3 good things

Good morning! It's day three of homeschooling back to school in our house and I am officially wiped out. Phew. There's a lot to juggle this year. Ten minutes in, when the baby was upstairs crying for me to come help her put on some fancy, frilly dress, and all the girls wanted all my attention, and then that same baby came downstairs and fell off the back of the sofa and was screaming in my arms, I was pretty much ready to call the yellow bus. 

But somehow, at some point, we re-grouped and made it through. And, you know what, it was pretty okay. And I got to the end of the day and thought, "Hey, we did it."

I think I have a little "day in the life" of our first day of school ready to share with you soon. And a post I wrote about technology that I may or may not share. (One of those written in a frustrated place kinds of posts.)

But in the meantime, here are three good things to start your day:

1. From me...speaking of technology, I've really been a slacker about it this summer. And I knew I wanted to make some serious changes when the school routine kicked in. But I also know from experience that having technology as the carrot in front of the kids' faces for finishing school work does not work well. The rushing and the fact that "when do I get to get on my/watch my ______?" is always at the forefront of their minds, is really distracting to our school day. This year, I decided to take a different approach. 

The kids have a bunch of stuff they need to take care of in the mornings to keep the house running smoothly. (Kidding. Our house doesn't run smoothly, but at least I can get the clothes to the washer, beds made and teeth from rotting out of their heads.) So I made a list of the things that need to be done in the morning before school, with pictures for my emerging reader. 

School starts at 9:00am. Once they've worked through their morning routine, any leftover time is completley theirs. Hey kid, watch TV! Play on your iPod! The time is theirs until I take over at 9:00am. They get their work done, a little technology fix and then we can drop it and start our day with out the distraction. It's working so beautifully (disclaimer: 3 days in) and so much better than using technology as a reward. (I hate that. Dear Children: Going outside should be a reward. Having time to yourself should be a reward. But that's another post...)

2. Good music alert.

I discovered Mandolin Orange through Pandora this past winter. It's the best musical discovery I've had in quite awhile. I don't often like every song on a CD. But man oh man, do I love this group. If you love a little bluegrass-y, folk-y, "chill in the background while I make dinner" kind of music, you're going to want to get yourself a little of this. And bonus, they just released an amazing new CD. I love a quote I read about their music having "front porch closeness". That's a perfect description.

3. This video is making the rounds on Facebook. It's such a good reminder. Good food for thought. And though convicting in some points, also a good reminder. 

Here's a link to the video: "I Forgot My Phone". I had the video embedded, but it autoplays. Autoplay drives me nuts.

Happy Wednesday. More soon! 

*Full disclosure: The link to Mandolin Orange's new CD is an amazon affliliate link. Clicking on the link and making a purchase means I get a small commission. Hey, it keeps our family in books. Thanks.*