Monday, April 30, 2018

Legacy Homeschool Reflection Podcast 18: Homeschool Conference Presentation 2nd Half

This is Part 2 of Ruth's very first homeschool conference presentation.  Please Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review for others who may be looking for encouragement in their homeschooling journey.

Click here to download.
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If you liked this podcast, please consider my book: Legacy - Reflections of a Homeschooled, Homeschooling Mama.

Click here to buy.

I am very excited to be a part of The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Online Summit. 
 Register for free here.  I will be speaking on Day 6.  Thank you for listening. ~Ruth L. Adams

Monday, April 23, 2018

The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Summit


This spring, I’m pleased to be a featured speaker with Homeschool Summits for the Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Summit, a free event hosted online this April 30-May 5. You can watch my interview on May 5th at 2:00P.M. CST. I hope you’ll join us! You can register now at www.HomeschoolSummits.com/Fitting.


If you ever feel like you're spinning your wheels, trying to stay on top of all the choices and activities that come your way as a homeschool parent, then this is for you. It’s a week dedicated to helping you decide what matters to your family, create a workable homeschool plan, and keep your path centered on the eternal – even when life happens.


Most importantly, each video from this event will focus on the truth found in God’s Word and the hope that lies in trusting in Jesus Christ for today and for the future.


All of the video interviews with speakers (like myself) bring a Christ-centered focus to these important steps on your way to learning how to fit it all in:

  1. Charting Your Course: Learn how to change your perspective to match God's view as revealed in His Word.
  2. The Homeschool Gameplan: Get insight into academic necessities and how to make sure they can realistically work out in your homeschool.
  3. Home Management Strategies: Find out how to keep household duties running smoothly in the midst of schooling, and come away with specific action items to make changes beginning tomorrow.
  4. Building Your Team: Discover the beauty of a family working together to build God's kingdom and how to keep relationships healthy for maximum joy from parents down to little ones.
  5. Eternal Priorities: Reorient yourself to stick to the mission of following Christ, leading your children to Him, and influencing others for the Gospel


The entire event free if you sign up by April 30th, and in addition to the video content, you’ll also get access to an easy-to-search online vendor hall (with exclusive discounts and freebies) and a private Facebook group to connect with speakers and other attendees.


I encourage you to sign up today for the Homeschool Fitting-It-All Summit for a week of valuable wisdom and Christ-centered hope so you can conquer your homeschool overwhelm.


Learn more and register for free (for a limited time only!) at www.HomeschoolSummits.com/Fitting.


Legacy Homeschool Reflections Podcast 17: Homeschool Conference Presentation 1st Half

This is the first half of Ruth's very first homeschool conference presentation.  We hope you enjoy.

Subscribe on iTunes.
Click here to download.

If you liked this podcast, please consider my book: Legacy - Reflections of a Homeschooled, Homeschooling Mama.

Click here to buy.

I am very excited to be a part of The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Online Summit. 
 Register for free here.  I will be speaking on Day 6.  Thank you for listening. ~Ruth L. Adams

Monday, April 16, 2018

Legacy Homeschool Reflections Podcast 16: Strengthening Your Mama's Heart

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Today's podcast offers encouragement for homeschooling mamas in light of Matthew 11:29-30 "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”


Subscribe on iTunes.
Click here to download.

If you liked this podcast, please consider my book: Legacy - Reflections of a Homeschooled, Homeschooling Mama.

Click here to buy.

I am very excited to be a part of The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Online Summit. 
 Register for free here.  I will be speaking on Day 6.  Thank you for listening. ~Ruth L. Adams



Sunday, April 15, 2018

Helpful Tips for Busy Families Part 4

  I hope you all are having a blessed weekend.  A very windy, stormy night brought in another blast of cool weather here in Texas.  I am thinking this surely has to be the last cool weather we are going to have.  This truly has been an unusually long and cold winter.  We had two snows here this year, and that is unheard of in our area.


This picture is a snow we had several months back; this was indeed such an unusual treat for Texas children!  


Now moving on to some helpful tips for managing the busy family.  :)  This picture is not of our shoe shelf, but we have a metal wire rack shelf by our back door, in the laundry room, that hold shoes.  It is amazing how many pairs of shoes can overrun the home of a large family.  I have found it is helpful to keep the children' shoes on this shelf to try to keep them from ending up all over the house.  My older children also store some of their everyday shoes here.  We currently store all our mud boots right inside the garage door.  My goal is that my children put their shoes on the shoe shelf when they come inside instead of wearing them and losing them inside the house.  This training is still a work in progress.  I do, however, have my oldest daughter keep some of her extra shoes in her own closet.  


