There is Always Room for Improvement—Changing the Home to Fit Family Needs

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your
needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame."
Isaiah 58:11

We all get stuck in ruts.  Ruts in the kitchen, in chores, in laundry routine, in our homeschools, and in so many other areas of our lives.  We fall in to routines that are working or maybe they aren’t, but we don’t want to change it.  Well, that can really make things tense in a home.  I agree that it does do us good to struggle through something, but if many things are not working, it is not going to do us much good to have a house of frustration.  Everyone can feel it as soon as they see you.  See, I am speaking from experience here, our family had fallen into so many stuck-in-a-rut-routines, that we were all miserable.  So, the last couple of weeks, I have been revamping several things.  From our chores, to our homeschool curriculum, to our homeschool schedule, to our menus.  We are getting along fairly well, on day four—except for the fact that mom overslept this morning and we are getting started about an hour and half later then normal.  However, a 17 month old getting eye teeth will do that to a mama. 

Where have I made changes?  Oh, just about everywhere.  lol

Laundry-

I got a clothes line, and have been caught up on laundry for the entire week.  That has made a huge difference.  I get up in the morning, and while my oldest is making breakfast—yes, I am spoiled—I hang our clothes out. 

Kitchen-

I have gone to sandwiches for lunch.  I know not the healthiest or the frugalest, but they are quick, and they help me get lunch on the table in less then fifteen minutes, which is a GREAT BIG destressor when dear husband calls from the field and he needs to eat in fifteen minutes.  Other ways this has helped?  It cuts down on kitchen clean up after lunch, helping us to only need to run the dishwasher one time a day. 

Chore Routine-

I have started back to the get your chores done before you eat.  Also, if you have a good attitude during chore time and throughout the day, you might just get something in your money jar. 

School-

This is where the most changes have taken place.  I have moved everyone to the dining room table, complete with four leaves added to make it large enough for seven of us.  We sit here to do book work, preschool, kindergarten, unit studies, and such.  It has been amazing.  I am able to work here on my computer a little too, which helps free me a bit more for later in the day.  With all the children around me, they are easily able to ask for help. 

Another change is curriculum.  I moved oldest from Singapore Math to Teaching Textbooks.  A WONDERFUL move.  We are also using Shurley English and will be adding some Character Quality Language Arts to it as soon as it get here.   I moved our seven year old to McRuffy Math—another GREAT move, and started her in A Reason for Spelling and Easy Grammar.  She is really enjoying these changes as well.  Everyone is getting school done in great time, and we have the rest of the day to work on family school, garden, nature study and whatever else we need.  We have been done by noon each day.  Where before we wouldn’t get done until two to three. 

Garden-

I have changed my garden routine a bit.  I got a sprinkler—I was hand watering everything with a little hand held sprayer on the end of the hose.  It would take me an hour to hour and a half to water.  Now I can turn the water on, weed in one area, move and so forth.  I am in and out in about one hour a day.  I am not quite staying on top of the weeds, but coming fairly close. 

Overall, none of these were major changes.  However, together, they have made our days so much smoother.  The sandwiches will end before long I hope.  I think after wheat harvest, we will have a bit more time at lunch.  If not, we will cope and adjust as needed.  Like I said, things were working ok, but I really felt there was room for improvement.  That had to happen through me making some changes whether I wanted to or not.  When I first started thinking about making changes, or rather felt God guiding me to make changes, I was hesitant.  I didn’t use to be concerned with changes, but since children are now involved, I normally run from change.  However, God kept chasing after me.  He knew, how things would be so much better, if only I would try it.  Don’t run from God’s gentle pushing, His plans are always better.