No stressful back-t0-school shopping trips, fighting over what clothes, shoes, binders, pencils, backpacks, and other assorted items that they just HAVE to have.
No rushing out the door in the morning, and rushing out the door in the afternoon so as not to be late.
No tired kids complaining about homework, after they've been at school all day. No papers to lose, no books to drag back and forth in a heavy backpack, no fancy lunches to be made to compete with the other kids.
No money to fork over for school fees, lunch fees, bus fees, school supplies. No time spots to sign up for volunteer time, committees to join, or field trips to supervise.
Just the normal chaos of us.
Here is how we spent our day:
7:00 am sharp: snapdragon the toddler wakes me out of a deep sleep, kisses me on the forehead and crawls into bed with me. I try in vain to go back to sleep.
7:30 am: Z the preschooler wanders in, and climbs into the other side of the bed.
7:45 am: Breakfast for the 3 of us... yogurt and granola.
8:00 am: Baby number 1 joins us.. straight to his highchair for breakfast.
8:15 am: Baby number 2 is awake, and E the 6 year old is now awake too. Breakfast all around. E helps feed the babies. Z and H pull out the 'ball game' and convince me to sit and play with them for 30 min, learning about colors, numbers, shapes and letters (or how to take turns without crying, and how to lose gracefully).
8:30 am: the kids unload the dishwasher, clean off the table, and we start school.
8:45 am: Speed math. E practices her math facts. (addition) Z and H fight over toys in the other room, the babies are still eating breakfast in their highchairs.
9:15 am: Math-U-See lesson 21: Subtraction with 9s. We all watch the math lesson on the laptop, (well the babies wanted to watch, but they couldn't see, so they just pulled on my legs and tried to pull the computer down off my lap, so we moved into the kitchen and watched it at the table, while I distracted the babies and changed their diapers.
10:30 Wow, that took longer than I wanted... hard to get math done when the babies and H are underfoot. Must teach E how to be more self-sufficient while doing her work pages. Now we have 'break': snack (yogurt and applesauce and raspberries), and a short 10 min play session. Both babies went for a nap.
11:00 phew! Is it really almost lunch?? Time for reading: E reads to me a story in Little Angels book 2 about Duke and Luke catching crabs in the sand dunes, and then does a few workbook pages on long-u vowels. She is really getting better at reading!! Meanwhile, H has removed her diaper, and I take the opportunity to have a short potty-learning lesson. She is excited to get smarties if she can pee pee on the potty. We pull out the plastic potty from the basement and she sits on it for 5 seconds.
11:20 reading is done. Recess!! Kids run off to play. Meanwhile, baby number one is crying in his crib. Upon investigation, I find him standing buck naked in his crib, cold and wet. He had apparently taken his own diaper off before he fell asleep (I wondered what he was playing with when I heard him gibbering in his crib before he went to sleep... at least it wasn't a yucky one). Anyways, he woke himself up in the middle of his nap time because he had peed and got cold.
Baby one comes downstairs to help with teaching H how to use the potty. Maybe he could use a lesson too?
12:00 Lunch time: leftover pasta and meat sauce, frozen peas, frozen blueberries. I read aloud from our latest Little House book, Little House in the Highlands (the unabridged version of course) H gets up and down from her chair 30 times, sits on the potty 5 times, and eventually goes PEE!! She celebrates with a hand full of smarties. Baby number two wakes up and joins the party. He eats chicken pasta soup, frozen peas, leftover pancakes.
And that is our school day. At least the stuff that we routinely do. Of course the rest of the day is spent playing, reading science and history books off the kids bookshelf, creating elaborate stories with the Little People toys, playing dress up, running around outside, watching the birds and squirrels in our yard, listening to Storynory, and drawing pretty pictures.
All in all, I enjoy our life a lot. It is a bit crazy at times, with so many littles around, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
3 comments:
Hi Melanie! I just happened to be online when your comment dropped in my inbox. I am a homeschooler, here in Tuscany. :^) (So do you have to change your blog name to "Our Lady of Silver Springs?" Doesn't have as pretty a ring to it though does it?
So far I don't know many of the homeschoolers in our area. I was hoping to find a co-op or at least a group that gets together now and then to be a part of but I don't know where to even start looking.
I have four little boys. My oldest is 7 1/2 and my youngest is going to be 2 in October.
Melanie, you are AMAZING! I am raising and homeschooling 4 littles, ages 6, 4, 2, and 2...and I do understand that, as calm as your post sounds, doing all that you do in a day is simply exhausting. You didn't mention the constant clean up of toys and kitchen, preparing of food, laundry, etc. that happens in and around the playing, teaching, and reading to children. And doing it peacefully, with kindness and thought...considering that you are probably still not getting a full night's sleep...well again, you are AMAZING! I hope you realize this today. The Holy Spirit is obviously working in your life, through your hands and words, as you care for these ones you've been given! Thanks for the encouraging post.
Are you taking school pictures???
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