My Message Wall

My Message wall explained:
The 4 small dry erase boards on the top are where I keep track of my personal goals (plus scriptures, or quotes that inspire me) and the progress and goals I have for my kids. I measure them in 5 areas:

Physical

Spiritual

Emotional

Social

Mental

Every week on Sunday I evaluate each kid in each area during my "Sunday Session" (I will explain that in detail in another post but for now know that it is basically my planning for the week ahead) So, for example right now on each of their boards it says the following:

Hud-

get on regular solid food feeding schedule

practice walking with mommy and daddy

Hanna-

Remember speech therapy!

work on morning prayers

Work on letters N&A and find ABC game online

Memorize 1st article of faith

Emma-

"asking" game all week! until she gets used to asking for permission again

work on morning prayers

Memorize 1st article of faith

I usually keep each item posted for several weeks adding and changing things as they learn and grow.

Keeping these goals posted where I can see them at all times keeps them fresh in my mind. Evaluating them weekly helps me to work on their personal progression on a whole-nother level that I otherwise would not have.

Next I have my calendar in the middle.

In the corner I write our VALUE, FHE THEME, JOY, & PROJECT of the month. This Month it is as follows:

VALUE- Peaceability

JOY- Joy of Trust & Confidence

FHE- Work & discipline

PROJECT- Monster Bag & Homeschool set-up

We have CD's, stories, and lessons that go with the themes and teach them during FHE and listen to them while we are driving. I also find tons of teaching experiences in day to day life focusing on our current themes. For example this month we have been working on peace in our home. We talk about peace at church. We were watching cartoons and one was about secrets so I brought up trust... etc. our FHE's have that theme divided into 4 weekly lessons.

I'll explain more about our monthly values/joys/FHE in another post. If you're hungry for more I got all these ideas from Linda & Richard Eyre's books. You can also visit their website for more. Their website gives you the FHE themes and broken down lessons for free once you sign up. You have to pay a one time lifetime membership fee of $50 to gain access to all their stuff but it was probably the best money I ever spent. WELL worth it!!!!)

Next I have the girls Aprons. I found that when my kids "dress up" to do something they are that much more into it and that much happier to do what they need. So I made them Aprons for cooking and cleaning.

At the bottom is our "Proud Pig". This is where we post anything and everything the kids are proud of. We use this instead of magnets/fridge because 1. we can't see our fridge in our galley kitchen and 2. the kids love the pig and it looks like it's hugging their work!

THERE YA HAVE IT!

Kid's Chronicals

Since the birth of my first baby I've kept a journal for her where I have been chronicalling her life through my eyes. When I thought of the idea I thought it was such a great original idea! Come to find out that it's not so original after all but I believe I was definitely inspired to begin it. It's just a blank journal and I've only written in it a handful of times in the 5 years she's been on this earth *NOTE TO SELF- write more often!!* But it's one of my greatest treasures. I started out with cheap dollar store books for my girls but that turned out to be a bad idea as they aren't put together very well so for Hudsen I decided to "splurge" and get something a little more time tested. I got a leather bound journal at Walmart for only $7 and will now be buying 2 more and transfering over the info of the other books into the newer nicer ones.
Here's an example of what Hudsen's first page looks like


FYI- No Empty Seats is our Family Motto
I think I'm going to give them their books as a wedding gift when I am officially "done" parenting. Well, at least they won't live under my roof.... hopefully, knock on wood.

Family Mission Statement

As corny as this may seem, I LOVE it!! Successful companies have mission statements and my family is my job, my company, and we are a TEAM! So, as the kids grow older they will slowly memorize it. Once they turn 8, (they are old enough to know what kind of like they want to lead and yet still young enough to be pure and untainted from too many wordly ideas),they will make up their own personal mission statement and sign it, date it, and put it in their journals.
So without further ado; Here is our Family Mission Statement:

I'm back! Here's my plan

So.... after a leave of absence to re-do my blog (and for various other time consuming reasons) I'm back! During my "leave" I've implemented a new way of parenting, started going back to school, and decided to start homeschooling my kids! With all these changes I figured a new blog was in need.
STORY: a few months ago Emma's behavior was so bad that I was almost embarrassed at being out with her in public. At my wits end I went to my local thrift store and bought every self help book on parenting I could find. I was bound and determined to "fix" her behavior! The first book I started to read was "A Joyful Mother of Children" by Linda Eyre. It was also the last book I read out of that pile. It was the answer to my prayers!! Long story short: It wasn't her that needed fixing, it was ME! granted her behavior was terrible, but through changing myself, and the way I parent supposedly her behavior would do a total flip flop. and it DID! (Not over night though, this story has been an ongoing process for several months and is still a work in progress. Probably always will be) After reading and highlighting and doggy-ear folding nearly every page in that book, I HAD to buy all their other books (by "they" I mean Linda and Richard Eyre)
Here are just a few of the things I've implemented:

Family Scripture
Family Motto
Family Mission Statement
Code Words
Repentance Bench
Monster Bag
Family Tradtions Book
Proud Pig
etc etc etc.

I'll blog more and explain it more eventually. But for starters I thought I'd show you our Family Scripture and the Blueprint I made to break it down and go along with it: