I have so much invested in this blog that periodically I want to check in just to keep the site up and running. There is so much interesting animal news and there are so many great photos that I hate to let it go! 

If you would like to come check out my new blog home, visit me at www.melissaomarkham.com.

Well, after a month of Jodi trying to help me access my blog control panel, we finally met with success last week. Apparently some HSB changes made it so several bloggers were unable to access their accounts! Thanks to to Jamincea who helped me get my SOS to Jodi in the first place!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. We have been very blessed in recent months. We are finally getting a well after 5 years of dealing with our well running dry, We are also getting a deck built onto our home. Since our home is on the small side, the extra space is much anticipated. We eventually hope to close in half of the deck and use it for another room. Homeschooling and co-op both continue to go well.  The last week of January we went on a five day trip to West Virginia and stayed at a Country Roads Cabin in Hico. We didn't see as much snow as we would have liked, but we saw way more snow than we have seen here in Virginia. It was quiet and peaceful. We got lots of reading done, played games, were blessed with two snowfalls, enjoyed the hot tub on the deck, the fireplace, and just being together.

Our sad news of the last couple of months was our loss of our recently acquired pet Maggie. She jumped out of our car on a trip to town and didn't return when called.  She got hit by a car. We miss her very much even though we had her for such a short time. My son, who got a digital camera for his 10th birthday had used it to take lots of videos and photos of Maggie. We are very happy to have those.

Well, Maggie has been here for three weeks and has changed so much! The children are getting much better at picking up their stuff (without reminding). We all get up earlier and go to bed earlier (because by the end of the day we are exhausted).  We walk more. We spend more time outside.  Jungle Princess and I have become adept at pulling Maggie's jaws apart to see what she is chewing on now. Game Master is great at taking her for walks and putting her on her run.  Both kids enjoy teaching her 'sit', 'down,' and 'stay.'

She hasn't used the bathroom in the house for over a week (yahoo). She loves riding in the car with us.  She is learning not to pull me down the road behind her. She still chases our cats up trees and for some reason she barks at my husband mostly when he enters the room, but sometimes just because he is there.  She is hard on toys. We got her this really cool soccer ball with rope on two sides where you could play tug of war with her. She loved it and in the first day had managed to pul the 'harness' off the ball that held the ropes on to the ends....That was a 15.00 toy. But then there are some 1.00 toys we have here that are stil doing great.

She loves Katrina's stuffed animals and will bring them out daintily in her mouth then not want to let them go.  We have refrained from getting her a plush animal toy in the dog toy section because we don't want her to transfer her desire of those toys to the kids stuffed toys.

We love Maggie to pieces and are enjoying the changes our 4 legged friend has brought into our lives.

My 6 year old daughter loves dressing up and looking 'cute'.  She will fix her hair 'just so' and then stand in front of the mirror smiling at herself and turning her head in different angles.  Now, we don't watch much tv (and what they do watch is cartoons and animal shows (old cartoons like Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny, etc). Of course, there is always advertising...beautiful models on billboards and commercials. And she has some older friends (9 and 10 and 11) and maybe she is picking up some of it from them, but it does amaze me how it seems to be hardwired into her to want to primp. (Not something I do, heck, I don't even dry my hair most days!)

Interestingly, she does have some things to learn...she likes wearing stripes with polka dots, red with pink and tennis shoes with fancy dresses. She likes her  hair best uncombed, put in a pony tail by herself with a big 'hunk' of it hanging down beside her face....

These neat tips were in October's Good Housekeeping. I thought I would share:

1. Spread them over flower beds containing acid-loving plants such as azaleas and rhododendrons

2.  Put dry grounds into an old margarine tub with holes poked in the lid. Place the tub in the refrigerator to absorb odors.

3.  Keep grounds in a can near the sink. Rub a small amount over your hands after peeling onions, chopping garlic, or handling fish to get rid of the odor.

If your children have hamsters, you know the joy of cleaning out the cages. While essentially not bad, where the hamster urinates is a challenge. I stumbled on an answer a couple of weeks ago that I thought I would share with you.  Steel Wool pads. I use the store brand.  It cleans up that concrete-like mess in moments!  Rinse well and your hamster cage is clean as new! 

This is another one of the studies that as I read it, I shook my head and wondered, how much did they pay for a study , that we could have provided the information for free. At any rate, it turns out the children need less time with educational videos, tball, gymnastics, etc and more time to just be kids. To enjoy the world around them in their own way.  Dr. Brazelton agrres...WOW! 

