Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Family Closet

This post has been over a year in the making... I am so excited to finally share the concept of the family closet with you and let you know how much our family has benefited from it.  The basic idea of a family closet is to consolidate all of the family's clothing into one closet - ideally using the largest closet or maybe even the smallest room (if you have a lot of clothing!) in the house.  All of the laundry comes and goes to one location, cutting down on needless trips back and forth to other bedrooms to retrieve and put away clothing.  It will take serious mettle to make the change and do all of the purging it will most likely require (it is not for the organizational faint of heart), but boy, is it worth it in the end!

Why did I do this??

A little over a year ago, I was in the later stages of pregnancy with my third child, soon to bring the total number of members of our family to six (me, my husband, my stepson, and our younger three).  I was already fighting a losing battle with clutter, housecleaning and most definitely laundry.  I would empty the dryer, and make five different piles of clothing on our bed that would then (ideally) go off to 3 - 4 different locations.  Lots of traffic back and forth to get the job done (not to mention time), so most of the time the clean laundry would sit, in a pile on our bed, only to be relocated to the floor on a nightly basis because I was just to tired to do it.  We would routinely go to the pile instead of our closet to find something to wear.

I bought baskets.  Lots of them.  I labeled each one with a different family member's name.  So the BIG pile was sorted into the different baskets, with the idea that each basket would be emptied (ie. PUT AWAY).  I was an organizational genius!.... with about 7 different laundry baskets, FULL of clean clothes, on the bedroom floor.  Day after day.  Lots of tripping and subsequent yelling was involved.

Something had to change.

Enter in rain gutter bookshelves.  Huh?  Well...Kimberly, over at Raising Olives, had a fantastic idea for a way to organize books.  So fantastic that one of the moms in our homeschool group (THANK YOU Gail!!!), was inspired and shared a link to the rain gutter bookshelf tutorial with our group.  I followed the link to the Raising Olives blog, and I was fascinated with how easy and creative these bookshelves were!  I wish we had the wall space for these!  Anyway, I can never seem to leave a new blog without exploring it thoroughly (remember the Rabbit Hole??), so I spent the better part of an afternoon learning a little bit about everything this mom (Kimberly) does to organize her large family.  We are secular, so I glossed over the religious aspects to the site, and just focused on searching for a more efficient way to do homeshcool and household stuff.  Then I came across her post for a family closet.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  The clouds parted, the sun came out and I distinctly heard trumpets blaring in the background.  My laundry problem was solved!  Now, I just had to get my husband on board.

Dean was not convinced that all of the reshuffling of clothing was going to create the desired change I was searching for.  He thought that this was just another lame attempt by me to create a huge mess under the guise of making an 'improvement' in our household.  He was right.  The process did create a huge mess.  It took about two months to sort it all out. 

Disclaimer: Anytime I come up with a project, I routinely fail to remember the fact that I have approximately 12 minutes of "free time" during the day.  So therefore, any project I take on takes a ridiculously long time to complete.

I began by designating which portion of our closet/soon-to-be the 'family closet' the kids would take over.  I have probably moved things around at least a dozen times since the initial go, (driving everyone crazy), but at last we have what works for us.  Don't forget, we had a new family member to work in as well, after it was all set up.  I was determined to make the closet totally accessible to the little kids so that they could take on the task of dressing/undressing themselves totally on their own.  So the lower clothing rods were for the little kids, and the lower shelves were theirs as well.  We are lucky in that the closet came with four rods at various heights, and one wall had floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving.  It was such a bonus to not have to factor in purchasing any special shelving to make this project work.  We did end up purchasing one organizer, a unit that hangs from the rod and goes down to the floor.  I think the intended purpose is for storing shoes, but Dean and I use it for our socks and underwear. 

