Got a question?!?

Hi Maria,
Here are my answers to the questions you asked. I hope I answered your questions, but if not just let me know. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask:) I always respond. It may take me a couple of days but I always try to get back to all emails:) Sorry if I repeated myself on something, I had to walk away a couple of times before I got finished:)
Hugs, Sandy


Hello Sandy,
This is Maria from sunny Arizona. I’m sorry to hear about your Mom and her problem with her legs. I wanted to contact you to pick your brain a little about homemaking and routines and what works for you. I just wonder sometimes how you manage with so many kids of your own and some extras. Here are my questions, if you would like you can use this in your blog and if you can’t answer that’s fine, don’t worry about it…

1.What time do you wake up and go to bed? How about your kids?
2.When does school time start and end?
3.Do you schedule days for cleaning, laundry, groceries, or do you do it as needed? Do you clean all day long or have certain days or times of the day in which you clean?
4.How do you manage the menu part?
5.What kinds of foods do you provide for the kids when they are under your care? Do you make a full menu or just some small items, like sandwiches, etc…
6.When you had Bailey as a newborn, how did you manage with your own kids and the daycare kids?

The reason I ask this is because I feel like my life is somewhat similar to yours and I’m contemplating starting a daycare. I just can’t wrap my head around how it will work out for us. We are also expecting our baby to be born in early August, so I don’t know what I’ll do then…Thank you for your time and for sharing your life.

God bless
Sincerely,
Maria Holguin
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My answers will be in red:)
1.What time do you wake up and go to bed? How about your kids?
Actually, my day starts about 4:45 am, when I wake up and get hubby up for work. I usually get up and make sure he has everything he needs for work (like clothes/food). However, my day doesn't really start until around 6am. I seldom go back to sleep after I wake up the 1st time. I usually use this time of the morning to pray/read/do a devotion/or clean house,etc because it really is the only time that it is completely quiet and calm here.
My youngest usually gets up when I do, because our bedrooms are down stairs and he gets scared easily,so he usually pops up when my clock goes off. However, I usually make the older kids rise by 8:30 am so they can be up ,dressed ,and ready for their school day before 9 am.
At night, I usually go to my room about an hour or so before bedtime , to read and study. Most of the time Jacob comes and lays in bed with me while I read. Recently,We bought him a children's illustrated Bible,so I've been trying to add his reading time in to my reading time. I usually read about an hour or so before I go to sleep:) Hubby usually joins me around 9-10 pm, depending on if he is tired or watching a movie, etc. The teens usually stay up later than us, but not always. I really don't have a set bedtime. However,When we have foster kids that are going to public school (which right now we don't) I make it a point to make everyone go to bed by 10(for teens), 9( for younger ones) and 8(for babies). The reason I set a bedtime for public school kids is because they have to catch a bus at 7 am and that means they have to get up much earlier than mine do.

2. What time does our homeschooling day start and end? I usually set aside the hours of 9 am-3 pm for school. However, things can come up and knock us off schedule at any time,so It is never set in stone. However, I usually start them at 9 am because they all have curriculum's that include daily computer time, and we only have 3 computers. So usually the boys rotate book and computer time. The girls are self learners. They basically have online teachers that teach them and they require very little of my time and attention. I only have to go over their work and submit it online for them and of course the required monthly paper work I have to turn into the board of ed. The boys on the other hand, require more of my time and attention. They both are using an online learning program along with their homeschooling curriculum, so It does free up more time in my day for the little kids that need my time and attention.

