Saturday 4 October 2014

Four More Sleeps {Home School Mothers Journal}



Not long now and we leave on our family vacation to spend some time with Paul's family in South Africa.  The next few days are going to be a bevvy of activity packing and making sure we have all we need.  Please pray for our safety and His guidance daily.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

My favourite thing this week was…

Things I’m working on…
  • My too long to do list 
  • finding missing books for the library

 On the WWW I’m reading…

 I’m cooking…
  • As little as possible. 

 A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Our God has created so many amazing things.



Blessings
Chareen


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Monday 29 September 2014

The Wild West {Poppins Book Nook}

This months theme for the Poppins Book Nook is The Wild West.  Sir N and I have spent a wonderful six weeks listening to the Little House audio book series.

One of the things that has surprised me time and time again with the Little House books is the depth of practical knowledge that these pioneering families had and just how very much knowledge we've lost in just over 100 years.

The second thing that stood out was just how little our children do today. I think it's a shame really as they have no responsibility growing up and then all of a sudden they graduate and are expected to be responsible.  It has inspired me to have better expectations of my children and to allow Sir N to do more than he has been.  It has given us a platform to discuss things too.

Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder:
  1. Little House in the Big Woods
  2. Farmer Boy
  3. Little House on the Prairie
  4. On the Banks of Plum Creek
  5. By the Shores of Silver Lake
  6. The Long Winter
  7. These Happy Golden Years
  8. Little Town on the Prairie
  9. The First Four Years
The Little House Books: A Pioneer Chronicle is available as a boxed set as well.

It's been so much fun to listen to the families adventures and learn about all the amazing skills that Pa and Ma had.  Wow they did some amazing things on their ten year pioneering move across the USA.  The particular audio books we are listening to have had someone play the fiddle at each part of the book that describes Pa playing his fiddle.



Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Oh my we have had such a wonderful time exploring.

Unit Studies
FREE Lap Pack
Jill from over at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom has made this FREE Poppins Book Nook pack for you with Wild West Theme IntroductionTheme.
  • An official interactive Poppins Book Nook bookmark for this month’s theme
  • This month’s Passport pages to add to your lapbook
  • Several lapbook elements centered around the Wild West
  • Reading response writing prompt
Do you have a favourite 'Little House' book ?  If so please share it in the comments.  If you have a blog and have blogged about it please link up with us and share. Looking forward to reading your adventures

Blessings
Chareen


Your Poppins Book Nook Co-hosts

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove AcademyLearning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for LearningEver After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Water on the Floor ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom's Heart ~ A Moment in our WorldFinchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Poppins Book Nook Clip Art by Melon Headz

Connect with the Poppins Book Nook at
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  2. Facebook
  3. Pinterest

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Wednesday 17 September 2014

The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner {Review}

Keeping track of the day to day has always come easily and naturally to me until recently.  Before the internet and smartphones (aka 'The Olden Days') life was simple and the need for a diary or regular planning didn't seem to feature in my life. 

Fast forward 15 years into my home school journey and it's a very different picture.  I keep missing important things!  Life constantly feels as though it's out of control and no matter what I do I do not seem able to catch up to all the stuff that keeps needing to be done. I have been losing my mojo.  My passion is waining and everything is begining to feel just too hard.  STOP the world I want to get off! Enter The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner.  I am so pleased with this planner from the The 7 Minute Life.

The 7 Minute Life is a time management company created by Allyson Lewis, a motivational speaker and author of The 7 Minute Solution, The 7 Minute Difference, and The 7 Minute Daily Planner. Through her products, she encourages everyone to prioritize, organize, and simplify.

What we received
  • One physical copy of The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner
  • Spiral bound 7.3" by 8.5" book
  • 272 pages
  • Paper back
  • Plastic protective cover on the front and the back
  • ISBN 978-0-9911123-4-0 
If you are a visual person you can watch a 12 minute YouTube clip explaining in depth how the planner works.

How we used it
Receiving my planner was the highlight of my week after surfing the company website and reading about the planner and seeing how others had been using it.    My first task was to read through the preface, introduction and finally  The 7 Minute Life .

While this took time it was a valuable experience as I gained a deeper understanding of the tools available to me in the planner along with an explanation behind each tool which gave them each a deeper value and inspired to use them better.

