Needing a Judaic Curriculum?

ב”ה 

Judaic Curriculum 

Hello! For those who are needing some help as to what kinds of things their children can be learning, I put together this list of homeschool-friendly units in the various Judaic curriculum. Most are free. Most links are from Chinuch.org and you just need to create a free account to access the material.

This is in no way the only links out there, but I found it oftentimes difficult to find a whole unit, so I sifted through all the amazing materials I could find and came up with the following list. I tried to give several options per grade level.

Hope this is of some help! If you have a link that you feel should be included, let me know.

~Hatzlacha!

Kriah/Kesivah 

(K – Grade 1) Hebrew Block Letter Writing Practice 
(Grade 1) Kesiva Workbook for First Grade Boys  
(Grade 1) Kesiva Workbook for First Grade Girls 
(Grade 4) Rashi Script Workbook  
The Marvelous, Changeable Shva 
Pyramid-Style Hebrew Reading Booklet  

Shorashim
Funtorahgames.com 

DikDuk 

Elementary 
Dikduk for the Beginner 

(Grades 1-6) Dikduk Memory Tools 
Rabbi Werner workbooks

Short Ivrit stories for beginners.  Most words can be understood from the pictures, otherwise use Google Translate 🙂 
Kriyah Review:  Short Hebrew Story  
Cholam Kriyah Review:  Short Hebrew Story  
Shuruk/Kubutz Kriyah Review:  Short Hebrew Story 

Upper Elementary 
Improving Kriyah Booklet 

Posters on the letters including script and Rashi 
Alef – Bais Charts  

Rashi Script 
Rashi Script Workbook 

Tefillah 

Elementary 
Important Points about Tefilla for Children – A list of important points about Tefilla, a story which will help students appreciate Davening and Divrei Torah. 
Tefilla-Toons: Birchos Hashachar Videos And Workbook  

Grades 3-6 
Tefilla Toons Birchos Hashachar Videos And Workbook 
Birkas Hashachar: The Brachos – A sheet featuring the words of the morning Brachos, their English translation and a brief explanation. A two-page quiz is also included. 
Hilchos Tefillah Booklet – A well-formatted booklet on the basic halachos and hashkafos of tefillah with a focus on Tefillas Shacharis. 
Tefillah Booklet: Shemoneh Esrei 
Shemoneh Esrei Workbook and Lesson Guide 
Hilchos Seuda  and Seder Birkas Hamazon: Illustrated Textbook and Bentcher – Each page has an illustration and explanation from washing for a seuda through bentching. 

Middle School  
Shemoneh Esrei Workbook and Lesson Guide 
Hilchos Seuda  and Seder Birkas Hamazon: Illustrated Textbook and Bentcher – Each page has an illustration and explanation from washing for a seuda through bentching. 
Aishes Chayil, Explained and Illustrated: Booklet 
Building Vocabulary in Tefillah  

High School 
Shemoneh Esrei Workbook and Lesson Guide 

Chassidus 

Chitas for Children  – great for all ages, including adults! 
Kabbala Toons – Intro 

Middos 

Elementary 
Middos Tovos Workbooks 
Middos Tovos Workbooks II 

Middle School 
Middos Tovos Workbooks 
Middos Tovos Workbooks II 
Learning Middos Tovos from Stories About Rav Pam 
Middos Tovos Workbook-Hakaras Hatov 
Bein Adam L’chaveiro Curriculum: Workbook – You need to create the curriculum for this, however there are answers at the end to help you talk about all the halachos between Man and Man. 

Shabbos 
The 39 Melachos – Illustrated – beautiful illustrations of each melacha 
The 39 Melachos with Practical Examples – would go great with the illustrations above. 
39 Melachos Worksheets – A nice concise overview of the 39 melachos in chart form.  
39 Melachos Video 

Elementary 
(Grades 2-4) Complete Shabbos Teaching Package – A complete package to teach main ideas about to Shabbos to grades 2 -4 
(Grade 3-5) Hilchos Shabbos Booklet – A clearly-arranged booklet that goes through the basics of hilchos Shabbos/the 39 melachos for elementary-aged students.  

Middle School 
Kabbalas Shabbos Unit – beautiful booklet about Kabbalas Shabbos 
Hilchos Shabbos and Yom Tov – practical and relevant halachos in a nice booklet. 
A Shabbos Experience: Our Treasured Shabbos and Its 39 Melachos 
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch- Hilchos Shabbos – with worksheets.  In Hebrew. 

High School 
Hilchos Shabbos and Yom Tov – practical and relevant halachos in a nice booklet. 
Hilchos Shabbos Curriculum – A comprehensive compilation of Hilchos Shabbos, in outline form, on many of the 39 Melachos. 
Kitzur Shulchan Aruch- Hilchos Shabbos – with worksheets.  In Hebrew. 

Geography 

Touring-Toons: “Crossing the Yardein” Video   
Touring Toons “Kever Rochel” Video  
Touring Toons: “The Kosel” Video   
The Land of Israel 

Parsha 

Aleph Beta 
ParshaPages – This will take you to a page where when you click a link, it automatically downloads the files. 

Elementary 
(Grades 2-6) Parshas Toldos Curriculum – Two different types of files, please read description on the website. *There are more on like this on Chinuch.org 
(Grades 4-6) Complete Parsha Unit – A comprehensive parsha unit covering the Parshiyos taught during the school year.  
(Grades 4-6) Sefer Beraishis – Parshas Hashavua Summaries, Worksheets, and Quizzes 
(Grades 4-6) Sefer Shemos – Parshas Hashavua Summaries, Worksheets, and Quizzes  
(Grades 4-6) Sefer Vayikra – Parshas Hashavua Summaries, Worksheets, and Quizzes  

Middle School 
Parshiyos Hashavua Sheilos U’Teshuvos – Questions and answers on every parsha in the Torah 
Complete Parsha Unit– A comprehensive parsha unit covering the Parshiyos taught during the school year.  
Sefer Beraishis: Questions on Rashi, Arranged According to Aliyos – After reading the Parsha with Rashi, answer the questions.  This can be done every morning according to the day’s Aliyah (ie. Sunday – the 1st Aliyah, Monday – the 2nd Aliyah, etc.) 
Sefer Vayikra, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Aliyos:  Questions on Rashi  
Sefer Shemos, Third through Seventh Aliyos: Questions on Rashi 
Sefer Bamidbar:  Questions on Rashi  
Sefer Devarim, Third through Seventh Aliyos:  Questions on Rashi  

High School 
Sefer Beraishis: Questions on Rashi, Arranged According to Aliyos – After reading the Parsha with Rashi, answer the questions.  This can be done every morning according to the day’s Aliyah (ie. Sunday – the 1st Aliyah, Monday – the 2nd Aliyah, etc.) 
Sefer Vayikra, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Aliyos:  Questions on Rashi  
Sefer Shemos, Third through Seventh Aliyos: Questions on Rashi 
Sefer Bamidbar:  Questions on Rashi  
Sefer Devarim, Third through Seventh Aliyos:  Questions on Rashi  

Chumash 

Ten Generations From Adam Until Noach: PowerPoints and Worksheets 
Map of Eretz Yisrael – Designed specifically for a Parshas Lech Lecha curriculum, this interactive map has watermarks of places and events that are referenced in the Parsha. 
Map of the Six Arei Miklat: Poster 

Elementary 

Bereishis 
(Grade 1 but good for G1-3)  Bereishis Translation and Homework Sheets  
   Workbook/Curriculum for Parshas Bereishis  (same as above but with more worksheets) 

Noach 
(Grades 1-3) Workbook/Curriculum for Parshas Noach   

Lech Lecha 
(Grade 2 but good for G2-4) Second Grade Chumash Workbook- Parshas Lech Lecha 
Map of Eretz Yisrael – Designed specifically for a Parshas Lech Lecha curriculum, this interactive map has watermarks of places and events that are referenced in the Parsha. 
(Grades 4-6) Parshas Vayishlach:  Chumash and Rashi Workbook  
(Grades 4-6) Parshas Vayeishev:  Chumash and Rashi Workbook 
(Grades 4-6) Parshas Mikeitz: Chumash and Rashi Workbook 
(Grades 4-6) Parshas Vayigash: Chumash and Rashi Workbook 
(Grades 4-6) Parshas Vayechi: Chumash and Rashi Workbook 

Navi/Kesuvim 

Grades 3-6 

Yehoshua 
Timeline of Sefer Yehoshua   
Navi News” Sefer Yehoshua Perakim 1-10: Workbook and Video Clips  
Sefer Yehoshua: Perakim 1 – 10 – includes lesson plans and instructions 
Workbook for Sefer Yehoshua – it is a nice workbook, in Hebrew but still worth looking at for there are several really nice pages for those looking for English. 
Sefer Yehoshua Workbook 

Shmuel Alef 

(Grades 4-6) http://www.etshalom.com – easier for upper elementary to understand. 

