Flourish by Mary Jo Tate - Apologia Book Review

Honestly, I was nervous to take on this review.  I, a homeschool mom, struggle greatly with finding balance in my day, my week, my life, and reading had somehow gotten knocked near the bottom of my list of priorities.  I had been existing in survival mode.  However, when the opportunity to review Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms came to me through The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew via Apologia Educational Ministries something in me told me to take on the challenge.  The big clincher for me was that Mary Jo Tate is a successful homeschool mom that works from home, and when I reviewed the chapters of the book I saw that she included one titled Home Business where she shares her personal experience and wisdom as a successful, SINGLE, work-from-home, homeschool mom.  Talk about some pretty big hats!  My attention had been peaked, and I accepted the challenge.

If I chose to focus on the perceived negative, I failed my challenge.  I have not finished the book.  However, I choose to focus on the positive.  There are 16 chapters in Flourish, and I am a mere five pages from completing Chapter 15, Home Business; the magic morsel that I had been searching for when I began this personal challenge.  I did get a little more than I bargained for.  Once I received my book in the mail from Apologia, and I read the first chapter, I was hooked.  What I didn't realize was that Mary Jo Tate would call on me to take some action on my own behalf.  At the end of each chapter Mary Jo a page titled Take Action!  I was a little nervous when I saw that first action step at the end of Chapter One.  However, I would not be so easily discouraged.  I grabbed a blank composition book from our homeschool cupboard and got to work.

The first Take Action! step was basically a review session for me.  See, I have been really working on self-reflection and have really been taking the time I need to evaluate where I am as an individual, where we are as a family, and where we stand as entrepreneurs.  I have been doing a bit of the dirty work already, so the first step didn't throw me any real curve balls.  The one glaring thing that did stand out to me though is that I do not have ANY written goals.  NONE!  I, the constant goal setter, had somehow allowed the waves of life to grab hold tight and beat me against the shore, over and over again.  Somehow, I have managed to lose my footing and stop doing something I consider completely essential to a successful life.  I have NO written goals for myself.  I have NO written goals for my family.  I have NO written goals for my homeschool.  I have NO written goals for our business.  ZIP.  ZERO.  ZILCH.  NADA.  This, thanks to Mary Jo Tate, will soon be remedied.

I have worked myself through each chapter so far diligently working on each and every Take Action! step at the end of each and every chapter.  I even completely read the chapter on single parents.  If you are not a single-parent this chapter is still for you.  Mary Jo does a wonderful job giving insight to both the single-parent that has made the commitment to homeschool her children as well as homeschoolers like me who have the benefit of a supportive husband.  She provides Take Action! steps for both groups of people as well.  I appreciate the wise quotes throughout the book as well as the personal input from real-life individuals in the trenches today, especially in this chapter.  The single-parent led homeschool family can easily slip through the social cracks, so to speak, and there is great advice given here that both empowers the single-parent as well as equips the traditional homeschool family to be both empathetic and supportive.

Mary Jo Tate has provided a true blessing in the writing of Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms.  I have been telling others about it since I read the first four chapters in one sitting.  (Your do remember what I said about my struggle to find time to read above, right?)  It's a breath of fresh air, and should hold a place on the shelves of all homeschoolers, both new and veteran.  It would make a wonderful gift for any occasion to any homeschool mom.  Flourish is loaded with practical advice given from personal experience.  It is real life lived successfully with bumps and bruises bared.  For me, this equates to wisdom, and wisdom shared is multiplied.  Mary Jo Tate has effectively shared with us wisdom worth sharing.  Reading Flourish has been a blessing to me, and I know it will continue to bless me and many others for years to come.  It may just be the best $15 investment you'll ever make in your self, your family, your homeschool, and your business; all in one fell swoop!

"Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 

for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 

She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 

Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 

Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."

~Proverbs 3:13-18

Follow Mary Jo on Facebook and Twitter!

