No Spend November

have you heard of Ruth Soukup?  She has a challenge once a year or so called Living Well & Spending Zero - most people started this challenge in October, but we opted for a start day of November 1st. There are the basics & the already planned for/committed to that you may pay for, but other than that...you don't spend a dime.

It's going to be interesting.

But as we have had so many unexpected expenses pop up, we figured this would be a wise challenge to undertake.  If you are interested check out her blog and sign up for the challenge as you get a daily email full of encouragement and mini challenges along the way to keep you focused & prevent any cheating. :)

Before the challenge began, I spent sometime on Pinterest to beef up my menu plan and help me select healthy/cost effective options in which most of the ingredients I already have on hand.  I love Pinterest.  I use it for homeschool ideas, bible study ideas, menu ideas....you get the idea. :)

We just completed The Hittite Warrior for school (by Joanne Williamson), this book was really good. I love historical fiction, it just has a way of making history come alive and settle in our minds and hearts, making us engage it on a deeper level.  I include myself in this because I am learning as much, if not more, than my kids.

I started a loop cleaning schedule (idea taken from Sarah from Amongst Lovely Things), our days are usually like a roller coaster up one day, down the next.  This loop scheduling idea is ingenious!!!  You make a list of tasks and instead of assigning them to days of the week you just move in order of tasks, for example you have a list of tasks that reads: toilets, counter tops, mop floors, dust.  Let's say on Monday you get to do your task, so you clean the toilets.  But then it's Thursday until you get time to do something again, don't despair, you simply move on to the next task on your list, which is counter tops.  See the brilliance?!?

We are also trying a version of the loop schedule in school.  We are looping hands on, visual, audio, & taste/smell.  Because of the uniqueness of our challenges, we can't loop subjects, we have to do the same subjects everyday...but how we do them?

That we can loop.

Our core subjects are Table Time, Bible, Lang Arts, Math, and either History or Science (History in the fall and spring, Science in the winter and summer). Each day I look at a task list and see how they did that subject yesterday, for example if they did a hands on project like made a notebook page or wrote a summary response, then today I might assign a you tube video or if I can find it a Netflix or Amazon video.  Something that engages the subject(s) in a visual aspect.  Lots of times the sensory ideas overlap - for example visual and hands on...but we try to focus on one a day.  This helps strengthen their weak areas, while also using their strengths to further engage their minds in the subject at hand.

My husband just returned from a week long business trip, sick :(.  While he was gone I listened to Timothy Keller sermons on you tube at bedtime.  Have you ever heard of Timothy Keller?  He's got an awesome grasp on how to set your heart upon God.

This post was random, I hope to try and write more, at least once a week.  I don't want to get so caught up in the difficulty or happiness of the moment and forget the details of the process.  I think my kids will love to someday go back read about their days.  :).

Have an awesome week.