Middle School 

Introduction to Teaching Tanach 
Workbook of Yedios in Nach – Summaries of perakim in Nach and of major events in Jewish history spanning from the time of Dovid Hamelech through the end of the Maccabim. The goal of this workbook is to give students basic knowledge and a well-rounded approach to the events in Nach. Each perek is followed by comprehension questions. 

Shmuel Aleph 
Sefer Shmuel Alef: Concise Outline Maps for Sefer Shmuel Alef – colored map Complete Teaching Unit- Shmuel I – Workbook of questions Worksheets on Shmuel I Navi Shmuel Alef Sheets –  3 different levels: High (all Hebrew), medium (some translation provided), and low (translation and more information provided)  
 Megillas Rus Megillas Rus B’iyun Lesson Plan  
 Yonah Sefer Yonah  
 
 High School  
 Shmuel Aleph Sefer Shmuel Alef: Concise Outline Maps for Sefer Shmuel Alef – colored map Complete Teaching Unit- Shmuel I – Workbook of questions  
 

Megillas Rus 
Megillas Rus B’iyun Lesson Plan 

Yonah
Sefer Yonah 

Mishna 

Animated Talmud – Learn about the history of the Mishna and Gemara through animation.  Most of the videos can be viewed for free.   
Mishnayos Worksheets-Aduyos 
Mishnayos Avodah Zara Worksheets 
Mishnayos Baba Kama Worksheets 
Mishnayos Horiyos Worksheets 
Mishnayos Worksheets-Kerisos 
Mishnayos Worksheets-Kiddushin 
Mishnayos Worksheets-Makkos 
Mishnayos Worksheets- Ma’aser Sheini 
Mishnayos Worksheets – Sanhedrin 
Mishnayos Worksheets- Shavuos 
Mishnayos Worksheets-Shviis 
Mishnayos Worksheets-Temurah 
Mishnayos Worksheets – Yadayim 

Gemara 

Animated Talmud – Learn about the history of the Mishna and Gemara through animation.  Most of the videos can be viewed for free.  You have the option of purchasing similar style Gemara lessons. 
http://dafhachaim.org/  You can print our color and b/w wall charts to go with your learning. 

(Grade 8, High School) Rabbi Mendel Kessin – The Method Shiruim for Learning Gemara – Video –  A set of 6 shiurim teaching how to learn Gemara.  I used this for 8th grade. We listen to 15-20 minutes each time, taking notes and discussing as needed.  It is a system for learning Gemara.   

Your Bekius Shiur: Rabbi Dov Bauman ’05 – Audio – Cover twice the ground in the half the time, while greatly enhancing clarity and retention. By Rabbi Dov Bauman. It seems good, however, there are no sheets to look at while he talks, which makes it not quite as effective, but still good if an adult sits down to listen first. 

Gemara Worksheets – Brachos (Perakim Haya Korei and Tefillas Hashachar)  

Gemara Worksheets – Shabbos 

Jewish History 

Timeline of Jewish History – From Chabad.org.  Has a list of dates starting from Beraishis through modern times – 2008 CE. There are links for most of the dates to pages with more information about the event. Has both Secular and Hebrew dates. 

Yedios Klaliyos  – – Yedios Klaliyos is designed to familiarize students with important general Jewish knowledge. 

The Six Constant Mitzvos: Poster 

Elementary 

(Grades 1-2) Yedios B’Yahadus for Grades 1-2 

(Grades 3-5) Yedios Klaliyos Unit 1 
(Grades 3-5) Yedios Klaliyos Unit 2 

(Grade 5)  Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 1 
(Grade 5) Be a Baki:  A Yedios Klaliyos Program  This program includes 24 Yedios Klaliyos lessons 

Middle School  

Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 2 
Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 3 
Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 4 
Be a Baki:  A Yedios Klaliyos Program  This program includes 24 Yedios Klaliyos lessons 
Arbah Parshiyos Outline 

High School 

Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 2 
Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 3 
Yedios Klaliyos Curriculum: Part 4 
Yedios Klaliyos Booklet – In Hebrew 

Chodesh (Months)/Yomim Tovim 

(Grade 1 but can before Grades 1-3) Dinim Curriculum – A comprehensive curriculum which covers many of the important dinim. Included in this curriculum are units on all the yamim tovim, Shabbos, brachos and dinei hashkamas haboker. Each unit comes with informal teacher’s notes to use as a guide on how to teach the material, worksheets and tests. 

Rosh Chodesh 

Middle School/High School 
Inyanei Rosh Chodesh: Booklet 

Elul 

Elementary 
Chodesh Elul Unit 

Middle School 
Inyanei Elul Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Elul Booklet 

Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur 

Elementary 
(Grade 1) Rosh Hashana Workbook 
Rosh Hashanah Unit 
(Grades 3-5) Yamim Noraim Workbook 
(Grades 4-6) Rosh Hashanah Question Sheets – Use with Rosh Hashanah Unit 

Middle School 
Rosh Hashanah Question Sheets – Use with Rosh Hashanah Unit 
Shailos U’teshuvos – Yamim Noraim – Has a student version with just the questions as well as a teacher version with questions and answers. 
Tefillos Yamim Noraim 
Inyanei Rosh Hashana Booklet 
Inyanei Yom Kippur Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Rosh Hashana Booklet 
Inyanei Yom Kippur Booklet 

Sukkos/Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah 

Elementary 
Resource Sheets for Sukkos – Teacher Reference – A variety of interesting stories, customs, background information and dinim relevant to Sukkos. Typed in English (some Hebrew words – nekudos added by hand). Excellent way to diversify the Sukkos curriculum with fresh content. 
(Grade 4-6) Workbook on Mishnayos Sukkah 
Simchas Torah – 4 simple facts about Simchas Torah 

Middle School 
Resource Sheets for Sukkos – Teacher Reference – A variety of interesting stories, customs, background information and dinim relevant to Sukkos. Typed in English (some Hebrew words – nekudos added by hand). Excellent way to diversify the Sukkos curriculum with fresh content. 
Inyanei Sukkos Booklets 
Inyanei Mashiv Haruach  Umorid Hageshem: Booklet  

High School 
Inyanei Sukkos Booklets 
Inyanei Mashiv Haruach  Umorid Hageshem: Booklet  

Chanukah 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Inyanei Chanukah Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Chanukah Booklet 

Tu B’Shevat 

Elementary 

Middle School 

High School 

Purim 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Inyanei Purim Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Purim Booklet 
Hilchos Purim Supplement 

Pesach/Omer 

Elementary 
(Grades 1-3) Pesach Workbook 
Pesach Curriculum – A supplemental ToTal curriculum on Pesach for teachers produced and written by Shimon Apisdorf. Hands on lessons and exercises to make the Pesach lessons more meaningful. 

