Will it ever get done?

I write that question knowing full well that I am choosing to sit here and blog instead of making another check on my list. A girl just needs a break sometimes.

I so very much enjoy homeschooling our children. This year, by God's grace, I am attempting to teach 5th, 4th, 2nd and 1st grade while overseeing my own day care consisting of a 4,3 and 1 year old. I once thought that having our children so close together would mean that homeschooling would be all the easier because I could teach them together. Apart from science, this has never been the case.

Each one of them is such an individual with different learning styles and needs that I've come to the realization that it is just not going to happen. That's okay.

But, frankly, it's hard to juggle it all. Today was a prime example:

6:30 Woke up early to get some things done but had the pleasure of Joseph's company. The boy can talk, even at 6:30, and was insistent on me recreating the rocket that I had built yesterday from Kinnex.

7:00 Rocket built. Oatmeal boiling, three kids hungrily hovering.

7:15 Oatmeal served. 2 more kids awake. Sent one to shower. Dressed 2. Came back and Baby John was covered in oatmeal, but happy. Cleaned him up.

8:00 Miriam looking high and low for school books that she had left on our bed. Needs her hair brushed which takes about 15 minutes and lots of tears. Nephews dropped off for the morning.

8:30 Everyone awake, dressed and getting ready for school. Little kids playing legos and space men.

9:00 Baby John poops and makes a mess. Clean him up. Teaching improper fractions, division and trying to give a quiz.

10:00 School continues. Thinking about what's for lunch because 4 kids are asking. Trying to mail in forms that are due today because I procrastinated. Put in movie for little ones.

10:30 Discover that Baby John has used a marker to draw himself a beard and color on the windows, walls, his socks and table. Clean him up again.

11:30 Trying to keep the kids on track with their school work. History. When is lunch?

11:45 Fix scrambled eggs and bacon in a tortilla shell because there is nothing else and I need to get out the door.

12:00 Take my nephews back home.

1:00 Grocery shop and attempt to put away groceries and clean up. Declare school complete for today.

2:50 Speech therapy for Elizabeth and Miriam

3:45 Drop off Hannah and Lydia for play practice, visit with Sean. On the white board teach phonics and addition with carrying.

5:00 Shopping at Sam's Club.

6:00 Home. Cook meat for the next 2 week's meals, make salsa, clean up kitchen.

7:00 Pick up downstairs (mostly)

8:00 Can't wait to go to bed and do it all again.


What's not done? The bedrooms need some serious attention. The clean laundry still needs put away and socks folded. The carpets would probably appreciate being vacuumed.

And so it goes.

Hannah showed some serious motivation and focus in math. The little ones had a great playtime with their cousins. Some lightbulbs went on in Lydia's sweet little head today regarding division. Miriam finished her phonics book. The marker is washable. Elizabeth learned the -ing sound and then wrote her own sentence.

I'd say overall that it was a pretty good day.