Since it is officially the last day of winter I am going to resurface to say, "I'm so freaking glad it's over!" And add to that, "Bring on the lovely weather I've been dreaming of!"
Homeschooling is kicking my butt. One week of spring break is right around the corner and I can't begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to it. :) Hopefully the rain will hold off enough during that week that I will be able to live in the garden. ;) Really what I should do during that week is organize the mess that use to be the homeschool shelves… but that's just asking too much! It's been a whirlwind this year! We have settled into Monday school at the learning center (from 10 am to 3:20 pm) where the boys take some fun classes. It's such a long noisy day for the youngest two and I, we get to wait in the family room… it's sort of a combination of awful and awesome. I get a lot done with the two youngest, preK wise, and it's nice to just focus on them and take my time for however long we need. Although we do have to wait for the afternoon for that because it's just way too loud in the morning! It's nice to be able to chat with other homeschooling moms, it can feel very isolating being at home, so it's awesome to share stories with other homeschooling momma's. Sometimes I get a little reading or crocheting in. But being there is very exhausting for all of us, and we are pretty burnt out by the time we get home. I let the kids watch shows and just melt into the couch for a bit. I'm sure that will change as the weather gets nicer, I'll be shooing them outside instead. :) Also the packing a lunch thing is not awesome, glad I don't have to do that every day! Then we have four full days of schoolwork at home. We work from about 7:30 am to 3:30 pm (that's if we don't run into any snags) between all five kids, with breaks of course. I do feel like I've hit my groove this year, so things are flowing fairly well. We have settled into the kids doing (mostly) independent work from 7:30 until breakfast is done around 8 am. Then I read to them about our current science topic while they are eating. After breakfast they work in their science journal, on fridays we do bigger science experiments. Following this we swing into math. This subject takes the longest and I've found that we have more success if I get it out of the way earlier on. :) Usually the kids are done in time to play for a bit before lunch. During lunch I read our current read-a-louds, and read and discuss our current history topic. Then it's quiet time, because the youngest ones still need a little bit of down time, and it make the day a little less hectic. During quiet time I do Language Arts with the boys. The boys are in Awana, so instead of doing a separate bible study during the day we are focusing on the verses they need to memorize. Also up until just last week they were working there way through a beginners bible. I also recently worked in a typing program for Banden and Ira. They really like it, as there are levels to get to and games involved. :) So all that to say that I feel like I can't hardly breath between all the teaching, the housework that doesn't go away and just seems to get worse, and well life in general. I'm really looking forward to summer when there will be much less school work to get done, and lots more time outdoors. Plus we have a trip to the Redwoods in California coming up this summer and I'm super excited for that! Nine days of adventures, and we recently bought a travel trailer, so it will be a totally new experience and hopefully make camping a bit less work and more enjoyable for me. Here's hoping anyways. ;)