Middle School 
Pesach Curriculum – A supplemental ToTal curriculum on Pesach for teachers produced and written by Shimon Apisdorf. Hands on lessons and exercises to make the Pesach lessons more meaningful 
Hilchos Pesach: PowerPoint and Review Sheets – Power Point Presentation along with worksheets.  *There are a few slides that the Hebrew font does not come out correct, but one can figure out the words with a bit of thinking. 
Inyanei Pesach Booklets 
Inyanei Morid Hatal/ V’Sein Bracha: Booklet  

High School 
Hilchos Pesach: PowerPoint and Review Sheets – Power Point Presentation along with worksheets.  *There are a few slides that the Hebrew font does not come out correct, but one can figure out the words with a bit of thinking. 
Inyanei Pesach Booklets 
Inyanei Morid Hatal/ V’Sein Bracha: Booklet  

Lag B’Omer 

Elementary 
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Minhagei Lag B’omer: PowerPoint 

Middle School 
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Minhagei Lag B’omer: PowerPoint 
Inyanei Lag B’omer: Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Lag B’omer: Booklet 

Shavuos 
Shavuos Timeline 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Inyanei Shavuos Booklet 

High School 
Inyanei Shavuos Booklet 

Tisha B’Av 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Inyanei Bein Hamitzarim and Tisha B’Av  

High School 
Inyanei Bein Hamitzarim and Tisha B’Av  

Fast Days 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Inyanei Ta’anis Tzibur 

High School 
Inyanei Ta’anis Tzibur 

Middle School/High School 
Hilchos and Minhagei Chodesh Adar and Purim – Includes worksheets 
Hilchos and Minhagei Chodesh Nisan and Pesach – Includes worksheets 
Hilchos and Minhagei Chodesh Sivan and Shavuos – Includes worksheets 

Shmiras HaLashon 

Elementary/Middle School   
Shmiras Halashon/ Lashon Tov Program  
Hameir L’Yisrael – Shmiras Halashon Book – with worksheets 
Taharas Halashon – Purity of Speech: Illustrated Booklet – from Pirchei Shoshanim 

High School 
Shmiras Halashon Yomi: Curriculum – made to be printed off as a beautiful booklet 
 
 

Misc 

Elementary 

Middle School 
Hilchos Tefillin – In Order of Hanachas and Chalitzas Tefillin: English 
Calculating Sha’os Zmaniyos Worksheet – This worksheet clearly explains how to calculate sha’os zmaniyos – halachic hours. Use it as part of a halacha curriculum (particularly before Pesach – to work out the when one must stop eating chametz, when the chamatz must be burnt, etc.).  
Finders Keepers? Hilchos Hashavas Aveida 
A Guide to Hilchos Shaliach Tzibur 

High School 
Calculating Sha’os Zmaniyos Worksheet – This worksheet clearly explains how to calculate sha’os zmaniyos – halachic hours. Use it as part of a halacha curriculum (particularly before Pesach – to work out the when one must stop eating chametz, when the chamatz must be burnt, etc.).  
Hilchos Tefillin – In Order of Hanachas and Chalitzas Tefillin: English 
Finders Keepers? Hilchos Hashavas Aveida 
A Guide to Hilchos Shaliach Tzibur 

Torah Live 
Yahadus 
Aish.com 
Alephbeta.org 
Chabad.org 
Inspireclips.com 
OU.org 
Parshapages.com 
Torah.org 
TorahMedia.com 
TorahAnytime.com  

Magazines for Children 
The Circle 
Marshmallow Comics
The Moshiach Times 
Zman 

Moving on… and Jewish Homeschool Conference!

I see that I kind of left everyone hanging – writing about how our life was a week after being shut-in. However, I feel that most people knew what it was like being shut in, they did not need me to tell them. As we are still sort of shut-in, we learn to adjust and adapt to the ever changing thing called Life.

My little figure skater turned 11 today, both by the Jewish calendar, as well as the secular calendar. He is not so little anymore, he is just an inch and a half from being the same height as me! Goodness, where did that brick go that I wanted to keep on the top of all their heads? He did not get to go skating for many months, and we are not that serious that we did very much off-ice maintenance either, but that is something I plan on adding to our day for next year. We finally got him back on the ice a couple of times over the last month and I see he is very quickly getting back to where he left off in March.

Unfortunately, our summer did not go as hoped, (but when does it ever?) and Mr. Skater is off to his cousins’ house to play and skate and do karate for several weeks while we work on what Hashem has dealt us over here. How does that saying go – Man plans, Hashem laughs? Well, I don’t think He is laughing, but sure has a way of deciding that my summers need to be very different from what I tend to plan, no matter how wonderful of a plan it seems to be!

It’s sure is quiet without any of our boys – though we did get to see all of them last month for several days. The quiet has sure helped my husband and I deal with all the issues that we have to manage right now and has left me with some time to……..<drum roll>…..

Work on a HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE BINDER again! Woohoo! The One and Only T.H.E. (Torah Home Education) Conference is finally here again – this time as a Webinar. Please mark August 16, 2020 on your calendar as your day to listen and hear, and yes, read all sorts of yummy information about Jewish Homeschooling.

Please go to: https://torahhomeeducation.com/ for more information and to sign up.

After Week 1 of the World Staying Inside

Wow. That one small word just sums everything up. I figured I had it pretty easy when I found out that 3 out of 4 of our boys were going to be home. Hey, why not? I went from homeschooling our oldest, ( I think that was 13 years ago… I have lost track of the time!) to homeschooling 2, then 3, then 4, and now down to 1 again., to bringing home 2– who have online classes anyways – not a problem! I don’t have to worry too much about them. Of course, I can do it! Probably can do it better than most other parents, since that is just what I have been doing all these years.

A week later, I am a little bit older and hopefully a little bit wiser. Still trying to figure out where I went wrong in my thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I am pretty sure I am having a much easier time than most, so why have I felt so much more overwhelmed this past week than expected? I think there are a few things that I did not consider.

Firstly, I am in Pesach mode.  True, I had already cleaned several of the rooms, and today I gave one room to my husband, and the older two boys have their room, leaving just my youngest’s room and the dining room and kitchen, with the latter two being done next week. But still, trying to clean for Pesach while having more people than usual who make good use of the house is a bit stressful. Do I wash all the dishes or sweep or mop? I can get 2 out of 3 of them done but not all three, unless I want to stay up later. But that is usually out of the question for I am too tired.

Secondly, my husband is working from home. Yes, I am thankful he is still working, and yes, he would occasionally spend a day working at home, but this is a bit different. The whole setup is different. Instead of him asking me to come to help with something or just to talk every few weeks, – which I never minded at all – it is now something that is done on a daily basis. I really don’t mind, don’t get me wrong.

Thirdly, it’s this whole being stuck at home business that is slowly (or not so slowly) starting to get to me. Every day I wake up and have to consciously ask myself what day it is for all my check points during the week of the various things we do, or normally go to, are now gone. Yesterday is the exact same thing as today and will be the exact same as tomorrow.  The only difference is that once a week we have Shabbos. Baruch Hashem for Shabbos.

I have also been doing extra thinking about other ways I can help my family (other than laundry and cooking and sending them to bed!) For Hashem has basically stopped the world as we know it, giving us the chance to do introspection, to find all those things that we wanted to do and to change, and He has now given us the time to do it. Our lives have gotten so busy. There are things that we would love to do and things we have wanted to change, but there was no time to do it. Now, there is.

What is my bucket list? What things really matter to me that we are not doing already? Family time. Even though we are still missing our oldest (he is working and had planned on coming home for the first half of Pesach, but now cannot 🙁 ,) there are still the rest of us. We cannot all have lunch together because of the time zone difference between one boy’s school and were we are, but we try to all sit down for supper. Just us. No phones, no computers. The real nice surprise came when I only had to tell one boy, once, to please wait until supper was finished. I did not tell anyone beforehand not to bring electronics to the table. People just did it.