Motivated Moms Review

Motivated Moms is a chore planning system developed by moms with a desire to dedicate their daily lives to more than just cleaning the house.  It has evolved over time and is now available in several formats.  I chose to use the 2014 Full Size Motivated Moms Chore Planner in Color.  It has been very useful in helping me maintain what little of my sanity remains with all of this shuffling around of our space we have done over the past couple of years.  
Recently, I found myself VERY overwhelmed by the amount of tasks needing my attention in my home.  Due to children moving in and out, and the dynamics of our family changing, we have seen rooms moved more than I can remember in the short two-and-a-half years we have been in our new home.  This has caused my brain to scramble in regard to remembering where things are and being able to set things up efficiently and in a logical, "makes sense to me" fashion.  Add to that our head first plunge into homeschooling, and my brain was about set to short-circuit.
The Motivated Moms eBook is SUPER SIMPLE to use.  It is easy to keep things that need my attention sorted out in logical and non-stressful manner.  I use the eBook by printing out two weeks at a time, the current week and the following week.  Each week is contained on a single page.  That's about all the advanced planning I am capable of at the moment.  I review the chores and tasks laid out on the page.  I cross off ones that don't apply to me, add what might be unique to my week or family, and designate by initial any chores or tasks that belong to someone else.

Using the Motivated Moms eBook has enabled me to find the time to tackle the tremendous reorganization of my home that is so desperately needed while simply balancing the normal, day to day duties of maintaining my home in a properly functioning fashion.  I don't have to waste my time making my list of chores and tasks that need my attention.  With a quick edit to the weekly page from my 2014 Full Size Motivated Moms Chore Planner in Color I am all set for my week with time to easily complete large organizational projects and small, daily tasks in an efficient and productive manner.
Motivated Moms eBooks, and apps for iPhone/iPod/iPad and Android, are simple to use, easy to download, and affordable.  You can quickly download the eBook for just $8 or use one of the apps for an entire year for just $7.99, or pay a monthly fee of $.99 if you'd like to give it a try before you commit.  When using the app version of the planner you can fully customize your chores and tasks by eliminating items that don't apply to you or adding items that are not listed.  You can even assign tasks to individuals and have them via email.  The iOS version of the app does have a more varied capability than the Android version, but both are extremely flexible and user friendly.

Although the Motivated Moms Chore Planner is specifically designed for moms, it can benefit anyone in the family.  My resident eight-year-old loves the planner.  I keep ours hanging on the refrigerator for quick reference.  We used to list her daily tasks on a small marker board.  Per her request, we have quit using it and rely solely on the Motivated Moms printout.  The younger kids, ages three and four, have even gotten involved with the daily tasks.  I was struggling to incorporate them into our routine and find personal duties that they could be responsible for.  My four-year-old is VERY proud that he is now in charge of refilling the spare toilet paper holders.  The three-year-old is our resident pet feeder.  Both very important tasks.
The Motivated Moms Chore Planner has taken a load off my shoulders.  It is helping us reclaim our space while simply maintaining our home and creating time for larger projects.  This simple and logical approach makes the care and keeping of our home a much more doable and much less stressful task.
Motivated Moms can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Garden Preparations

 

It's been a lot of work over a lot of weeks with a lot of help from the hubby, the twenty-year-old, and even the two-year-old, but the garden is actually beginning to look like a garden.  I decided on the newspaper method, and it was rather easy.  However, it was easiest after we got our system down.  I recommend having someone help you if you are doing a large area like we were.  One person lays the newspaper in a single layer, slightly overlapping, while the other person has the hose on a mist setting and wets the newspaper.  This prevents it from blowing away.  We worked in sections topping the wet newspaper with just enough wood chips to hold the newspaper in place until the entire garden was covered.  Once we ran out of newspaper we finished covering the surface with an ample amount of wood chips.  

