So the last several days have been anything but normal....My parents took all the kids to an indoor water park Thursday and Friday of last week. Then we had the weekend. Sunday we missed church thanks to more winter weather. Monday we HAD to get groceries or risk starvation (ok, that may not be exactly true but close enough) and then karate. Tuesday we had our normal day of volunteering and music lessons. And finished it up with night school. Night school is very very very rare around here but we had some catching up to do. That is SIX days of no regular school hours. Holy cow is that crazy!
So today we are back to school. In a big way. And it is HARD! It is always hard after a break but wow! Plus we got MORE snow last night, which gives my kids ants in their pants.
School usually starts at 9 here. We spend 30 minutes per subject. Bible/Awana, then Science, then 30 minutes of seatwork, then social studies, and another 30 minutes of seatwork. After lunch the kids get to play for a while before naps and quiet reading. (Seatwork is any subject that they can do primarily on their own with little bits of help from me - math, handwriting, phonics, etc). Then we are home free and they can play as they wish.
This is what today looked like.
9:00 - Bible and Awana. We read our Bible study and then started practicing Awana verses. Hit meltdown on memory work by 9:15. Put it away and tried to practice our karate form. Dismal failure. Gave up and started science.
9:30 - We'd been doing science for 15 minutes. It was a pretty intense (maybe TOO intense-I may have gone overboard) science lesson with lots of writing. M was really having trouble with all the writing. But I still knew he could do it. Didn't finish science till 10:15 (started 15 minutes early, finished 15 minutes late) There were tears involved and M didn't quite finish all of his cards. He will have to finish those later.
10:15 - seatwork. I did G's reading lesson (I think he's finally getting it) and the others did math. M had trouble with a few questions in that he didn't want to do them at all. A poked around for 45 minutes but did finally finish. M finished his science cards.
11 - we "should" be getting close to wrapping up and making lunch. It is clear we will not finish before lunch. Still have social studies and spelling (for A). Give up and make lunch.
12 - really want to do social studies but it is clear focus is no better because the snow is calling. Let them go out and play. G can't find his coverall bibs. Most of all their gloves are missing. They all have homes where they are supposed to be. M yells at me that he needs his gloves. I go bat crap crazy because I am unable to conjure gloves out of thin air and I don't know what he expects me to do. He finally settles for the little lightweight gloves (yes I know his hands are going to be cold but again....I don't know what I am supposed to do). While they are outside, I clean the laundry room and the library up (hoping to find gloves or bibs-woodstove is in the library so we dry wet clothes in there). No luck.
1 - everyone comes back in and is practicing their instruments. I realize I am still in my pajamas and have not yet brushed my teeth. Last night's dishes (and all those dirtied since then) are piled in the sink. Meh, whatever. Its time for L to take a nap. Take her potty and get a book or two to read. Send the others to their beds for rest/quiet reading (they take how to draw books and enough paper to kill a forest of trees). After L is in bed make them lay in their beds quietly since we've been at melt down pretty much all day. Pray they fall asleep.
1:30 - L is sleeping. M and G are close and A is reading quietly in his room with instructions to stay in there. This is where my day gets challenging for me. I have dishes to do, laundry to fold, my bedroom needs picked up, and any number of other things need done. Plus I'd really like to make some healthy snacks since there really aren't any in the house right now. I am also part of a fitness challenge with a group of friends...and need to fit my workout in sometime today. Today it is only 20 minutes...but I risk waking the kids up while I do it. So what do I choose? Today, the workout ranks first. And I'll try to not make a bunch of noise.
1:30-2:15 - workout-done ; shower-done ; teeth - brushed. (YAY!). Oh and I'm dressed....kinda. I put on clean pajamas. That totally counts. A and M start asking to come out of their rooms rather than read quietly in them. I know they are big (10 and 8). But I NEED down time in the afternoon or angry Hulk mom appears (she's already ducked in once today). I am not asking them to sleep. Just stay in their own spaces and do something quietly. That's all. When they come out, they talk, they fight, they laugh. Then they wake up their sister who cries, and screams, and whines. Quiet time is just a part of our day. Frankly, we all need a little space apart from each other....
2:30 - A and M are up playing nicely (yes I caved - lets hope the nicely playing lasts). Folded the laundry. It is now in piles on the library floor. Lets hope it gets put away before it gets kicked over and has to be folded again. Socks are thrown in a laundry basket. I HATE sorting socks. Maybe I'll pay the boys to do those.
3:00 - Boys are "playing Battleship". Which seems a lot louder than it should be. This is when I start craving an afternoon snack....but since I haven't had a chance to make anything (I'm not blowing all this working out on junkie snacks), I don't know what to eat. Oh, that reminds me. I forgot to get the burger out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Great. Melted some peanut butter to dip a banana in....L woke up and now I'm busted with my snack. Eat all sneaky in the kitchen. Totally did not enjoy it.
3:15 - Finally getting to social studies. And spelling.
4:10 - finished with school. FINALLY! And I only yelled one more time so we could get spelling done. :/ I should totally do the dishes and start on supper....but I'm gonna play on pinterest for a while and beg the King to do the dishes for me. (it worked....he washed the dishes for me....he ROCKS!)
5:15- dinner is served. Shepherd's Pie. 1 of 4 kids ate it.
5:30 - I actually did tonight's dishes but the King is making puppy chow for movie watching tonight (way to sabotage my eating babe-and I still don't have any healthy snacks so I KNOW I'll eat some) so I will still wake up with a sink of dirty dishes. Whatever. I'm done for the night. Gonna print some music and practice my guitar.
5:30b Except the computer screwed up so I didn't get the music printed fast enough....they are done with the puppy chow and ready to start a movie....so I don't have time to practice. Nice.
It is pretty clear things do not always go as planned in our home. I think there is perception of homeschooling families that one of two things are true. 1) the kids (and mom) mess around all day and no one really learns/does anything. 2) they are this super family where everyone gets along and sticks to the plans and it all comes up roses. And, in truth, we all just do the best we can with the day/attitudes/personalities we have going on in our home....just like any other family.
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