Its that time of year ... School Time!

And of course I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do this year...again. I am so glad I am a homeschooler though, as the options and choices are wide open. I have several stacks of school books in my living room (you know how I love to stack) that need to be gone through and either discarded, passed on or used this year. Unfortunately, because I am so unorganized, this task may take several days, days which I wont be able to do anything else I have on my never ending list of projects. School is supposed to start in a couple weeks though, so it needs to be done.

I am not a very good homeschooler, but I do have a pretty good idea what I will be doing, so that is a big plus, however I do not have a set curriculum that I use all the time, so it is up to me how to put it all together. I have several Bible study books to choose from so that is an easy fix, and a video Math curriculum I can use. I'm still debating on what to do with English, but I am leaning toward some type of Literature with books I already have on hand. I have a list of reading material I received from a friend, so will probably pick a couple books from it.

Okay, so that leaves Art, Music, Science, Writing,  Home Economics, Physical Ed.and the list goes on. Okay one at a time, Art, I know a lady here in town that does pottery, that might be an option, but I also just talked to a nice lady who wants to maybe do watercolor painting, so will have to check with that. Next is Music, the 2 youngest are already taking piano lessons, and the next oldest girl wants to learn flute. She might have to pick something else, as the Lady who was going to teach her is pregnant and busy with several children of her own.
Alrighty then, the next item on the list is Science. This also may be an easy fix, as I wont teach anything except Creation Science and I have a Large book complete with cutouts and quizzes and reading ect. that the kids liked before, but Im not sure where it is, one of those things that I will have to try and find in the next couple weeks. I'm absolutely positive it is in some stack somewhere.

Okay onto the next item, Writing, and I am wondering if that could include blogging, and or  forums, notepad on the computer, or only handwriting with a pencil and paper. I think I will incorporate the writing in with the English Lit. this year and make it Creative writing in any format they choose. I don't want them to be on the computer alot  though, so the majority of it will be with good old paper and pencil, this should be fun.

Home Economics, Definition: Don't burn the house down. Oh I know it can mean other things also, like don't cut off your fingers with the extremely sharp rotary cutter, don't use the 40$ Gingers on paper, make sure to clean up the large spill on the kitchen floor before someone breaks their neck, the list goes on and on. This is the funnest class to have as far as Im concerned. I have a really nice curriculum set for it and I think we will be definitely be using it this year at some point.

Im down to the wire, my last thing to decide on, Physical Education. I did not do well with this class when I was growing up in public school, you would think it would be easy, but it wasn't for me. I was never very athletic and always picked last, ect. Im not sure what to do with this one other than trampoline time, or something along those lines. I think there may be some type of curriculum to go along with it, but I have no idea what it is. So looks like they will be spending alot of time riding bikes up and down the driveway and jumping on the trampoline, at least until the snow starts flying. Maybe an exercise video or something during the Winter months.

Well, this is my plan, hopefully I will be able to stick to it. I seem to get really lazy right around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and sometimes it takes a real effort to get started again after all the vacation time. Im not a really good homeschooler like some of my friends are, as I have a tendency to be lazy and the un-organized bit doesn't help either. Sometimes it just seems like to much and I dont want to be bothered, but I usually start out doing okay. I keep hoping to find some kind of Coop, where people with special talents are willing to share with the rest of us. As for me, I will give our Homeschool year to the Lord, in the hope that he will help us get through it as Philippians 4:13 says, with this is mind we will continue striving toward the goal, alternately standing and falling as we go, hopefully standing more than falling. Now that I write that though maybe I should include falling as a good thing, as in falling on my knees and begging God for mercy when it seems to hard to go on, or maybe first thing in the morning I should start begging!

Now we are getting somewhere.

After having a couple rough days with no motivation, I got back into the swing of things yesterday by finishing up my closet, clothes and room for the most part. I still have my containers stacked everywhere, because I cant really put them in the attic as its not clean yet. I was up there the other day and for some reason it seemed worse then before. I think when you are un-motivated everything looks worse than it is. Unfortunately it is still to hot up there during the day to do any real work so I spent the rest of the day yesterday trying to get a walking path in my living room and finally succeeded and was able to get dinner done, the kitchen clean and my bathroom clean. Thank goodness for grilled cheese sandwiches, Im not sure I had energy left for anything else!
I can now get to my pile of yard sale items and get them over to my storage shed, and I have enough stuff to have a sizable yard sale this next Friday and Saturday also. I have to make sure that when I am done I am willing to take whatever is left to the thrift store and resist the urge to put it back in the storage and have another one.(BTW I have gobs and gobs of childrens books so I am willing to let my friends get first chance at picking some up before the yard sale)
So I have the girls pink and red totes stacked by their bedroom door and the boys blue totes against the wall in their room for easy sorting. Everyone now has a memorabilia box for things they do not have hanging on their walls, but want to keep. I think that was the funnest part of this, getting to see things Ive kept for sentimental reasons, but its still mostly birthday cards.

The overly stuffed hall closet.

