Officially a Bailey Boy!

We finally did it.

Scott & I tackled the dreaded task of cutting Charlie's hair.  It wasn't his first hair cut.  I cut his hair back in March, but it had grown back & was a mess.

His blonde little locks just had to come off.  Scott pulled out the trusty old clippers & began to buzz.  Silly Charlie smiled & giggled & wiggled the whole time, but let us finish his hair.

My sister said it right...He is officially now a Baily boy!  All of our boys, by the time they were 2, had their first buzz cuts.  Charlie has so much hair that he got his a little early.

Here is the after.  Cute as a bug!  He looks more like his brothers everyday.  In fact,they all argue over who he looks more like.  Me?  I think he looks like Charlie with a little bit of brothers sprinkled here & there. :)

When to Start Homeschooling

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I get asked quite often what curriculum I use for my little kids, younger than kindergarten age.  I never give the answer that is expected. 
I don’t use curriculum until they are older…much older. 1st grade older.
What?  You don’t start teaching them when they are 2? 
Yes & No.
I don’t do anything formal with my kids before they are 6 years old unless they are really showing signs of being able to learn to read. My youngest daughter was totally ready & was doing a lot of school work around 5 years old.  She was reading very well by six.
I am what you call a “Relaxed Homeschooler”.  I wasn’t always like this, but over the years I have learned a lot and realized my kids will learn when they are ready and that is when I pounce!
Raymond & Dorthy Moore became my heroes early in my homeschooling career.  They founded the Moore Foundation in order to help parents better educate their children. When I was so frustrated because my 5 year old still couldn’t read or even count to 20 a friend told me about the Moore’s and since this was in 1996 and I didn’t have internet I read their books.  I was so encouraged to learn that it was ok if my child wasn’t reading by 5 & they gave me permission to slow down and work at her pace.  Thanks to the Moore’s I learned most kids (boys especially) are not truly ready to learn to read & write until they are closer to 8 years old.  Unbelievable I know, especially in a day when parents feel like their 3 year olds should be reading. (If your 3 year old can read that is wonderful…I never had one of those kinds of kids.)
So, this blog post is really to show you what I do with my younger kids & links will be provided so you don’t have to search it out yourself.

Babies. I don’t allow baby talk to my babies.  We talk in complete sentences. We start teaching baby sign language as soon as possible. I don’t worry about them signing back to me, I just like it when they know what I’m signing to them.  In their own time, they will start signing back.  Charlie is almost one and he is just now beginning to start signing back to me.  Baby sign language is a great start to their language development!  http://www.babysignlanguage.com/ is a great site to use. In addition to sign language we read.  We read as much as Charlie will let us read to him.  He has his favorite board books he will sit for.  Gradually we are working towards longer books as his attention span grows.  But don’t think my 1 year old boy will sit for a long time.  Usually 5 minutes is his max…if that long!

Toddlers.  Keep reading!  And sing!  A toddler will often sit longer while you read if you sing what you are reading.  You may feel silly, but they will love it!  And the best thing is your toddler doesn’t care how off key you sing!  With our toddlers, we play because that is how they learn.  As we play we are counting, saying our colors, letter sounds animal names, etc…  As we drive down the road we are pointing out the cows that say “mooooo” and the horses that say “neigh”.  Simple stuff.  We don’t have iPads so our kids are learning the old fashioned way.
Toddlers are very kinesthetic and need to touch to learn so I try to have activities that nurture that need to touch.  Since it has been a long time since I had a toddler I am looking for new idea’s & of course Pinterest has been a huge help.  I have pinned several blogs & sites that feature some neat idea’s for Charlie when he get’s a little older.  Check out my Pinterest board, Toddler Play. 
Another great site for Toddlers is called Totally Tots. Click on the picture below to check out that site.

For my toddlers, no curriculum needed…just my time, a few household supplies and my willingness to let him be messy.

