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If you follow my Facebook Page, you may have seen this post last week:
We aren’t starting school until September 9th (when my high schoolers start their online classes); but my lovely calendar said to start planning after Sodalitas.
And so it began: writing out our vision, copying/pasting lesson plans from three different sources for my big kids, copying/pasting lesson plans from our MP Curriculum Manuals for our combined Morning Time studies, creating a lesson plan for Novare Earth Science, downloading playlists, ordering read-alouds, printing, organizing…
It was a plan just waiting to be turned upside down.
He Tried to Warn Me
That same week, my client workload suddenly doubled and I could barely get to all of that, never mind all the homeschool planning and running a household. The funny thing is that God warned me:
The week before, I sat in a tiny church in a no-stoplight town, listening to a priest I don’t know talk about Mary and Martha — and it wasn’t the usual take on the situation.
He said Martha’s problem was that she was trying to accomplish what she wanted, not what Jesus needed. He was headed to Jerusalem to suffer and die. He didn’t need a fancy dinner or an elaborate party. He needed one-on-one time with his closest friends.
This sermon really touched my heart. I even made a note of it.
And then I proceeded to act just like Martha, focusing on what I wanted instead of what those around me needed.
Restoring Order
I’ve spent the past week restoring order to the house. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely better.
Part of restoring that order (after going through 24 mopping cloths just to get two floors clean!) was getting us back on a chore schedule. It will need to be tweaked as we go, but that’s one of the reasons I love using our chalkboard for it.
The chalkboard is in our living/dining room so it’s highly visible. This helps me remember to set the timer for chores each morning.
Another thing I need to remember is that this isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it thing.
Some of the kids still need me to guide them through a chore, some need me to check it and send them back to do a complete job, and others need me to lovingly confiscate the project they chose to work on during chore time…ahem.
I also restored order to our family calendar (it still had June/July activities on it) and I’m fixing my planner so it can return to daily use.
And you know what? In the midst of all that, I’m still getting school planning and work done. Order in our home is allowing order in everything else.
Hi Jennifer. Enjoying your blog – from the other side of the Atlantic! Just wanted to mention that Catholic Heritage Curricula have daily lesson plans for Novare Earth Science, which we used last year. Might be helpful for someone!
Thank you, Maria! I’ll have to look at those lesson plans!