Some information that I've read on using the newspaper method to prepare your garden bed included adding a layer of dirt between the newspaper and the wood chips.  I chose to omit this step.  Our dirt is nice and black, and the newspaper should be plenty easy to dig through with the trowel in order to plant my seeds or started plants, so I figured it would have just been wasted effort.  I'm a big fan of using wood chips in the garden for a couple of reasons, so I just went that route.  

In my experience wood chips help to deter weed growth, help the ground maintain moisture, and they decompose adding to the richness of the soil.  Sure, they need to be replaced each year, but since they're free, and they earn their keep, why not use them?  Not to mention, I love the finished look they give the garden.

This is as far as we made it before running out of newspaper.
We need to move the pile of rocks and finish covering the south end of the garden,
but that won't take long at all.

My mom is coming over this weekend, and we are painting the smaller rocks as markers for the plants that will get planted in the garden.  We have plenty of them on the property.  I'm all for working with what the land gives you.  The larger rocks will continue their way around the end of the garden to create the border.  Natural, free, and beautiful.  Love it!

I love Pinterest!  That's where I got the idea for the newspaper method, painting the rocks as markers, and organizing seeds in photo albums.  I had some photo sleeves that I got for free a couple of years ago.  I wasn't sure what I'd use them for.  They're intended for adding photos to a scrapbook page.  I used them to organize my seeds, and I love the outcome.

Each sleeve set has six pockets.

I put one packet of seeds per pocket so that the back of the packet
could be read without removing it from the sleeve.

Then I stood them up in a handy basket that I already had.
I like this particular basket because they fit nicely,
it's durable and easily cleaned, and it has a handle.

Now that I'm all organized, finishing up the garden this weekend should be a breeze.  With a little water, sunshine, and prayer we should be well on our way to creating a beautiful oasis in our yard that will provide us with glorious flowers to behold and enough delicious produce to put up and share with family and friends. I am very excited to watch this area of our property come to life.

Pepper Plate

In the interest of all things awesome I absolutely have to share with you my latest find.  Initially, it was a free download on my Kindle Fire. I downloaded it, and it sat there a while.  Little did I know the organizational gem I was holding at my fingertips and failing to benefit from.

As some of you may know, I have been on a cookbook writing adventure with my best gal pal of 31 years for, oh let's just round it off, say the last 10 years.  She is a home schooling mother of six, and I am a mother of seven adult children and a now two-year-old.  Need I say more about why we have been working on this project for 10ish years?

Anyway, I absolutely love all things cooking, baking, recipe related, and the like.   This website that is totally new to me is like a creative gift.  It has everything a cookbook writing, busy mom of a toddler, Pinterest pinning, Facebook loving, Kindle Fire newbie, foodie could ever possibly want in a food planning recipe saving, menu creating, and grocery list generating website.  It's incredible and VERY user friendly.  I love it!

No, they didn't pay me to write this post.  I just had to share.  It's not too often that I get excited about any particular website, but this site is now my favorite website.  Yes, I even love it more than Facebook and Pinterest.  It's easy to use, practical, and downright fun.  I may actually get the work done I am supposed to with this little gem under my belt.

What is the site, already, you ask?  It is called Pepper Plate, and you simply must check it out!  You can manually enter recipes that you have in your own personal stash.  It's as simple as copying and pasting from Word, which is what I do, or typing it out.  You can also use the Add to Pepperplate button and add directly from any website.  It's awesome!  You just copy and paste right onto a popup screen.  It even lets you drag a picture of the recipe onto it as well.  This feature, the whole recording right from the website, is what seriously got me excited.  Do you see the potential in expanding your cooking adventures?  I love, love, love this website.  Period!

Just Around the Corner

We went to the first of our weekly OB visits yesterday. Doc says that her body isn't ready to deliver our little Avery yet. Praise God! I am looking forward to having him here, but I am glad to know that I have more time to finish our preparations.

