Dishwashing Schedule UPDATE

Just when I finally got around to posting about our dishwashing schedule it will be changing. My husband surprised me last week with the news that he would be getting a Christmas bonus from his employer. He also informed me that with some of that money we would be getting a dishwasher. So the hunt is on. We are considering a water softener too because our water is so hard that it will be a challenge to keep it clean.

 

Anyhoo, this means I need to revamp our dishwashing schedule. I think we will likely get the washer next week so I am going to go ahead and lay the plan now before we even have one meal where there can be arguments over who is going to do what.

 

The schedule will basically stay the same as far as whose day it is to wash and dry, but I need to clarify what the updated jobs are.

 

Dryer

1.       Unload the dishwasher before the meal if there are any clean dishes in the dishwasher.

2.       Clear table of dishes.

3.       Put away food.

4.       Dry any hand washed items and put away.

5.       Take out trash.

I am not big on making someone put away the dishes the moment the dishwasher is done. I will never remember to remind them to do this. It is more realistic to just say the person who is the day's dryer will put away the clean dishes before the meal.

 

Washer

1.       Rinse dishes and load them into the dishwasher. Start when full or at least half full if after the evening meal.

2.       Hand wash pots, pans, and special items (knives, large items, wood items), or any items there wasn't room for in the dishwasher.

3.       Wipe counters.

4.       Sweep/mop floor.

I also am taking away the day off. I know! How terrible am I? But, as I began to think about it, it makes since to have them all contributing. What ends up happening is I try to get all the serving done while I still am monitoring the stove or oven. I end up grabbing one of the passing children anyway, so I might as well just assign the tasks.

 

Server

1.       Set and clear the table.

2.       Serve drinks.

3.       Place condiments on the table.

4.       Help serve the food.

5.       Sweep/mop dining room floor after evening meal.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Wash	D	K	D	D	K	K	D
Dry	J	J	K	J	J	D	K
Server	K	D	J	K	D	J	J

 

Thoughts on the 2012 Presidential Election

I am worn out politically.  For the last 4 years I have been very active politically, at least in the further development of my political opinions, educating myself on issues, and being vocal.  After the disappointment of this election, I am left wondering whether it all makes any difference. Maybe that is a bad attitude but that is exactly how I feel.

The one thing that keeps me going is that I know that if people like me let our guard down our freedoms will be further eroded and there isn’t much more to be eroded before there is irreparable damage.  Especially as politics relates to homeschooling, I know that if I turn away now I may end up having to send my children back into the realm of public schooling. Not only is that not an exaggeration, that isn’t something I am willing to just let happen without a fight.

I have heard many Christians talking about God’s will in this election.  They seem to take the reelection of President Obama as a sign that we should suffer silently or that it is a sign of end times so we should just focus on spiritual matters. Even the Son doesn’t know the day of His return, and although our focus should always be on salvation, we also are called to do His works even to the end. I just can’t square it in my heart that it is God’s will that the ideals of murder and theft be allowed to flourish while we retreat to our homes and churches.   I do however understand that God sometimes allows bad things to happen to his people so that He may be glorified through them.  Make no mistake; the reelection of Barak Obama is a bad thing.  In this situation I believe that it is up to the body to become more active politically, not less, so that He may be glorified. 

There are some people who would say we should turn the other cheek and not become aggressive. It is true that in everything we do we should reflect Christ; even Jesus overturned the money changers tables.  In our churches, especially in own churches, we must guard against the infectious, destructive ideals of that  public school champions like the blanket ideal that a secular institutional education is better than Christian parental education.

I believe in my heart of hearts that the path God lays before us is not an easy one, but it is one we must travel down. For me, for this one person, I feel God is clearly calling me to take up the fight for homeschooling and championing the family.  I don’t have a clear vision of every stepping stone on that path, but I know God is preparing me for that journey.
Every freedom that is taken from a parent to choose the way that his family should go, takes away our ability to freely commune with God. 

Does this sound farfetched? Ask those in China how easy it is to share the Gospel.  Ask those who meet in basements in secret.  Ask those who are forced to send their children to state schools where they receive a solid education in atheism, humanism, and paganism how receptive their children are to hearing the Gospel.

So, although I am worn out, I find my rest in Christ and I will continue to carry on for the benefit of my family and our posterity.  