Just wanted to chime in and say two things:

1. we are still using our chore jars and the children are still doing well with it.  The biggest problem is me because we get busy and don't have time to draw chores for the day! But all in all, I am pleased with their willingness to do the chores and the load it is taking off of me:)

2.  The Magnesium really has made a difference for me. I am not craving chocolate. And  *gasp* I actually have found myself saying...I don't want chocolate...!!!!!!! For those of you who have problems with this, you will know what a big deal that is. Last weekend, I made a chocolate chess pie and ate a piece of it. It was my favorite pie as a kid. I could hardly stand it (way too sweet) and threw the rest of it out!  I also made cookies with chocolate chips and peanut butter to take to a reunion. I ate a couple. We returned with a few and I threw them out too. DS didn't need them and I didn't want them.  And while we were at the reunion, instead of scarfing up chocolate desserts, I ate some banana pudding and was done.  WOW!!!!

Well, my contest for giving away free Komodo Dragon ebooks is done. I have been overwhelmed with the response and tickled pink at the fact that so many were willing to do reviews and spread the word about my ebook for me. I am going to keep this as a running list of where you can get your own copy of  the Life of Komodo Dragon and reviews as they come in. Also, if you missed my original post about the contest, there is some information in that post and in the comments about how this ebook came to be.

I hope that by reading the words of other HSBer's that you will feel more comfortable that this is a quality product I am offering.

Amber's Review

Betsy's Review

Genesis Family's Review

Canada Girl's Review

Kathleen's Review

Abiga's Review

Jacque Dixon's Review

Eyecorn's Review

HeartNSoul's Review

Thanks fellow homeschoolers for sharing your two cents worth and helping me to spread the word about my book. Now I am going to have to work on doing the layout and getting photographs for my hummingbird and bison manuscripts!

Last night Game Master told me he had only 50 pp left to read in The Hobbit. He and I have been reading The Hobbit for our first co-op meeting next Tuesday (I am teaching the class). At any rate, I said...oh, so Smaug is dead. And he said, "yes, but the dwarves don't know it yet, but I do."

I smiled and said, 'yep, they are pretty worried about what is going to happen when he comes back, aren't they?"

He grinned, held out his hand with a pretend card in it and said, "That's why elves put their gold on Visa Check Guard!" 

I thought I would split a gut!  I am still chuckling.  Well, maybe you had to be there, my hubby didn't think it was as funny as Jungle Princess and I did...so maybe it was the delivery. But I wanted to share! 

Ever since I was a teenager, I had nights where my brain would wake up and refuse to go back to sleep. Thos quiet and still hours in the night were often the times I got my best writing done. Now, these attacks come less frequently and when they do, I usually get out a book, read for a bit and it helps me ease back into dreamland. When they do come, they are usually spurred on by my 6 year old daughter who wakes up, wants to be with mommy and comes and gets me out of my nice bed and takes me to hers (I am often mostly asleep during this process and fall promptly asleep in her bed).

Well a little before 3 am, she came in and got me up. I was sooooo asleep I could barely walk through the house to her room. 10 minutes later, I was wide awake. So I have spent the last two hours catching up on some interesting science news and sharing it with you! My lack of sleep has hopefully been to your advantage.  Now my eyes are getting heavier and heavier and I am growing sleepier and sleepier...so back to bed I go trying to catch some more sleep so I will be able to function the rest of the ....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I have been working hard to promote my Komodo Dragon Ebook. I had a contest a few weeks ago and several people from HSB have been kind enough to offer reviews. You can read those here.

In this last week, I have also been given three reviews by authors that I respect. I am posting them for you to read. The Life of the Komodo Dragon  would be a great addition to your curriculum. And the price is right, so go ahead and order today. Thank you.

Tagged by Trinity Prepschool

1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED

Well Trained Mind

2) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN’T BE WITHOUT

Our Computer

3) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT

I buy more books than we could ever use

4) ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED LAST YEAR

Drawing with Children

5) ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING NEXT YEAR

My Brain

6) ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY

Story of the World and an indoor lap pool(great idea Maureen!)

7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED

"How to Lose Weight While Sleeping"

8 ) ONE HOMESCHOOLING CATALOGUE YOU ENJOY READING

I don't peruse homeschool catalogues.

9) ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE REGULARLY

Homeschool Blogger Friends

10) TAG FIVE OTHER HOMESCHOOLERS

I'll leave this open for other friends to answer at will!

I am not a summer person. I don't think I have ever been a summer person. Probably the closest I ever came was when my best friend and neighbor owned a pool and I was able to spend a summer swimming in it...then summer was good. Otherwise as a kid, I found summer hot and boring (I liked school and I am an only child). 

However, I like all the other seasons. I like the crisp coolness of autumn, the colored leaves, the clearest skies of the year. I like the warming breezes of spring, the sounds of spring peeps that fill the air, the leaves and flowers unfurling and the light color of green that fills the world.

And winter...I love winter! I love wearing sweaters, snuggling under multiple blankets, roaring fires, staying in and playing games or watching movies or reading good books and snow...I LOVE SNOW!!! It makes the world pure again. There is a special silence that comes with snow as it is falling. I love walking in the falling snow. I love sled riding at night while a full moon lights up the world covered in snow. I love making snow men and snow angels, snowballs and snow forts. I love watching the birds at the feeder and watching the children and the pets delight in this special treat.  Unfortunately, despite my love of snow, there is never as much as I would like to see of it here in Virginia.  We did have a 2 foot deep snow back in 1996. I loved it!  We couldn't get out from our house for three days because the snow was over the tires. It was awesome (until I broke a finger sled riding, but that is another story).

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been the very opposite of the weather I like the most. It has been between 90 and 100 degrees. I melt the second I step outside. I have to drive our old Suburban a day every week, while DH uses our more gas effiicient car to go teach a class (he has further to go than I and we both have to go to town that same day). The Suburban doesn't have good AC. If it is cool outside, it works.  Now, that's really helpful!   The humidity has been in 90% or more. It is just nasty outside. So I was thrilled when I read an article today that said a weak El Nino may be forming in late 2006.

If it does, this will mean wetter than normal weather for the Gulf Coast and Southeastern states the first three months of 2007...wetter weather that time of year, often means more snow...I am SO EXCITED!!!!  I am going to go dust off my boots and our snow man kit and dream of snow...maybe that will help me get through this dreadful heat! Hot chocolate, anyone?

The school year is fast approaching and that means spending money on educational supplies.

Textbooks, reading material, reference material...all of these are on your shopping lists. To help you out, I am offering a sale on all books to be used for schooling and homeschooling(and this isn't just for children, adults are busy learning too!). Buy one and save 30% on your second book of equal or lesser value. There is no limit! I also combine shipping at a savings for you!  

So make your selections (don't pay until I send you an invoice). Send me an email at melissamarkham@takethemat.com saying "I love learning" in the subject line, and I will make the appropriate discounts and send you an invoice reflecting your savings! This sale ends August 31st!!!

Ebay, in their infinite wisdom is raising rates for store owners.  Interestingly they said in their letter the average person would only see a 6% increase. Glad to know I am not average since my increase was 100%+!!!!! 

So I am trimming my store and what that means is savings for you! From now until July 27th, I am listing all of my 5.00 items at a fixed price. After that they will be pulled from my store forever. It just doesn't pay to have them. But there are some great items there!

I always offer a buy 2, get one of equal or lesser value for free on my homeschool and children's books. I also combine shipping...highest priced shipping first and then 1.50 off of each subsequent item. 

If there are several of the 5.00 items you are interested in, make me an offer, I am in a very work with you kind of mood right now!  Also, for my Homeschool Blogger readers, I am expanding the sale of buy 2, get one of equal or lesser value for free to all items in my store!!!!! Just mention that you read about my sale here at HSB and I will make the adjustments in your invoice!

So to recap: there are many 5.00 items that will be gone forever after next Thursday(July 27th). And I am running a buy 2 get 1 free sale until July 31st at midnight EST for all HSB readers for every item in my store! 

Happy browsing! YesterdaysHopes : Here you will find lots of books: biographies, art history, history, science, text books, and cookbooks. Also there is clothing, vintage games, jigsaw puzzles, magazines, trading cards, videos, and other interesting items of yesteryear. All backed with friendly service and a money back guarantee!

Well, this past Monday I began what I am calling the Fortnight of Birthday! 

Monday I spent the day with my mom (without my children). I went to her house early and I wanted to look through some old family items and photographs. She made us a cup of cappucino and a piece of blackberry pound cake and we settled in. We spent the morning looking through her mother's photo albums (my grandmother passed away in 1993 from lung cancer).  We talked about pictures of things we remembered and Mom shared family stories with me.

