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Thursday, October 21, 2010

A typical day... wait..is there such a thing?!

I often get asked what a typical day looks like for us, or how I manage to homeschool 3 kids with a baby in tow. Even though no two days are alike, now 6 weeks into school  we have developed somewhat of a routine for each day. 

On a good morning  I start the day around 5:30 ( I'm still working on that!)  I spend that time having Quiet time and getting myself ready for the day.

Once the kids are up (around 7am) we start the day with Quiet Time. The kids do this with Joe and they use the Word of Life Quiet Time. Eli and Eden are on the Gopher level and Micaiah has an Challenger level Quiet time which is required for membership and levels at Olympian Club which he attends each Friday evening at our church.

Next comes breakfast and chores. Each child is responsible for making their bed and then have one or two additional chores for the day. This is all laid out on a chart so the can easily see what to do each day. The chores include feeding the rabbit, emptying trash cans, helping with meal prep, tidying the bathroom and helping with the laundry.

We aim to have all of that done in time to begin school at 9am.  We have gotten better at this over the past few weeks!

Our school time begins with circle time where we open with prayer and then recite our school verse, motto and cheer.  Here is a little look at them doing that earlier this week...

Circle time continues with our morning board. I'll explain more about that in another post.  We usually end this time with a little exercise time (jumping jacks, dancing, a jog around the yard) to help them get some wiggles out before we get to our workboxes.

By now it is about 9:45 and Marcus has usually gone in for his nap.  He is a great napper and will usually not get up until around lunch time making life easier for me in the classroom.  I am trying not to get too used to that because as he gets older I know that schedule will change!  But even the days that his schedule is off, he is happy to sit in his bouncer or in my lap as I work with the other kids. 

Micaiah and Eli start their workboxes.  The first few are filled with things they can do independantly or with little assistance.  I use that time to work one on one with Eden.  Working through her workboxes usually take about 30 minutes and I make her last couple activities ones she can do on her own so I can move on to work with Eli.  We stop for a fruit break once Eden has finished her "work with mommy" time.  When we start up again, Micaiah continues to work independantly, Eden gets back to her remaining work boxes or finds something else to play with on her own and I have concentrated time with Eli.  I usually spend about  45 minutes with Eli and then he is free to play with Eden or on his own until lunch. 

By now it is about 12 and I move on to work with Micaiah for about an hour.  We have lunch between 1 and 1:30 and then the kids go in for a rest time (a time when they are expected to read or lie quietly on their beds.)   If Micaiah and I have anything to finish from the morning he skips the rest time and we do it then.  Otherwise I use that time to play with and read to Marcus, do chores, get dinner ready, check emails and read blogs or whatever else I can fit in to my 30- 60 minutes of peace.  The length of rest time is determined by what afternoon activities we have so each day varies.  On afternoons that we are home we try to fit in science or catch up on any of our history curriclum we have missed othewise the kids do puzzles, play a game, watch a dvd etc, play on the computer, play outside etc.

The kids look forward to Daddy coming home and shortly after it its bath time, dinner time, read aloud/ evening devotions and then bedtime for the kids (my hallelujah moment!!)  And then we get ready to start all over the next day!

So there you have it...  a simplistic look at our day... in reality many a curveball is thrown in there and I am learning to go with the flow and not get too bent out of shape when my schedule doesn't go as planned!



Thursday, October 14, 2010

Beautiful Blossoms

As I drove into my parent's driveway this afternoon the first thing I noticed was that their pear tree was in full bloom. The delicate white flowers were beautiful. I was amazed to see it so full of green leaves and blossoms so soon after Hurricane Igor which left it looking brown and bare. It's beauty struck me and made me smile. As I entered the house I mentioned to my mom how beautiful it was and while she agreed, she also commented on how the falling blossoms were all over her car and awhile later she went out to clean them off. I can't fault her lack of enthusiasm of having to clean the car off and I can only imagine that this will be a task repeated several times over the next few weeks. Her response however made me think of how I sometimes view my kids. Sometimes I miss the beauty and joy that they bring and I only see the work it takes to raise them. It is hard work caring for 4 little ones but somewhere between changing diapers, keeping up with the loads of laundry 4 kids produce, grading papers, sleepless nights, never ending correcting, rebuking, encouraging, and all the rest that comes with parenting, I do need to make sure I am taking time to enjoy them and seeing them for the beautiful kids that they are... my four beautiful blossoms!


Saturday, October 2, 2010

A day late and a dollar short

Hey, remember back in August I posted this about the goals I had for September? Have you been wondering if I completed them?

Well, I wanted to be able to put this



Mission Accomplished


at the top of my post BUT.. I did not accomplish my mission completely.

Remember my mission was to finish 2 projects I had started... A set of bean bags that I am making for Eden and a set of building blocks for a sight word activity for Eli.

I am happy to report that the blocks are complete!!!  They have even been played with.  However the bean bags are another story... the stitching is complete but they are sitting waiting to be filled and stitched shut.  They will be finished by the end of the next week... I promise ;)

My mission for October is to stay on track with a new Bible Reading plan I started.  I found this great online tool called YouVersion which is an online bible and has over 20 bible reading plans to choose from.  You can track your progress on line, read different versions, keep a journal/ record thoughts about what you are reading.  There is also a mobile version. 

Having little kids and lack of sleep has taken a toll on my Bible study time... I have been wanting to be more intentional about my Bible reading... lately its been reading a Psalm hurriedly before the day starts if that at all.  My goal this month is to get into God's word using this new plan and see what treasures He has for me each day.

And yes Joe, feel free to kick me out of bed each morning to get on with it!  Having said that I better go get some z's.