Home School Heaven

I'm just back from a blissful 48 hours in the Bunya Mountains with my friends from the 'hood: the home school motherhood, that is.

 

After a gorgeous time reading, talking, eating healthy food, doing a workout (yes, I'm sore!), talking, napping, knitting, talking and talking some more, I came up with a list of things I would like to do to improve my entire life. 

Then I will thereby obtain a sweet spot of juicy, snarky blissfulness rarely achieved by home school mums....or any mums for that matter. My theory is I can aim for this sweet spot and enjoy the twisty turns on the way to the destination that will probably end up in an entirely opposite place to what I intended - perfection.

More likely, my destination will end up with me on my knees literally and figuratively, crying out to God. Ugly crying. Not pretty, drippy tears. Retreating to my Bible to remind myself of God's promises that He is always with me (Joshua 1:9) and He will never leave me (Isaiah 41:10) and that He is gentle with me, the mum with 'young' (Isaiah 40:11)......because I forget those precious promises and start doing things on my own strength.

You know what?

That's the best place I can be right now. I look forward to aiming high and being taken on a journey by God.

So, while I'm aiming for this, whether I get to the pinnacle of my mountain isn't my decision. It's His.

Without further adieu.....my list of ideas from my weekend away with time to ruminate on life, home schooling and health. It's actually what I have typed into my notepad on my phone, without intending to turn it into a blog post, but I thought it would be fun to share!

Maya's Recipe for Home School Happiness in 2018

1. Get magnesium - I have anxiety that gets pretty high some days. I've found that taking a good dose of good magnesium regularly throughout the day calms me down. Plus, it has a multitude of other health benefits.

2. Cooked breakfast for the family each morning - I hate feeling hungry by 10am and having to resort to eating something sugary or unhealthy or unsatisfying at morning tea time. I want our family to have a good start to the day with full bellies! This is going to require getting out of bed a bit earlier to make sure it's all ready by the time the children have completed their morning chores and tidied their rooms.

3. Tidy rooms before breakfast - I have struggled in the past to set aside a specific time for the children to pick up their clothes and toys off their bedroom floors. Now, I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and try the before breakfast time slot. I'm hoping that being hungry will motivate them to tidy their bedrooms quickly, as opposed to tidying bedrooms before bed, when they move slo-o-o-wly to delay lights out!

4. Eat more dahl. Yummy. Filling. Economical. Easy to cook. Do you need more reasons?

5. Granola. Eat more. A bit more expensive with nuts, coconut, seeds and dried fruit....but oh my. Delish! Healthy!

6. Absolutely Wholesales - to access ingredients for no. 4 and 5 more economically. Less trips to the shops. Bliss!

7. Kombucha jar and scoby - must drink more of this delicious, healthy, fizzy, gut-bacteria-replenishing beverage!

8. Read aloud to older children after dinner - if my husband is home, we put the younger children to bed while the eldest four children do what I call 'Post-Dinner Jobs'. Then I'm usually pretty keen to put them to bed. However, I've realised that I'm missing out on the perfect time to read aloud to them, enjoy some cuddles and quiet time together and prepare for bed. That's going to change this week!

9. Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud, read aloud - I literally have this repeated in my little electronic notepad! It really is the best thing for children. Quality books read to them.

10. SC (Slow Cooker) Lunches - my children often request Chana Dahl for dinner, but I think I'm going to make it as our lunch most days when it's a bit cooler. It's economical, easy to cook and they love it. I'm also going to cook Dahl or other Slow Cooker dishes. Nothing better than having lunch ready to go instead of pulling out bread and jam for sandwiches...again!

11. Library borrowing: Non-Fiction only! - I'm tired of the (mostly) rubbish on offer at the library in terms of fiction for 8-18 year olds. It's all witch-craft, bitchy girl stories or mindless 'novels' about Shopkins or Hello Kitty. Bleurgh. Don't get me wrong, our libraries are fantastic for holiday clubs, weekly Lego clubs, non-fiction books, DVDs and beautiful friendly staff. No more rubbish fiction for our children. We have many, many good books at home they can enjoy.

13. Zanzibar and Peace Lilly - my house is often very dusty. We do live in a dusty area, but I also have nine people in a 'normal' sized home, so cleaning doesn't happen as often as I'd like. My interested was piqued by a blog post written by Racheal at Birdsong Market Garden. According to her research, the best plant for improving indoor air quality is the Zanzibar. It's now on my list to purchase as a matter of urgency.......along with a Japanese Peace Lilly, my absolute favourite indoor plant! I was explaining to my friends on our way back home this afternoon that I love getting into nature because it reminds me of God. It refreshes my soul. So, I'd like some of nature inside our home to remind me of God and also with the added bonus of cleaner air!

There you go......my aims for reaching that sweet spot in life where one has it all figured out.... but probably only to find that it's the journey and not the destination that makes it all worthwhile.