Dishwashing Schedule

We don’t have a dishwasher.  We use to, but our dishwasher finally started getting dishes dirtier instead of cleaner and there was no fixing it.  I think I have written about that before, but needless to say, with 5 people in the house for 3 meals a day, plus snacks, we have a lot of dishes. 

I might write sometime about how moms need to make sure that they train their children to do chores and share in the work of the home, but for now, know that I am firm believer that children should be trained to share the work of the home and then be disciplined to do it. 

Training them is not an easy task.  I have heard every form of whine since I put them on the chore of dishwashing.  I started with my oldest daughter.  She is now 13, but she started washing dishes full time when she was about 11 (which is when the dishwasher started to go caput.  My other daughter who is 8 has been the main dryer and has been a washer in training.  I decided that it was time to promote her to junior washer and bring our 6 year old boy into the mix.  He is now a dryer, albeit slow.

The girls have been on me for a while to make him help.  I just really didn’t want to lose anymore dishes.  We are down to 5 large plates!  But, I agree, he is old enough to start pulling his weight in the dish area so now it is time to get on the rotation.  When it was just two girls, they pretty much did the same task at least once a day (usually).  Now with a 3^rd person, we can give each of them a break from time to time.

The other issue we have had is the girls constantly fighting over whose turn it is and what exactly should they do while they wait for the other person. There was a need to create a schedule with some rules.

So here is the new schedule.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Wash	D	K	D	D	K	K	D
Dry	J	J	K	J	J	D	K
Off	K	D	J	K	D	J	J

 

 

 

 

 

D and K both have 5 days, and J has 4.  They will both accept that J is the youngest and can’t wash, so it isn’t completely unfair to have him only do 4 days.  If I were to give the girls unequal days I would be in big trouble!

This is printed and hanging in the kitchens so that there are no fights.  If for some reason dishes get piled up because someone didn’t do their job, the first round of dishes that day will use the schedule for the day before and the second round of dishes will be from the current day. 

There are also rules about what to do when you are waiting for the other person to catch up drying or washing.  The washer is to also wipe down counters and the table, plus scrap and rinse dishes.  The dryer is to bring the dishes in from other locations, put away any food, and sweep the floor. 

As a side note, the person who has the day off from dishes usually is the person I choose to do what we call “deliveries”.  This will be another post, but briefly, we collect items that need to be delivered to another room, then I assign one or more kids to the task of making those deliveries. 

Overall, this has been a God send.  I don’t hear constant complaining now about how it is unfair that so-in-so hasn’t had to wash the dishes, or that so-in-so didn’t finish their job.  We just go to the schedule which is posted on the inside of the cabinet that holds our glasses and see who is up.  I love it!

Are Virtual Charter Schools Homeschools?

Virtual charter schools, or VCS, are a new wave in homeschooling…or are they?

Many homeschool associations do not consider VCS homeschooling because the control of the education remains with the school, not the parent. Organizations like HSLDA and IAHE (Indiana Association of Home Educators) are turning away families for services if they are participating in virtual charter schools. They believe that if homeschoolers accept VCS as a legitimate way to homeschool, the state will be allowed more influence over all homeschools.

Where I disagree with homeschool associations like HSLDA and IAHE is on the definition of “homeschool”. They are very strict in their interpretation of the word “homeschool”. They believe that homeschool is education that is parent lead. However, if that was so, shouldn't they change their names to The Parent Educator Legal Defense Fund and the Indiana Association of Parent Educators? These organizations tout the "home" as the main factor that binds all non-traditional, non-institutionalized educational systems. Point in fact: the majority of the time spent educating is in the home when a child is enrolled in virtual charter school.

These organizations also allow members who don't "lead" their own homeschool. They offer services to homeschoolers that use umbrella private schools and distance learning schools. These schools aren't anymore parent lead than a VCS. All of these options require the parent to hand over control of some aspect or all aspects of their homeschool to a company or school. The only difference between a private online educational service like Monarch by Alpha Omega and a VCS is that the state is the one calling the shots instead of a private school or company. Why is ok to turn over control of your child’s education to a private school or curriculum company and not the state? What makes the Monarch system “homeschooling” and VCS not “homeschooling”? The computer does the major portion of the teaching  in both senarios and the parent has the option to opt out at any time as long as the child is enrolled in some other kind of school, private, public, or homeschool.  