Preschool.  This is when it can get really fun because your baby isn’t a baby any more.  They are capable of sitting longer while you read, following directions better and helping around the house.  Chores should always be included in a child’s day. It is just as important as the academic education. Make the jobs simple.  Pick up toys, clothes, help make their bed.  They can learn to help unload the dishwasher and clean off the table after a meal.  I love how my toddlers don’t see the chores as work, they see it as fun and helping mom.
My favorite all time homeschooling site for Preschool is Homeschool Creations.  It is chocked full of idea’s and printable activities for your preschooler.

You will be on this site for days.  Get your printer ready, she is has a ton of stuff that your preschooler will love. Her activities cover learning phonics, counting, shapes,etc…
And don’t forget to check out my long list of homeschool freebies which includes a lot of websites for the younger ones too.

Keep it simple.  There is no need to go buy expensive curriculum for your younger kids.  They can learn everything they need to get ready to start school without formal curriculum.  Make the right stuff available to them & let them go!
Keep it natural.  Did you set aside time everyday to teach your baby how to walk?  No, they learned that naturally and you helped.  Learning happens naturally with the help of the parents. Keep playing, that is how they will learn.  If they learn as the play they will love it.  If you make them sit at the table and require them to spend 1 hour everyday practicing phonic sounds they will eventually not love it anymore and grow to hate it.
Whether you homeschool your kids or not, you will always be their greatest teacher. Your teaching began the day they were born and it will continue until you die.  So, while they are little, nurture that desire to learn and it will flourish!

Stress-free Mom is a Happy Mom

I once took pride in my routine.  I knew everyday what would happen.  I knew what kid did what chore. I knew what school lesson would be taught.  I knew what part of the house would be cleaned.  I knew what errands would be done & who had an appointment or event to go to.  I knew what was going on.

Then we moved.  All of that went away.  I could have created new chore charts and school schedules, but I thought we would move again soon so I just put it off.  Here we are 17 months later and still living with Scott’s parents.  I thought it was time to get things back in order, or I knew I would lose my mind (what is left of it).

Our 5 oldest are 17 to 21 years old.  The oldest 2 don’t live with us, so that leaves the 17, 18 & 19 year olds here.  They are super busy with work and school and it is really hard to keep up with their schedule’s.  So, I found out about a free app for our phones that has become an easy way to keep up with them.

COZY.com  This has been a huge help.  We use the calendar more than anything else & I don’t pay for it so keeps it simple too.  We have one login so everyone can easily add their schedules in.  They can install the app on their phone & it will send them reminders.  I even have a widget on my laptop desktop so when I turn my computer on in the morning I see who has what going on.  LIFESAVER!  Of course this requires they actually put their work schedules in the calendar & often my sons can’t  do that because… well….they are boys & that would be too difficult to actually type numbers and letters that are not directed towards a friend or girl ((insert sarcasm)).  But my daughter has it down & she is like me…needs an updated calendar to survive.

Now I have the older ones under control (can you hear me laughing?) I decided it was time to get chores going again.  My kids were becoming quite accustom to not helping around the house again & I just couldn’t have that.  So, Scott & I decided to not just bring back the chores, but also a small allowance to help motivate.  We have been against this in the past, but he has ulterior motives.  He is also teaching them how to save their money & designate it for different things.  Dave Ramsey has some awesome methods that we have followed for years & we want our younger ones to learn how to use them now just like our older kids do.

So, as I am making yet, another chore chart & find on Pinterest the most amazing thing!  Another smarter & more creative mom than I, printed her list of chores on magnetic paper!

This brilliant mom printed the chores out on the magnetic paper & then posted them on the frig.  EAch child had their own list & as they did a chore they simply moved it down the list. So easy & so amazing how my kids feel accomplished when they can move those chores down & see the list of “Chores to do” grow smaller. As their list of “Already Done” chores grows so does their allowance.

Here is what mine ended up looking like.

I only did the 3 younger kids.  The other two older boys (13 & 15) just do whatever their dad says to do when he says to do it.  No chart needed. LOL!

