My three year old… my youngest child… my child who has never seen me rock or burp a baby…

was just now standing by my desk, baby doll in arms. She had the baby on its tummy over one arm, well supported, while she patted it gently on the back. And the sway. The child has the sway.

So very precious.

I homeschool in Missouri, where we are required to keep, among other things, a daily log of our schooling hours. The process of logging hours has, quite frankly, been the bane of my existence as a homeschool mom. One of the things that makes it difficult for me is that we are not required to produce our records unless we are called on the carpet (aka – accused of truancy). It’s a remote enough possibility that it’s unmotivating on a day-to-day basis, but real enough that I wouldn’t want to chance having my kiddos taken away because I didn’t have them “in school” as required. Then there’s that whole Romans 13 thing with authority being given by God. So, yeah. Gotta log.

Well, I’m a computer person. I never thought I’d make that statement, but my husband’s turned me into a minor geek. So I’ve looked for computer driven solutions to my logging problem. I’ve been excited about several nifty programs, but none of them worked for me. Well, it wasn’t the programs that failed. It was me.

Long story short, I realized that, as a simple schooler, I need a simple logging program! And, I have found by many trials and many errors, I need it to be on paper. So I set out this summer to create as simple a logging program as I could, and yet one that would help me meet the requirements of my state.

LoggingSimply.xls is the result. I did the sheets in Word at first, but after a couple of months of using it, I love it so much that I want to share with other desperately simple schoolers. I thought I’d spiff it up a bit by putting it in a spreadsheet file, so things could be lined up properly (something I wasn’t worried about too much myself), and all in one downloadable file. If you’re interested, you can take a look.

NOTE: I have done my best to follow WFMW guidelines, but I’m new at this, so if you see I’ve done something wrong, please let me know gently. Thanks, and God Bless!

Despite the fact that I have lots of thoughts running around inside my head, I’ve been having trouble making my way to blogland to spit them out. And tonight probably won’t be much better.

But I did get pictures from the KBC reunion posted here, under KBC 50 Reunion_People and KBC 50th Reunion_Grounds. Also some neat pictures of a field of sunflowers under the Scenery album.

Well… is it too wild? It’s a clip from some shots we got of a field of sunflowers on our way home from Kansas.

Here’s one of my favorites from the same field:

I don’t think I mentioned that the Blessings, for the most part, do their own laundry. The day that is their laundry day is the day **they** do their laundry. Hence the oldest two doing the laundry of the youngest two. And when Kate and Grace get big enough, the boys will use that day to teach them how to do their laundry.

And my sons shall never say when they’re in college, as my brother did repeatedly, “Mom, can you show me how again??” lol Not that my brother didn’t remember how to do it! But I think our boys will be so used to doing laundry by then that the thought of asking wouldn’t occur to them.

With six Blessings and four adults sharing one washer and dryer, laundry can pile up fast. Here are a couple things that have worked for me (inspiration thank-you’s to Managers of Their Homes and to a fabulous mom of 10 who spoke at our homeschool support group meeting last year).

** Each child has a dirty laundry drawer. Not in their dresser (yuck!), but the plastic kind you can stack atop one another. So there’s a stack of three in the girls’ room and three in the boys’. I printed out a picture of each child (about 3″ by 3″?) and packing taped them to the front of the drawers (yes, if I were really a cool homeschooling Mama, I would have contact paper, but somehow that never gets in the cart…). Anyhoo, the pictures make it super easy for each child to know which drawer is theirs, even the non-readers.

** Each child has a laundry day. The two oldest (who are boys) do the laundry for the two little girls, cause it’s easy to sort. So, Monday is D and G, Tuesday is B and K, Wednesday is E, Thursday is E. I try to wash sheets on Friday, if they haven’t been snuck in during the week.

** Adult laundry, along with towels and such, gets snuck in when the Blessings aren’t doing their laundry – often in the evening or first thing in the morning.

Note – I don’t manage to do this consistently every week. But when I do, it makes a huge difference! Hope that helps someone out.

EDIT – I’ve added an additional thought here.

We just got back from several days in Kansas (about which I have Much To Blog!) and I found this wonderfulness from Jules over at Everyday Mommy:

Moms for Modesty Mission Statement
*As a Mom for Modesty I believe in common-sense modesty for girls and young women.

*I believe in refraining from sexualizing our girls and young women.

*I believe that it is unwise and unfair to taunt boys and young men by permitting my daughter(s) to dress in an immodest manner.

*I believe that true beauty comes from within and I strive to teach my daughter(s) this truth.

*I will loyally shop at retailers that provide girls’ and young womens clothing that is modest, affordable and stylish.