Day one...

Last week a dear friend of mine encouraged me to join her in a blog challenge. She has a friend who had suggested that to benefit other moms who may think that our days of homeschooling are always rosey-posey and that our children always happily obey and never miss a question on their homework, a really honest play-by-play look at 10 consecutive school days might be encouraging. As she put it, the good, the bad and the goofy. So, here it goes... first day back after Christmas break...

We were all pretty wiped out by the weekend apparently... everyone was sleeping at 8am, and a few were finally tripping down the stairs to the grumbling howls of the dogs at 8:30am. The official wake-up call given, children were dressed, beds were made and rooms were cleaned by 9:30am (or so I pretended because I didn't want to go upstairs to double check.) Cereal and fresh blueberries was the breakfast choice of the day, and everyone was satisfied at the end of the meal except for Noah who is a bottomless pit and always hungry. I think he will have to go to work at a young age to offset our costs of feeding him, but I digress.

Table chores started and begun, but not without a little prompting... Monday is Laundry Day around here, so after breakfast the children were given tasks of gathering and sorting laundry from all over the house. Two children "disappeared" during this process which earned them some alone time with Mommy in Daddy's office. After that, they were hard workers, for a few moments at least. The first load finally got started in the washing machine and it was time to crack open the books.

We have a new schedule. I didn't put times on it... only an order. So far, so good. I announced that the oldest four needed to grab their handwriting and sit at the breakfast table while I read aloud a historical account of two boys growing up in the newly opening West (Bud and Me). The two youngest were supposed to play quietly. Instead, Caleb insisted on having some school work to do and Micah dumped out the entire bin of Duplos with a loud crash and a happy squeal. Reading went smoothly for about seven minutes until someone finished their handwriting and wanted me to inspect it, then wondered what they could do next. I have honestly thought that their handwriting would be sufficient to keep them busy, so I lacked an answer but fumbled around until I figured out something quiet they could do. Repeat 4 more times. Thankfully, I finished reading and we could split up into a new endeavor.

Science for all... this is also new... I decided to let each of the younger two pick out a Let's Read And Find Out Science for me to read aloud to them while the older four shared the responsibility of reading to each other from the God's Design for Science. The younger two enjoyed their science time with Mommy except for the three interruptions and pleas for fairness regarding who could answer the discussion questions during the science lesson. After a couple of serious discussions with the older children tasked with sharing the reading of the science lesson, they completed the reading and came to ask me about doing the experiment. I had not planned for the science experiment... so I said no.

The children showed a great deal of interest in the new schedule and kept looking at it to see if we were on track. I explained to them that we were needing to double up on some assignments to catch up from some lost ground this past Fall, they had good attitudes and got to work. Lunch came and went, we cleaned out most of the leftovers, the fridge looks empty now. Following table chores the dishwasher was running for its third time today and the couch was being buried in Mount Washmore because I was allowing children to do their lessons rather than fold laundry as it came out of the dryer... looking back I am somewhat doubting that decision.

Somewhere around mid-day we got jumbled up on the order but I think we got most of the school work finished... I should have checked, but I decided to clean my bathroom on a whim. I trusted the children to work on their lessons while I was in the other room. There is a long story as to why my shower never looks as clean as it ought, no matter the scrubbing, but eventually that story will result in a demolition project and a new shower stall. The children got out Perler beads while I worked in the bathroom. I had intended to clean my entire bathroom but after an hour and a half, I had to settle for the bottom three feet of my shower.  

Then, the afternoon turned into a blur of texts and phone calls as we found out the transmission of our close friends blew while driving home from a visit on the West Coast. Three hours from home, a group of us were trying to figure out how to go up and get them. Their need to haul their minivan back prompted online searches for hauling limits on various vehicles and my Suburban was selected. I had to go pick up some stuff from our RV so we could haul them back, and then I handed over my car to our pastor to make the drive and help get them home with their car.

Somewhere in the midst of the excitement I was able to throw dinner together. I came home from my little outing to find out that none of the girls wanted to eat, and that Hannah was complaining of not feeling well and was laying on the couch. When I checked her temperature she had a fever of 102.8F and with her other symptoms it was decided that she needed to go to Urgent Care, so back out I went. Strep Throat. And so we went to CVS and then home.

Bedtime routines happened. I scarfed down some moderately warm dinner somewhere in the midst of all the excitement. As the children were settling into bed I found that there were Perler beads throughout the kitchen, assuming Micah was the culprit (and later confirming my suspicions) I got on my hands and knees and began cleaning up the floor so I wouldn't find one in the middle of the night in bare feet.

The house is finally quiet and I am wondering if Micah will wake up in the morning with fever... he was "off" most of the day... if I had been thinking I may have taken him to urgent care as well... but alas, I did not. Looking back on today, it went better than I expected, even with the disruptions. I had asked for a few friends to pray for me, and I pray for God to grant me a love for my children and for Him to give me a joy in this journey of parenting and homeschooling. And He did.

I did notice that I left a few things off the schedule... like Morning Family Devotions and Music Practice... so there will be a revision... but today was a nice start.