Simplifying: Finding a Win-Win Solution

I met with some other homeschool Moms the other night. Support and companionship is essential in the homeschool world. On this particular night, the topic of discussion was organization.

I realized in that exchange, doing the dishes and feeding the family is quite a job when you are home all day. At times, the hump of my day has been lunch. In the past, I've overcome it by occasionally buying paper plates to assist with the lunch clean up.

Suddenly a light bulb went on. My daughter likes to wash up the dishes. It's more of a play activity for her. Why have I not developed this interest into a solution?

For some reason I never think to ask her to help with the dishes. She's old enough. Yesterday, I asked her if she would like a new job - washing the dishes up after lunch! She readily agreed although she was a little disappointed that she just had to rinse them and put them in the dishwasher. She was hoping to handwash them all and spend a lot of time with the water. =)
Delegation is an important part of simplifying life. I just had not realized my children were old enough to take on that responsibility. Delegating the dishes from lunch clean up was a win-win solution for both of us. I think I heard her humming as she was rinsing!

Homeschool Tools: Write-A-Mat

I love to peruse book stores. I am a complete nerd when it comes to "back to school" supplies. I recently headed to our local teacher's store (an exiting combination for me) for some home school tools. I came across Write-A-Mat. I purchased two - learning cursive and the Presidents of the United States of America, updated with Barack Obama's picture and information. The Presidents Write-A-Mat sits daily at my son's place at the table. At every meal, he moves his plate over and learns about the presidents. He asks me all sorts of questions. He makes comments, like Steve Carell (only known to my son as Evan Baxter in Evan Almighty) looks like Abraham Lincoln.
I found this one tool very helpful in learning and thought some readers may also. Click here for a list of Write-A-Mats, some include: phonics, math (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions), the Planets, telling time, geography (the world map and the United States Map) and music symbols. I also found one for the periodic table. I could have really benefitted from the periodic table mat when in high school and in college!