Work, Work, Work

I missed my last Friday Reflections post because I was out of town for an all-weekend meeting.  Then homeschool conference the next Friday. And then we had a round of the crud move through our house. I was feeling all bummed out because I started this year off fully committed to one post per week. Every Friday. I even had a rotation made up so I wouldn't have to think too hard about what to say.  And here I was halfway through February and on into March, sick, tired, busy, and already behind schedule.  UGH!

One of our experiments at the start of the year: build Pharaoh's boat.

But even on a "good" day, things are kinda crazy. Here's a typical day in my world:

5am - wake up (assuming I haven't already been awake for a few hours)
5-5:30am - let the dogs out, check and clean up any overnight deposits, get coffee started, feed dogs, consider finishing last night's dinner dishes.
5:30-5:45am - a little quite time with my coffee and Bible study
5:45-6am - If it's a track day - wake up my track star, look over homeschool schedule for the day and print off any worksheets we might need, look over any assignments I might have missed the night before.
6-6:45am - wake everyone up - again, if I'm lucky I can take a shower, if not - pull out frozen meat in preparation for dinner, get clothes on, face washed, teeth brushed
6:45-7am - Mad dash to gather materials and finish anything I need to before school starts at 7am
7-7:45am - School starts. For us, we use this time for Bible study, and one or two other items. This might be read aloud time (we're doing Odysseus now), spelling, vocabulary, or science experiment. It just depends on what I might need their undivided attention for on that particular day.  We then go over the schedule for the rest of the day, pack up and head to my office.
8-4pm - Since I homeschool AND work full time, the kids come to the office with me each day. On Mondays, we participate in a homeschool coop so that gives them a little break. But generally, I line our their individual schedules for the day. I TRY my hardest to have all their schoolwork done by 1pm. We can then check work during my lunch break, go over any tricky concepts and then have the afternoon to either complete big projects, chores, read, band practice, or chill.
4-5pm - Run kids to band practice, dance practice, track practice, youth group at church, or any combination there of.
5-6pm - Finish checking work as needed, do a second round of picking up from various practices, and start dinner
6-7pm - cook dinner if I didn't get it into the crockpot that morning, then eat said dinner.
7-7:30pm - Possibly complete third and final round of practice and church pick-ups.
7:30-8pm - Look over next day of homeschooling and create three individualized schedules. Check emails or complete other follow ups leftover from the office during the day. Top it off with a glass of wine.
8-8:30pm - wash face, get ready for bed. Promise myself that I WILL make it all the way through a single episode of NCIS this time.
8:30-9pm - fall asleep at some point. But, to be honest, I almost never make it all the way through an episode.

Are you as tired as I am yet?  Sheesh!

But, did I mention one of the reasons I didn't make a post earlier was because I was at a homeschool conference? Yeah, and it was so worth it! You know what I learned there?
#1 - You're not ruining your kids.
#2 - Praise God that His mercies are new every morning.  
#3 - Pick two or three things that are important to you. 
This works even for just your regular schedule. Don't try to get 20 things done today. Pick your top three.  Same with your homeschooling schedule.  What's THE MOST important thing(s) you want your children to learn at the end of the day?  For me, when I got serious about that question, it made my day so much easier. Yes, it still looks ridiculous when I write it down, but I don't have panic attacks halfway through the day that I'm only a quarter-way through a mile long list.
For my homeschoolers, I decided that I wanted them to have a firm foundation in the Bible above all else. So we do our Bible studies before we do anything else.  Then, I want them to have a love and appreciation of reading. Because with that, they'll be able to find the answers to anything. So, we do something from our Language Arts curriculum next, from read aloud time, to vocabulary words (we're studying Greek root words this year), or the occasional spelling test. I've kinda gotten away from spelling tests, although we do some spelling work during the day. But more on that later....
My third thing is Science.  I homeschool two girls and a boy and they all have a healthy appreciation of the sciences. As they get older, however, the lessons are getting a little harder. So, if there's time, I try to carve out a few minutes for particularly tricky lessons early in our day before I start to loose their attention and focus.
#4 - Now that you've decided what's truly important to you, do more of that. And...less of everything else.  
I mean it. Let it go.  That's why we don't stress out over the spelling tests anymore.  They are all old enough now to have a good handle on most words, they are familiar with the dictionary, and - let's face it - we all use Spell Check. Occasionally, if I see that we're really having trouble with a particular group of words, we'll find time to work in some spelling assignments. But generally, I don't test on spelling anymore.
#5 - Expect to fail. And when you do, refer back to #2.
Now, I can't take credit for this list. I had the opportunity to listen to homeschooling mama and authoress Sarah MacKenzie while I was there. She is AMAZING!  I picked up her book while I was there and it's on my "To Read" list. Along with about a half dozen others.  Um - seriously.  If you homeschool or parent in any form or fashion, I highly recommend picking up her book.

About a fourth of my post-convention reading list.

I hope to work through my reading list and report back often on what I find.  First up, I'm reading The Gift of Learning by Ronald Davis.  It seemed like a good place to start after I left that first session in tears realizing that they were talking about MY KIDS. I found the presenter in the vendor hall later and just sobbed on her shoulder.  She said it happens all the time. I'm not sure if she was just being kind or not but there were certainly a lot of light bulb moments for me through out the entire weekend. My brain was just full of thoughts and ideas when I left the convention.  Check back for updates and ideas!

Gelatto Break with my Littles!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~Lamentations 3:22-23