I had started, several years ago, little notebooks for everyone to write down things they are grateful for. The last time we did that was almost 3 years ago.  I took them out again last week. Unfortunately, we only did them once for I don’t keep them on the table as a reminder. Hopefully, we will get a few more things written in them over the next few weeks.

The other thing that I have been trying to work on is more Torah learning and exercising for everyone. I try to read one or two short Dvar Torahs (Torah thoughts) at supper, and I sent everyone in the house, including my husband, on a bike ride yesterday. (One boy did not have a bike, so he used mine instead of me.)

I think each new thing that I have had to adjust to, on its own, would have been just fine. But, put all the things together, and now there is something new that I did not have before. So, that would explain why I need to go into hiding every day. Very grateful for an understanding husband. 😀

I had been looking at the news several times, okay, many times, a day. Not much new would happen over the course of an hour, though I found myself being compelled to keep looking. I have since stopped. Over the last few days, I have found I would only look at it once, or maybe twice, a day. Last week I was busy doing laundry (one boy had just a couple hours to pack all his clothes from the year at school before coming home – and yes, they were all needing cleaning!) to dishes to food to dishes to food to sweeping to OH! I do actually homeschool one boy for real and I do need to teach him (which that in itself is not going as normal,) to food to AHHHH!!!! to food to food, yes, and to more food. I forgot how much teenage boys eat! I love my boys! Glad they eat, however, with all this staying at home thing and limiting going out, and not being able to find food delivery options very well, the food thing really gets tight sometimes. But it is all good.

Things are not normal. Not even for the beautiful boy that I normally homeschool. I forced myself to understand that it is okay that we are starting late. I am up and working, I just do not start school with him like I should. It’s okay to not do everything. I have chosen to focus on a select few things plus some Pesach learning instead. As homeschool parents know, life skills is also learning, and right now we are doing a lot of life skills. So, we are learning, just different stuff. That is a challenge for me, but I’m working on it. I don’t like schedules, but I find I really some sort of schedule for our schooling (albeit I can be fairly loose with just one boy to teach) and I find it hard when we cannot do it.

This week, there is a feeling of some sort of routine which gives me some time to think. Imagine, a small thing that one can only see with an electron microscope paralyzing the world. How can that be? Obviously, it is Hashem’s doing. There is no other logical explanation. But, why the whole world? It’s not a city or two, or even a country or two, but the entire world. SOMETHING is happening. I am excited to see what is going to be! The entire world has basically come to a complete stop. Everyone is told to stay in their homes. Oh, when have we heard that one before? How about when we were in Mitzrayim (Egypt)? The difference is that this time it is the entire world that is told to stay indoors.

A friend told over a short Dvar Torah to me the other day. She said to make sure that every room in your house is holy so that when Moshiach comes, your entire house will be able to be transported to Israel. What better time to do that than now? Normally, I try to have in mind that I am cleaning all the chometz (leavened bread) out of me as I clean my house. I try to fix me, but honestly, I never can seem to do that for as I am cleaning my house and looking for physical chometz, I cannot focus on my spiritual chometz! I cannot think of what I need to correct while I am paying attention to the physical cleaning. This year, I found a better thing to do. I am going through the house and I am cleaning to make each room special, kodesh (holy). That I can do. I am happy that some of the rooms are done already, and it has given me the opportunity to do some organizing in some a few places that need it (like the garage!) I try to keep the areas I am working on reasonable and not overwhelming. Tonight, I am feeling accomplished. I feel good about myself. I feel like perhaps this year I will feel like I have changed somehow, even if I am not sure how. And when my children sing “Ma Nishtanah Halilah Hazeh…” perhaps the night will be different not only because we are all home by ourselves and not allowed to even daven together, but perhaps it will be different for I will feel that somehow *I* am different.

Grab opportunities. Let yourself change. When you do, you find that you are calmer and happier. And please, stay healthy and safe. Remember, Hashem has a plan for everything, and it is all good! Wishing everyone a very meaningful Pesach.

💖

How to Make Homeschooling Work – Crash Course

Now that almost all the schools are closed, I would like to welcome any parent with a child in (or was in) school to the wonderful world of homeschooling! I say that with a smile, but I totally understand what that means and know it is not an easy thing at all for almost every parent who has been forced into this situation.  It is not easy for us parents who have willingly put ourselves in it to begin with.  – Oh, and you are already a homeschool parent? This is definitely different (keep reading – we all need reminders sometimes and hopefully there are few helpful tips even for you.)  Activities are closed, many cannot even go outside. Just because we homeschool, we still take our children outside!

I want this blog to be helpful and give people chizuk – encouragement. There is so much information that one usually gets and needs before delving into homeschooling, but there is no time for that. So, to the best of my ability, I will try to give a crash course. I have written down 9 pointers to help:

1) Firstly, I want you to know that you are not alone! We are all there.  Some of us have some experience, but most, none. Like anything else, it is not easy, but we are told that Hashem only puts us in situations that we can manage. You CAN do this. (Perhaps you want to put this message all over your house to remind you!)

Everyone’s family works differently and what works for one family – or even one child, does not mean it will work with the next family, or even the next child in the family. Treat it like an experiment. “Hmm…. Well, that did not work, I wonder why that did not work,” or even, “Wow, that worked!  Let me try that again!” If we get into that mindset, even setbacks can be just a tad less harsh and easier to manage.

2) The second thing to note is that whenever a child starts homeschooling after being in a school, they need to deschool. Deschooling is letting the child learn to transition from a school learning environment to a home learning environment.  The length of time is generally around 1 month per year in a school.  Yes. I know what I just said.  I said it takes, about 15-30 days for each year a child was at school to learn to adjust. Don’t try to rush it. This is something that most likely all of you need to adjust as well.

3) The next thing I find is most important, and what it really means varies from family to family, but you need to create some sort of schedule. This could mean that children get up, dressed, and eat at a certain time and then there is davening and everyone is going to learn for 1.5 hours and then that is all you can handle so the rest of the time is “free” time, to something else. You just need SOMETHING.  Even in the summer when we are “off of school,” I found we have to do a subject of something each day – could be something really fun, but I needed to put that into our morning and then it did not matter what happened the rest of the day for we accomplished something. Our day was meaningful.

Many schools and yeshivas have transitioned to online schooling, which definitely helps, but comes with its own set of issues.  Please, just make sure you check up on each of your children a couple of times during the day so you know that they are where they need to be. It is good for the children as well, so they don’t feel so isolated and know you are around and care. You don’t have to talk to them, but just walk by and pause for just a moment. If they are doing independent work, just a quick hi and asking how they are doing can do wonders.

4) What if a school is not able to provide online schooling, or you have younger children who are not in school and now your attention is taken from them? You can go to my previous blog where I list a few suggestions here as starting places that can help.

5) Don’t forget about You. You are important. You need time out. You might even find you need to hide in the bathroom, with the door locked, for it is all getting on your nerves. Believe me, probably every single homeschool mom knows that trick and has made use of it more than once. When you are the only adult in the home and no one is there to relieve you so you can take a 15 minute break, you resort to what you have.  (And yes, it really does help!)

6) All the activities are closed. You are stuck in the house. Please follow whatever guidelines are found in your area at all times, however, here are some suggestions that might help.

                – go outside the door (while staying on your property!!!).  Take a chair or two and just sit outside of your front or back door. Even if you cannot leave your property, there is no reason why you can’t get some fresh air. It really helps everyone to feel happier.

                – you can do jumping jacks, jogging in place, jump rope, sit-ups, and many other exercises and stretches while staying in one spot.  Make a game out of it. Who can jog in place the longest, or do 5 minutes of jump rope? Make it as fun as you can. Get creative!

                – if you have a bit more space like a backyard, you can expand to tossing a ball, running around the backyard, potato sack races, 3-legged races, wheelbarrow races, and a variety of other things.