Then I took every last bit of clothing out of each of the kids' closets and sorted EVERYTHING.  This meant all of Jordan's current clothing, a massive pile of his older clothing that was to handed down to Owen (and Colin), everything in his dresser, all of Rylan's clothing and all of Owen's.  I dumped out and reclaimed all of the clear storage boxes in the basement (creating another mess, for another time).  I sorted out every piece of clothing by size and put what was to be kept into its designated box.  Everything that was of current size was hung up/folded and put away in the family closet.

As I mentioned, each child got a shelf (about 4 feet long).  A small bin is there to hold socks and underwear/diapers, and then all of the items that would routinely go into a dresser (pjs, shorts and pants).  By stacking them on a shelf, each item is easily seen and you can find what you need quickly.  I always hated how small items could get buried in a dresser drawer and then get forgotten about. Since the dressers were cleaned out, that meant that they could be repurposed or gotten rid of.  Jordan's dresser and nightstand were sold in a garage sale, thus freeing up a ton of floorspace in his room.  This meant that he could now have a bigger bed and pass his twin bed onto Rylan.  The dresser that housed some of Rylan's things is also the changing table, so it wasn't going anywhere.  We could repurpose it though, and it now holds all of the children's bedding and baby blankets (thus freeing up a lot of shelf space in the linen closet). 

Initially, I put the clothing storage boxes into neat stacks in the now-empty closet in what was Rylan and Owen's room.  It stayed that way for the better part of year.  Also in that closet were their baby keepsake things and baby stuff that would soon be put in use when Colin arrived.  In Jordan's closet I left behind a massive pile of clothing that he was currently growing out of, all of his keepsakes, extra bedsheets, and about 10 thousand household odds and ends.  One of the important benefits of clearing out these closets is that you are freeing up that space to store other things, or creating a new purpose for them.  They could become a private hide-out for the kids, a place to keep their special things, or a place to store their toys.  I have other ideas for these two closets.

My goal had always been to get every piece of clothing, either in current use or soon-to-be-used, into the family closet.  I wanted the clothing bins in the family closet so that they would be easily accessible.  The final push came just after Christmas when we started to clean out the basement.  The kids had swapped rooms and roommates, so out came all of the nicely-labeled clothing bins from Rylan and Owen's closet.  Piles of clothing that needed to be added to those bins had grown over the previous year, and were located all over the house.  And I mean all over.  A pile sat on the kitchen counter for the better part of two months.  For whatever reason, it was just too difficult to drag out the bins and put stuff away when it was located in a different closet.  The newly removed bins sat in the upstairs hallway and in our bedroom for about 4 weeks, waiting to be sorted through again, as I added stuff.  When the clothing bins got the boot from one closet, it was only natural that they should go into the family closet.  They are now up and out of the way, but totally accessible when I need to get in them - AND there is a step-stool available at all times, so no excuse for random clothing piles anymore! 

As for the newly-emptied closet in what is now Jordan and Owen's room, every last bit of Christmas stuff was brought upstairs from the basement and sorted, purged, organized and stuffed into that closet. (we are currently emptying out the basement so that we can finish it)  The closet is now full from side to side, floor to ceiling with Christmas stuff.  This means two things: 1) Since it is full, I can no longer ADD any more Christmas paraphernalia, unless there is room in an existing storage tub.  So, for items like ornaments, there is still tons of room in each child's ornament box.  2) It is an excellent use of space that we only need access to once or twice a year.  This means that furniture can go in front of the closet doors, adding sorely needed wall space in that room.  Currently, Owen's bed, nightstand and bookshelf are in front of the closet doors.  This could definitely be a future post topic!

