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MarilynW
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 7:43am | IP Logged
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Just pointing out that whilst I LOVE Cindy Rollins - some of her recommended materials/curriculum are very reformed Presbyterian, and thus anti-Catholic.
But not her blog - not found anything anti-Catholic there.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 10:23am | IP Logged
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Yes! I love to browse her book lists, like her literature of honor for boys, but am always mindful, especially when the books have religious origins.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: May 15 2014 at 7:59pm | IP Logged
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Becky Parker wrote:
mommy4ever wrote:
I am a last minute person. I was when I was in school. Everything the night before. I try to be on top of that with the high schoolers(in school). They share with me when they have essays due, and no matter what I do to get them started earlier, they won't. We use their agenda's and break it down so they use their time more efficiently... it hasn't worked yet. So I wonder if some of us are just programmed that way?
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I am thinking that what I really need to do, is create a plan of what I need to get done for my sanity, then a list of things I would like to get done. Those are bonus items, and I need to acknowledge that if they don't happen, not a big deal. But the other list needs to take priority, and I need to find a time to get it done.
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Ah, procrastination. This is one of my many downfalls and I see it in my husband and older children as well. We know it's there, we work against it, but it still reigns. My son, now in college has a different take on it though. He embraces it. He believes he works better under the stress of an immediate deadline and doesn't worry about trying to get everything done ahead of time. Hmmm. Something to think about.
Regarding your lists of things to get done for your sanity, this reminds me of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits book. I read it years ago and am thinking about getting it back off the shelf. I always appreciated his analogy of big rocks and little rocks. I feel like I'm buried in my little rocks and there is no room for the big rocks. I'm finding Sally's link to be especially helpful right now as I try to reorder things though. I'm trying to take more time to "Seek first the kingdom of God" and trust that all these other things will be taken care of. Determining the big rocks is a struggle right now. Is it educating my children or cleaning my home? I want to do both but on a really good "school" day my house is a mess and when my house is beautifully cleaned the kid's education has been neglected! Maybe these two big rocks are too big to fit in the same bucket!  Or, maybe I need to whittle them down to size and not make them so all-time-consuming. 
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We have had in interesting year. My husband was in a roll over accident. He was home for 5 months. Recovery has been interesting. I have had to deal with all the paperwork, or we don't get any income. This was important, and had to come first. Some days with all the phone calls, it could take most of the day at the expense of homeschool time.
So I had to do some prioritizing within the homeschool. We covered math, reading, writing every day. I tried to plan some things giving her independent work. I also filled her weeks with outings. Dh was able to drive her, he played chauffeur alot this year. She was able to do way more than if he hadn't been home. She learned so much in a different way this year.
We are pretty supervised here, today we had our final visit for the year, and she considers dd as completed for the year, a success. We have some things to complete now, but, it's really low stress. This was our fist year with this school board, and now I know how they work. Next year I hope to plan to end grade 6 in May. But I am not sure it will happen. But it is so hard when the snow leaves to keep dd focused on working when she'd much rather be outside enjoying the mild weather. So it might be a goal to accomplish. May mean on the too hot days of summer, we start working on grade 6.
Now the house is hard to get to everything. I have a 20yo and 2 teens that *should* help. But it's sporadic and reluctant. So it is mostly up to me to try and get it done.
I need to menu plan, but have a hard time following through as the home daycare pick up times are pretty close to prep time. This makes it difficult. The meal assembly places look real tempting lately... just to be able to thaw it out, then get it going. Even dh could prepare it. The www.onceamonthmeal.com offers lots of ideas to do your own version of it, and i love the concept, but haven't pulled it off yet.... want to try. I am down one child next month, maybe I'll invest into a little more groceries and do that.
My rambling post is letting me see that perhaps priorities shift a little through the seasons.
Since homeschool is winding down, my priority will be decluttering the home, tidying up, getting some assembled meals in freezer. Build up a few meals for those days that are crazy. Just a couple extra every week over summer. So the fall when things get busy again, i have a good back up to fall back on. Hmmm.....
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1 graduated June 2012
1 in Catholic school
2 homeschooled(one considering art school!)
ardently praying for a new addition to our family.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 6:05am | IP Logged
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MarilynW wrote:
1. Seek first the Kingdom of God. Develop an interior life. Be a contemplative in a busy world. Teach our children to be the same. If God comes first, other things will fall into place. Read the book the Soul of the Apostolate (yes I know - I keep going on about this!!)
2. Discuss with as a family your priorities and family mission - Quo vadam et ad quid? Where am I going and why? We do this for making decisions about curriculum, activities, jobs, vacations, friends. We refuse to take on activities that stress out our family and individual members - eg. for us, no Sunday sports for this season of our lives(except occasionally), no events that require a lot of travel and separation as a family. Now some things are not within our control - eg work events for my dh, extended family commitments etc.
3. Having routines and schedules. ... Everyone has a job and if everyone does it well - there is peace. We try to not have any interruptions in the morning as this is dedicated school time. We need to work better at going to bed and getting up times.