7) Schedule Quiet Time. Have 30-60 minutes a day where everyone is quiet to the best of their abilities. Have a baby or young child that naps? Great! Everyone will have quiet time at that moment.  They can read, rest, quietly work on a puzzle (jigsaw or puzzles on paper), etc. but it has to be quiet, and everyone should be by themselves. We all need time to decompress from our day. You can even call “Quiet Time!” whenever you feel the tensions rise and you find people need the break.

8) Assign one chore/task to each child, according to their ability, to be done at its proper time. Tasks can include wiping the table after each person puts their dishes away. One child is responsible for sweeping a certain room each day. Taking out the garbage, putting a bag in the garbage can, putting one load of laundry on on a certain day (older child), folding one pile of clothes, each child making sure their bed is made up, emptying the dishwasher, filling it up and putting it on, etc.

9) Tell everyone you love them. All the time. In the morning, when they have sent you to the ceiling, and when they go to bed.

Remember there will be hiccups and sometimes the day (or days) can get really stressed. It’s normal! Sometimes just surviving is the best that we can do. The internet is not working? Your children are getting way too much screen time – and that is the best you can do for YOU need a break? It’s okay! You are doing an amazing job. Tomorrow is another day.

My Children Are Bored (aka HELP!!!)

With all those children at home, it can be a bit overwhelming.  With schools and yeshivos closing, along with many public events, and children not being able to play with friends even, it can be hard to keep them busy and out of trouble; aka, hard for us to keep sane!

It is definitely a stressful time, never mind who has much time now to think about what all this really mean. For us homeschoolers, it is more like a huge winter storm when all the friends are home from school, but homeschooling families just chug along with school as if nothing is wrong. It does get a bit different when the storm lasts several days and normal out of the house activities are not available, so we can get cabin fever as well, just takes a bit longer for us.

I have our two boys who are in yeshiva, home with me, and very happy (in various ways) that they are able to keep up with their classes online.

To try to keep everyone sane, here is a very small starter list. (If you have anything else that would be helpful to others, let me know and I can add it to the list!):

(As with all things internet-related, even though I have been to these sites personally, please do your own research as well and only use what best fits your family.)

Room613 – Offering interactive, live classes for Jewish homeschoolers.

Yeshivas Mordechai HaTzaddik – Put on by the Chofetz Chaim. Call in Monday-Thursdays at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm EST. 30 min presentations start on the hour and include recesses and raffles! 646-726-9977

They also have The Children’s Hotline available 24 hours a day
212-444-1119, 718-305-6960, 845-738-1066.

Torah Live – Torah Live is offering free access to their accounts on 60 day increments – If you or your school would like to take advantage of this opportunity, go to http://www.torahlive.com/schools and use promo code TORAH.
Aleph Beta – at the top of the page they have a link for those who are stuck at home for free access.a
Chabad.org – is a great resource to begin with, but they have a wonderful children’s site filled with games and videos.
Akhlah
Torahtots
Chinuch.org– Is a Torah U’Mesorah website that has resources available to download for all age levels and all Jewish subject areas.

Want to help with the secular side of things as well?

Khan Academy – Includes extensive interactive math classes, along with coding. It also has so much more available, and all for free!

There are many places where one can download out of copyright books to read on a computer or to print out for free.

Gateway to the Classics (used to be Mainlesson.com) Has a huge database of children’s books. Click on “Library” and then you can go to the “Browse” link to browse by author or by title.
Gutenberg.org
Manybooks.net
Google Books

Want audiobooks instead? Try:
Librivox
Gateway to the Classics – Click on “Library” and then go to “Listen”
Other resources can include Amazon Kindle books.

Great time to pick up some new language that sounds fun!

Duolingo – can be done on the computer or app. There are others, but this is the one that I use.

Other ideas:

Take the time to reconnect. About 4 years ago I bought a small spiral notebook for each of us in the family.  I tried to remember a few times a week to give each person their book and told them to write one thing they are greatful for.  We have not done them in 2.5 years. Tonight, I decided to bring them out again. IY”H, we will be using them most nights.

In a time of technology, some old forms have been forgotten.  Now would be a great time to bring them out. Have your children draw pictures or write cards or small letters to someone. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends.  It does not have to be long, just something small. The mail them. In the snail mail. 🙂 Maybe they can be “penpals” with their best friend who lives next door – if you can get out – paste the note on the front door in the evening and they can paste one on your door the next night!

Start a Reading Time (or Quiet Time), perhaps in the afternoon or evening after supper.  Take 30-60 minutes and everyone reads a book.

We might not understand exactly why Hashem has decided this was the best thing for us, but let us say “Thank You!” and take advantage of all that was thrown at us!

If you have any other ideas, please leave a comment, I am sure there are many other people who will be excited to hear about them.

Your Jewish Homeschool Curriculum Made Much Easier!

Hello Everyone!

I tried to write this post a while ago, but we have a new web hosting package and even though I was assured that I was not losing anything, I really am, and I was not able to write my post without my server resources being used up and having to wait and redo it all! So, I had to come up with another way of posting that will work until I get around to calling them and not having to spend $200 just so I can write text on my blog!

One of the big issues for Jewish homeschoolers has always been in creating a Judaic curriculum. After homeschooling for 12 years, I have finally put together a list of Judaic curriculum resources useful to Homeschoolers, and the grades they usually match up with. Most of the resources are free, and most can be found on chinuch.org. All I did was go through the resources to find the kinds of things that many homeschooling families are looking for – “What do Day Schools teach?” And then, the second question that most people do not get to for they don’t usually get the first question answered, but is in their minds – “How do I do it?” So, I went through tens of thousands of resources posted on chinuch.org and weeded out what I thought were the kinds of materials most appropriate in a homeschool setting. They are grouped by subject and then by grade range they are most suited for.

Firstly, please keep in mind that this is just a starting place! I have definitely included a lot that many people might be able to use my list to create a full curriculum for many years, however, please note that there will probably be some gaps that need filling in after a few years, so keep that in mind. There is still some information I want to include but is not on yet.

1. Most of what is posted are links to chinuch.org. Chinuch.org is part of Torah U’Mesorah. It is a teachers resource site where teachers can submit classroom ideas and worksheets for others to use. Teachers post their materials and someone at Torah U’Mesorah looks them over to make sure they are appropriate before making them available. Most of what is posted is supplementary material. Homeschooling parents are looking for complete programs or themes. I went through a huge portion of these materials to find complete “kits”. Bonus – Everything on chinuch.org is free. 🙂

2. There are other sites that I have listed. Many of those are not free but are definitely worth looking at if your budget allows.

How do you use my list? All you need to do is find the subject that you are interested in looking at, then go to the grade level (Elementary, Middle School, High School) and see if anything there fits your needs. I tried to find several options for each grade level, though I was not always successful. Just do this for each subject you are looking for.

Again, this was made as a STARTING place, and you might need to fill in the few gaps you may find. The link below will take you to a Google Document of my list. If you have any issues opening it up, please sent me a message. Extra bonus: My list is free, so please pass the link around to your friends who might need it!

Click here for the list

If you have a link that you think would be good, please let me know and I will take a look at it.

Hope you enjoy!

The Real Life of Homeschooling

Our weekly trip to Starbucks while waiting for his brother in writing class. One of the perks to Homeschooling. 😀

Sometimes when one writes about personal thoughts and feelings and then presses the “submit” button, they wonder if perhaps the information they just posted was TMI (Too Much Information.) All sorts of thoughts go through the mind, “if I take it down now, no one would have read it yet, right?” and “I just blew it, oh well, I guess many people will think less of me now.” I felt this way when I pressed the wonderful “Publish” button on my last post.