My next project for today is working on my hall closets. They are so stuffed, sometimes I cant even get the doors shut! I have no idea whats even in there. When I open the door it all usually falls into a pile on the ground and I have to push it all back in. That can not be good for the door hinges I'm sure. And that's only the small closet. I want to bring my new dryer home so the laundry closet needs some work to. It has everything in it but laundry stuff.  I have actually worked on it a couple times, but it one of those things that I had to many projects going at once and it didn't get all the way done. Some advice I received recently was to pick one thing at a time and finish it before you start something else, but like my husband says, women are like spaghetti, they are all over the place :)

The laundry room closet

 Now that I have my projects picked, I need to finish my coffee, get dressed, get the kids up, and make a decision that this is what Im going to finish today. The fact that I really really want my dryer over here should help me with getting the laundry closet done sometime today, but if I don't get it all done, that will be okay to, I cant expect to be completely organized in just one week when it took years to get this way. But like my life with Jesus, I am a work in progress, not completed until he takes me home. I hope it doesn't take that long to finish my house.

Lessons learned....

I decided to go back through my blog and see if I had learned anything at all from the past week, and if so share it here. Being a Christian, I think the biggest lesson I learned this week is that I can do nothing without Jesus. The overwhelming amount of organizing I started last week is just that, overwhelming. But according to Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.
This is the scripture verse I need for right now, actually I need it for everyday, but it rings of hope that the task before me can be completed with Christs help. As I look at the piles of assorted boxes, bags and containers my motivation to be organized wanes. If I depend upon myself to do this it will NOT get done, so this is a verse I really really need to keep at the forefront of my mind.

Unfortunately I totally forgot this on Monday at Silverwood. I depended upon my own power to get through the day and forgot to pray and give everything to Him. As a result, things did not go as well as planned. Any time you plan something without including Jesus in the decision its bound to be a problem. It is a lesson I'm sure will take the rest of my mortal life to learn. Hopefully it wont be anything major.
The past week has been long, I'm still trying to pack and sort, my house is a wreck (I'm really hoping no one decides to come over), the kids are still bickering for some reason known only to them, and my lack of motivation is a sure sign that I stayed up wayyyy to late last night. I think I will need to go have a quiet moment with God before I try to do anything else. I am so glad for Jesus in my life. I know my life doesn't always look pretty, but that's OK. I know there is hope for me and my family yet !

The Silverwood Adventure...

The day dawned bright and early , the promise of an adventure on the horizon .The kids roused themselves from sleep excited for what lie ahead. Everyone cooperated fully and the car was loaded with the various items needed for a long day of fun at Silverwood Theme park. We left the house at 8am for the 3 hour drive to the land of awesomeness . We sang songs and held hands, we giggled and laughed as the excitement grew more intense. We picked up the older boys at Post Falls and quickly incorporated them into our pleasant outing. We arrived at the park in high spirits and made our way to the front gate fully enjoying each other, smiling and happy waving at people as we walked by. I know everyone was saying, what a pleasant family, how can we be just like them! Once inside, we had a great time together, riding rides, swimming, and  playing games. The children were all so cheerful and sweet, each thinking of the other above himself, helpful and gentle in all their actions. I was so proud of the way they got along together. We had a simply marvelous time!

At least that is how it was supposed to be.........

The truth is a much harder pill to swallow. I will not go into details on this post, as I don't really want to be a whiner, however I will say, it did not go as well as I thought or even wished it would have. We did manage to have fun for the most part, but we need some work as a family on how to get along a little better or we will never go on vacation together, ever.

Like a friend of mine said, today is a new day, with no mistakes in it, so there is hope. That is a very very good thing to know.

Let the games begin.....

As with any project you need a place to begin, soooo I decided that my room would be the start point as it didn't really seem fair to be harassing the kids about cleaning their rooms if mine was a wreck. I got out my handy dandy 18 gallon tote containers and went to work. Starting with my dresser, I proceeded to start sorting clothing that I hadn't seen in a while and found some things I didn't realize I had. I was in awe. I had been looking for shorts in my drawers (which are usually crammed to the top and overflowing so that I can't get them shut) and I found like 5 pairs! To bad summer is almost over, those would have been nice to have when the weather was warmer. The other thing I found was that I couldn't fit in most of it anymore. This is due to me not being able to find them for so long I'm sure. Being the clothing fanatic that I am, I decided if it didn't fit me then it might fit my girls next year, thus allowing me to not have to get rid of it! I promptly labeled another container "Girls Summer Clothes 2011", and began filling it. I did manage to let go of some things but only after determining that the girls wouldn't wear it and I couldn't ever fit in it again.

clothes that don't fit anymore that were to cute to get rid of.

I think my friend would be proud of the sacrifices I am making. This is rough stuff,  I dont know how I will get through it, as I can hardly bare to give things up. But alas I will survive ! I have been assured that I will feel much lighter when I am done. I know this is true because when I finished my dresser I could actually shut the drawers! After my dresser, which was hard enough, I started on my closet. I wish I would've remembered to get before and after pictures. The closet was even harder than the drawers. I couldn't believe all the things I couldnt fit in anymore. There were so many clothes in it, like my dresser, I found things I hadn't seen in a long long time. Im only supposed to be packing and sorting winter type clothing, but 3/4 of my hanging clothes didn't fit me anymore so I figured I would pack them to. Again, I looked for anything the girls might like for summer next year, and then I packed all the clothes they might like to have 10 years from now in a separate container that I have yet to label! I didn't have to get rid of but 1 or 2 things that time! By the way, color coordinating by season went out the window, its now blue and orange for boys and pink and red for girls, unfortunately the green ones were out of stock.

