I'm Not a Morning Person

Today I think I shall write about our daily routines. First of all, I am NOT a morning person - I prefer to sleep in until I awaken rather than hear the irritating sound of the alarm in the morning. Actually what I end up doing is getting up when the kids do. Kyle has to be to work by 5:00am and I'm not the Becky-Homecky type that makes him breakfast before he leaves. (Sorry honey. I did have a dream last night though that I made him steak and eggs!) Anyway...when the kids get up (which usually depends on when they go to bed - if it is my typical standard bedtime of 9:00, then they will wake by 7 or 8) my oldest son Pickles (age 13) will make me coffee. He knows exactly how I like the creamer. And in my opinion coffee without some sort of flavoring like creamer is almost sinful. If you don't like that last statement, too bad. It's my blog and I'll write what I want to! So, once I have some coffee in me I will usually sit down at the computer and check my email and the daily news. I like to know what is going on in the world. We have an online devotional that we get, and depending on how much the kids interrupt me, I'll have some quiet time with the Lord. (Why is it that when we bow our heads to pray the first thing we often hear is, "Mom?") The kids are in and out of my room at this point, I'm reminding them to get dressed, brush their teeth and hair, straighten up their rooms - and eat breakfast. Except this morning PeeWee, age 5, told me he was "full" as soon as he woke up. That was because he wanted to go outside, though. Usually our oldest daughter Peaches, age 15, handles breakfast for everyone. After breakfast we work on household chores and I make sure that each one of the kids has their "zone" in shape. Peaches is in charge of the kitchen/dining areas and laundry, Pickles takes care of the family room/living room and bathroom. The little ones pitch in when asked and need to put away their toys and keep their rooms in shape. That sounds better when I write it than in actual real life. The truth is I am Domestically Challenged. When I was a child I didn't even have to keep my own room clean. I must confess that sometimes I find it very difficult to keep up with 5 children, one husband, one dog, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Some homemakers might find that horrifying but I am a REAL person and won't sugar-coat this blog. It will just make someone out there in cyberspace feel bad anyway! Don't get me wrong - I love being organized, I love a sparkling clean house, I just am not always there. Okay, getting back to our schedule - after lunch, we usually have Bible reading time and prayer together in the living room. Then I will read (usually) some fiction to the kids. Recently we studied the pioneers and I am currently reading a series on the settling of the Dakota territories in the late 1800's. (Lauraine Snelling - Red River of the North series - needs to be edited a bit for the little ones as there is a bit of romance in the content.) After Reading, Things 1 and 2 work on their math, and Things 3, 4 and 5 (Think Dr. Seuss) work in their workbooks and on their reading skills. Then Things 1 & 2 will do Spelling together, and often I will give them a writing assignment for "homework". I typically have Things 1&2 also do science, history, social studies and geography together - and sometimes we even study it all together as a family. If you haven't guessed, we do a lot of reading. Typical trips to the library involve checking out at least 40 or 50 books. I'm a big believer of learning versus teaching. I use a curriculum for Math, Reading, Spelling and Writing/Grammar. I supplement for science, history, social studies and geography and we have a lot of books on hand to help with that. My philosophy is that kids are learning all the time - I just need to fuel their desire to learn and provide them with good resources. I fancy myself to almost lean towards "unschooling" but for my own peace of mind I do "teach" the first four subjects in the list above. I have used some curriculum for the other four subjects but prefer that the kids learn these things from good books and lessons along the way, especially with Daddy. He loves impromptu science experiments. Once he even did a science experiment in the middle of the night with our oldest two children. I woke up to giggling and talking - and found them in the kitchen with a big mess. I can't even remember what they were studying but they sure do!

Now, back to my schedule. Once schoolwork is finished we'll have playtime (which usually means heading outside or in the case of my oldest child, curling up with a good book) and I'll tidy up the house and start planning for supper. This can be tricky for me as Kyle gets home at about 4:00pm and sometimes he has eaten already, other times he comes home famished. Yesterday he had a snack and went to take a nap. The kids and I ran some errands, checked on Pickles, who was fishing at the river (didn't catch anything) and then came home and made cheeseburgers for supper. We woke Daddy up about 7:00pm, ate supper, and he watched a movie with the kids. I was able to have some time to myself - woohoo!! Then the little ones went to bed about 10:00, the oldest two cleaned up from supper, stayed up a little longer (we tend to be night owls!) and by 11:00 we were all asleep in our cozy beds.

So that is a typical day. Some days the schedule is thrown out the window - sick days, errand days, "Daddy" days - we take each day as it comes and most importantly, we try to learn something new every day. Homeschooling for us is a way of life and never stops after the book-learning is done. In my opinion, that is when true learning actually begins!

In His Care ~ Beth ~