You see, the goal of my writings are to help other people. Right now, I am focusing on homeschooling since it is a big part of our lives. With almost a dozen years now (wow!) under our belt, I feel that I do have a little bit of information to hand over. Whether one is actively homeschooling and looking for advice, information, or just seeing that one is not alone, to those who are investigating to see if homeschooling is right for them or not, it is good to be able to get “real” information.

I am not talking about what the regulations are in the area one is homeschooling, what curricula there is out there or even how to write a schedule. I am talking about the REAL information. What really can one expect when they homeschool? I don’t know about what others think, but for us, the stereotypical homeschool family has children who are obedient, do all their lessons, who listen to their elders (i.e. Mother or Father), who understand time and who are almost always never late, and are ahead of grade level.  Oh, and they don’t fight, and they get along with their siblings.

Cough

And yes, I have learned that stereotypes are not always accurate. Have I internalized that, that is the question.

In my writings, amidst the wonderful things that I do believe we have done and learned, there is something called the Real Life of Homeschooling that I try to show sometimes, and that is… we are humans, not robots; we are all unique and different, our personalities are across the entire spectrum and we (the parents) have all lived a different life and have different priorities and experiences, and we are all given different obstacles we have to overcome.

This means that like everything else we do in life, and just like everyone else in the world, we all have our ups and downs. We all have different ways of teaching, different preferences, different kinds of children. No two homeschooling families are the same, and most importantly, no matter how picture perfect a homeschool family is, there are always challenges and things that just do not go like we want. And, a little secret, I would not want to be that picture perfect family for that would be boring. I like my boys for who they are, for all that they bring into our family, and for all the different ways they challenge me and mold me and make me a better person. So, to be fair to my readers, yes, I am biased, I do like homeschooling, and so when honestly asked for advice, I may tend to lean towards others homeschooling, however, I also have to relate some of our hardships. I have to open myself up and show my wounds.

My last post was hard. Homeschooling is not always easy, but then again, nothing is. This year, after 11 years of homeschooling, we sent a boy to school. It was a very difficult decision for me to make. I thought I failed. Then, just a few months later, we were faced with another hard obstacle – we sent a second boy to school (though he is in town, Baruch Hashem!) Can you say that I thought I failed even more? Not just one, but two gone, within a few months of each other. I am now left with only half. I thought I doubly failed.  When I wrote about all the inside feelings that no one ever sees (except my wonderful husband who has been there for me – thank you so much!) how were my readers going take it?  What reactions will I receive? I honestly had no clue. I have to say that I was very happily surprised at the responses I received.

Homeschooling is definitely outside the box, and so much so that most homeschooling families find that they are usually pretty much alone, especially in the religious Jewish setting, though I read today that the number of homeschooling children in the United States doubled from an estimated 850,000 to 1.8 million in just three years (as of 2016 I believe.) We do not have a lot of the “in-person” emotional support that other families have, so we have to fill the needs and gaps online. What I learned was that I was not alone. I learned that there are others who understand my feelings. Other have gone through or going through what I am going through. I learned that I did not fail. Failing would be to see a need is not being met and not doing anything about it. Succeeding is seeing something is not going well and doing everything in your power to change things so things are better, even if it is hard to do.

Being a good parent or teacher is knowing your limitations and finding others who can take over when needed. If I do not know anything about biology or math, even as a homeschool parent, I have no issues looking for someone who does know and can help out. Why is it that I don’t have an issue taking a boy to Algebra class outside of home, even when I can teach it (and have taught it) to my boys with no issues, why is it that I have no problems hiring a Gemara Rebbe for my boys for I know that I know nothing about Gemara, but when it comes to understanding that a child has learned all he/she can learn from me and needs to learn the rest outside, I suddenly have an issue? I cannot do it all, and am not supposed to do it all (that is why two people get married, so they can work together to accomplish so much more, but that is for my other passion!) I guess it is a matter of humbling myself and seeing myself for who I really am, and that is not bad. I think we often feel that if we humbled ourselves we would see all the things not good about us, all the places where we failed, etc. Yeah, they are there, but there are a whole lot of good things in us as well. Unless we humble ourselves, we cannot see those amazing things for the light of arrogance covers it all up. Where am I doing good? What amazing things have I done? We can only see who we really are when we can shed our outer clothing.

My boys are all doing well, where ever they are, at home or school, Baruch Hashem. I am still trying to adjust emotionally and just in general. I am still trying to reorganize my day to make it more efficient for I suddenly found that I have time to do things like think (yes, I can think now!), clean, do laundry, organize, uh, and yes, even take cat naps without worrying about not getting school done (!) however, I just don’t know how to even internalize this fact so it is not really getting done (except for the cat naps, I have NO problems adding them in, not sure why. 😉 ) What does it mean to have time to clean the house and do other tasks other than teach? Believe it or not, it is really hard to figure that one out, and I really do want to do them, it is just that it has been many years since I have been able to effectively do these things regularly that it hard to understand that I have some time now for at least some of them regularly. I find myself sitting down, not sure what to do with myself or walking around like a zombie, even though I know there are tasks for me to do. My lovely husband can’t figure out why I can’t figure it out either. 🙂

I took a chance and showed my pain. This is part of the Real Life of Homeschooling. This is part of what my writings are all about. The good, the bad and the ugly, it is all there. But really, it is all good, it is all meant to be. My goals are shifting and that is fine. Life is a constant change.

To those of you who opened your wounds to help me with mine, my deepest gratitude. Thank you. I hope that some of my writings will help others as well. On and upwards to a new set of days that are as quiet as a house can get with a beautiful Mr. 7 year old! Never old, always changing. Wishing you all your own successes!

Shanah Tovah U’Mesuka!

kimg1763As the Jewish year is coming to an end, a new school year has already begun. A few weeks ago my Facebook was inundated with wonderful photos of many friends’ Back to School/Homeschool pictures. It was nice to see. I hope that everyone had a wonderful summer and is enjoying the new learning year.

Our summer was not too bad. It was not overly hot like it was last year (we rarely got above 100 degrees this summer, but stayed in the upper 90’s.) It was more humid though, guess it was not hot enough to burn the humidity out of the air. The boys did get to swim many times and kept a bit cool that way. 🙂

The summer is usually the time I get to recharge. When the boys were younger, I used to be able to send them to camp for a week and leave me with just one little one, or, the last

Hiking up Wheeler Peak with their Dad.
Hiking up Wheeler Peak with their Dad.

year or so they went, I had a week to myself during the day. It was really nice. I got to do most of the preparations for the coming year, as well as take the time to do what I wanted, when I wanted it, whether it was doing nothing, going for a walk, or cleaning out a room or just some drawers. We don’t have that luxury anymore to send them to camp, but I would still take a few weeks to do nothing. Just a time to recharge. I don’t mind having them home, they are big enough they usually entertain themselves and I am just here to referee 🙂

That was the plan for this summer as well. It was a wonderful plan! I had a few things I wanted to learn with them this summer, as usual, but

Wheeler Peak. Snow!
Wheeler Peak. Snow!

for the most part, much of the day would be doing not much and letting me focus on re-organizing the house. When we moved in 1.5 years ago, our boxes came from storage basically on Purim. My husband wanted all the boxes out of the house and things “somewhere” before Pesach. I always wanted to move into a house for Pesach, thought it would be wonderful! I spent the entire month emptying boxes. Not quite the move that I was thinking of, but I guess it was not too bad. 😉  I cannot be upset for Erev Pesach, my husband decided to empty just one more box (almost all the boxes were empty, just had a couple more to go,) and found a loaf of bread that the packers said they could not pack, that had been in storage for 7 months. I looked, no mold, and it LOOKED edible. Then I remembered why I don’t normally buy store bread – if there is no mold on it in about 5 days, I don’t want to eat it! What all this meant was that things were placed somewhere, but not really in the homes I wanted. So, the plan was to slowly take the summer, since there was nothing much else to do, and re-organize and minimize (yes, still trying to do that.) Well, you know the saying, “Man plans, G-d laughs.” Yup, that really is a true saying! Though I am trying to reframe my mind and prefer to think that “Man plans, G-d challenges.”