The heart of this planner is prioritize, organize and simplify.
While that sounds like all we've seen and heard before Alyson takes it to a deeper level and shares a little of her personal journey which led to her developing this tool for us. Prioritzing, organizing and simplifying are not new concepts to me.  My biggest struggle has been how to go from the clutter in my life to organized and simplified. The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner has given me the tools and necessary steps to do that.

The start of the planner is about you. It begins with a series of short exercises designed to help you define your priorities and re-discover your purpose along with your strengths. You use all this information to formulate your 90 day goals.  These are then broken down into bite sized achievable tasks with the aim of assisting you to achieve you goals in 90 days.

The pages helped me answer the questions: What is important to me ? What do I want to accomplish ? Which things are not important and can I let them go ?

You’ll also find pages other pages to help you sort out your life:
  • mental clutter – pages where you can jot down the things bogging down your brain 
  • 90 Day goals – for your work and personal life
  • Unfinished work and home tasks
  • Home repair
  • Grocery List
  • Connections – those people in work or life that you want to keep connected to
  • Annual Calendar at a glance
  • Annual Projects and Tasks
  • 90-Day Calendar Worksheets
  • Monthly Calendar at a Glance
  • Meeting Planner
Learning about mental clutter and how it weighs us down was extremely liberating.  I am not a note a jotter.  I've always carried my to do list in my head.  I now realize that with all the extra in my life these days I NEED to WRITE it down in a book and let the book CARRY the weight which in turn will free up my mind to enjoy life again.

This page for me is the heart of The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner.  Each evening I take a cup of tea, sit with my planner and fill in this page.  7 minutes is all you need.  The top right list is worth it's weight in gold.  This is the key to unlocking that feeling of accomplishing your to do list.  Here is where I list my top FIVE things I want to get done before 11 am the next day.  Having this list in place and ready to tackle sets me up for SUCCESS.

In my heart I want to connect with people.  I really love the 7 Minute Life Connections spot.  Here I can keep track of those I want to connect with.  If I haven't connected I simply carry their names forward to the next day.

The unfinished tasks list is a great accountability tool.  Here is where I need to be honest with myself and keep this list where I can see it rather than sweeping it under the carpet and pretending it doesn't exist.  As I tick off my 5 before 11 I can transfer things from here into my 5 before 11 list.

Aiming to be healthy and actually being healthy are two different things.  At the bottom of the page there is a small area for me to keep personal track of what I actually do.

The final thing at the bottom of the page is the crux of The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner. Did I do what I said I would do today ? Yes or No. 

The second page contains a space for: appointments, Thank you notes, voice mail and notes.  If there are any sections in here that are not needed by you there are many ideas out there to tweak your planner and make it work for you.  Some of my crew mates are using these areas for
  • List of "honey dos" or a section for items your children need to accomplish
  • Prayer lists, particularly urgent, immediate items
  • Meal plans and grocery lists
  • Ongoing project lists - both short-term and long-term
  • Menu ideas for the future
  • Memory verses that you want to work on as a family or individually
  • Bible study in depth

Cost of The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner
  • One 90 day paperback with wire spine $24.95
  • 90 day PRE-dated daily planner $9.97

Connect with The 7 Minute Life

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Free Time Management Strategy Tools
On this page you will find 12 min clip on how to improve your daily productivity in just 7 minutes a day as well as the following free downloadable tools to help you implement what you learn.
  • The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Progress Report
  • Prioritize Worksheet Discovering Purpose
  • 90 Day Personal Goals Worksheet
  • 90 Day Work Goals Worksheet
  • Unfinished Home Tasks
  • Unfinished Work Tasks
  • The Learning Worksheet
  • 90 Day Calendar Worksheet
  • Connections (Personal)
  • Connections (Business)
  • Your Highest and Best
  • Goal/Project Worksheet
  • The 7 Minute Solution Flowchart
  • 15 Minute Increment Tracking Sheet
  • Grocery List
  • Travel Checklist
  • Mental Clutter
  • Annual Projects and Tasks
  • The 7 Minute Life™ Written Assessment Worksheet
Read More
I LOVE my 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner and the changes it has brought about in my life.  I'm loving the release of mental clutter and the sense of accomplishment I am having upon completing tasks that I never seemed to get to before.  This planner is helping me reconnect with my priorities.

Blessings
Chareen


Click to read Crew Reviews