My If/then charts (without the then)

I have my charts made!!! You can't possibly know how much a chart warms my heart. I LOVE lists, charts, and anything organizational!!! (Now following them is a whole different issue all together.)

We don't have the "THEN" written in yet. Chris and I still need to sit down and hash that out a little more. It will be things like no/shortened playtime with friends, no screen time (Wii, computer, TV), time out, write out the Bible verses, longer rest time, early bed time, extra chore, etc. We were also given the suggestion to laminate them and write the "Then" with a dry erase marker so that we can change the consequences when needed.

Here they are (click on the chart to see it larger):

The next step - If....Then...

One specific heart attitude that we are dealing with here is, hmmmm, how do I even put it? Some children don't see their fault in their actions. There is hardly ever a repentent heart, or change seen from a lesson learned. We, the parents, are to blame for the consequence, because we had the choice of whether to give it or not.

I have been struggling with this attitude for some time now with no improvement. The inconsistent sick weeks and months we have had have not helped at all.

Well, recently, I was reminded by a dear friend of mine about If/Then charts. I remembered hearing about these several years ago. At that time, I dismissed them. I don't remember what turned me off of them, but I just remember conciously deciding that this stragegy was not for us. Well, it is now EXACTLY for us! We don't have it in place yet, but my husband and I are in the process of writing it. Our prayer is that it will add the consistency that has been lacking. We are praying that our children will fully grasp that THEIR poor decisions require discipline, and that they would grasp THEIR responsibility in them.

Below are some links that I am using right now to help compose our chart. As soon as we have it, I will post it for you to see!

Our busy homeschool

Doorposts

Homestead Momma

Raising Arrows

Crayons In My Dryer

I'm back!!! (I hope)

Wow, what a season we have been having! It has been one thing after another! We have had many different illnesses and a couple injuries that have set us WAY back.

So, I am craving normalacy (whatever that is!)!!! We are back on schedule with just a few lessons to catch up on. School-wise, we have done pretty well keeping up with the main subjects. Some of the extra ones have had to take a break, but we are going to be adding them back in very soon.

Something that happens when we are sick is that schedules and consistency go out the window. Does that happen at your house? Emotions run high, patience runs short, and energy is just not there at all. The simplest of tasks seem overwhelming. When all the dishes, laundry, clutter, and lessons not completed start to pile up, I just want to run the other way! Hawaii, here I come!

Another area that suffers is discipline. The kids (and I) get lazy in our TV watching, laying around, no chore schedule days. It is so hard to get back up!!! I have my own immaturities and "I don't wanna's" to deal with to make the process hard enough. When the children start their whinning and complaining, it is only by Christ's strength that I even get out of bed in the morning.

So, that is right where we are now. We are not sick, but we are not well either. Our hearts have become lazy and selfish, and we no longer default to the Lord to help us in these sinful mindsets. Arguing and fighting are heard every few minutes. Discipline is emotionally delt out and inconsistent at best. UGH!!! Have you been here before?

My hope is in the Lord, though! He promises that His grace is new every morning! He promises that He will not leave me nor forsake me! He promises that He loves me and my family! He promises that He will continue to work in us! Oh, that is such balm on my soul right now! I am bathing in those promises and in that hope that comes with them! I am not alone in this! All I am called to do, is my best in what He has given me, always giving it all to Him for His glory! Wow!!!!

Sick, sick, and more sick

I have gotten calls from family asking if we are okay. I know, I have fallen off the blog world completely for weeks now. The reason is SICKNESS. Yucky, never ending sickness. Yes, we are basically fine. There are no emergencies and no need to worry about us. We will get through this, but we are really getting tired of it.

We started with a simple fever virus that only had a fever the first night and then nothing else. We would wait a day or two and someone else would get it. That went through us twice, one at a time. Then, Chris got what we think now was the flu. A few days later Kaiden and I got it. Then a few more days passed and Kevin and Allison got it. Now, Ashlynn and Noah have it. This has been lots of congestion, coughing, some throwing up, aches, major headaches, and fever for several days. So, this has been going on for about a month now. I pray we are almost over everything for good.

More interesting blog posts will have to wait until then. See you when I am fully well!

Snow Day!!!

We got snow!!! The kids got to play in snow for the first time in YEARS! The girls had seen snow when they were little, but the boys had never experienced snow. I have some pictures of the scenery on another camera that I cannot access right now. :( Technical difficulties. Here, though, are the pictures of the kids teaming up with some neighborhood friends and a dad to create a snowman!!! You can just imagine how much work and shoveling it took to get this much snow in one place!!

 I did get one scenery pic after we had all the fun. This was taken from one of our upstairs windows. The snow had melted off the streets already.

Education Cubes! Money Review

Here we are using our Education Cubes to review money. He had to know the value of each coin and recognize it written in two different ways.

 Our baby doesn't care what pictures are in the blocks. He LOVES knocking down the stack. It is his favorite game!!!

Tuesday update...sickening

Okay, well not a total wash of a week. I didn't mean that my goals were completely sickening, although they suffered.

My children have been sick FOREVER now! The entire week, I had at least 3 sick at all times. Then, Mon., Tues., and most of today we were all well!!! Yea!!! NOPE. This evening, my four year old said he was sleepy while I was cooking dinner and fell asleep in a living room chair. When I went to wake him for dinner, he was burning up. I got the thermometer and learned that he had a 103.8 temp.! Here we go again! I am praying that the others won't get it again this time, but our past week suggests we will have this forever.

So, because of making quick meals with more calories than I would like, not going to the gym because of sick kids and a husband who has had to work late more than not recently, and generally just exhausted because of the same reasons, I refused to step on the scale this week.

I will have to find a way to do better despite these circumstances for this week. I cannot let this take two of my weeks away! I will not let it!