Maybe I am nit-picking and being too strict in my definition of HOMEschool. I am trying to illustrate that if we, as homeschoolers, reject anything other than parent lead, home based education we we are ignoring reality. It seems what HSLDA and IAHE are trying to explain is that a “PARENT” is the major factor in the educational option known as homeschooling not “HOME”. I would agree with them up to a point. A parent is a vital element of what we know as homeschooling, but it isn't the only element and nore does it mean that the parent has to even be the main teacher. 

Our attention is being taken away from what parents, ALL parents should really be focused on: our parental right to choose what system of education our children are placed in.  When we waste our time worrying about whether public school students who are based at home are homeschool or not, the more important issue is placed on the back burner. 

Don’t take me wrong, I am completely on board with why homeschoolers should stand guard against VCS. I wouldn’t use the VCS in Indiana because I don’t want to be under the thumb of the state. They don't get traditional school right, why would I think they could do it better virtually? However, I am glad that public school systems are trying new ways of educating.  One day they might catch up with us.

Charter schools are the public schools pet project; if they fail or succeed the public school system should own the results. Those results should not be calculated with traditional, parent lead, homeschooling. It would be very misleading to say that a certain test score for homeschoolers fell, but not explain that those scores are based on a combination of parent lead homeschooling and virtual charter schools. If statistics related to the academic benefits of homeschooling weren’t favorable, it certainly would give fodder to those who are against homeschooling. As it stands now, if homeschoolers can’t convince legislators that parents should hold the right to educate their own children, at least they can win points for higher test scores than public schools. It’s hard to argue against results.

The other problem that I see with taking such a hard line on the definition of “homeschooling” is organizations are turning away families who need support from our community. The real battle isn’t with the families who choose VCS. The real problem is keeping our legislators informed and on our side. It doesn’t create a good public relations scenario for homeschool associations to turn away families because they don’t meet the strictest sense of the definition “homeschooler”. Grant it, legal associations like HSLDA would be completely unsuccessful in arguing cases for families that use VCSif they were arguing against public school laws. That doesn’t mean that every association or support group should turn these families away.

We can be a great help to VCS families just by simply offering them our services when legally possible. When they come to the conclusion that they can’t have one foot in the public system, the other in homeschooling, and still have the abundant life that homeschooling provides, they are going to need our friendship and support. What better way to earn support for our cause?

 

 

Container Cabinet Reorg

I hopped over to The Morris Tribe the other day and found a blog post about organizing cabinets.  I love this woman.  She is real.  She admits letting go of her OCD years ago. LOL!  I don’t think I ever was really OCD, but I have learned from the Fly Lady that cleaning doesn’t mean completely reorganizing every square inch of a room. 

Her steps are very simple: clean out the cabinet completely and then group like items together. Although a lazy girl’s best friend is simplicity, to keep this cabinet organized for longer than 1 day I need to add a couple of steps.  Today I will tackle our plastic storage container cabinet, where I also keep disposable plates, cups, and utensils.

Step 1: Look in awe at what a mess the cabinet has become due to assigning little people who just want to get things done in a hurry so they can watch a movie to the task of putting away the dishes.

 

 

Step 2: Clear the cabinet out and wipe down if it is dusty, gooey, or you have ants. (YUK)! 

 

 

Step 3: Group like items together.  I know it doesn’t look like it, but I really did follow that step.

 

Step 4: Place items back in the cabinet according to use.  Place the most used items on the bottom and the least on the top.  I like to keep paper products way out of reach of little lazy people who know they can skip dishes if they use paper and plastic.  One other note: I dislike keeping my foil in this cabinet.  I have a drawer where we keep plastic wrap, foil, and baggies, but I bought this huge box of foil from Costco because it was really cheap.  Alas, it doesn’t fit in the drawer and might I add, I hate having precut foil.  The pieces are never big enough for the job.  I won’t make that mistake again, but until I run out, I will just have to suffer. (Actually, after a few months, I have found that I do actually like it pretty well, but i need a roll of foil to do the big jobs.)

 

Step 5: Find a new home for items that don’t fit or don’t belong. 

 

I have been sitting on this post for several months because I wanted to see if we could keep the cabinet organized.  Sorry for the sideways picture.  I'm not sure why it is displaying it that way becasue I rotated it.

 

 Not to bad right?! We are doing a pretty good job at keeping it organized.  Thanks Morris Tribe!

