Sunday Six -- Potpourri

I liked Steph at A Room of My Own's idea of a Sunday Six of links -- posts that appeal to me for one reason or another -- sort of like a mini-personal blog carnival. So I thought I would try my hand at it -- if it works out all right I might try a theme, but this one encompasses everything in the universe : ):

Anatomy of a Habit

CM, Children and Lots of Grace
taken from Charlotte Mason's books --

1. Doing a certain action twenty to forty times in succession forms a habit "as easy to follow as not"--

2. If you persist "further in the habit without lapses, it will become second nature, quite difficult to shake off"--

3. Continue the habit "through a course of years, and the habit has the force of ten natures-- you cannot break it without doing real violence to yourself."

Law of the Universe

Starry Sky Ranch
about how entropy is a constant in a household as it is in nature, and how to deal with it:

You don't need MORE, you just need to rethink what you have. It helps to remember that universal laws are, well, universal. Meaning that disorder thing is happening to all your friends' homes too. Our goal is to get up every morning with the firm purpose of creating order out of the chaos our children present us with. Better yet, to help them to do that as well. I am off to practice what I preach. Again.

God's Haircut

Garden of Roses and Lilies
about developing trust in God through coping with adversities big and small.

Confidentially, I am leaning on the art of loving and learning and less emphasis on the "stuff" that has its place in making that happen. Stuff can be good. I just can't hug it too tight. I can use it while I got it, but the essential meaning of being a good teacher is more about learning WHO is in charge. Setting priorities. Evaluating. Tweaking. Searching for the answers everywhere and lately?...the less "stuff" the better.

News Flash -- I am not a scatterbrain!

Shawna at As Simple as Two Plus Two
about how mothering littlies takes up more focus and energy than we usually give ourselves credit for:

Moms like to claim in a self-deprecating way that we have "mommy brain" when we feel scattered and unorganized. Amy, who blogs at Sonshine Cottage wrote an amusing post here: http://sonshinecottage.blogspot.com/2007/04/confessions-of-lazy-blogger.html where she sites that women lose 25% of their mental function with each baby. Do the math and that puts me in pretty bad shape!! LOL! But in all fairness, that "mommy brain" is fully engaged taking care of a miriad of problems each moment of each day. That mommy brain is anything but scattered! It just may not have much left over at the end of the day for "productivity."

Summer Book List

Summer Reading for Teens

Faith at Dumb Ox Academy
Talking about summer library reading incentives and also check out her reading lists for her tweens and teens:

So the prizes actually became a source of contention and I really dreaded getting them. Eventually, I came up with my own prize. If the kids read a certain number of books (usually ten) they could pick a prize and I’d reward them. I haven’t been consistent about this. I don’t think I did this last summer. I can’t really remember.

Reading logs aren’t just for summer. When my late readers clicked with reading but still needed a nudge to keep practicing, I would keep a log up on our study wall. When they got to ten, they could pick a prize. This has been very motivating to them.