Stack of yard sale items

I am actually finished with the closet for the most part, I decided not to pack winter sweaters as I have them on a shelf out of the way, but will instead just sort them into things to give the girls for winter, and things to put in my yard sale stacks (which seems to be getting bigger and bigger as the days go by). I'm thinking that by the time I get through packing all the winter type clothing, ( I still have all the kids rooms and the attic to sort) it will almost be time to unpack it and start packing summer clothes. At least I will have a good start on next year and then I can move onto a different project. I think it will probably be the desk area next, as I cant seem to find anything anymore, and when I cant find it there is a definite problem. I think I might want to get a bulletin board of some type and some more of those little plastic containers for supplies, and maybe even another shelf unit, but I digress. I probably should do just one project at a time, because when I get overwhelmed everything comes to a screeching halt and nothing gets done.

My next project!

Organization 101 (Better known as Ask Tracy, she will know what to do)

I am a stacker. Just ask my husband he will tell you. So not only do I collect things I manage to stack them in piles precariously perched throughout the house. That being said I immediately stacked the 3 HUGE boxes of organizational tools I received this afternoon courtesy of our local FedEx Guy and Walmart. I had to move some things over, so I stacked those also. As I was looking around the living room I noticed that there were stacks everywhere! Clothes, videos, books, bags, you name it it was stacked somewhere in my living room. I finally managed a nice size spot for my new containers.

Stack of organizational tools (this is Alyssa, shes almost as bad a stacker as I am)

You cant see it from the front, but there is a huge stack of yard sale items right behind the huge stack of boxed containers. I have been collecting and sorting to have a yard sale also(for several years actually). As I have been sorting and organizing, I have been taking my friends advice to heart, If you haven't worn it in a year get rid of it, if you never plan on wearing, it get rid of it, and finally if it doesn't fit get rid of it ( I hope I got all those right). These are excellent principles to use when organizing. As a result I have a trailer full of things, a storage area semi full (not all of it is things Im getting rid of ) and an attic ( that I have yet to even look at for fear of panic setting in) all for a yard sale that I have been planning for a year or more. Now granted not everything is for a yard sale, after all I must stay true to my collector roots and preserve some clutter for myself. I would like to think that I may be blessing someone else with the things I'm not using anymore ( if I could actually find anything like that).


So this is the beginning of my organizational journey. I will be sharing my struggles and triumphs, and the things I will learn along the way over the coming weeks (mostly from my friend as I know none of this on my own!). Hopefully this will be as pain free as possible with minimal emotional or physical damage to myself or others ( my children in particular).

Help! Im not Organized!

This will be my first attempt at any type of Blogging.
It seemed that organization would be a good topic for my first post, as I am probably the most unorganized person I know, and this seems to be the problem I am dealing with at the moment.
Oh I have friends that are really good at it, but for some reason I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Coming from a long line of collectors has been a severe damper to any type of organizational skills I may have at one time been able to cultivate. My mother is a collector, my Grandmother was a collector, and her mother before her, and so on. With those type of odds, I would be surprised if  I ever accomplish any organization at all.
Fortunately for me, I have a close friend that LOVES to be organized. She is a source of inspiration to me (even though I tend to zone out whenever anyone says anything about getting rid of my considerable amount of STUFF.) I always manage to come back to earth and listen at some point, but I'm sure she can remember seeing a glazed look in my eye a time or two when talking about seasonal clothing or getting rid of stuff in my attic.

My Attic

She did come over once to help with my attic. It was brutal! I haven't been able to go up there since to organize, as I'm afraid I may find things that I know I should just get rid of.
With all that being said, I finally came to the realization the other day, that I cant take it with me, and after I'm gone no one will want it. It was very hard for me to think my things may not be important to anyone but myself. I asked my kids for 2 things each that they would want from my considerable amount of stuff (since I have 6 kids that adds up to at least 12 things I wouldn't have to get rid of, which helps the appease collector in me). Surprisingly, they all mentioned things that were actually practical. I was amazed that not one of my girls asked for my sewing things. One of them did ask for my clown collection.
Right now I am working on organizing Winter clothing. I ordered 24,  18 gallon containers in a variety of colors hoping for inspiration. I thought red and orange for summer and fall, pink and green for spring and blue for winter. I will be surprised if I manage to get it all the containers, let alone color coordinated to a specific season.

Pink Containers

Right now I only have the pink ones (the boys are not happy) and I'm trying to decide how to use my 24 containers to organize the large amount of clothing I have scattered throughout the house and I think I may try to use them for other things also, like my sons baseball memorabilia, or things I got them while I was in Australia, or years and years of accumulated birthday cards. The possibilities are endless! Actually, maybe I wont have to get rid of anything! I can organize it ALL In my new containers! Cool!