3. Do you schedule days for cleaning, laundry, groceries, or do you do it as needed? Do you clean all day long or have certain days or times of the day in which you clean?
As far as cleaning, I try hard to clean as I go ,but as you can imagine with kids here 24/7 it never stays clean and nothing stays done. I usually take 6-9 am and 6-8 pm to clean house. I usually wash and dry clothes everyday as it is needed. Each of my kids have chores. The boys put away their own laundry and handle all of the out door chores along with their dad...taking out gargage,getting the mail, sweeping the walk, cleaning the porch and yard, feeding pets,etc. The girls put away their own clothes and have inside chores. They rotate kitchen chores. The girls deal with clean dishes and I deal with loading/washing dirty dishes. The girls also do the sweeping and mopping by rotating days. For example Ashley helps me with the kitchen on Mon,Wed,and Fri and Katie on the other days. I do the laundry ,but everyone puts their own clothes away. I handle Hubby's,mine,and any little foster's clothes. The girls are really good at helping me in the house. They can pretty much run this house as good as I can. They also help me cook and they can cook a complete meal and do often all by themselves. It is like having 3 woman in the house working, so it's not that hard. It is not nearly as hard as it was when all of mine were still at home and little. Several times I've had 8 kids living her(through fostering) and as you can imagine I was very busy and it was very tough, but through the years I've learned time management and I've realized that we all have to work together to keep our home running. It takes us as a team and if everyone does their part, things flow pretty easily.
As far as buying groceries, I do that usually on Fridays ,but sometimes on Saturdays if Friday is full. Again, the kids help me with this. I buy the groceries and they help me load them in the van and unload them and put them away when we get home:)
4. How do you manage the menu part? I really don't have a set menu. I use to do that,but it seemed like on certain days we wouldn't be in the mood for a certain meal. So now, around 4 pm I'll ask hubby what he wants for dinner and most of the time he says it doesn't matter and to ask the kids...so I do.
When I buy groceries, I buy pretty much the same meals each week. I change up every now and then and sometimes hubby will stop by the store on the way home to add to the menu when he wants something different. Usually my hubby cooks a couple of nights each week because he likes cooking(he fell in love with cooking about a year ago) and boy have I let him go with it:) Also the girls love cooking, so I let them anytime they want. While they are cooking, I'm usually cleaning up behind them and helping them:) They can cook just as good as I can:) So as you can tell, as my kids have gotten older life around the house has gotten easier for me. They are a lot of help to me. This frees up even more time for me to grade school work, read, study, and clean and once done we have more time to enjoy as a family because we all worked together.
5. What kind of foods do I provide for the kids in my care? We do not do a big morning meal except sometimes on the weekends. None of us like big meals in the morning. So breakfast is usually a variety of cereals, oatmeal, grits, scramblers, strudels, pop tarts, frozen pancakes, waffles, french toast,etc I keep stocked up with these.
As for lunch I keep a variety of foods at all times ,because we all like different things. I keep our pantry and fridge stocked with chicken bites, pizza bites, corn dogs, soups, pastas, wraps, sandwich stuff, cheeses, sauces, spreads, and meats. So pretty much anything they want they can fix. We always eat lunch and take a break between 11-12.
6. How did I handle life with Bailey and the other kids?
The first few weeks were tough ,but thank goodness she was born in the summer and during our summer break. So I had a few weeks off from schooling and I devoted the weeks after her birth(we got Bailey at birth) to getting her on a schedule. She made her own schedule ,but it took her a few weeks and sleepless nights. Once she got to where she slept most of the night, it got easier, but those first few weeks were a little tough as I adjusted to my lack of sleep and having a newborn in the house. However, once again my kids were a huge help...so I am very blessed to have older kids that do help when I need it the most.
The older kids help me out a lot with the younger ones. They can change diapers,make formula, dress, bathe, feed and tend to the younger ones as good as I can. Our home is only open for fostering/keeping younger children 6 and under at this time, so that is what we are set up for. We also have a baby proofed house, which also makes taking care of little ones easier(because they can't really get into anything that could hurt them) and that makes it safer and allows them to be free to play and roam from one end to the other.
I think the most important thing a parent can do for their children is to teach them responsibility by giving them daily chores and letting them work right along beside their parent from the early years and on.
It amazes me when my parents talk about their kids not being able to do this or that. They won't know if you don't show them/teach them. I don't mean to force them or make them do all the work for you. I mean just teach them the skills that you have, so that when they get older they will know what to do.
Just yesterday a girl at the store above our house made a comment on how mature my daughters are. She said when she has kids she wants to homeschool them so that they will be like my kids. You don't have to homeschool them to get the same result. You can simply teach them from day to day by giving them after school chores, etc
I couldn't do all that I do everyday if it weren't for the help of God and my kids.
God is good and He always provides us with just what we need and he has blessed us in so many ways.

Oh and before I get bombed with emails thinking I make my kids do all my chores, trust me(they will tell you) I do much more than they do every day. I don't expect them to do my job after all I am the mom,but I do expect them to help me when I need help and I help them when they need me.
I also reward my kids for all that they do. I probably spend more time doing things for my kids then most people do and I also give them a $50 allowance each week. So they gladly help me:) and that is a blessing. However, if they fail to do their part I take away $10 each day, but that seldom happens...they love their chore money.