Our school year (philosophically, of course, we eschew the notion that there is a stop and start date to our learning, and even that there is need for us to take a long summer break; practically, we acknowledge that there is a school calendar that dictates when most of our activities stop and start - but enough of that) is a busy one this year. Busy for us, that is. I am in introvert, for one thing, and for another, we've never really had an excess of money, so we've never really had to decide if we've been doing too much. We've never done sports for every season, or have been doing too many lessons, or any such things. Sometimes I've felt badly about that, but over the years I've realized that we've been "forced" to have a kind of schedule that, for the most part, some overly busy families wish they could make themselves choose.
But I digress. This year is a relatively busy one for us. One of the ways our schedule has changed is that both Aimee and Drew have science classes early on Monday mornings. Last year, Aimee took one of the classes with a friend, and she just rode along with her friend's family, which was nice of them and rather easy for me. This year Aimee's friend isn't taking the next class, but I still wanted Aimee to do it, and Drew wanted (that's right - his request) to take the one she took last year, so now I have to take them. And of course that means the rest of the crew has to come along. Aimee's friend's family used to go have breakfast and do a little school at a nearby muffin shop during the science classes, and that sounded endearing to my younger kids. "Ooh, we get to go to the muffin place every week?"
Why yes, that sounds delightful and quaint. Very homeschool-ish. Ah, but one of the important facts of life that real homeschool families ought to know is that things never work for your own family in the charming ways they work for other families.
Well ,I know this, but sometimes I ignore it.
So. This past Monday was the first opportunity we had to spend the morning out and about while Aimee and Drew were at science. My plan was that we would have "Math and Muffin" Monday, first at the muffin shop and then perhaps at the library. For starters, I couldn't find the math books, so I was just going to bring along some science for the younger set, but Ryan had been reading it over the weekend (the nerve of him, not waiting until I had scheduled it) and couldn't remember where he had left it, so I just had to throw in some history books. "History and Muffin" Monday, doesn't have the same ring, of course, but darn it, I was going to make this a warm fuzzy homeschooling moment! We dropped off the older kids at science, then headed down the road to the muffin shop. It took us ten minutes to get out of the car for some reason, so I'm sure the other patrons, who might have seen our shenanigans just getting to the door, were already a little worried by the time we walked in. They were mostly older couples enjoying what they had assumed was going to be a quiet breakfast. There were definitely no other energetic kids who have no volume control. When we got in, I tried to direct them straight to the counter, but of course that didn't go according to plan , either.
"Scarlett, LOOK. LOOK, IT'S A TABLE JUST YOUR SIZE! Mom, hey Mom, Mom, HEY MOM, LOOK! It's a table for Scarlett!"
I finally got them to look at the muffin selections. Scarlett just wanted a "baby" muffin, and pointed to a miniature variety. That was easy. The boys couldn't decide. For a very long time, they couldn't decide. I kept having to wave other patrons around us. Even the girl at the counter, worried, I guess, that we might hold up the line, would announce occasionally, "Can I help the next person in line who's ready?"
One of the boys wanted to know if he could have a bagel. I told him that Mondays are when the muffins, and not the bagels, are half price. Please choose a muffin. After all, there about twenty different varieties! He asked if he could have a muffin and a bagel. I finally just told him I was going to decide for him. After pondering thoughtfully for a (long) while, another one observed that there was a "blueberry coffee cake" muffin, and a "cinnamon coffee cake" kind, but he wanted to know if there was just a regular coffee cake kind. Really? I'm pretty sure he hadn't even known such a thing as coffee cake existed before then, not to mention that there were all kinds of choices I was pretty sure he did know of and would like better, and he had to have a "regular" coffee cake muffin? I asked the girl at the counter if there was such a muffin, and she said no. He looked at the case dejectedly, declaring that there wasn't a kind of muffin he did want, in that case. I moved forward to the register. I ordered Scarlett's and the one I had picked out for the first boy, and at that the other one piped up, "Fine. I'll have an apple pie muffin." Okay, done.
Finally, after we had secured the long-awaited muffins, we straggled over to a table. They each took about a bite and announced that they were thirsty. Deathly thirsty. No, it couldn't wait at all. The looks from the other patrons indicated that maybe insisting that the boys wait might not be appreciated. We went to the drink cooler. I told them they could share. Share? But one didn't like orange, and the other didn't like cranberry, and fine! I got two different kinds. Juice secured, we went back to finishing our breakfast. I thought maybe that would be a good time to have our homeschool moment. I pulled out the history book. They started talking a little louder, and at this point, I remembered that this is what they do at home, so how in the world did I expect to read aloud quietly in public, when I'm almost shouting by the end of a read-aloud session at home?
So I put it away. New plan. We needed to get out of there relatively quickly, but a glance at the clock indicated the library wasn't going to be open for another thirty minutes. I remembered seeing a pet shop nearby, so I told them we were going to stop there, and that got them to the car with relative speed and quietness. The pet store experience actually went well. We were the only people there, and the girl working there let them pet the cats. Now on the the library.
We reached the library, only to discover that while the library we usually go to opens at 9:30 (I thought, anyway), this branch didn't open until 10:00. It was 9:35. After I wrangled them away from chasing a squirrel around the building, I convinced them to get back into the car to wait, and dang it, we got that history lesson done! At 10:00, we spilled back out of the car and into the just-opened library. I really needed to use the restroom, so I took Scarlett with me. I asked her if she needed to go, and she said no. When I got out, I corralled the boys and we went to the children's section, which at this library is all the way at the other side of the building. As soon as I put our bags down, Scarlett said "I have to go potty!" and Chase added, "Oh,, so do I." Of course. I picked our things up, and Scarlett said, "Never mind! I don't want to go," and was going to make a scene, so I determined I would let them get one thing each and that we would leave in a couple minutes. But about thirty seconds later, Scarlett said, "Oops, I went potty!" Rather loudly. Super duper. We mopped it up, and I tried to ask her to lower her voice every time she mentioned that her clothes were wet. I told the boys to get the books they had in hand, and we walked back toward the entrance to check out. I held Scarlett so things would be a little less obvious - getting rather soaked myself in the process, and wishing more than a little that we had settled for a hum-drum morning at home rather than attempt to create a warm-fuzzy moment.
But hey - guess where we plan to be tomorrow morning? Only we'll bring our own juice. And ditch the books. And maybe spend a lot longer keeping the girl and the cats at the pet store company.
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