Baruch Hashem nothing bad happened. We all stayed healthy and safe. For that I am very grateful. It’s just that things did not go as planned. It was very frustrating. A week before Labor Day, where many schools wait to start, I broke down. I told my husband it was a

We did get a little school done in the summer. Private tutor for Gemara with Rabbi Resnick.
We did get a little school done in the summer. Private tutor for Gemara with Rabbi Resnick.

week before school, I had not had my break, which was something we had talked about for a few weeks already for I saw I was probably not going to get it with everything that was going on, I had no time to even THINK about school and I *NEEDED* at least one week, but really, really, really, wanted two, but I could make one week work. He tried so hard, but it never happened. “You homeschool, you don’t need to start when everyone is starting, take the next two weeks off!” “I can’t! I am already not teaching the week of Labor Day, I can’t wait any longer. The boys NEED it. They need the schooling.” Yes, technically they could wait, but they were getting antsy with the lack of a school schedule.

A few of you are on my friends list on Facebook and might vaguely recall a posting I made stating that my summer vacation just started at something like 4:32pm the Wednesday or Thursday before Labor Day.  I was so excited! For one day, I did nothing. Nothing. Boy did it feel good.  I was almost guilty. Almost. Not quite. 🙂 But, by the end of the (next) day I was bored and ready to do stuff. Beautiful. Just what I wanted to happen for that meant I would be ready to do what I wanted. Day Two: Back to the old grind. Unfortunately that was all, I did not get the next day. My husband was home on Labor Day and gave me the entire day. I spent the entire day working on school. I got a huge way over. All I can say is Baruch Hashem we are doing Ambleside Online. I think I only had to get 3 books for boys this year for we had all the rest since there is very little consumable stuff we use. And, Baruch Hashem for Amazon Prime. Despite all that help, it still took about 20 hours over that week and the next to get everything all set up. I basically woke boys up the second week in September and handed them their work. I did not even tell them school had started, just “here is your work for today” and off they went. I felt bad for they were not prepared, and neither was I. That first week I kept getting frustrated boys asking “what do I do now, Mom?” It was hard on all of us. But, I felt that was the best. The boys needed to start. It was a hard beginning. I did not get my break I needed, school really started with a bang and then things went flying and we had to catch them. So no, we did not have any Back to School pictures to post.

On another note, we had another huge change we had to get used to. Boy #2 is not at home with us anymore. We have sent him away to Yeshiva. It was time for a change.

Miss him!
Miss him!

Surprisingly, the boy who does not like changes was not only needing it, he was begging for it. He has learned some nice life lessons, such as not spending all his monthly spending money the first 4 days of the month. Oops. 🙂 In general, he seems happy and he has some nice friends. It has taken some time to get used to a school setting, and the homework he has to do each night, but I think he is good. It has left a huge gap here at home though. It is awfully quiet some times. Even when someone is sleeping, you still feel their presence in the house. For someone who prefers no music during school hours for it is usually noisy enough, I was asking the one boy who was up doing school this morning if it would bother him if I put on music. No more boys can leave for a while. I put my foot down on that one. Not sure how long I can keep it down though.

So, as we finally settle down into a routine, and I find out when my quiet times are, for now I have some during the day, I am hoping that throughout the year I can do a little organizing here and some there. I have accepted the fact that I did not get my vacation this year. Well, sort of. Mostly. We have completed enough weeks that the schedule has mostly

Little brother waiting with older brother for time to leave for the plane.
Little brother waiting with older brother for time to leave for the plane.

worked itself out. There are still a few wrinkles, but there always is at the beginning of the year, no matter how prepared I am. I try to look ahead and move on. You can’t hang onto the past, especially when it gets you down. This past week I have managed to get one drawer in the kitchen cleaned out and it has made a noticeable difference, at least to me. I will keep chugging away at it. G-d willing it will get done, just at a different pace than I planned. When these things happen we have to remember our goal is to align ourselves with His goal. Everything He does is for the best, even when we don’t understand.

As Rosh Hashanah approaches and we try to prepare the best we can for our judgement and hopes of a sweet and happy year, we try to do one more mitzvah, one more chesed, give one more bit of tzedakah. While we wash the dishes and the clothes yet again, make one more dish of food in honor of the Yom Tov, or even just a regular day meal, they are all important jobs we are doing. It is all special. In last week’s parsha we learned about blessing that will come or us, or, chas v’shalom, the kimg1759curses that will befall us. We are told the curses will come because we were not happy when we had plenty. Not that we were not happy when times were tough. When times were good we were not happy. My friends, we have a mitzvah to be happy, to be b’simcha! We have more laundry to wash? Baruch Hashem! We have more dishes to clean, have to sweep and mop the floor for the 5th time today? Baruch Hashem! It is not always easy, especially when it seems mundane. Believe me, it is not. Your home is a mini Bais Hamikdash. Just like you would gladly sweep the floors of the real Bais Hamikdash, when you sweep your floors or wash yet another load of laundry, you are cleaning YOUR Bais Hamikdash. When we do His mitzvahs with joy, when we are happy when there is something good that happens, that is when blessings will come to our homes. Hashem is setting out our year for us in just a few days and so it is the perfect time to try to add even one more piece of joy – a piece of thankfulness – to our portfolio. With that one more piece of joy, may Hashem bless you and your family with a Shanah Tova U’Mesuka! May we all be inscribed with all the blessings we need. <3

We Are at Another End

KIMG1701Well, another year is coming to an end. I never really know exactly when we are going to end, it all depends on when I either A) finish the schoolwork at hand, or B) just need to stop. However, I think this year, for the most part, I think we are actually doing both together.  I am quite impressed. For two boys we are down to three books and just a few chapters in each, so we are alternating between the three of them to get them all done. I don’t want to just read several chapters in one book one day and several in another book the next day for that is not the intent of our learning. The idea of Charlotte Mason learning is to give the brain time to sub-consciously think about the previous reading for several days before going on. They are not getting several days in between each chapter of a book, but at least 1-2 days, and two of them go on to different topics each chapter so it is not really that bad.

I have had a slightly easier time overall the last several weeks and it has given me time to do some introspection about how things are going and how to improve. My main concern was that I feel we have been treading water for the last 1.5 years. Yes, the last few months of school we feel that way. I think it is just that we need a change of pace into summer months, however, I have been feeling this way for the last 18 months. There are several things at play, but I have come across one thing that is a big part of it all.

I somehow ran across a website that caught my eye. I started reading it. It had lots of pictures. I was intrigued. It is about a mother of 7 children ranging from 18 months to 11 yrs who went from a *VERY* cluttered home (she posts pictures!) to a home where it can look like Home and Gardens in about 30 minutes of cleanup – the entire house (again, more pictures.) Oh, and when I mentioned this to my sister, her natural reaction was, “but does she homeschool?!?!?!?!” to which was a very fast reply, “YES!” Minimization is the word of the day. You mean to say that a homeschool family of many children really can have a really neat home, almost all the time? I honestly never thought that possible unless one had a housekeeper that came in every day, or every other day at the minimum. Or, unless the children were much older. (And even then there is no guarantee!) So, I started reading.

I have to say, after reading several pages, it really did make sense, and I am at the point right now that I think it is possible in our home as well. I got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved, but when we purchased our home last year and all the boxes arrived, just weeks before Pesach, my wonderful, dear, beloved husband told me to “Just empty the boxes and put everything somewhere!” And me, being the good wife, listened. I knew there was so much more I needed to get rid of, but with just a few short weeks before Pesach, I didn’t have time. We emptied and put. It would not have been too bad if not for the fact that I never got around to going through everything and organizing like I really wanted to! Which would have meant I would have gotten rid of at least a little bit more. Don’t get me wrong, I have gone through things and have minimized a little bit over the past year, just not nearly like I wanted to.

