mathmom's blog

One of the parts of our summer plan is that each child does 30-40 minutes worth of a chore every day.  When you have 12+ hours of freedom every day, spending less than an hour on a task is not too daunting.  Also, I'm required to work with them so they see me doing work too and it's less lonely. The great thing is all the tasks that get done.  With 3 people working, Luke's room got cleaned pretty quickly.  We sorted through the old toys and found some for a (theoretical) garage sale. We moved a lot of mulch. Luke invented a long stick to help him dust the baseboards and behind the couches (dusting is much more fun when you are inventing too!).  I'm a bit worried actually that we will run out of things to do...  I'm sure I can ask friends and relatives for ideas. One of my favorite "chores" was the trash bag I asked Amanda to make for the car.  She used a gallon ziploc for the liner, and strong magnet for the strap so that we can take it out and put...

The other day we went to viola/violin lessons.  Since Luke was out of school he got to come with us.  Eleanor and Amanda each have a 45 minute lesson, I have a half-hour lesson, so that means Luke gets to wait for 2 hours while his sisters have lessons.  Ah, the joy of being the 3rd child. In addition, after the first lesson of each month, we get a "treat" at the local coffee shop.  They sell bubble teas, as well as lots of other bakery treats.  Luke had had a treat after his piano lesson the week before, so just the girls needed a treat that week. As you might guess, Luke asked for a treat while his sisters were getting a treat.  I pointed out that he had already had a treat and that it wouldn't be fair for him to have another, but I didn't say it was out of the question.  In my mind, I was thinking that he had behaved very nicely during the lesson and he was pretty hungry since it was close to lunch.  I was almost ready to say that he could ...

We have almost survived one week of summer vacation. The great problem of summer vacation is the draw of various devices/computers/videos/TV/etc.  Given the chance I think my kids would spend 100% of their time playing video games.  So this summer we have a rule that there are no screens between 9 and 4.  The ban includes playing games, watching videos, and reading random websites. The ban does not include writing or researching, so I am legal right now.  Along with this is a rule that you need to practice, do one chore, and do 3 other useful things each day.  "Useful things" are very broadly defined and include playing games with your sibling, cooking (one sweet per week), making a craft,  bike riding, going to the pool, reading...  They do not include bothering your mom, pestering your siblings, or complaining.  If there is too much non-useful stuff going on, I will then assign useful tasks like dusting or cleaning bathrooms. We will see h...

I hate weeding.  I hate most that no matter how much you pull the weeds they always come back, and if you relax your vigilance for even one week they are suddenly out of control.  My favorite strategy for weeds is to put down a layer of mulch so you can't see them anymore.  I know, it doesn't work forever, but at least it solves to problem for a while. So last week we got a truckload of mulch.  In past years we have left the mulch to sit for a few weeks while we gathered up the time to spread it.  This year I resolved to spread it immediately---unfortunately, we had some painting left over from last week to do.  I couldn't do the painting (it required being tall and being up on a ladder) so we decided Michael would paint with Eleanor and I spread mulch with Amanda and Luke. Yay. Fortunately for me, Amanda and Luke are older now and more responsible.  What's more, they go to crossfit and are strong.  Amanda spread (she was excellent at the deta...