Category Archives: training children

A Family Affair

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One chore that has been long neglected was any sort of gardening or yard clean up.  Usually starting in March, I will slowly get my flower beds and garden boxes cleaned out and ready for the first planting of the season.  Being that I was unable to do the work that the yard needed we are playing a crazy game of catch up.  I plant my cool weather vegetables the first of April and nothing is ready right now for a seed!

On Monday night our family sets aside time for Family Home Evening, we do a variety of things, sometimes it is a religious lesson, or a board game, or I will read out loud.  Yesterday, it was some intense gardening, I needed 4 garden boxes prepared for planting and a flower bed needed to be taken down and some perennials moved so our driveway can be expanded to accommodate that beast of a vehicle I drive around.

So my gardening chores, while they have always been some what of a family affair, became a very intense family affair, with my older girls doing some heavy shoveling and lifting.

Punk #2 is shoveling compost out of the pile into buckets that #1 is hauling to the garden boxes.  It doesn’t look super hard, but that compost is very compact after sitting all winter and cooking, this is the first time this season that it has been opened and turned.  I am happy to say there are tons of red worms.  This is my little slice of black gold heaven in my own yard.
The three little ones are plucking some tiny weeds and old veggies out of the garden box so I can turn the fresh compost into the exesting soil.

We also got four daylilies dug, split and moved to their new home, rocks moved, and two fruit trees pruned.  We go a lot done in an hour and a half, thanks to the hard work of my kids and Dadzoo.

Service Ornaments

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I know Christmas is over, and decorations are packed away for next year, but I had a friend ask how my children did with their service project, instead of exchanging gifts with each other.  So I thought I would do a Christmasy post in January.

The first Monday in December, my kids drew names out of a hat, the person they drew were their service buddy for the month.  The goal was to preform some act of service every day, when they did their service and reported it to Dadzoo or I they were able to add a “service ornament” to the Christmas tree.

They started off the project with a huge bang, the first day they had all done some kind of service before I had even woken up.  I was very much encouraged.  As time went on, they forgot and had to be reminded everyday, which is fine, but it even got to the point where some weren’t doing service at all.  My more motivated children were pretty consistent, but the lesser motivated children had to be reminded, and still forgot sometimes.  It was also a tad hard with my youngest, he is 3, and while he could do little things for his secret buddy, it was mostly up to me to help him do it, and sometimes even I forgot!
So, was it a success?  I would say, yes.  There was a spirit of service, and a lot of nice things were done for each other.  We will be doing it again next year, for sure, but a little different.  I think we will either do it for a shorter time, maybe the week before Christmas, or switch service buddies a few time throughout the month to keep things fresh, new and fun.
Did you try anything new this Christmas?

Vision

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A year ago I wrote about a wonderful book I had just read, called “Teaching Self-Government”. 

 To read the post click (here)
I have really like the methods I learned in this book, but the last few months I have noticed my children’s obedience lacking, and the feeling in our home wasn’t so great.  We weren’t talking to each other nicely, there was lots of sarcasm and back talking.  I decided to re-read “Teaching Self-Government”, hoping to pick up something I had missed, and give myself a refresher.

At the start of the book, Mrs. Peck talks about having vision.  I have always had a vision of what I want my family to be in the future.  I can picture events, feelings, conversation, even the little faces of my future grand babies.  In thinking of this vision, and reading Mrs. Peck’s thoughts on the subject I came to two conclusions: one, that my family will never be the family of my vision if we keep going the way we were; and two, if I never share my vision of the future with my children, how can they help work towards this vision.

Yesterday, for family night, Dadzoo and I talked to the kids about vision.  We talked about what vision is, how we can use our vision to plan for our futures, that if we don’t have a vision of what we want, we don’t have anything to work towards.
I then shared my vision of what I would like our family to be in 20 years.

The kids thought it was great fun.  We talked about how old they would be, we speculated on who would be married, how many kids would they have, what their life would be like and added that all into my vision, and we created OUR vision.

How will this help our family, I am not completely sure at this point, but what I do know, is that now we have a vision, something to look forward to, something to work towards, together.

Ladies…..

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“From all that I have read of the History of Government, of human life and manners, I have drawn this conclusion, that the manners of women [are] the most infallible Barometer, to ascertain the degree of Morality and Virtue in a Nation.  All that I have since read and all the observations I have made in different Nations, have confirmed me in the opinion.  The Manners of Women, are the surest Criterion by which to determine whether a Republican Government is practicable, in a Nation or not.  The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public Spirit, their Republican principles and habits, and their Republican Forms of Government when they lost the Modesty and Domestic Virtues of their women…..
        The foundations of national Morality must be laid in private Families.  In vain are Schools, Academies and universities instituted if loose Principles and licentious habits are impressed upon Children in their earliest years.  The Mothers are the earliest and most important Instructors of youth”
John Adams

Work

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“Fewer and fewer parents ask their children to do chores around the house because they think they are already overwhelmed by social and academic pressures. More indulgence of children may result in less understanding of life”
H. David Burton