I printed out a page with the 3 colored columns.  I laminated it, but the magnets weren’t strong enough to hold so I had to print another one that wasn’t laminated. The only thing that was not magnetic was the paper they put the chores on.  They liked having a picture of themselves over their chores too.

The next thing I did was write up menus for meals.  I had done this before, but didn’t stick to it.  This time, since I am not the only one cooking, I didn’t assign meals for specific days.  I just made a list of possible meals for the week & then bought the food needed to make those meals. If the recipe was new I printed it out at the beginning of the week.  That way, when my mother-in-law is getting ready to make lunch (because that is the meal she always makes so I can do school with the kids.  Isn’t she wonderful?!) She just has to look at the list of meals & see what she wants to make.  We work together on this.  She & I both plan out the meals and even though I do most of the grocery shopping she often fills in the gaps of what I forget to buy.  I am living the dream!

Such simple things have helped to bring the early beginnings of order & routine back to my day.  We are finishing up school for the year so I will get to establish a whole new routine once school isn’t part of our day. (kids jumping for joy!)

Charlie is finally into a routine of 2 naps a day and going down on his own in his bed. Yipee!!  This helps so much!  Now if I could just get him to sleep all night, my life would be perfect!

You may not need routine as badly as I do, but I’m always so amazed at how even the smallest bit of routine can ease so much of my stress.  And we all know that a stress-free mom is a happy mom!

When you don’t enjoy being a mom.

The morning was already off to a rough start when the baby woke up as usual, but never went back to sleep after he nursed. My head was pounding from a head cold and I really wanted to sleep it off, but not with a happy baby laying next to me.
The weather man was promising that Fall temperatures were finally on their way and we should expect to have cooler temps by mid-afternoon.  I thought that would be wonderful until I realized what the weather change was doing to my kids.
It seemed like they were on a major sugar high or had drank Red Bull!
I felt like the only thing I could say to them was…
“Stop!”
“Be quiet!”
“Stop running!”
“Don’t wake up the baby!”
“You woke up the baby!”
I definitely did not enjoy being a mom right now.
I want a break.  I want to quit.  I want to protest hyper kids by going back to bed.
Finally by mid-afternoon the baby did go down for a good long nap.  This gave me time to deal with the noisy kids & regain some order.  While they were busy cleaning up their messes I went to the kitchen to do what I love to do when I need to decompress…I bake.
While I baked this amazing chocolate cake I prayed.

Lord, I didn’t enjoy being a mom today.  I didn’t enjoy my kids at all.  I know the whole day wasn’t as bad as I think it was.  Please remind me of your blessings today. 

And no sooner did I finish my prayer did the Lord flood my mind with little moments through out the day when my children blessed me.
Sam brought me a bottle of water while I was still in bed. He knows I need to drink a lot of water since I am nursing and he knew I had a headache.
Zach read Morgan’s science lesson to her because she had a headache.
Collin ran to the store for me because I needed more baking cocoa for my cake.
Morgan laughed at Sam’s face that was covered in black from an ink pad, which made me laugh instead of scold him.
Gracie played with Charlie because she knew I didn’t feel well.
Austin sat with Charlie on his lap in front of the fish tank as long as Charlie would sit there while I helped someone with their school work.

Thank you Lord, I prayed. I truly am blessed beyond what I deserve.

I wish I could say the rest of my day was just peachy, but it wasn’t. The cake didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to & I still had my headache. But, finally as soon as the cold front blew through, my kids chilled out and slowed down.  Amazing how that works.

Teaching your kids to work

The scenario has played over & over again on our front porch.
"Can you come play?" (neighbor kid)
"Not yet, I have to do my chores." (my kid)
"Chores?  Are you in trouble? What did you do this time?" (neighbor kid)
"Nothing, I just have to do some stuff before I can play." (my kid)
"Wow, that's not fair.  When can you come out? (neighbor kid)

You get the idea.

Before we moved to town, my kids never thought of chores as "not fair".  They just thought it was what you did.  Everyone did chores.  Now that we live in a neighborhood they have found out that not everyone has to do chores everyday.  It is frustrating as a mom.

Work is a part of our daily life, even for our kids.  They will work when they leave our home, so now is the time to teach them how to work.  It matters.  The parent who holds the opinion their children have plenty of time to learn to work, let them be kids will have adult children who do not know how to work.

In our home we call them "chores" or "responsibilities".  Everyone has them, even the youngest in the family.  Everyone has jobs that are appropriate for their age.
The four year old helps me with laundry, unloading dishwasher, picking up toys, making the bed, etc...  He will soon have his own list of chores to do on his own when he turns five.  I don't ask the 4 year old to do what the 15 year can do, nor do I ask the 15 year old to do what the 4 year old can do.

Here is a website that has chores divided by age range.

We have some very basic rules in our house when it comes to chores.

1.  Work without complaining. Philippians 2:14 tells us to do all things without grumbling or complaining.  If you complain about doing your chores you get more chores to do until you stop complaining.
Funny story...one of my boys was doing a lot of complaining about having to sweep the kitchen floor everyday.  so, for the rest of the week he had extra chores and could not play with friends.  He did all kinds of lovely chores everyday like; cleaning toilets,  scooping dog poop in the yard, matching my bottomless basket of socks, baseboards, blinds, and the list goes on.  by the fourth day he gave up.  He lasted longer than I thought he would.
"OK, OK I hate doing all of this.  I will never complain about sweeping the floor again!"
And he hasn't. :o)

2. If you make a mess, clean it up.  This sounds simple, but my problem is finding out who made the mess.  My little ones are the worst at making the mess and then trying to cover it up so they don't get in trouble.
Example: Yesterday Sam was eating chips and salsa on the couch.  A huge No-No!  his bowl of salsa spilled on the couch.  He tried to wipe it up & then cover it with a blanket.  Thankfully I can take the cover off of the cushion & throw it in the washer.  He knew he was not to eat on the couch & knew he would get in trouble, but I let him know he is in worse trouble for not being honest about what he did & punishment was given.
My big kids are good about this and they are trying to help the little kids learn it too.  Advantages to having a large family.

3. Don't step over it, pick it up.  I would love to say we have this one mastered.  But that would be a lie.  But we keep working towards it.  I like the rule, it is simple & one of these day we will have it mastered!

Benefits of Chores

We teach our kids to work from the time they are old enough to make a mess.  I like how this has paid off for us.  Our older kids are beginning to work outside of the home and they are highly respected because of their work ethic.  They are trusted by those they work for because their employers have learned that the job will not only get done, but get done very well.
We learned early on that by assigning various chores to our children it helped to give them purpose in our home.  They don't get bored near as often (though they still get bored) and they have more to do in their day than keep the couch warm and the TV on.  There is purpose to their day.

When they do their jobs, they are to do for the Lord, not for man.  Yes, it makes me very happy when they do their chores, but it pleases the Lord even more.

Colossians 3:17, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

If you start when your children are small, teaching them to work for the Lord, by the time they are older they will have developed an attitude towards work very different from others around them.  They will stand out in the workforce.  More than that, they will know who they are really working for, which will make it possible to work for those who are hard to work for.

Our Little Trouble Maker...Samuel

Samuel Addison is our youngest.  We call him "Samo" sometimes.

Sam is every bit of 3 years old & more.

One minute I am hugging & kissing on his sweet little cheeks & the next minute I am pulling him off the counters & out of my sugar or flour tubs or find him sneaking into his sister’s purse looking for gum.  He is trouble with a capital T, but melts my heart every time he comes to me saying, “Hold you, Mommy”

Tomorrow I will wake up & he will be 16 & not have much time for me anymore.  Almost makes me not want to go to sleep.

My daughter Sarah is the photographer of these pictures & Picnik was used to create the collage.

Sam the Streaker!

They are the words every mother hates to hear..

Mom! Sam is naked in the front yard & is spraying us with the water hose!

Ahh, the sounds of approaching summer.