Jordan's old closet (which is now a part of Rylan and Colin's room) still holds some of his mementos, and the random household items.  We had initially brought up all of the ski gear to store in this closet.  It became apparent that this wasn't a good idea when Dean was preparing to go skiing earlier this season, and realized late into the night that he needed to retrieve his gear and the kids were already asleep.  So...Now, everyone has their own bin/drawer to put their ski gear in -in the family closet.  Snow pants are on hangers, and extra hats, face masks, mittens and gloves are now in these drawers.  We also moved all of my sewing stuff, fabrics and craft supplies into this closet (again, to empty out the basement).  It is in total disarray though, and needs to be sorted and organized. - at some undesignated time in the future.... when I have some free time.  ;)

The last of the transformation came in the past few weeks.  I moved all of the suitcases and duffel bags (from the basement) into the closet.  Packing/and unpacking can happen right inside the closet, on a folding table.  I also moved in (just yesterday) all of my and Dean's memento-type clothing (wedding dress, suits, Dean's late-father's Naval uniform and pea coat, etc..), and about a bazillion coats - I'm not thrilled that they are there, but there is really no other place in the house that makes sense - and the basement is off-limits.   We do have a minuscule coat closet just off of the garage door, but it isn't really conducive to holding coats - it is for storing all of Dean's commuting/biking gear, the vacuum, diaper bag, and small cooler(s) for picnics.  Dean mounted 2 rows of coat hooks (six each) for day-to-day coats, but really, this only works if there is 1-2 coats on each hook.  Add the 24 different coats that we could potentially use on a daily basis (in the winter time) and the whole ease-of-use concept just breaks down.  It doesn't help that Rylan's dress-up princess dresses take up almost the whole lower row of hooks.  (We really need a child's-sized coat tree for the playroom).

Well, anyway, I can now call this project OFFICALLY complete, and I can present my video to you to show the finished product:  Enjoy!




Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Lark





I am mostly a lark.  I can occasionally be a night owl, but I don't like having to be super quiet, and sometimes being up late at night is just creepy.  I prefer the early morning.  You still have to be quiet, but it just feels different.  It is just you and the birds...  This was the time when I did most of my writing in college.  NO - not because my paper was due in just a few hours, it was because my head was clear, I was (relatively) rested and I knew I wouldn't be bothered.

I have enjoyed being the only lark in this family for a few years now.  Other than the several months it took to get a newborn to sleep through the night, I have enjoyed reigning supreme in the early morning hours.  Until now.  Now I have company.  You see, Colin is a lark as well.  It's not that I don't enjoy his sweet presence, it is just that I no longer have the freedom to do as I please.... This was my reading or writing time - it was sacred!  It still is, it is just now broken into five minute segments... I get up to grab more Cheerios, warm a bottle, change a diaper, get some toys, fish him out of the dog food bowl, clean up the now-dumped out dog water bowl, find a binkie, wipe up the spit up and of course hold him.  And hold him.  And hold him.  And try to type with one hand.  I put him down, only to pop up a minute later because he has toddled off and I can't hear him anymore...  This explains why my writing of late is so terribly fragmented and hard to follow.  I can never a carry a train of thought to it's natural conclusion.  I've been surviving the last year writing Facebook statuses!

Colin wakes up around 5:30 every morning.  It makes no difference what time he went to bed, that is when he wakes up.  Some mornings he just might actually fall back asleep - IF he has been able to locate his binkie.  Otherwise he gets progressively more agitated.  In the meantime, Dean and I are semi-asleep, taking turns whacking each other in the backside, in the hopes that the other will get up and take care of Colin.  Now, I did say I was a lark - but it is with limitations... I prefer 6-6:30... There is just something about 5:30.  I can't seem to get up with any sort of can-do attitude; there is serious trudging involved.  Thank goodness that Rylan is Colin's roommate.  We did that on purpose because that little girl could sleep through a freight train.

Our morning routine used to be seriously messed up around here.  Colin just turned 13 months.  Up until about 2 months ago, I was averaging 5 hours of sleep a night.  There was no lark to be found.  If, by the off-chance I could stumble back to bed, I would.  And sleep until 8 or so (the kids were asleep anyway).  That meant we started school work around 10- 10:30... which meant that we got almost absolutely nothing done.  We would have to leave the house at 12:30 for karate or gymnastics, not return until 2:30-3, and then it was afternoon nap routine.  If we got back to school at all, it was a small window between 4 -5.  As you can imagine, my frustration at the situation was enormous.  We were not getting anywhere!  A vicious cycle had been established and it was going to take something drastic to break it.