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I like the idea of working toward these three goals, Marilyn. I'm pretty good with routines and schedules but not so good at consistent consequences and therefore some of the jobs don't always get done, at least not well, and that makes me irritated and overwhelmed.
We also need to work on #2. As a family we enjoy talking around the dinner table but we usually try to avoid stressful conversation. With our lives so intense, nobody wants to bring up the busy-ness of the day that is coming tomorrow so we don't and tomorrow comes and we're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off.
I love the thought of your first point: "Develop an interior life. Be a contemplative in a busy world". That just sounds so peaceful!  I was actually talking to a priest about that a few weeks ago. He encouraged me to turn to Mary. I can tell you, as I have tried to see my days through the lens of "what would Mary do?" I fall short many, many times.
I know that she didn't have multiple children and that her husband, St. Joseph was also a saint, but I also believe that she will help me in this so I am turning more and more to her guidance and praying for her help.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 6:09am | IP Logged
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Martha wrote:
I thing of it as this analogy...
Let's say I tell my kid to do the dishes. (Or whatever. The point is they know what they have been called to do.)
And instead my kid vacuums, or folds some laundry, or plays with the baby, or reads a saint book or helps organize a craft for the younger kids, or...
But they didn't so the dishes. And they knew they were called to do the dishes.
Even though those things are good things, they are not what they are being called to do. And they know they are not obeying.
Now am I going to smite them for those other things? No. Probably not. But are they still going to need to do the dishes or face repercussions later? Probably.
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This happens around here frequently. My dd hates to wash dishes so she will do everything else she can think of and still ... the dishes need to be done.
So I am contemplating this regarding my own time, Martha. Maybe I am so nutso busy because all this good stuff in my life isn't really the stuff God wants me to focus on.
Here again, I'm hoping that turning more to Mary and seeking her guidance will help.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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SallyT
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 7:14am | IP Logged
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One thing I'm finding helpful right now is . . . not necessarily to focus too hard on those "Seven Habits" all together. Some I can do, some I can't, given duties and realities at home -- Martha's point about duty is very, very true. I recognize not only my kids in that scenario about the dishes, but myself. I can spin my wheels forever doing everything but the one thing that I really need to do . . .
At the same time, I recognize in myself the need for spiritual discipline, and specifically to start my day with spiritual discipline. I have not been good at this, ever, in any kind of consistent, focused way, and I do see it as the key to everything else about my daily duty. If I don't do my duty to God first, then nothing else is going to fall into place very easily.
My husband and I have been talking a good bit about Ignatian spirituality -- it began with discussions about discernment of spirits, as a way of unpacking why we let ourselves go down certain paths of thought and feeling in response to situations in our life together, but then he made his yearly Ignatian retreat with the Miles Christi priests (highly recommended by him and by friends of mine, who do the separate women's retreat), and since then we've been talking about that "fifteen minutes of meditation" thing.
My initial thought, of course, was, "That's fifteen minutes when I could be folding laundry," which is sort of a daily version of "I can't possibly go on the women's retreat, because it's expensive, and this year it was the same day as First Communions, so I couldn't possibly have gone . . . " -- which is a general train of thought that pretty much derails my entire spiritual life. I mean, yes, I can pray while folding laundry -- I can pray *by* folding laundry -- but there has to be some kind of framework in place that makes that happen, and turns my actions into prayer, instead of an excuse for not really praying at all. Too often I tell myself I "can't possibly" take on that framework, because I have all this other stuff to do . . . but if I'm being discerning about where this "can't possibly" voice is coming from, it quickly becomes pretty obvious that this is not something the Holy Spirit would say.
So I started thinking about the Exercises and how to make *some* kind of simple, private, retreat-like thing happen in my daily life, which seems to be crying out for something like that. And I googled around and found this. .
I've been doing it for several days -- it's quite simple and, so far, quite good. I particularly liked this little article on prayer, which I read on Day 1. It's a way of thinking about prayer that I thought might really speak to a lot of us, as busy mothers!
Anyway, my little exercise isn't taking, I don't think, a full 15 minutes every morning, but it is a little habit to cultivate. I finally realized that the only way, sadly, I was going to do something consistently was if I saw it in my Bookmarks toolbar when I opened my computer in the morning (which, sadly, is one thing I can totally count on doing before I do anything else . . . ). Books I'll lose. Or lose my place in. But I can pop that window open, do my prayers, read my scripture and other spiritual readings all right there, and that's it.
And somehow doing that does make it easier to do other things I need to do in my day. I'm still not organized or together, really, but it is helping my frame of mind.
Sally
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ekbell
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| Posted: May 17 2014 at 9:35am | IP Logged
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I pray from my Magnificat while porriage is cooking in the microwave or my breakfast is otherwise on the go. I normally add some other spiritual reading as well but this is the basic must-be-done to start the day right part. I mostly use the paper edition but it is also available as an online magazine and ipod app.
The magazine has short morning, evening and nights prayers, the daily Mass readings, a brief meditation (often taken from a Saint's writing) and what seems to be an ever increasing number of good articles (this month's international English edition had over 450 pages).
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Priorities