Family Shoe Shelf by Back Door

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Large Family Size Tote Bag

  Our family will soon be attending a homeschool conference.  I have learned the hard way that it is difficult to keep up with a diaper bag, my purse, an activity bag, and shopping bags when I purchase resources, etc.  By the end of the day I feel like my arms are falling off.  Because of this I just purchased a mega sized tote bag that I think will hold EVERYTHING.  I found some great options with many pockets at a Vera Bradley outlet store.  I was super blessed to hit a fifty percent off sale with an additional twenty percent off.  This is not my bag but is similar.  I got a great deal, and I think it will hold everything a family of nine could need as we attend sessions.

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Count Your Blessings! 

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As our family began growing into a larger than average family I began to see the need to do a head count whenever we would go somewhere.  So far I have never forgotten a child, and just doing this simple head count helps us account for all family members before leaving the farm or an outing.  Since I have seven children I simply turn around and count, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven blessings."  This way I make sure I have everyone and at the same time remind my children that I do view them as blessings.  I hope one day they have fond memories of  this little routine and perhaps they will carry it on to the next generation.  :)

Buddy System




We also will often put a younger child with an older child when going on an outing.  This way we can keep track of everyone, and it is so beyond precious to see the love the older ones have for their younger siblings.  We also use this buddy system at various points during our day when I need an older child to keep an eye on a younger sibling.  The special bonds between older and younger siblings is just heart warming.  I think it is so good for the older ones to feel needed and loved by their younger siblings and gives them valuable life experience for when they have their own little ones.  Sometimes I meet young adults who know nothing about caring for little people, and I realize that this truly is a beautiful blessing in having such a wide span of ages in our family.  My older children will truly have much experience with babies/toddlers by the time they start their own families.  My Mama's heart is warmed by seeing these sweet older sibling/younger sibling friendships.  Looking ahead I can imagine that by the time my youngest children are teenagers they may have lots of nieces and nephews to enjoy.  


Do All Mothering to the Glory of God

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I LOVE being a Mama, but truthfully I do sometimes grow very tired and weary.  Sometimes it helps me to take a step back and just remember that I need to do all my mothering and daily tasks as working for the Lord.  My ultimate goal in mothering is that my children will grow up and have their own personal walks with the Lord.  My prayer is that they will then carry this faith on to the next generation.  When we keep this goal in mind it helps us to press on remembering that ultimately we are doing all our tasks great and small for the Lord and His glory.  We do our best and ask the Lord to use it all for His kingdom purposes.  When we work with all our heart for the Lord, the result will be a  strong visionary perspective and joy in doing what God has called and equipped us to do.  Let us pray that the Lord will help us in this so that we will not grow weary in doing good.  


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I hope this series on small helpful tips has been encouraging to you.  I am thankful for the many helpful ideas I have gleaned from others through the years.  The Lord is faithful to continue to guide us season by season.  Blessings to you, Dear Mamas!  


Monday, April 9, 2018

Legacy Homeschool Reflections Podcast #15: Marriage in the Context of Homeschooling

Excited to be a part of The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Online Summit.  Register for free here.  I will be speaking on Day 6.  Thank you for listening. ~Ruth L. Adams

On today's "Legacy Homeschool Reflections Podcast" Ruth discusses the importance of keeping marriage a high priority in the midst of homeschooling.
Subscribe on iTunes.
Click here to download.
                              Image result for happy couple walking

If you liked this podcast, please consider my book: Legacy - Reflections of a Homeschooled, Homeschooling Mama.
Click here to buy.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Helpful Tips for Busy Families Part 3

Hello Friends!  We are really enjoying the spring days here on the farm, and since I cannot tackle all the gardening and such at one time I find myself just working a little each day and am making progress that way.





Last Sunday we had a lovely day at church.  Four of our girls were singing in choirs, and our hearts were so encouraged to hear the beautiful music the choirs worked so hard to prepare.   We decided to take family pictures upon arriving back at the farm.  






For dinner we enjoyed grilling outside, singing some hymns, and then ending the day by having some ice cream.  That is how we spent our Easter Sunday.  