I have been finding wonderful deals on things that are helping in the process of preparing our home for our new bundle of joy. Yesterday, my husband and I picked up a futon style bunk bed for our youngest son that we found through Craig's List. Rearranging his bedroom is our project for this weekend. Last weekend it was the other son's room. Tuesday, my mom helped me go through our office/music room. It was a lot of work with a lot of heavy lifting, but it delivered great reward. Tomorrow, my oldest son and I will be picking up a beautiful sleigh crib with matching changing table and a mattress that we also found on Craig's List. Avery's room is our project that will get started sometime next week.

Can you say, "sore and tired"? I am literally pooped out! I sure hope hubby and I find some time to rest and be together before we have our new addition. My birthday is tomorrow, and I was hoping to spend it relaxing. That will not be the case. I am sure glad that I took advantage of a little pocket of time that revealed itself to me yesterday and went for my free birthday burger at Ruby Tuesday's all by myself. I even had a delicious piece of blackberry cheesecake. Divine! It was a nice 45 minutes or so spent enjoying a quiet corner all by myself. I am a solitary soul, so moments like that are medicinal for me. I was replenishing.

We are praising God that our daughter and the baby are both healthy. All past concerns have been washed away. There are no medical issues to worry about. The plans are to deliver Avery naturally. Hubby and I will take responsibility for him as soon as he enters the world. It will surly be a blessed day. I'll be sure to keep you posted as things develop, lessons are learned, and pictures are taken.

Happy New Year to all!

How it is Going

Well, our first week with our new schedule has concluded, and I learned that...

1. I am more sane today than I was a week ago!

2. Remembering to be flexible is the most valuable thing in trying to keep to a schedule.

3. Schedules are good to use as a guideline to help keep you focused and moving toward a goal.

4. Lists are great and keep your thoughts from running around like wild horses out of the corral.

5. It is great fun crossing things off of your list!

6. Getting plenty of rest, and the occasional cup of coffee, is greatly helpful in achieving what is on your list of things to do.

7. There is nothing wrong with asking for help in achieving some of your tasks.

8. Organizing things into manageable bits makes completing large projects much more enjoyable and easier to accomplish.

9. Everyone around you benefits when you are organized.

10. A hot bath with Epsom Salt should definitely be high on your priority list when your list is large like mine was!

All in all, great things were accomplished. I feel good about it, and I am glad I avoided a breakdown. I just verified once again that I definitely am a list person.

* Thanks to Goddess Spiral for this totally awesome picture!

Getting it Together

Things are FINALLY falling into place, and my head seems to have quit spinning, at least for now. My To Do List is shrinking, and I am getting more planning done. This is likely due to the fact that I have left the building. That is, I am away from home until Sunday. This is allowing me time to think and wade through the details of what needs to be done.

Two things that I am doing that have made a huge difference in the static content of my brain are planning my educational calendar and making a meal plan. It is nice to be able to open up my planner, look at what needs to be done, and not have to think about it. By the end of the weekend I will have our school plans laid out in more detail through at least February. I will also have planned our meals through the end of the month. It is SO NICE to not have to think about what I am going to make for dinner each and every day. If you do not practice this habit already, I highly recommend it. It is very beneficial and quite the time saver.

After I have completed my meal plan I will be writing my grocery list so that I am fully prepared for next week upon returning home. The real challenge will be getting back on track with our school day and incorporating my 2.5 year old grandson into the schedule with two teenagers! Fortunately, my good friend is giving us some age appropriate items that her children have grown out of that he will likely have fun with. I am going to try to give him things to do that challenge him and provide stimulating activity not just television style babysitting to keep him out of our hair.

Part of lowering my internal vibration will include a drastic organizational overhaul of our office area. It used to be our master bedroom, so it is descent sized. Over the course of the next few weeks we will be converting it into an office/music room, and I am VERY excited to finally gain control over the space. It is the last area of our home that needs organizational attention. It will be a TREMENDOUS relief on me to finally have it functioning effectively for our needs.

Check back next Monday to see just how all this positive progress has really panned out for me...