Enter in the Subaru fiasco.  I may not believe in God's will, but I do believe that things happen for a reason - a way for the Universe to re-establish order and balance.  Three weeks ago, during a Sunday ski trip to Copper Mtn. (Dean and Jordan), the head gasket blew.  There was no saving the Subaru.  She had to be towed home (thank goodness for AAA), and was pronounced by our trusted mechanic.  The Subaru was my car from before we got married, and had become Dean's car to commute back and forth to work.  He has a 70 mile (round trip) commute every day.  We cannot replace the car immediately, so we had to explore other options.  The best that we found was that Dean join a commuter pool.  He found VanGo - a commuter van that takes a specific group of riders from our town to where he works - all of the riders work within the same 5 mile radius.  We have used this service for two weeks now.  It costs $153 a month - less than the monthly gas budget for the Subaru alone!

Dean has to be at the designated rendezvous point by 7 am.  This presents some interesting challenges.  Dean is not a lark.  He typically rolls out of here by 8:30 or so - late to work and leaves late to get home (to put in a full day), so dinner wasn't until 8-8:30.  Our vicious cycle of go to bed late, get up late (except for me) has dominated our lives for quite some time.  Last summer we had a different schedule going though...  Dean started cycling in earnest.  There was a new bus service that began last June, that runs from here to Boulder and beyond.  Dean began a routine of getting up and leaving the house by 5:30 to ride to the bus stop, get on the bus, get off the bus about 5 miles from work and ride in.  On the other days, Dean would drive and ride a much longer ride during lunch.  A couple of times he even rode to work (32 miles) and then took the bus home.  Long story short - we know he CAN get up early and get to work early because it has been done before.  We have made this current transition quite seamlessly.  We leave the house at 6:50am.  If there are any kids up, they go with.  If they are asleep, we wake up Jordan and give him the baby monitor and house phone to keep by him on the bed.  And then we go.  My round trip takes 16-18 minutes.  I am a firm believer in Free Range kids, so I am all about empowering Jordan to be in charge of sleeping children while I am gone.  :)  Two weeks into this routine it has been great!!  I get home at 7:08 am and get the kids up immediately and start showers, diaper changes and so forth.  By 8 am we are ready to start school work - which has made a HUGE difference for us.

Best of all - since the change in daily schedule, my 'lark' has returned and the little lark keeps Dean and I company in the morning.  A few mornings though, he has managed to go back to sleep.  I am still having to hunt for some quiet reading/writing time.  I take it when the opportunity presents itself.  As soon as I am regularly logging in 7-8 hours of sleep a night and make up for my 2 year-long run of sleep deprivation, I am going to push my wake-up time back to 5 am (which for whatever crazy reason is easier than 5:30) to carve out some 'me' time.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Expiration Date

My Colorado Professional Teaching License with Elementary Endorsement expires today...

"It is noble to teach oneself; it is still nobler to teach others."  - Mark Twain

I chose to teach in public education for these reasons...
"Elementary education is my occupation of choice because I find personal satisfaction in serving and educating the youth of my community.  I recognize the crucial need for motivated instructors and enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for learning.  I am attracted to the communal goal within the schools to give students knowledge and skills that will make a positive difference in their futures.  Seeing a student's self-discovery and growth validates my desire to teach, and renews my sense of purpose." - Educational Autobiography of Kirsten Pearson, 2003

I remember writing that.  It is was one of the easiest writing assignments I had - it flowed verbatim from thought to keyboard during one of the thousands of writings sessions it took to complete all of the writing assignments necessary to complete my Professional Teaching Portfolio, integrated work samples, lesson plans and induction.  You would go into a cold sweat if you only knew what beginner teachers have to go through to just graduate college with their Provisional License.  I look at all of my binders now and just shake my head.  So much work...  Stupid.  None of it made me a better teacher.  It just made me tired.  I experienced quality introspection through talking with colleagues, students and professors...NOT writing endless papers about the merits of the Colorado Performance-Based Standards.

