Oh the shame of it all. Yesterday’s post was incredibly short. I hope those of you who grow weary of our pontificating, rambling, tome-like blogging enjoyed the brief respite. Perhaps you were even able to get some work done.
Daniel was obviously mortified.
As for me, I was thoroughly rebuked. Yes, my children, those greedy paparrazzi seeking little stars cannot stand for me to post such sparse works.
“Whoa! That was a short blog, Mom.”
“Yeah, I thought maybe the computer wasn’t loading. Only one picture?”
Even David was shocked.
The little shake of the head, a pitying glance. You’re losing your touch, implied in their looks. The younger kiddos (not yet insatiable blogging readers) patted me on the arm, not really understanding the topic of the conversation but clearly recognizing the subtle rebuke coming from the older children.
This week has been incredibly busy as we throw ourselves more fully into our schooling. PE at the YMCA started back as well as my BSF classes. I feel myself being stretched as I attempt to cover all of our academic subjects, teach each of the 5 different grade levels, correct assignments, maintain high standards (“please rewrite that dictation in legible handwriting”), and somehow make school “fun.”
This is fun! Does rough housing in the garage count as school?
Thankfully, Joshua has decided to move at a more independent pace this year. I don’t know what I would do if I had to manage all of his course work in addition to the younger ones. He is a highly motivated and disciplined student. As it is, Joshua has an hour scheduled with me for geography and logic, and has to fight every day for our time.
We dealt with all sorts of discipline issues today. It was exhausting. There were tears and fussing and whining, the children had trouble as well. At one point I was pretty much prepared to cut off recess for the year.
It was not a particularly shining moment of our homeschooling day.
With five extra sets of hands around all day, I do have many helpers available to pick up the house. I feel very overwhelmed when the clutter begins to creep down the stairs, covering the floor and furniture.
It is a great delight that the children are such hard workers and so very bribable. A few pieces of candy and the entire downstairs (including laundry room with a load of sorting/washing completed) is picked up. One of these days we’ll get a house cleaning schedule in place. Right now I’m just grateful Will Work for Sugar is stamped on the kids’ foreheads.
That’s not to say they wouldn’t like me to find some other slaves helpers.
When Tim got home from work today we had a long family meeting. The first several points of business involved getting a dog or cat. Those suggestions were hurriedly shot down by Mr. and Mrs. Chairperson. Sorry kids. If you think we have trouble keeping up with things now, try adding a puppy/kitten to the mix. I shudder to think about it!
It was inexplicably rejuvenating (cathartic even) just to sit around and share some of our struggles of the day. I did my best to protect the anonymity of the children as I unloaded one difficult circumstance after another.
No need to rub their faces in the memory of the afternoon’s strife and conflict, I thought generously. This proved only so effective as the guilty child, hearing his or her “story,” would leap to his/her feet in a sudden need to use the bathroom (or get a drink, put on a band-aid, sharpen a pencil, call Grandma, really we’re a creative lot here). At the same time, several other children quickly spoke up, “I was 20 feet away, in my room, with the door closed and the radio playing.”
Daniel was wiped out by the end of our school day.
I had at least forty minutes of reading left to do with Daniel and Rachel when we interrupted our school time for the Family Huddle. As we concluded our powwow, Tim announced he was ready for dinner.
See how hard it is to get everything done in a day. Just when it looks like you are ahead (or at least not drowning), someone mentions food and the time is lost.
Maybe we’ll get to all of our subject tomorrows. Of course, they’ll probably want to eat then as well. Sigh. I think I should try out one of those flying leaps that Daniel and David have perfected out in the garage. Might take my mind off of any lingering schooling stress.
Kathy
Project 365 – Day 263
What?
They expect dinner EVERY evening????
Homeschooling would be soooo easy if it weren’t for people requiring meals.
And even easier without the kids.
Basil Fawlty
All I can say is I feel your pain. And I only have 3, so I am sure I don’t feel it literally, but you know, there it is. Thanks for being real.
Kathy,
What curriculum do you use? Just wondering how you teach 5 kids all at once. So far, I’ve only had 3 students and two littles and it’s been hard to schedule everything in.
Blessings,
Lisa in Jax
it must have been in the air yesterday…we got almost NOTHING done yesterday as well…
I’ve always loved your garage! It is the ultimate play place! I want to go to your school. :
Right there with you, Kathy, & I only have one 11 year old & one 6 year old to sit & teach. The 3 year old just does his best to disrupt life & get all the attention. Blah! I’m STILL working on schedules & tweaking & still don’t even have all our materials yet. Oh well – this too will pass – right?????
I think you should get a puppy or kitten, They’re lots of fun!
LOL! I hear you! WHY do we have to eat so often, that’s what I want to know.. really.. I think once a day should be fine and I really don’t think we should need more than say 4 hours of sleep a night.. Just imagine how much time we’d save if we didn’t have to eat so often…
I don’t know HOW in the world you keep up the blogging with everything else! I LOVE it though!
Can I get an AMEN! I am still floundering with my five…some days we come close, but never quite get there! Oh well, in spite of my many flaws, they somehow seem to be learning.
Hopefully you will hit your groove soon.
Dorothy – do you mean we could get rid of the kids, the mess and the meals all in one fell swoop? Wouldn’t be much of a homeschool left, ha! Good reminder.
Lisa – I’m using Sonlight with the middle two (finishing up SL5 from last year). Joshua did all the work independently when he saw I was taking too long. Nice. He is making up his own history course work right now until we start up SL6/7.
I’m doing sort of a modified Sonlight K with the younger two. I have our own things we’re doing and then I add the SLK books that I like and have on hand.
It’s NOT EASY!!!
Cynthia – I would love it if someone else took care of the laundry, housecleaning and cooking. That would leave me to do the fun stuff – mainly homeschooling and blogging. Wouldn’t that be great.
I like your idea of only requiring 4 hours of sleep a night. That’s my kind of plan. I might actually be able to fit in cooking and cleaning if I could work that out. ha!
YES, we should SO get a puppy or kitten!!!!! Jenny is so right!!
Thanks for the smile! I feel pretty normal now! I’m still unpacking and have not found a certain child’s math book, she hasn’t been very interested in looking for it either.
My dad commented last week about me feeling pressure to post every day. Well, NO, I didn’t until he actually SAID something about it!