My Organized Chaos

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll probably already know all about Jo, who blogs at A Bit Of This And A Bit Of That. She always has great creative ideas for activities with kids which I love to steal try out. Her son is a few years older than K, and she too lives in Japan, so it's fun to browse her archives and and find suggestions for books, activities and more. Jo's blog is also where I first heard about the Montessori style of education, the spirit of which I have tried to introduce into our home.

In addition to all that (oh, and did I mention that she's a designer and seamster too?), Jo is now launching an e-course entitled My Organized Chaos. What's more, she invited me to be a tester! Now I do consider myself to be a generally quite well-organized person but I have to admit that things have been slipping lately, especially since T became mobile. Previously established routines and systems have been allowed to slide, and things have become increasingly disorganized.

Although I haven't finished the course yet, things have already improved considerably. The boys are a lot better about putting away their toys themselves now, K has a proper area set up for writing/art/craft with all the things he needs easily accessible and the drawers for the boys' clothes are all cutely labelled so that K (and H...) can find what he's looking for and put away the clean clothes himself. I'm looking forward to the next part of the course, concentrating on planning activities for your children.

Now unfortunately Jo's course does not come with magic powers, nor is she volunteering to come over and sort out your house for you. I'm afraid you will have to do the work yourself. However, she is a great source of ideas, inspiration and encouragement, cute printables (I love a good worksheet, me) and community, using the course's Facebook page. A lot of what I have done was already in the back of my mind beforehand, but doing the course has given me the push to actually get it done.

Anyway, Jo will soon be opening the doors for the course, with an early-bird special for those who sign up soon. At the moment, you can sign up for her newsletter here. Even if you don't think that you're interested in the course, I'd recommend the newsletter, for ideas, free printables, special offers, competitions and more. I should say, in the spirit of full disclosure, that if you do sign up for the course after following one of my links I may get a little reward :-)  But at any rate, go for the newsletter, it's free!