I choose to continue my teaching career in my home for these reasons:
I feel personal satisfaction in serving and educating my children.  I recognize the crucial need for motivated and involved parents and I enjoying being an integral part of my children's lives every day.  I enjoy sharing with my children my enthusiasm for learning something new every day.  I am attracted to the goal within the homeschooling community to give our children the ability to explore their interests and enhance their knowledge at a pace, depth and breadth that suits each individual child.  This I KNOW will make a positive difference in their future.  Seeing my children experience self-discovery on a daily basis validates my desire to teach, and renews my sense of purpose.

My Colorado Professional Teaching License may no longer pass the sniff test, but that does not mean I am no longer a teacher.  Will I jump through the hoops necessary to get it renewed?  Six hours of college credit at the the price of several hundred dollars and at least a hundred hours of personal time (neither of which we have) makes that a definite "No". 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Rabbit Hole...

This is an 'off' week (a week we don't "do school"), so I have been spending an obscene amount of time catching up with my favorite blogs.  In doing so, I added 15  (**15!!**) more blogs to my favorites list.  Geez.  No wonder I never get anything done.  Anyway... I got a lot of great ideas...

Muffin Tin Monday

Ever heard of this??  I had seen/heard of using a muffin tin to serve lunch to toddlers.  You filled all of the cups (using very small portion sizes) with foods from all of the different food groups, and then let your child 'graze' over the tin, sampling here and there.  The idea was that they ended up eating more than they likely would otherwise, and it would end up being a pretty balance meal.  Intriguing theory... 

Well, the over-achieving, too-much-time-on-their-hands Bento Box crowd got wind of this and just went nuts!  Now there are entire blogs DEVOTED to this little foodie art form.  Yeah for voyeurs like me who have run out of ideas on what to serve their kids.  Just take a look....  Muffin Tin Mom has the most amazing and creative ideas - and touts the creation of the idea, so this is where the credit is due.  I don't know if I can copy any of her pictures, so go take a look.  Now.  I'll wait!  Wow - see what I mean?  I feel so inadequate.  Sugary Flower has the prettiest web page I have ever seen!  Her ideas are amazing as well - and all of her other baked goods just make you swoon.  Bonus that she is an Aussie.

So here is my feeble attempt that I made on Monday...


Clockwise: Cinnamon applesauce, corn, dinosaur nuggets, grape jelly sandwiches, yellow bell pepper, ketchup
This is Owen's 'before' shot.  I picked up the silicone baking cups (6 yellow and 6 pink) at Hobby Lobby earlier in the morning.  They were on clearance for $3.99.  woo-hoo!


'After' shot.  Notice that they are in a stack.  As Owen finished with each cup (one at a time - he eats just like me!!), he added to the stack.  OCD I tell you....



Rylan's 'before'...



And her 'after'.  She had three helpings... which was kind of a pain because I had to keep refilling the cups, but she ate more than she ever typically does at lunch time, which is a very good thing.

The upside: the kids eat!!!  I don't waste any of the "extras" when I use the tiny cutters - Colin just gets the scraps, cut into smaller pieces.
The downside: add another half-hour to meal-prep time, and raise the expectation that we need to eat EVERY meal this way!  I think just doing it 2-3 times a week is fine with me!

Review Box

We use All About Spelling in these here parts.  Part of the system is the review box.  This homeschooling mom had an excellent alternative/extended use for this system.


8166


Ohhh... this has my wheels turning... just think of the possibilities.  I wish I could make a beeline to Office Max right now.  The organizer in me says, "Yes!  Yes!"  The reality maven says 'What are you kidding me???  Review??  Why don't you actually COMPLETE a lesson and then we'll talk".  Sigh.

