Monday, March 22

Monday is considered to be my "work" day because I spend the majority of the morning putting together my two newspaper columns and making phone calls. It is also the day I clean the dining room/kitchen area and do laundry. The kids usually play while I am working or watch PBS if I am on the phone making my news calls. I also look ahead at our school schedule for the week, which I like to have planned two weeks in advance, so I have everything we need on hand.

I wanted to get the kids on a better track with chores, so today after they helped throw wood in the basement (we heat our house with a wood furnace downstairs) Loren paid them for the chores completed and we reselected cards. Seth had a little bit of difficulty understanding why he had to give me his dollar (remember he owes me $2.00 for the paper dolls he bought on Friday). I gave him the choice of either he gives me the dollar or I get to keep the paper dolls. In the end I got the dollar.

For her chore Faith chose to make all the beds in the house, but since it was laundry day I had her take all the sheets off the beds so I could wash them. Seth chose to clean up their bedroom, so I gave him a basket and he picked up all the clothes that were on the floor. Faith also volunteered to help feed some calves tonight at chore time. We have a lot of calves to feed bottles to right now, so I appreciated her help. Seth also volunteered to help make Anna's bed by himself. After a little frustration with trying to get the fitted sheet on he proudly finished the task.

Spring is a hard time of year to keep the kids interested in helping in the barn. With the weather so nice they are like the cattle when we first let them out to pasture. Our kids know not to go too far away without permission, but many times I will not see them in the yard and will have to call for them. Soon I see them coming from the pasture or out of the woods always with out two dogs following close behind. I love having all this space for them to explore. This time of year also means more laundry and baths because they collect a lot of dirt on all their adventures.

This afternoon we did our Geography project we didn't have time for last week; we made Jellied Plums for our Japanese recipe and ate them for dessert after supper. Usually the kids are excited about a cooking project, like last night when Faith helped cook pancakes, but today they were more interested in watching Cyberchase on PBS.

Next week we start babysitting a two-year-old girl three days a week, so we will have what Seth calls "the new kid" participating in our homeschool adventures. It should be fun!