My Mission Statement for a Clean Home

Day 1: Why Clean?

Today marked the beginning of the 31 Days to Clean homemaker's challenge.  I was asked to identify reasons why I want to have and maintain a clean home and then develop a mission statement based on these reasons.  Here are some of the main reasons why I want a clean home:

• To create an atmosphere of peace and order:  Having a cluttered, messy home really brings out the worst in me.  I feel frazzled, overwhelmed, and unable to function at my full potential when the house is a mess.  This is all magnified by the fact that we are at home a lot.  Therefore, I have to look at the mess and try and keep up with it all day long.  It is difficult to home school in a messy environment, so it is also important to have peace and order for that reason.  Needless to say, this is majorly important to me! 
• So that I can be more hospitable and not embarrassed to have company over:  I would really like to grow more in the area of hospitality, and not having to worry about a messy house would really free me up to invite more people over.  Also, it is not fun to clean like crazy before company comes and be so worried about the house that I don't enjoy the visit as much as I should.
• To bless my husband:  My dear husband has been very patient with me as I've stumbled along in my journey of keeping the home.  I am happy to say that I have made a lot of progress in the past 7+ years, but I have a long ways to go!  I would like to make our home a haven so that when my husband gets home from work he can relax instead of entering a home of chaos.  
• To model a good example of diligence to my children:  As a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, I have a large influence on my children and I want to be a GOOD influence.  I do not want to model laziness, a complaining spirit, or disobedience to them.  Little eyes are watching and learning from me all day long, so I need to make the best of my time with them!  My mom was a great example to me and was always busy taking care of the needs of our family with a never-tiring, happy spirit.  I'm very blessed to have learned from her!
• To have more time for things I really enjoy, like playing with my kids and pursuing hobbies:  I'm not sure if this will ever change, but cleaning is not enjoyable to me.  It helps to remind myself that I am blessing my family by taking care of the home, but there are many other things I'd rather be doing!  Also, it would be nice to have a little more time for hobbies I enjoy: sewing, baking, reading, and beginning gardening.  I have also recently added birdwatching to my hobby list....haha, oh my I must be getting old! 

So here is my mission statement:

I purpose to faithfully and diligently maintain a clean home in order to create an atmosphere of peace and order, to encourage hospitality in our home, to bless my husband, to model a good example of diligence to my children, and to free up more time for things I enjoy doing.

I decided to make my mission statement pretty and print it out.  I taped it on the wall in my kitchen so that I can be reminded several times a day and stay motivated!  Here it is:

Inspired by Ambleside

Davin was reading from "Our Island Story" in his room. When he was done, he came out and told me, "Mama, I think I'm going to make a Britain war chariot out of Legos some time.".

If we weren't reading books from the Ambleside Online curriculum, I don't think he would know what a Britain war chariot is and what it looked like....I know that it's something I never learned!

Here's Davin's description: "There's horses at the front and then there's a little space at the back for where the soldiers stand. There's spears at the sides of the wheels. When the horses go forward, the wheels turn and the spears kill anyone that it catches up to."

Sounds pretty brutal!

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Climbing Girl

Little Quinnlyn has found a new favorite outdoor activity: trying to climb up the slide on our swing set.  She only gets a foot or two up before coming down, but she sure loves it!  It's so cute watching her try and climb up, then slide down giggling, fall on her bottom on the ground, and get back up and start it all over again!

Our little dolly:

Here she goes; notice the tongue sticking out because she's really concentrating!:

 Trying not to slide down, still concentrating:

Hey Mom, can you believe I'm such a big girl?!

Ahh, this is the best!

Okay, I really think I can get it this time, what do you think, brothers?

Look, I'm doing it!

 See ya later, Mama!

Science Exploration Day: Taking in Water

(Day 120 in MFW, pp. 18-19 in "Science with Water")

First off, here's our happy little girl!  I just can't get enough of that dimply smile :)

Today we learned about "Taking in Water": how some things soak up water while others keep water out.  

Here's Davin seeing if the sponge takes in the water:

Here's Dorian putting water on the sponge.  We talked about why sponges are good for cleaning, since you can soak up spills and other messes with the sponge and squeeze them out into the sink.

