Cubbies, Cubbies, Cubbies

Nothing says simple storage options to me like cubbies.  They're everywhere...in my home, that is!  

These are the cubbies at my front door.  My home doesn't have a mud room and the closets are a bit small, so we keep the kids' coats (and gloves and hats and scarves) in cubbies.  Each of the four older kids have their own cubby.  I have yet to decide where to put the baby's little outdoor duds.  I keep a basket on top for my purse and keys.

 

 Here are the cubbies I use for clean laundry.  Generally, the I wash all of the children's clothes on Monday and they fold and put away their things on Tuesday.  Sometimes, however, some of their things get washed at other times.  To simplify getting stray clothing items to the children, I just put them in their laundry cubbies.  on Tuesdays, when they fold their clothes, they also know to check their laundry cubbies.  Yes, the tiny girl has a laundry cubby (I actually store her bibs there as my laundry area is closer to her high chair than her clothes drawers).

Speaking of the tiny girl, I have cubbies in my bedroom for her diapers and other diaper-changing necessities.  We converted the changing table to a dresser for the big girls years ago, so we just change diapers on our (appropriately covered) bed.

In the kids' rooms, we have... cubbies!  A few years ago, I decided that I was through spending (what seemed like) hours putting little bitty clothes on little bitty hangers.  Ugh!  All the kids' clothes are folded now.  I do hang my girls' church dresses; otherwise, everything is folded.  Not only do I not have to contend with little bitty hangers, but the kids are perfectly capable of folding their own laundry and putting it away.  By the way, the cubbies in the closets are the IKEA Trofast system.

Finally, no homeschooling room would be complete without supplies cubbies.  Here are mine - excuse the mess.  We use our homeschool cubbies a lot!

10 Rules for Homeschooling Correctly

If you're new to homeschooling - or if you're and old hand at it - there are some rules you should know (if you don't know them already).  

1)  Socialize your child.  Obviously, you haven't considered this because you have made the decision to homeschool and, as everyone knows, homeschooled children are unsocialized.  

2)  Lessons and activities are a must!  Since your child is missing out on being socialized through public school, you must accomplish this task with lessons - piano lessons, oboe lessons, guitar lessons, voice lessons, acting lessons - and activities - ballet, gymnastics, soccer, basketball, basket weaving, art classes.  A minimum of five per child is required.

3) Have 15 children.  This will help with the socialization, although it won't be as complete as in public school, but it's a start.  This will also lower the lessons and activities requirement... to four per child.  (I only have five children and I'm 40; I'm failing this requirement, I'm sure.  My homeschooling permit may be revoked.)

4)  The homeschooling mom should wear the uniform.  Uniform?  Yes.  Straight denim skirt, white t-shirt (preferably man's cut, not a cute, fitted cut), white or pastel trimmed ankle-length athletic socks, and white Reeboks (the ones from the 80s are ideal).

5)  The homeschooling children should wear the uniform.  Uniform?  Yes.  Pajamas.

6)  You can't eat unless you practice extreme couponing and/or raise all of your own meat, wheat, and produce.  Everyone who homeschools does either one or both... trust me.  Not only will either activity ensure you, your husband, and your unsocialized 15 children do not starve, but extreme couponing will count as math and growing food will count as science.  

7)  Cancel cable or satellite service.  Television is evil.  No one who homeschools watches television - ever!

8)  Subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, or some service providing hours of watchable education.  Everyone who homeschools watches documentaries - always!

9)  Every trip out of the house is a field trip.  Grocery store... field trip!  Movie theatre... field trip!  Power company to pay the electricity bill... field trip!   And while you're in the car, you have the option of carschooling.  That's homeschool in the car.  More CDs and workbooks, less hovering.  Carschooling counts as homeschool.  Field trips count as homeschool!  All waking hours count as homeschool!  Yay!

10)  All homeschooled children are gifted, so your child must be gifted, too.  That's why you're homeschooling, right?  

Oh!  A bonus requirement:  All homeschoolers must make a chicken mummy.  You have a contractual obligation as a homeschooling parent to make a chicken mummy.  Here's mine (completed in my second year of homeschooling - whew!  I got it out of the way early!):

Goal and Project Planning Worksheet

I've made a new form!  It's a Goal and Project Planning Worksheet (I bet you couldn't have guessed that from the title of this blog entry).

Just some background...

I have a lot of unfinished projects I need to tackle.  Putting them on my To Do List for the past year and a half hasn't worked for me.  I thought if I made a sheet to break down my project/goal, then I might be able to tackle the project with more zeal... or in the least, detail what I want to do and see if I get around to it!

I made the sheet first, then I looked for similar sheets online.  So far, I haven't seen anything like mine.  I hope it works for me.  I hope it may work for you, too!

So, without any further ado... here it is!!!

Goal and Planning Worksheet link.  (For ease of printing, it is black & white, but I used a pretty font!)