Just putting this post together and going through and linking everything took an additional hour of time (because I found even more stuff to look at) I don't really have.  See what I mean about a Rabbit Hole??  Happy wandering!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

High school is a long way off... or is it?

Dean and I had an interesting discussion on the way to his drop-off point for ride-share this morning.  Will Jordan attend public high school.  Dean thinks that he will.  I say 'Hell NO!'.  No way.  No no no no no.

(okay, I just had to retrieve Colin's graham cracker from Abby's mouth (dog) and give it back to him.  Is there something wrong with that?  Damn dog...)

I see the value in looking ahead and making plans.  You just can't do that with homeschooling, in this respect anyway...  Jordan is still growing.  He is still learning about what life is all about, and what direction he would like to go with his education.  We are not unschoolers, so I don't mean that Jordan gets to go only where he decides to go.  I follow guidelines about what Jordan should be learning about. (Rebecca Rupp's Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School, and Core Knowledge).  So he is getting maximum exposure to multiple curriculum topics.  The only thing that I am unsure of at the high school level is math.  But that can easily be handled by A) an excellent online curriculum  B) his father  C) a tutor if need be.  Otherwise, I am totally comfortable doing the high school years with him.  In fact, I am looking forward to it, because I will be learning as well, or at least refreshing my memory.  There is so much wonderful stuff out there to learn about.  Every day I troll the web, looking for stuff.  You can even take virtual tours of art galleries!!  I love what you can do with the aid of the internet now.

Now, I am going to say something very bold and likely it will touch off a huge debate with my husband... but I think a college education is totally over-rated.  (gasp!).  I won't say I am anti-college,  but I am getting there.  NOT because I got burned with my degree (totally useless and worth nothing to me), but because it was a system (in our country anyway) designed (4 centuries ago!!) by ego-hungry, elitist fat-cats that felt that they were entitled to decide what 'learning' had to take place before you could indeed be endowed with a very expensive piece of paper.  They decided that the ONLY way to become a doctor, lawyer, banker, ect... was through THEIR system, thus making knowledge a commodity - only available to those who could afford it.  Which is an even bigger problem today.  No amount of textbook reading can surpass the experiences one has through apprenticeships and the like - which is why the traditional format of college no longer appeals to me.  It is not the best way to learn.  Also, a word about 'electives'.  Sure, you want a well-rounded education.  But 'electives'??  I am convinced it is just the university's way of soaking you for another year's-worth of tuition while delivering you absolutely nothing worthwhile.  What about everything you learned before college??  Isn't that considered well-rounding??  You had to learn a little bit about art, music, history, geography, civics and the like....  why must you continue in college when it has nothing to do with your chosen career path??  Isn't that the job of public education??  Oh wait... never mind.  You only learn about reading, writing and math in public school now.  ;)  If you are truly passionate about history - you will continue to learn about it for the rest of your life anyway!!

I want for my children to live their passion.  I don't want them to just have a job that pays the bills.  I want them to LOVE their work - so much so that it won't feel like 'work' to them.  If a degree is necessary for that line of work ( a medical researcher. for example) then college won't be a wasted experience because they will WANT to learn everything they can about it.  I also hope that they don't turn 18 and just go on to college because that's the thing to do.  I hope they wait a few years until they are seasoned 20-somethings, and know what they want. 

What I loath the most about public high school is the peer influence.  I wish I could go back and re-do my academic experience - without all of the peer stuff.  Yes, I loved being in marching band - but it lead to so much other social stuff, that there was no time for schoolwork.  And the social 'stuff' still leaves a bad taste in my mouth to this day.  I love my friends, we still keep in touch, but so much angst, drama, fighting, silliness, exposure to smoking and drinking... I DO NOT want my children to have to experience that.  The bullying, the threat of drugs and weapons, incompetent teachers... the list goes on and on.  The bright spots were the small handful of really great teachers that I had that continue to be an inspiration to this day.  But the overall experience leaves me feeling that I wish I had been homeschooled too.  Sad isn't it.

I am committed to see this through all the way!