Tips for Organizing Games

January 9th, 2013

organizing-games

If your cabinet is bursting with board games, you might want to take some time to organize those games. When organizing games in a shallow cupboard, stack all the square games in one stack and the rectangular ones in another stack. Get rid of any games you no longer play.

When organizing board games in a deep cupboard, put the rectangular games length-wise, so that you can see the short edge of the games, instead of blocking the back games with the games in front of them.

Card games can be organized in a drawer, lined up so that you can see their edges to see what game it is. Larger card containers can be stacked at the back of the drawer, along with any card holders.

game-drawer

If you have games that are subject-related, you could store those games in separate bins to use during school time. Math games (like Monopoly, Yahtzee, Payday, Battleship, etc.) could all go in one bin. Language Arts or Reading games (like Scrabble, Boggle, etc.) could go into another bin. Art games (like Masterpiece, Mommy, It’s a Renoir, etc.) and puzzles of famous works of art could go in another bin. Geography games (like Take-Off, Risk, etc.) and puzzles of the U.S.A. or the world could go into another bin. You could stack the bins in your garage or slide them under a large bed, to take out whenever your children have earned some game time for school.

What are some of your favorite games? Do you recognize any of the games in our cupboard? Who remembers Mr. Mouth?

Don’t Fight Over Finances

January 8th, 2013

fight-over-financesIs money tight at your house? Does it cause stress in your marriage? Are you the opposite of your spouse as far as spending? All of these things were true for me. God transformed my mind to have supernatural peace about finances, even though we were still spiraling deeper and deeper into debt.

I came to a point in my marriage when I was yelling at my husband for how he spent money. I was so stressed over money that I felt like I was drowning. My husband wanted to go out on a date, but we didn’t have the money, so I couldn’t enjoy it.

I was bitter against my husband for how he spent money, even though I had no idea that I was bitter. If your marriage is strained, you might be bitter and not know it. Get into the silence and ask God if you’re bitter. Then be quiet, and you’ll know the answer. Ask God to help you get rid of the bitterness if it’s there. Only God can supernaturally take it away.

To be honest with you, money is still tight at our house. But all the stress is gone. I have complete peace. I don’t even care if I end up in a cardboard box on the street with my family, because I trust God, and my marriage is sweet. I trust my husband. He can buy anything he wants, and I feel sweet and happy and don’t judge him. How can this be? Yes, we’re out of credit card debt, but we were in deep credit card debt for 10 years, and I had this supernatural peace way before we were out of debt.

In other words, if you can actually manage to hand this whole finances thing over to God for real, even in the middle of your horrible finances, your marriage can be sweet, and you don’t have to fight, even if you’re still in debt.

I explain this way more in my audio, where I go into tons of detail, but please ask me questions, my sweet friends. I want so badly for you to have peace in the area of finances, and you can have that peace today.

I’m giving away three copies of my testimony “Don’t Fight Over Finances.” If you want to enter the drawing, leave a comment. Here is a description of what I’m giving away, which you could actually purchase if you don’t win the drawing: Don’t Fight Over Finances.  I will announce the winners (and e-mail them) on January 12, 2013.

Congratulations to the 3 winners of the giveaway, “Don’t Fight Over Finances”: Judi, Jane, and Brenda R. (I’m e-mailing each of you with the audio!)

Do the Hardest Thing First

January 7th, 2013

The key to getting a lot done in your day is to do the hardest thing first. You know, the thing you’re dreading. Maybe it’s a quick phone call you need to make, and it’s weighing you down. If you get it done first (just force yourself to do it), then you feel lighter. You will be relieved and energized to do everything else you need to do in your day.

As much as I love filming my homeschooling to upload to my Unit Study Treasure Vault, during the month of December I just wanted to rest. We took the month off from homeschooling, but I still hadn’t filmed a few things to polish the Cell Unit Study. I needed to film how to put together the shadow box of the plant cell. I had all the materials out on the kitchen counter. They stayed on the kitchen counter for days. It was an easy project, but I was tired. I just kept putting it off. After all, the unit study wasn’t due in the vault until the 1st of January.

Well, my husband wanted to put his stuff down on the counter when he got home from work. But the counter was crowded with my cell stuff. This is why the project was weighing down on me. I finally decided I would just do it. We filmed it, and it was super easy. And it was done. I felt so much energy after that. I got more done that day than any other day in December, just because I bit the bullet and forced myself to do the thing that for some reason I had procrastinated.

You will not know what is weighing you down until you make a list of the things you need to get done. Making a list of to-do’s the night before will make you more productive the next day. After you have the list of things weighing you down, you can choose to do the hardest thing first, and force yourself forward to get it done. I’m telling you, this works.

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #1: Message in a Bottle

January 4th, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarggh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, here to give you some tips on homeschooling reluctant writers.

Writing Idea #1: Message in a Bottle

  • First get yourself a fort or something similar, where you can stand up on it.
  • Next, you write a message on a sheet of paper, roll it up, and put it into a bottle. The bottle should be a plastic bottle and not glass, so that when you throw it overboard, it doesn’t crack on someone’s head and shatter glass everywhere.
  • Unbeknownst to you, someone will then find it after it’s been splashed in the water. “Please get me out of this ship. I’m in chains, and a mutiny is happening. Yours truly, Captain Bradwell.”

So you see, you can even throw it off a bunk bed or any other high place and get the same effect. Just make sure you don’t bonk someone on the head as they’re passing by.

Here is another example of a pirate letter Message in a Bottle. It says: “Jimmy, nice try! We won’t give up! We will take the treasure if it’s the last thing we do! …”

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaaarrrrggh!

homeschooling-reluctant-writersCalling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page message in a bottle.
  • Dress up as a pirate.
  • Read your message in a bottle into a video camera and upload it to YouTube.
  • Come back here and comment under this blog post, including the link to your video, and I will go watch it and comment!
  • After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!