So, after getting psyched up from reading, I got it in my head to do something. I was not quite sure what, but last weekend I emptied out the cabinets under the two sinks in our bathroom. I sat down on the floor, opened the door, and started taking things out. I had purchased little cubbies to put things in almost 2 years before, but it was still a mess. I realized I didn’t need to organize, I needed to toss. If something didn’t resonate deep inside of me, I let it go. Some things I had kept for sentimental reasons, but did not really need any more. I understood then that it is okay to need something at one point in my life, and it is okay if later on I find that I don’t need it anymore. It is okay to move on.

After spending a couple of hours, tucked away in my little corner of the house, by myself, IKIMG1706 finished. I did not minimize to the extent that the other mother did, however, as she mentions, you need to do what is good for your family, which may not be quite like she does it. But, I am pleased. the two cabinets are still stocked – however, the bins all line up nicely and I can see what is in each of them and nothing is stacked. Perhaps on another go around I will be able to declutter more, in the meantime, I got rid of one garbage bag of stuff! Not too shabby! I am trying to decide which room to tackle next. I am thinking perhaps my closet. We shall see. It is too close to Shabbos and Yom Tov to do anything else.

What have I learned from all of this? Other than seeing how much stuff we have that we don’t have (and this was just our bathroom, I can’t even imagine the rest of the rooms!) I
have noticed another thing. My mind is clearer. Yes, I only cleaned up two cabinets, and I don’t even see the items inside of them unless I open the doors, my mind is actually a bit clearer. I have realized that everything that we have in the house is something that occupies “space” in my mind. The entire week, when I have thought about those cabinets, I have noticed “space” in my mind. I have decluttered my mind. I have time to think about other things. It has actually brought me much relief.

If I have sparked your interest, please read more about minimizing both your home and your mind here! I hope to keep y’all updated occasionally!

KIMG1714I am looking forward to freeing up my mind for many other things that I want to think about and do, including getting back into writing more. 🙂 So, as we are closing in on our trek to receiving the Torah in a few short days, with the smell of cheesecake (our own unique recipe! No, the one on the right is not green, it is actually brown – from chocolate,) challah, and more, I wish you all a wonderful Yom Tov!

Where Has The Time Gone?

KIMG1645Spring is amazing here and I am trying to soak it all up before it gets too hot to do much. I have been enjoying walks in the morning before boys need to get up.

Purim came and went and now Pesach is next week! I am having such a hard time wrapping my mind around that! Yes, I have been cleaning, I’m not too worried. I cleaned two main rooms before Grandpa came to visit us before Purim. I finished my room yesterday and we are working on boys’ rooms. I have bought all our Pesach needs except the fresh fruits and vegetables and a few odds and ends (I left our Pesach broom 1441 miles north of here 1.5 years ago since we needed something to clean with after all our stuff was gone and my regular broom was broken anyways.) Not quite sure what I did last year with all the matza crumbs, but, somehow I managed, don’t feel like figure it out right now.

We are in hail season right now. We went to bed Purim night to 15 minutes of strong hail. Woke up in the morning and it looked like it snowed! Damaged our metal roof, took theKIMG1595 paint off the fence, and dented the cars. But, Baruch Hashem, it did not break through our roof or any windows (just a couple of miles away, there were such things happening!) We had more hail this past week. I have come to expect that – it does not just rain here, as I found out last year. It pours. Gista mabul! (It’s flooding – yiddish)

Life is a bit different lately. Other than just things happening, it does feel strange not to be teaching any limudei kodesh things. Yes, I sit down with my little one and do his work with him – the watching of the videos, reading the school work and writing down many of the his dictations. But still, does feel weird. The little one told me he needed to make a new haggadah. Ah, yes, we used to do those. He does have a nice one his Saba Saba (Great Grandfather) bought him shortly before he passed away, but he wants one he makes. I was rummaging through my mind to try to remember which ones I have in my 3 inch binder that would be good for him. I am thinking the circle one would be good for him. Will look it up and pull it out.

*2 days later*

KIMG1640
Tea Time! With strawberries dipped in cocoa water and then sugar. Utterly messy, but utterly delicious!

Well, I went to go look on Chinuch.org for it to link to it, but I got caught instead looking at some other amazing things they had there. And then 2 days passed by somehow. I showed Mr. Little another haggadah, and he wanted it all printed out. It is a full haggadah but has some nice comments for children in it and he liked it. I printed out all 90 ish pages and then messed up royally on the hole punching… We won’t go down that road. I still have to fix one set of holes so it goes in the binder. And no, we have not gone over any of it because of that. Sigh. Wonder if there is anything else I can do. I guess I can just punch holes all around to make it look like it is supposed to be there – there are already holes on the other side! Or, I think I might just find some cardboard and tie yarn through holes. Yes, I think we can do that. I will let him decorate the outside when he gets bored.

I am not sure how I would manage cleaning the house if the boys were in school. We have spent 3 days on two rooms upstairs. Yeah, well okay, the boys spent one day painting – you know how it goes, all you wanted to do was clean, but out comes the paint. That room has not been painted since we moved in, and it was really needing it. All 4 boys (and Mommy) were into the painting. I was going to just do 3 walls but they did all 4. That room has a KIMG1643ceiling with 3 sides (almost like a barn), and they painted two of the sides as well, just leaving the actual ceiling alone. One beautiful boy went up and beyond and made sure it was all trimmed – ceiling, walls, in between the windows. He did not stop until it was done. Mr. Quiet is good that way. And to give my heartfelt thanks, I took him out. No one knows where we went (except Daddy), and we went on our hideaway to get some ice cream! I told him not to tell anyone where we were going. The others worked, and I am proud of that, it is just that he went up and beyond. I wanted to thank him for that but don’t want the others to feel bad for they great as well. So much for trying to work on my diet. I couldn’t just let him eat by himself (the date was quiet as it was – we are both quiet people,) and no, even though I was not going to have any, I did. So, we enjoyed our ice cream, together, in silence. I think he enjoyed himself. 🙂

Other than painting, we played musical rooms, and three boys moved rooms. Three in one and one in the other. So, boys all slept in their new rooms last night – and all rooms are KIMG1648cleaned for Pesach. Now, to just deal with all the stuff that was put outside on the landing….. I wonder how much of it I can really throw out. Not sure I can get by with all of it, but I think I must try! After getting a black garbage bag full of garbage from one room (and yes, I HAVE cleaned it out several times since last Pesach!) I need to have less stuff in that particular room. Much less stuff. Meaning, I would love to have nothing really, so anything there I know is garbage! But, realistically, maybe just a desk? It has drawers so he can put things in it. I might get by with that. Worth a try.

Somehow we still managed to get some school work done. We are about done for cleaning – mainly just the landing upstairs is left. And the last big thing is the kitchen. A few odds and ends, but that is about it. I think we are doing good. The boys cleaned out our inside freezer (we have a separate fridge and freezer in our kitchen) and it is stuffed withKIMG1650 our Pesach foods for I refuse to clean the outside freezers. Too much work for me. So, Baruch Hashem, we can manage without them. We are really excited and all enjoy the Yom Tov. The boys are looking forward to making sure we have enough makkos for the seder. We usually end up missing some of our hail every year, and occasionally some wild animals go missing. And, we are looking foward to family coming over for the last days. That is always exciting. Apparently they liked us so much last year that they wanted to come this year. Woohoo! 😀 Baruch Hashem our house is plenty big for everyone! “Boys are excited about seeing their cousins” is an understatement.

I won’t keep y’all any longer. Wishing everyone a Kosher Pesach – free from both physical and spiritual chometz, with lots of joy and happiness. We should all be free from our personal slavery, and there is still time for Moshiach to come and take us to Eretz Yisroel 🙂