Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A typical day in our homeschool-long post ahead!

There's this myth in the hs world that many of us buy into: that all other hs moms have it all together, everyday. They have a clean house, wake up early to do their devotions, excericse, cook a great breakfast, then start school with liquid movements and no chaotic moments or start-and-stop, jerky transitions. Well, let me dispel that myth with a look at our day.

I woke up at 7:00 with the alarm and had my breakfast and coffee while reading James, chapter 4 (again, in prep for Life Group tonight). Out of nowhere pops Hope, who should still be asleep-and if by chain reaction, Jay wakes up too and we hear her over the monitor. Jamie is supposed to be here any minute with Adri (her 1 yr old who comes over several days a week). Jaybird really wanted to be back in bed, she only woke up to nurse. Adri gets here and her mom said she was tired, so I put her back to bed, then crawled back into my comfy bed with Jaybird--planning to stay awake...which didn't work so well-I woke back up a bit before 10am!

So, up I go, gathering kids with me, prompting them to the table for school. Hope had fallen back to sleep and was not planning to get up! Ash worked on her math while we waited a bit on Hope.

Meanwhile, I get a phone call from some man who sounded only slightly like Shane. I could barely hear him but we basically went around in circles until he asked me what I was doing and I said, "teaching school" (trying to give the hint that I needed to go), he muttered something and I asked him who he was (finally figuring out I didn't have a clue who this was) and he asked if I had a cigarette. I hung up. I hate calls like that-I'm some kind of magnent for them, too.

Shane came home, and this brings a time of disruption as everyone has to hug him and see if there're any leftover goodies in his lunchpail. We set back down to school; I'm trying to get through Matthew 6 with Jay on my lap (while she's trying to crawl up on the table!). My phone rings again-this times it's my cell and could be a client calling, so I check it. Its not a client, but another 4-H mom who I needed to talk to about an upcoming 4-H contest, so I took a minute, reluctantly, to talk to her.

When I'm ready to come back, Shane is pulling Hope's tooth and everyone has pretty much forgotten about what we just read in Matthew! Jay goes down for a nap with Daddy and I let Hope quickly call each grandma to tell them the lost tooth news.

It's about lunch time, when we need to be winding up school, but we're just now able to really get started! We sit back down and finish Matthew-but only 3 verses into it, Hope announces that Adri needs a diaper change. I finish reading our 15 verses assigned today, change Adri, and decide it's Adri's nap time. Ash takes Adri and her reader to the bedroom while I work on language arts with Hope. Hope isn't happy initially about one of the assignments, so I have to redirect her, then she's excited about making words with her flash card letters. We finish up as Ash gets back in. Ash and I discuss denotation/connation and then analyze synonyms to see how words with the same definition can have a different "feel" to them.

Lunch break-it's about 1, so I make macaroni & cheese. While the water is boiling and the noodles cooking, I read our science book. We review the layers of a tree, then move on to the new lesson of identifying trees. We take a break to eat, then I read Window to the World (a prayer guide for tribes and peoples throughout the world) to them while they finish their food.

Somewhere during this time, I give Hope a spanking for yelling at her sister to "get away and leave me alone" several times. I changed 2 poopey diapers, and my brother in law calls.

Since he's one of my favorite people and doesn't call often/talk long, I answered--also he was calling on Shane's cell, and Shane was asleep, so I felt I needed to answer in Shane's place. Anyway, he just needed to ask an internet related question, I helped him, we visited briefly and that was it--and he said he didn't prank call me this morning, lol.

Jay woke up, too and Ash fed her some macaroni while I read Island of the Blue Dolphins out loud to them. Hope stopped me midsentence and asked if I'd teach her to knit (I don't even know how), as she was playing with some yarn and 2 pencils, lol. I'm sure her mind was totally in the game! At 2:45, we read the last paragraph of chapter 7 of Torches of Joy-leaving chapter 8 for another day. My patience is tried, my voice is going, and I'm grieving the full afternoon I thought I'd have to tackle some other projects (laundry, dishes, and organizing our financing).

We'll finish the afternoon with dishes, independent school work (for Ash), straightening up, taking care of the babies, and getting ready for Awana and Life Group. We'll go to our evening activities, come home and get ready for bed, then start is all over tomorrow, hopefully getting started on time, since I'll have to work in the afternoon.

I guess I should shower now, since it is 3:00! Oh, but now both babies are up from their naps, so maybe it's not the best time...ahhhh wouldn't homeschooling be so much easier if we didn't have any kids? lol.

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