Sometimes I wonder why I plan things the way I do. Why would I plan to start school (80% of it anyway) the day after a long weekend getaway? Hm,...not a great idea. But school really can't be shoved off for another week either, so, we began today. The day started out very rough, but things got better as the day wore on. I had made the kids empty their bags last night and had pushed two loads of laundry through, so when we woke up, it looked like we had never left home. I had also prepared as much as I could for getting Keturah and Justin started on most of their work this morning. We took our annual pictures, although they weren't terribly creative. Lately, I find myself doing things at the last minute and I hate it because it means I didn't put any thought into it and it's probably dumb and lame. But I tried. I'm currently sitting here with high anxiety because this week just isn't the week for school. With a funeral to attend on Thursday and Jared gone on Friday and Saturday, I'm suddenly faced with extremely limited time to finish up the other 20% of the prep work I needed to do for school, plus these blog posts to put together before I forget what I wanted to say. And the rest of the month isn't going to get any better. I'm only a half of a step ahead of today's priorities. I don't like it. But back to the school day....
Sigh. I woke up later than I had wanted to because I went to bed way later than I should have. So I was in a foul mood, and Keturah was also very grouchy. We had to take our time to calm down before we could even start to look at books. I think the Peace & Calming essential oil I put on me really worked today because I kept my temper for the most part. We loosely tried to follow the routine I had typed up, and the kids did respond ok to the day not being perfectly in sync with it. There were intros to this or that subject and expectations to go over and changes we made for this year. It's a good thing I tried to plan for only doing 80% of our full schedule. I went over seatwork/independent work with Keturah and then Justin. I'm supposed to have one on one time with Abishai, too, as well as morning basket time, but that got nixed because I wasn't prepared yet and I needed the extra time with the others. After lunch we are supposed to do our history/science/Latin together while Abishai has his screen time, but I only have Latin prepared and it took 1 hr to get through just the pronunciation guide and introduction to the unit. Not their fault, but it takes time to get through it. I hope once we get into the swing of things it won't take so long. I was going to use the rest of the time to work on the blog or history/science prep, but somehow lost track of time with other things.
Then it was time for supper and I had a chiropractor appointment. He did an extra neck popping/stretching maneuver and now my right shoulder feels incredibly sore and out of place. That pain has led me to now, where I've bitten off the heads of my family and I can't think straight enough to tell you about our decent 1st day of school. It can never be a perfect moment for anything, can it? Plus I'm super tired.
The kids did well today, despite my inadequacies. I won't be checking their work until the next day when we meet one on one, so here's hoping they accomplished what they needed to. If they don't put forth the effort, then they don't get screen time. I don't care if all the answers are correct, but I do want assignments completed to the best of their ability, and they can ask clarifying questions throughout the day if they need to. For example, Keturah is trying out a different math curriculum, and I guarantee she doesn't know all the review questions, partly because she's starting a few lessons in and partly because there are concepts we haven't gone over. So I told her I wanted to see numbers and spaces for every problem and to try them all. She can write "don't know" on any problem and I will check tomorrow and help do the ones I think she can do. I didn't preselect the questions because I didn't take the time and I wanted to test her critical thinking skills. But besides math, if there are any "I don't know's" or "I forgot" or "I didn't understand (so I didn't do it)" backtalk, then they automatically don't have screen time. I can't be their checklist. And this also includes chores that are supposed to be done without nagging within an hour of us getting out of bed. No more reminders. They are responsible for their own assignments and chores and they aren't, they don't have the privilege of having the TV remote for an hour every day. We'll see how it goes!
Right now, I wish I could tell you more about the day. It was fine, not ideal, but my other anxieties are covering up any other "good" parts of the day. Anxiety is no joke, my friend, and you can't just "get over it" either. Just ask every suicidal person out there. And now I have to switch gears and prepare for cramming in school the rest of the week between other activities. I don't know how I'm going to prepare other lessons either. Never mind finish the unfinished summer projects. Sigh. I guess that's what life is, unfinished projects. That's very frustrating to me. Moving on....
