Today the ladies bible study will be held here at my home. We are working on a study of the Proverbs 31 woman. Today's key verse is Proverbs 31:14 that says "She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar."
I know not many will agree with me, and that is fine, they are entitled to their own opinion, but I STRONGLY believe it is a woman's responsibility to care for her home. I don't want to imply that disrespect by other family members should be allowed. By this I mean I also believe it is every single family member's responsibility to pick up after themselves, but it is the woman's place biblically to be in the home. As a former working mom, I totally understand God's plan and design for the woman. Whether a woman will admit it to herself or not, who she is, is defined by how her home is kept. I am not saying it is right, but inside each woman, a certain amount of pride exists, when her home is clean, clothes are washed and put away, and a good meal has been prepared. It is extremely difficult to care for a family, when you spend more than 12 hours a day outside the home. I cannot tell you the energy I expended when I worked outside the home for 15 years, just to maintain a certain level of cleanliness. It was a struggle just to make sure that everyone had clean clothes for the next day.
For five years I have been home (more or less), and I can say I feel so much better. I have been able to divide my responsibilities into a day a week, which prevents me from feeling like a drudge.
You can see how I divide my major chores up by looking on the list to the far left.
Now each day I do a quick pick me up that looks like this:
make bed and pick up floor
all cups in sink from living room, throw out all trash and vacuum living room
sweep and damp mop foyer
wash dishes
set out meat to thaw for dinner, or put ingredients in crock pot (on a good day)
do a couple loads of laundry
pick up bathroom (put all items in their baskets under sink)
clean toilet (this is every day! this has helped to prevent a lot of illness the past year)
During the week, I also really clean the house, but only ONE day a week. This is the day I wash all the sheets, clean the windows and mirrors, scrub the floors and finish up the laundry. I try to get all the laundry done on Mondays, which is also the day I make more laundry soap, if needed. The kids are responsible for their own rooms. I do not clean their rooms. I do take Hannah's sheets off her bed, and make it up with clean ones, but normally she can pull the comforter up over the bed herself on a daily basis. (But according to her "I'm only four!")
My current attitude towards all this is generally pretty good. Honestly I do get upset if I have to pick up anyone's laundry off the bedroom floor (Rodney) or the bathroom floor (Lauren). I MUCH prefer that ALL laundry be either in the bathroom hamper or the laundry room hamper.
I also hate to find any food wrappers or bread crusts living in the couch cushions.
Another part of my daily responsibilities involves homeschooling the girls. Sometimes this consists of going to the zoo, or working in the garden. At other times, we may just do reading, writing and math, and then spend one day a week where we really accomplish more, like doing research on rattlesnakes, doing a Bible study, a science experiment (dissecting a cow's eye), or just reading all day.
Lauren is more an independent worker, and so normally I give her a list of what to accomplish and she works on it by herself, only coming to me when she needs help. For this month we are taking a break from the Little House Books and working on three books by Jean Craigshead. The first one is titled "My side of the mountain". This book has greatly interested her in hawks/falcons. On any given day, I will have her read 30 minutes, take a paragraph and underline the verbs, nouns or adjectives; practice her penmanship using a different document like the Gettysberg address or a portion of the Declaration of Independence. She also looks up several words from her reading, writes the definitions, reads the news online, and works on her division either in a workbook or by playing math games at www.math.com.
Hannah I read to out of "What your preschooler should know", and she practices writing in a workbook, plus loves to play shapes and numbers games at www.mickeymouseclubhouse.com.
I find it easier to work on Lauren's schoolwork first, and then while she reads alone or plays with the puppies, Hannah and I sit on the front porch to read.
So, that's it in a nutshell, what I will be talking about at tonight's bible study, along with be disciplined in my work (our work). It is tough, and I need much improvement in my energy and attitude. Please pray for me as I give the lesson tonight, that I allow God to speak through me, and that I will keep my opinions out of it.
Weekly menu:
Chicken sandwiches, salad, tea
Spaghetti, homemade bread, salad, tea
Sausage with rice, green beans, tea
Chicken tenders, mac and cheese, tea
Pizza, salad, tea
Homemade SW Soup, homemade bread, tea
Lauren has baked brownies, and two cakes for desserts this afternoon.
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