Packing Tips

Today I am continuing on with my series on helpful tips for managing the busy family.  I'll start with a travel tip.  Since our family will be doing some travel in the foreseeable future I am going to share what has worked for us with traveling with so many children.  We use Ziploc bags to pack our clothes and keep things organized.  

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We mainly use the gallon and jumbo sizes and a Sharpie marker to create these bags.  What I do, and now I have several daughters old enough to help me, is that I will write the name of a child on a bag and the day the child will need those clothes.  So each child gets one bag each day with the clothes they need for that day.  I will often give each child a jumbo sized bag for all their underclothes and jammies and then a daily bag with each day's clothing.  One reason the bag method has worked for us is that if clothes were just in suitcases or duffle bags I'm pretty sure my children would be rummaging through all the clothes to pick out something each day.  Of course that would mean that clothes would be all over the floors of the hotel rooms and much would be lost. This approach makes it simple to just say, "Here is your bag for today; go get dressed."  When nine people are dwelling in hotel rooms together simplicity really pays off.  Sometimes I will stick shoes or hair accessories in the daily bags, but sometimes we just carry all shoes in a large tote bag.  We do usually have one big hair accessory bag that we keep all the needed hair twisties, Flexi clips, hair spray, comb and brush, etc. in.  I will say that preparing these daily clothing bags is time consuming on the front end, but I really do feel like they have provided more organization for us when we've been on vacations.  A plus to this is that if we are wanting to color coordinate our clothing this helps us to be sure everyone is wearing the right outfit on the right day.  This method of organization also helps me to be able to see if I have packed what I need for each person.  Usually towards the end of the packing I have a stack of bags for each child and I can check to make sure I have the right number of bags for each child.  Perhaps as our children grow our packing strategies will change, but we have been using this Ziploc bag method for years and found it helpful for our family.

Freezer Meals in Ziploc Bags

Travel is not the only way I use Ziploc bags.  I also like to use the freezer Ziploc bags to freeze all kinds of things for later use.  Sometimes I will assemble some freezer meals that are ready to throw in the slow cooker on a busy day.  


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Also, I LOVE to cook a huge batch of frozen chicken breasts in my Instant Pot and then shred it all up.  I use some of it for dinner (usually chicken tacos) and then freeze all the excess shredded chicken in Ziplock bags.  This way I have several bags of frozen, shredded chicken on future nights when I want something quick for dinner.  It is easy to take that shredded chicken and make more tacos or Chicken Spaghetti, etc.  

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Early Bedtime Preparation
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When my children were all younger we were in an intense season where my husband often traveled overseas for weeks at a time.  I would be left at home with a house full of needy children and was often pregnant myself.  This was a season of survival, and I learned that it was helpful to me if I could get the children ready for bed preferably before dinner.  By the end of the evening I was so given out and could barely take another step.  By having them already prepared for bed it just helped things to go more smoothly.  We would often spend our evenings watching a wholesome video or reading stories.  






Create a Schedule or Flow to Your Day

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Some people truly love very detailed schedules with a time slot for everything and thrive using them.  I can tell you that this Mama has never rolled that way.  With seven children I can create a detailed schedule, but life happens and that beautiful schedule is often thrown off track.  I learned that, for our family, what has worked best so far is a flow of events.  What I mean is that my children and I all know that we get up, eat breakfast, do chores, gather for circle time, etc.  We all know what comes next in our day and that helps to keep us on track.  If we fall off routine we just pick up at the next thing we would normally be doing.  I think it has a lot to do with your personality and the uniqueness of your particular family. I would encourage you to figure out what fits your family best.  Are you a detailed, rigid schedule type or does a clear flow of events work better in this season of life?  The point is just to make sure everyone understands the plan.  Children and young people get frustrated when they don't understand what is expected of them and Mamas are left feeling overwhelmed.  As in many areas of life, clear communication of expectations is important.  

I hope these tips have been helpful.  Have a blessed week!   





Monday, April 2, 2018

Legacy Homeschool Reflections Podcast 14: God's Provision & Protection

Excited to be a part of The Homeschool Fitting-It-All-In Online Summit.  Register for free here.  I will be speaking on Day 6.  Thank you for listening. ~Ruth L. Adams

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On this podcast I talk about a recent trip to Ohio, a frustrating circumstance, and God's faithfulness to provide and protect me.
Subscribe on iTunes.
Click here to download.

If you liked this podcast, please consider my book: Legacy - Reflections of a Homeschooled, Homeschooling Mama.
Click here to buy.