a chair with a book than in the bathroom with hair and makeup done. I don’t really care what random strangers think of my looks and I know my friends love me regardless. My husband loves me either way but I know he appreciates my efforts for our dates. Looking my best is one way I show respect for God, hence makeup for church. My hair is finally growing in more normally and I desperately need a haircut but I don’t think I will go back to the days of blow-drying and flat ironing.
3. My house is not that clean.
I hope this will not always be the case but I’m not willing to give a lot more time to it than I already do. Ideally, one day, I will have enough storage for everything in the house to have a neat, accessible, place behind closed doors but today, I don’t. So I’ve purged and purged and purged but I still don’t have a good place for everything which means there is a bit of clutter about which makes cleaning a little more difficult. And, I have very active baby/toddler twins that I must watch while they are awake. As my children get older, they will help with a lot of cleaning but that’s a few years off. So I try to keep the kitchen and bathroom sanitary, not necessarily pretty, and the living room and bedrooms get picked up once a day and vacuumed 2-4 times a month. Laundry gets done every week but not always folded and put away.
4. My family doesn’t have a lot of clothes.
This is my secret for getting all the laundry done in a day. When the twins were first born, we all had way too many clothes. It became possible to do two loads of laundry every day in a week and still have piles of undone laundry lying around. So, I purged. I didn’t touch my husband’s wardrobe, that’s his affair, but I have noticed him purging on his own. I got rid of everything we don’t wear. Then I looked at what was left for the kids, I picked my 10 favorite outfits and got rid of the rest. I didn't really need to do this with my wardrobe because it was already so small. I never keep things I don't wear and only have a small wardrobe of things I like. We only need enough clothes to get through the week, not two or three. With the babies, I also had to get rid of a lot of blankets and burp cloths. That eliminated A LOT of laundry.
5. I don’t do yard work.
I’m not proud of this one and would like to change it, just haven’t made it a priority yet. Our yard is pretty bad looking as all my nice friends could but wouldn’t say. In the summer my husband mows the lawn. I’ve weeded maybe twice in 3 years and pruned a rhododendron, very badly, once. I did do a bit of gardening last summer and loved it. I hope to spend time in the yard this spring/summer. We have a play area with swings. I need to get a second baby swing and then I can pop the twins in swings while I work in the yard.
6. I don’t go a lot of places.
As home schoolers, being at home is pretty important. I don’t have to drive anyone to school, which is nice, and I’ve chosen not to enroll my kids in many classes or other activities so I don’t drive them many places. I would like to get Isabel in swim lessons soon. We go to our homeschool group once a month, a field trip once a month and to the park or a friend’s house twice a month. We go to church every Sunday. Other than that, me and the kids don’t go out during the day. I have nearly all of my groceries and produce delivered. If I really need something my husband will kindly pick it up on his way home from work. Sometimes I make a solo errand run on a night or weekend for diapers, toiletries and other odds and ends. I don’t take the kids to the library often. Instead I use the library website to put books on hold and my husband picks them up every week. We do most of our book and clothes shopping online. Sometimes for fun on weekends we all go to the mall or bookstore together. Yes, we are a sight.
7. I don’t facebook the way most people do.
My husband recently convinced me to sign up for facebook. I have it set up so that I never get any emails about anything from facebook and when I check my facebook page I skim over everything and only respond to messages from friends and a few comments here and there. When I blog about something I want to share, I post a link on my wall. I know facebook can take up a lot of time but I don’t spend much on it. I prefer goodreads.com and blogs for connecting with distant friends and family.
I’m sure there is more that I don’t do but that’s the big stuff that comes to mind. What’s on your “don’t do” list?
UPDATE: I just remembered a very important one.
8. I don't berate myself for what I don't do or don't do as well as someone else.
I've chosen the things I do and don't and even if it's not all perfect, what good will it do me to feel bad about it? If I haven't chosen to do it, it's not as important as the things I am doing. If I need to add something to my do list then I can work on that but not by dwelling on what a rotten person I am for not doing it. I just don't believe in that kind of thinking. I am not superwoman but I am capable. If something really needs to get done, I can do it. But first I'll have to decide what not to do, so I'll have time for the new something. And what is the point of comparing myself to anyone else? I don't do it. If I want to be really good at something I'll have to put more time into it. How my effort stacks up against someone else's similar effort is irrelevant. I love to be inspired by what others are doing but I don't waste my time comparing myself to them. I get good ideas and move on.
UPDATE: I just remembered a very important one.
8. I don't berate myself for what I don't do or don't do as well as someone else.
I've chosen the things I do and don't and even if it's not all perfect, what good will it do me to feel bad about it? If I haven't chosen to do it, it's not as important as the things I am doing. If I need to add something to my do list then I can work on that but not by dwelling on what a rotten person I am for not doing it. I just don't believe in that kind of thinking. I am not superwoman but I am capable. If something really needs to get done, I can do it. But first I'll have to decide what not to do, so I'll have time for the new something. And what is the point of comparing myself to anyone else? I don't do it. If I want to be really good at something I'll have to put more time into it. How my effort stacks up against someone else's similar effort is irrelevant. I love to be inspired by what others are doing but I don't waste my time comparing myself to them. I get good ideas and move on.
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