flynn011

Chores, chores, chores! They gotta be done, but how do you go about it -- especially when the kids are home 24/7, and you've got more than a full-time job trying to run a household and teaching your family (not to mention the other balls you're trying to juggle in the air, whatever they may be)? Everybody needs to pitch in! Over the years, I have read books like Managers of their Homes , and more recently, Homeschooling at the Speed of Life * which are very good about scheduling, but I usually find -- as I'm sure most of us do -- that one person's plan for organising the household isn't always exactly right for my family. So, right now, I do two things with my four kids.  I give them regular, almost-daily chores, and I give them a Monday job, a Tuesday job, etc.   We call these once-a-week jobs "fish jobs" because I once saw an episode of Supernanny where she had the children use magnets and string as fishing poles to catch magnetic little fish with chores...

Our history co-op of 16 children met up at Oxford Castle today, taking a school's tour and having a workshop about castles. Busy Timmy and his friend climb the Oxford Castle motte (for the fiftieth time!)  We have been studying Our Island Story, and most recently, about England just after 1066. England's third Norman king, Stephen, basically stole the throne from his aunt, Matilda, but after fighting a civil war for 14 years, they eventually agreed to let Stephen stay king as long Matilda's son (later Henry II) could become king next. Some of these historical events played out at Oxford Castle, so it was neat to be in the very place where Matilda escaped from the tower on a snowy evening, wearing white bed-sheets so she wouldn't be seen. The view from the top of the tower Catapault-building Workshop: launching marshmallows at the enemy's castle True to form, a 2-hour session lasted us all day, since once the tour and workshop were over, we used the rest of the day t...

I've still got the flu, but find a bit of time to surf the web.  Here's one of my favourite Facebook sites, having a blog hop.