No Cable TV

Several years ago our family turned off our Dish Network account and we went primeval. We had been frequent and regular TV watchers for quite some time.  There had been a time early in our marriage that we didn't have TV, but for the most part, TV was just as much a part of our family life as eating. 

Just before we turned off our access we were noticing how much time was wasted in front of the TV, but also we noticed that our children were becoming, if not fully addicted to TV.  If we were to turn the TV off, even if it weren’t a punishment, we would hear major complaints.  I noticed in my own life that I wasn’t getting my job as a homemaker even close to complete.  I set my watch by what TV show was on.  When my husband was home, he too would plop down and be consumed by the TV all night long.  Our time alone was often shared with our good friends on TV instead of by ourselves, reconnecting as a married couple.

We went on like this for about 2 years when we moved to Indiana when a miracle happened. We ran over the cable from the satellite to the house.  We had been too lazy to completely bury the cable.  Oh, the IRONY!  At the time we didn’t really have the extra money for the repair so we decided to try a little experiment.  We took note of what our life was like without TV.  We decided to start with 1 month of no TV, which turned into 2.  We finally decided to stop wasting money and called to cancel our service. To their credit, Dish tried everything in the book to keep us as customers, but the freedom was just too good to let go of.

About this same time we were just starting homeschooling.  I immediately saw an improvement in how much more and the quality of work that was getting done.  Some of that was due to the fact that I wasn’t distracted.  Some of it was due to the fact that the kids weren’t distracted. Either way, there was an improvement. 

The kids were having a much more fulfilling life. More time was spent playing outside and playing with forgotten toys.  Books were being read.  Chores were being done.  Conversations were taking place.

One of the biggest changes was for me personally.  I realized how addicted I was to cable news.  I did miss all my loved shows, but more than that, I seriously missed a steady stream of Fox News!  When anything happened in the world that was news worthy, I was relegated to reading about it online.  What a difference that makes to one’s perspective!  I was being desensitized, but at the same time, I was becoming ever more worried.  I can’t explain how both are true, but I was definitely experiencing both.

This isn’t to say that we never watch TV any more.  We own a vast collection of movies and TV series on DVD.  We love movies.  It is a family past time.  We don’t spend nearly as much time watching DVS as we were with cable TV.  The commercialism effect has also been reduced. We were very literally being brainwashed by commercials.  I had no idea to what level until about a year later I was walking through Wal-Mart and noticed that the kids weren’t bugging me for every little single thing.   I started to evaluate the change in their behavior. Even at home, I wasn’t hearing that very special phrase, “I want” much anymore.  I credit that to a lack of advertising.  The power of advertising is overwhelming for anyone, but especially for children.  It almost makes me cry to think of what I had been allowing to happen to them.

There are times when we still miss TV as if it were an old friend who had moved away.  We all have our favorite TV shows that we wish we could watch instantly instead of having to wait for them to come out on DVD (we don’t do Internet TV because of a lack of bandwidth).   I still crave cable news when big news is hitting.  During football season I wish we could invite friends over for bowl parties.  The election season is the hardest.  We are days away from the presidential election and there is nothing more that I would love to do than watch the debates and election night coverage without having to fight my internet connection.

The temptation is great, but when I have rare access to TV now, I am appalled at what is on.  Rarely can I find a show that doesn’t place a yearning for material things in our hearts, glorify sin, or try to propagandize a world view contrary to our own. The pickin’s are slim.  I quickly remember that TV is no better than a steady diet of desert or even poison in many cases.  Why should we pay someone to violate us like that?

Dropping TV has been one of the best things we have ever done for our family.  I would highly suggest to any family, but especially those starting off in homeschooling and Christian families to turn off cable/satellite TV.  Give it a trial period of 3 months, although you won’t need that long to come to the same conclusion I did.  Once you turn it off, start setting aside that money for a vacation or something fun that the whole family can get behind. 

Will we ever turn it back on?  At this time, I don’t a time when we will ever turn back on cable or satellite TV. However, I can see a day when we allow it back in the house in the form of Internet TV.  We will have to wait until a better, faster form of Internet is offered in our area, but yes, we would like to be able to use TV in a responsible way for education and some limited entertainment.  

We allowed TV to become an idol in our lives.  Now that we have seen the damage it was doing to our lives and relationships, I think we can be responsible in our use of it.  It certainly is a wonderful tool. I am very thankful that we were able to experience what life was like without it, and if we never had access to it again, I wouldn’t feel deprived.