 Next we tested the absorbency of 5 materials: wax paper, newspaper, a towel, tissue paper, and plastic:

Dorian testing the wax paper-not absorbant:

Davin testing the newspaper-kind of absorbs the water, but not completely like the sponge:

Dori testing the towel-good absorption:

Now the tissue paper-doesn't take in water well:

Quinnlyn really wants to play with the water, too!:

She spilled the bowl of water right after this picture, and I told the boys to try using the tissue paper and newspaper to clean it up.  They noticed right away that it didn't work well and put the towel to good use to mop it up!:

 Davin examining the towel up close to see if there was a clue to why it was able to take in water so well.  He noticed there were tiny gaps that the water was able to get into, whereas the other materials didn't have this:

 "Quinny, let me so how absorbent your clothes are!":

 The old classic celery with dyed water experiment.  The boys thought this was very cool:

It didn't take long for the water to reach the leaves, turning the a little blue (on the left) and red tinged (on the right).  We looked on the cut ends and cut some slices to see the "tubes" in the celery that the water traveled through, also.

Another day of science fun! I just love that all of the kids get excited to explore and do experiments, even if it is just simple things like this.  

We love Hymns for a Kid's Heart!

Our family has been so very blessed by the book "Hymns for a Kid's Heart", volume one, by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada:

We also have "Christmas Carols for a Kid's Heart," which we thoroughly enjoyed throughout the Christmas season: 

I never would have guessed the impact these hymns would have on my children, and I am so thrilled that they are not only learning hymns, but love them!  Each book also comes with a cd and we play the music often in our home.  We started off the year learning "Holy, Holy, Holy" and even Dorian has learned some of the words and the tune.  It is so precious to hear your children singing, especially when the music is praising God!

Right now, Davin really likes the hymn "This is My Father's World," so much so that he copied it into one of his notebooks.  It was pretty cute one night a few weeks ago we were watching American Idol and Davin said that he thinks he could do pretty well on that show.  "Oh yeah?" I said, "What song would you audition with?"  "Oh, probably 'This is My Father's World'," he said.  How precious is that?

One night, instead of having the tv on, we were just enjoying spending time together as a family and I asked Davin if he wanted to sing a hymn with me.  Daddy had never heard Davin sing any hymns, so as we were singing I look over at my husband and see the tears start to roll down his cheeks.  It was such a moving moment, hearing our precious, innocent son singing such a beautiful song.  It's moments like these that I don't ever want to let go of; moments like these that I remember what I want to guard for as long as possible:  the innocence of our children.  I never want to see that twinkle fade from their eyes. 

Mark 10:14 "...." Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." 

Diogenes the Wise (and funny) Man

I really love the literature from Ambleside Online's curriculum.  We have the Year 1 books and have enjoyed everything we've read from them.  One of the books is "Fifty Famous Stories Retold" by James Baldwin.  Davin has recently gotten tired of doing narrations, so instead of having him tell me the narration orally, I've asked him to draw a picture instead.  He loves to draw, so this has been a lot of fun for him!

Here is our copy, published in 1896!:

Here is the story, "Diogenes the Wise Man", by James Baldwin:

At Corinth, in Greece, there lived a very wise man whose name was Diogenes. Men came from all parts of the land to see him and hear him talk.

But wise as he was, he had some very queer ways. He did not believe that any man ought to have more things than he really needed; and he said that no man needed much. And so he did not live in a house, but slept in a tub or barrel, which he rolled about from place to place. He spent his days sitting in the sun, and saying wise things to those who were around him.

At noon one day, Diogenes was seen walking through the streets with a lighted lantern, and looking all around as if in search of something.

"Why do you carry a lantern when the sun is shining?" some one said.

"I am looking for an honest man," answered Diogenes.

When Alexander the Great went to Corinth, all the foremost men in the city came out to see him and to praise him. But Diogenes did not come; and he was the only man for whose opinions Alexander cared.

And so, since the wise man would not come to see the king, the king went to see the wise man. He found Diogenes in an out-of-the-way place, lying on the ground by his tub. He was enjoying the heat and the light of the sun.

When he saw the king and a great many people coming, he sat up and looked at Alexander. Alexander greeted him and said,--

"Diogenes, I have heard a great deal about your wisdom. Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Yes," said Diogenes. "You can stand a little on one side, so as not to keep the sunshine from me."

This answer was so different from what he expected, that the king was much surprised. But it did not make him angry; it only made him admire the strange man all the more. When he turned to ride back, he said to his officers,--

"Say what you will; if I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes."

Here is Davin's illustration from the story, which he thought was so funny!  In the top picture, Alexander the Great says to Diogenes, "Is there anything I can do for you?"  Down below, Diogenes says, "Yes, you can step aside to keep the sunshine on me."  "uuhhh," says Alexander.

Traveling to Super Mario Galaxy

The boys love pretending and going on adventures, and this morning they were having adventures in their "rocket ship"!  They even let Quinnlyn come along, but she got a little fussy in the video when she fell down and couldn't get back up.  Though, before that when she gives Davin a hug it is about the most precious thing....

The boys riding in their rocket together:

Now Quinnlyn has joined in on the fun:

She loves her brothers!