Then we went to see Lady in the Lake. I was expecting scary, which it wasn't, but we really enjoyed the story and were very glad we went to see it. Then we went to Cold Stone Creamery for a late lunch. I had the Coffee Lover's Ice Cream...my tongue is still happy from that adventure. Then we went back to her house and finished looking through photo albums and just sat around and talked.

Tuesday the children and I were supposed to visit friends, but they called and had a sick child, so I took advantage of that and got some work done here that needed to be done.

Wednesday was movie/pool day (see previous post for more details on that).

Thursday we got to stay at home and again do home things (I did ads for VaBay, we did some cleaning, the kids did schoolwork) and then we played some games. I finally beat the Game Master at Stratego (I am not the best at Strategy games) and then we played a rousing game of Pokemon Trainer and I won that too (I think they let me win because it was my birthday coming up. I have noticed they have been very nice to me).

Yesterday morning I mowed the yard, then did some VaBay work, then after lunch, headed to town and my Dad's cabin. My Dad bought 50 acres of land against national forest 10 years ago. He had been taking care of the place for a friend since 1980 and the friend was killed in a plane accident in 1996 (the plane Ron Brown crashed on). Bob's wife wanted to sell the place and gave Dad the first option since he loved it so there.  There is a creek, two cabins, and lots of peace and quiet and beauty. So we went to visit my dad and his wife, Dianne there. They fixed me homemade cherry ice cream and zucchini cake in honor of my birthday. And they gave me a bag of neat knick-knack items for around the house.  We visited for a few hours, the children played in the COLD creek and then we headed towards home. We stopped in Bedford for groceries and it was after 7, so I took the kids to McDonalds. We were going through the drive thru...we waited 25 minutes in line!!!!!!  They kept apologizing. They were having a tough time because some people hadn't shown up for work. That gave me a good opportunity to talk with Game Master and Jungle Princess about how important it was to show up to work when you were scheduled to do so.

This morning, I left about 7:30 am to head to the DMV. Fortunately, I received a notice yesterday about my tags needing renewal in a couple of months which reminded me that I needed to renew my driver's license!!!!! So in I went for my new picture. I told the nice lady that I didn't think it was fair that for my birthday I had to pay the DMV money...she laughed and agreed.

The lady who took my picture complimented me on my hairstyle (she went on and on about it) and said how different I looked from my last picture (in a good way). That made me feel good. I came home and fixed Game Master some pancakes and now I am blogging for the first time in days because I have been toooo busy!  We are supposed to go see Pirates of the Caribbean this afternoon and then head to my Mom's for my birthday supper there. We are having steak (my stepdad, Jim, makes awesome steak) and we are having baked potatoes, salad, homemade rolls, German Chocolate Cake and homemade ice cream.

Tomorrow my in-laws are coming over after church and I am cooking a nice Sunday dinner for them. Then Monday I will turn 40. I am excited about turning 40. I still feel like I did when I was 20 (in my head that is, my body doesn't quite feel the same). I am thankful to be alive and healthy.

My hubby and kids have some presents for me on Monday and my hubby has said there is something going on next weekend, but I don't know what yet.

I love birthdays!

This has been a busy, but fun week. Wednesday morning we went to see Dreamer at the Summer Movie Club. Then we ran a few errands before heading to the Lynchburg Community pool at Miller Park. This pool is an Olympic size swimming pool. Off of one end there is a 'spur' that is 3 foot deep and roped off for the little ones. Then off the other end there is another 'spur' with a low dive and a high dive. And then in the four foot deep area there is a curvy water slide. They open from 12-6, M-F and it is 2.00 for adults and 1.50 for children, or you can get summer passes. 

They have 6 lifeguards watching over the pool at all times. The crowd of children is great and there is plenty of room. It is a great place to spend an afternoon.

Last year, Jungle Princess was too small to use the slide and not a good enough swimmer. Well this year, she was a little taller and a better swimmer and really enjoyed the water slide. After we had been there a little while Game Master came over and asked if he could jump off the high dive. I told him sure. And then I watched as over the next couple of hours he attempted to get up his courage to do this.