The Next Day, Day 2 of school.
The day turned out about the same as yesterday, super busy and I had to switch "hats" quickly. The kids did their homework very well and we got through Latin together. Keturah's math is another story. I'm going to have to backtrack and start with Lesson 1 of this particular book and work with her on her math facts. She's just slower than the boys were at math, and since math isn't hard for me, I don't understand why it's so hard for her. But we'll keep trying.
One thing about this week is that I have no time for Abishai to get out any messier projects like paint. I feel bad, but I only have so much energy to get out supplies and pack it back up. That may sound ridiculous to some, but it isn't to those with chronic illness. It was a whirlwind of a day and ended with babysitting for a Bible study and going to the visitation. I could see the visitation from the nursery window and the line to go down and talk to the parents was at least a 30 minute wait the whole entire time I was in nursery. They had 6 hrs of visitation and it was a constant flow of people. I desperatley wanted to be out there mingling because these ARE people I actually know and can relate to, especially the ones with kids Benaiah's age. There was a lot of youth there from this boy's school, boy scouts, and of course church. I had a good conversation with his mom and his grandmother. "Good" as in I was able to listen and we spoke more than a few words together, which sometimes is a big accomplishment for me the introvert. I did have to leave my babysitting post a few minutes early because I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get through the line in time. But I made it and I shed a few tears, which is good. The funeral is tomorrow and I know I'll cry at some point. I just can't imagine the pain the parents are going through. The shock of it all. He and his family are well loved, that's for sure. So I've been very emotional this week and it usually comes out as anger. I just need some moments to breath and process. Then I can be a better homeschool mom. But until then, you can only live moment to moment and take care of the biggest "fire" or crisis first, even if in the grand scale of things, it is lower in priority.
Oh, and my neck muscles did feel much better this morning, so I didn't call the chiropractor. There are many business items on my desk, but I can only handle so many of those a day right now. I'm praying next week is a bit better and I can get caught up. Only time will tell. But first, the final heatwave is through (90 degrees or higher!) and tonight, a storm system will bring in the 70 degree weather with loads of rain. Yeah! Then maybe we can get outside and tackle the garden beds and pick some apples. But for now, we have school, a funeral, a celebration service for the youth group (I want to go, too) and Jared leaving for a couple of days. One thing at a time.
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| My outdoor loving little man. |
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| Keturah, Age 10, 5th grade |
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| Justin, Age 13 (almost), 8th grade |
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| Abishai, Age 3 1/2, Preschooler |
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| Melinda, Age 37, 12th year of home schooling |
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| Benaiah, Age 16, 11th grade |
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| D-groups at Benaiah's school. We love that he's surrounded constantly by relationship building groups. He may know a lot about religion, theology and the Bible, but it's in these groups that it all comes to life. Actually, he said that the other day he only wrote down 6 words in Bible class because he "knows it all already." Ok, son, we'll see how well you do on your dad's tests. There's also been some very funny, but annoying moments where kids just don't know when to stop goofing off. And yes, Benaiah is involved in the goofing off at times, too. Jared does a lot of eye rolling at them and says "Stop it." a lot. |
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| Abishai's drawing from church on Sunday. |
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| I want to do school, too, Mommy! I bought the bigger sized crayons just for fun. |
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| He wanted to dump out and line up all the crayons of course. |
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| The sad state of our front flower beds. I don't think Justin knows he can mow this patch of grass. Sigh. |
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| Woot! Woot! Jared helped design this! |
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| Reverse process of "unboxing" when you are the ones packing the box,
lol. But boy did those leader guides give Jared a ton of trouble! From
the printer not communicating to his laptop to getting them spiral
bound. A labor of love. |
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| Some, not all, DVD sessions and so much green stuff! |
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| Not sure why or where Jared got this, but this is a USB drive/memory
card. You pull off the "lens" and put it in your USB slot. I need one!
Just kidding, I've got enough storage for awhile. |
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| A big roll of foam makes for some fun times in the office closet. |
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