I managed to get some swim shorts back on him so he could go back to the front yard. This time he wanted goggles to go with the swim shorts.


I made him promise to leave his shorts on! The last thing I wanted was to get a notice from the Homeowners Association about my naked kids playing in the front yard.

This was written several years ago. We now have 10 children with the youngest being almost 3.

Our first day of school wasn’t the greatest day I had ever had by any means. I was so frustrated with my kids that I could scream. Wait a minute… I did scream! Anyway, my problem was that I had some expectations of what I thought our first day back to school would be like & some of my children did not live up to those expectations. Have you been there?

One of those children who didn’t cooperate was my youngest of five boys, Zachary. He is 3 ½ years old and thinks he is 10. Do you have one of those? My problem with him was that I had spent so much time planning & scheduling for the older kids that I had forgotten about his activities. I had stuff that I had bought, but forgot about it. So we had Zachary going through everyone’s stuff and causing chaos. When I finally realized the problem, I got out his clay and before I knew it I had 6 kids at the table playing with clay…quietly.

We have homeschooled 10 years and I have had at least one toddler or preschooler every year. So I have collected a few ideas that I want to share with you.

What do you have at home? I like to take inventory at home before I start shopping. Here are some things that my little guys can do with homemade items.

Ø Cut up magazine’s, construction paper or old wrapping paper.

Ø Glue what they cut to card stock or more paper. Use glue sticks.

Ø Rice or beans in a bowl. Fill up cups of different sizes & pour back into tub.

Ø Homemade playdough

o Recipe2 tsp. Cream of Tartar1 c. flour½ c. salt1 tbsp. Oil1 c. waterColor the dough with Kool-AidCook together for a few minutes until it balls up. Knead. Store in an airtight container.

Ø Draw or scribble on small white board. (watch that markers don’t end up on furniture or walls J)

Ø Play in kitchen sink with water & tear free bubbles or just measuring cups. Lay towels on floor first to reduce mess.

Ø Board books. I like these for my really young ones that still handle books rough.

Ø Duplo blocks ®

Ø Dress up clothes

Plan ahead. I can’t expect Zachary to come up with his own activities on his own. Well, he will but they are usually pretty destructive. J I have found some things on the web. Below are a few website that I have found helpful. It is also helpful to yourself if you know ahead of time what activities you have ready. Place them in a special place. Tubs or baskets are handy. Make a list if that helps so that you can refer to it quickly.

Pre-K websiteshttp://www.letteroftheweek.com

This is a site where you can find lesson plans for your babies up to 4 yrs. It is free. You just print out what you want, follow her suggestions for books to read & songs to sing & you have a Pre-K curriculum.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Forest/2468/

This had a lot of ideas of what to do with 2 yr olds. Some can be pretty messy though, which is what 2 yr olds love anyway!

http://www.preschooleducation.com/

This is loaded with free stuff to print off.

http://www.akidsheart.com/

These are Bible activities for all ages, but have activities for preschoolers also.

Be prepared by keeping safe supplies ready.

• Safety scissors
• Non-toxic crayons
• Paper (card stock, construction and copy paper)
• Glue sticks (my kids like the kind that goes on purple, but dries clear)

And anything else you can think of.

Schedule time for your younger ones before you start school. They are still very needy and need your attention. Try reading or playing for 30 minutes or so with your toddler or preschooler before you start lessons with your older kids. If you fill their love tank then they are less likely to disturb you. When you do find them disturbing others pull them into you lap. Sometimes that is all they need. Be sensitive to their needs. It is really easy to get so wrapped up in your older one’s lessons that we forget about the younger ones. They get loud and disruptive & we get frustrated. Take a minute and try to understand why they are being so disruptive. Usually it is time for a break anyway so take one & spend it with your toddler.

I shared about my really bad first day of school. Well, there is a happy ending. The rest of our week was wonderful; I made sure Zachary had something to do and that my other kids kept busy also. Idle time makes for trouble! Also, I lessened my expectations & took another look at our schedule to see what needed fixing. I’m really looking forward to Monday!