First he went up the ladder partway and then backed down. Then he went up a little further and came back. He would walk around, shake his head, jump off the low dive and then attempt the high dive again. He finally got up on the board, but would only go about half way out. I have to say the other kids were kind. A couple of the teenagers I noticed rolling their eyes, but for the most part the kids were encouraging and giving great advice. Now if my husband had been there, this would not have taken as long. My husband loves the high dive and with an example Jack would have probably jumped in my quicker.

So after a while, Jungle Princess asked if she could jump off the low dive. So I went and sat next to the side of the pool. She did this several times with great delight. Meanwhile Game Master was still trying to tackle the high dive. Finally I screwed up my own courage and decided to tackle the high dive myself. I have done this once or twice over the years, but was not thrilled with the experience. So I just got up there and kept telling myself that it was important to do this for my son...I didn't give myself time to think about it, just went to the edge and jumped in!

Lo and behold, it was fun! So after  Game Master saw me, his almost 40 year old mother do this and live to tell the tale, he climbed up the high board. He stood at the edge, while all around the lifeguard, other children, Jungle Princess and I were cheering him on. He stuck his foot out and jumped. I was thrilled and thrilled to be there!  After that he did it again and again and so did I . He and I encouraged another little girl to jump off the high dive too. 

Of course, Jungle Princess, not to be outdone asked if she could jump off the high dive. Now, I am a protective mom and my first inclination was to say no, but I also try to fight that urge because I don't want my kids growing up scared of things (to this end I have handled insects that a few years ago I would have stomped on or sprayed or destroyed in some way...screaming all the time and I have jumped off the high dive).  So I told her yes.  So up she went and out to the edge and looked over, then down the ladder she came saying 'that's pretty high.' She jumped off the low dive again and then went back to the high dive and took the plunge.

I am thrilled and blessed that I was able to be there. So many of those kids were there without their parents  and their parents were missing out on their triumphs. I am also glad that my kids encourage me to 'stretch' myself and that I have the flexibility to do it.

We can't wait to go back!

Okay...I am looking for additional at home work. I have taken on writing ads for a local company, and last week was busy at first, but it petered out by the end of the week. They have about 30 writers and most days they only put out 10 new ads. Now not all 30 are active all the time, but you are only allowed to sign up for three ads at a time and I want something a little more steady than that....sooo.....

I am wondering what some of you do?  I know some sell for Usborne, I have seen the ads on some blogs for Amazon click through, I am wondering what you do. Please, please tell me some of the options out there. I tried looking at some internet sources, but most of those seem to be scams, so I am coming to you, people I trust to see what you are doing and what you suggest.

So please, comment below and let me know what you do to bring in added income and still have time for homeschooling? Thanks!

Last month, my children cleaned out their toys and let me sell things they weren't playing with on Ebay. They took their money and bought more toys! 

Game Master picked up the nwe Pokemon Master Trainer game, Pirates of the Caribbean Life (which we are enjoying), and two sets of Pokemon cards.

Jungle Princess purchased the Playmobil Zoo # 3240.  We purchased it new off of Ebay which saved her about $20.  We purchased it on Tuesday and it arrived UPS about 6 p.m. on Thursday.  Jungle Princess was thrille to be handed this hug box!  We spent 3 hours putting the pieces together...3 hours!!!! It is very cool, but she is already anxious to get the 'add ons' particularly the seal exhibit.  She and Game Master have spent the last three days playing with these new gadgets.  I even played too! 

Playmobil is expensive, but their toys are awesome!

Well, we have been busy here in our little corner of Virginia, but have been getting stuff done.

The children are still doing their chores from their chore cards and are still mostly enjoying them.  I am not stressing out anymore because my house is dirty and that is a good thing for me.

We have taken and finished our CATs and sent them in and been approved for another year. I can tell you now I was sweating a little on that one. We started out the year trying a deal where one child would be on the computer one day while the other worked with me, then we switched. That ended up not working out so well.  And about mid-year I had to change horses in mid-stream and go back to teaching from books everyday. This made us a bit behind and Game Master is still working on finishing up his fourth grade math and grammer, but we figured we were far enough along to take the test.

Jungle Princess only missed 2 problems out of 120, and they were on two separate sections of the test. But get this, she ended up with a 5 or 52 on one of those sections! I couldn't believe it! Her results came back first and I as freaking out because I knew Game Master had missed three on two sections of his test! But, relief (and consternation) followed when his results arrived and his lowest score as a 6 or 62!  Go figure!  I guess kids do worse on the tests as a whole the older they get?

So we are finishing up Game Master's 4th grade stuff with the goal of being finished by the end of August. Jungle Princess has been doing 1st grade stuff since mid-spring.  Which is pretty good, since she is supposed to be in kindergarten this year.  So e are continuing on with doing first grade stuff. She loves workbooks which makes teaching her a joy. Game Master looks at workbooks and runs screaming through the house! Though yesterday we had an interesting moment. He decided to work on today's math assignment last night. He has never done that before. And he was so tickled when he finished it and this morning had extra play time! Now there is an awesome lesson!

Other than that, I have been picking tomatoes, writing adds, shipping packages, spending time with my DH and playing with the children. All has been going well and that leaves me with a good feeling.

Not doing so well with weight loss right now though.  I didn't exercise at all last week, but am happy to say I was back on the elliptical yesterday and today and put in 10 miles.  Now if I could just get my eating back on track.

Well, this has rambled enough. Thanks for listening!

Well, I have had a couple of buddies ask me why I haven't been posting much. The reason is I have been very, very busy!  A few weeks ago, I enticed the kids to clean out their rooms in order to obtain profit. They ended up making around 130.00 between them for selling things they don't even use and they still have some things that haven't sold yet. (Go check out my ebay store for lots of great products. )

So that was the first thing, then there was just life. We are doing our best to do our school work, visiting new churches (well, actually one that we are really pleased with), we go to the movies on Wednesday and just life in general.

Then last Friday, I signed up as an ad copy writer for Va-Bay (sellers on the internet).  It doesn't pay a lot, but I can work from home. I enjoy writing the ads and I don't have to fool with the shipping or figuring out where to put the stock.

So I am using my spare time to do ads, and when there are ads available, that has to come first. I won't be around as much, but I will be around and will say hello when I can. Hope all of you are having a terrific summer!

Well, some storms are coming through Virginia and our power went off about 30 minutes ago. The kids are thrilled! The candles are lit and I am getting some last computer stuff done while I still have battery power for it. 

Just an idea...don't think about the annoyance that we feel as adults when the power goes out and the dishes aren't done or other chores aren't complete. Remember how much fun it is to be in the dark. And then have a localized power outage. Turn off all the lights, light some candles and play. The kids will love it!

BTW, we went to see The Curse of the Were-Rabbit this morning as part of our summer program. The kids still like it, I still don't. And then we saw RV. My MIL and FIL really enjoyed it...their tastes are obviously way different than mine. I loved the original Vacation movie, but this was pathetic. I did manage to force one laugh...and managed to refrain from clapping when it was done. It is the first movie I have seen where there was a homeschooling family involved though. That was nice to see!

First the sad news...I don't think we are going to end up with a morning glory house. The dirt where we planted the seeds was apparently too poor even for morning glories to grow in. That's pretty bad when even the weeds won't grow!  A little more than 1/2 the seeds sprouted and in the last 6 weeks, the tallest one is 2 inches tall. So I guess we will have to try again next year.

Now on to more pleasant news. We have been doing our chore card for a week now and it has gone very nicely so far. The kids are only required to pull out one card a day, but sometimes they insist on pulling out more.  They are learning to clean and how much nicer it is.  I am taking the time they are cleaning and doing some of the extras (replacing light bulbs, sorting out drawers, etc) and I know that roughly once a week, every room in the house is cleaned. I say roughly once a week because we only do a chore card on the days we are here. Last week, we were gone for the better part of four days and those days we didn't get chores done, but every day we were here two or more chores got done. 

The two things I have had to 'let go'. One I don't require perfection. I show them how to do the job, but I don't point out if they miss a spot of dust or something like that (I figure as they do it more, we will work towards perfection).  Two, I had to let go of the idea of having the whole house clean at one time.  When I grew up, Saturday was cleaning day. Mom spent most of Saturday cleaning, doing laundry and making an awesome homecooked meal!  Most of the time she wouldn't let me help because when she was growing up, she did all of the housework and she didn't want to do the same to me. I used to sneak and do the housework (was I a cool kid or what?) so that she could take a break! REALLY!   But at any rate, we cleaned from the back to the front of the house, closing the doors on rooms that were cleaned. It was nice because for that one day everything looked really sparkly (now, you have to understand, my mom's house was no where near as chaotic as mine is, it mostly always looked nice).  But I don't mind the whole house not being clean all the time.  I just focus on it being basically cleaned once a week!