View of a Day (warning - this is NOT "in a nutshell"!)

A few years ago, when we were still in the beginnings of our formal homeschool journey, I tried to figure out why exactly we were't able to stick to a schedule. So one day I jotted down notes throughout the day about what was actually happening, compared to what was "supposed" to be happening. It gave me some terrific insight of course...and it was also pretty funny! Remembering that, I did the same thing yesterday, and while it was a rather mild day actually, it was still amusing.

Suggested Schedule:

(this is very basic, of course, and doesn't include all of our subjects, some of which I just sqeeze in here and there as we can)

7:30 - Wake up, get dressed

8:00- Breakfast

8:45 Chores

9:15 "Preschool time"

9:45Math

10:30 Language Arts (with a snack!)

11:15 History (or science)

11:45 Straighten up

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Quiet time

2:30 Snack, finish up any schoolwork, then free time

5:00 Finish up chores, get ready for dinner

6:00 Dinner

7:00 Baths, etc.

8:00 Bedtime

Now of course some days we have outings worked in, and even when we don't, I always try to allow for some flexibility. Obviously it's not enough, however.

Reality

7:30 I wake up, but snag the captivating book I've been reading and head toward the kitchen, where I start the coffee and read while it brews.

8:00 Ashamed of myself, I finally "hide" the book in the pantry as I hear the kids waking up. We eat breakfast together, and I read aloud a little from Carry on, Mr. Bowditch, which makes me feel a little better about myself after my slacker behavior earlier.

8:30 I begin cleaning up the breakfast things as I send the kids to get dressed.

9:00 Things are going well, but for some reason I decide it's a good time to check our bank account online and just make sure everything's good. I have a question about a rather trivial amount of money, which I decide to ask Dave about, and while we're discussing it via text, Aimee, Drew, and Ryan come to tell me some bad news. I can see it on their faces. "Um, Drew dropped the crickets, and now they're all over the bathroom floor." We have a "cricket keeper" that houses, obviously, crickets - the ones that we feed to our geckos. Chirping crickets bother Drew at night, which is why they are sometimes moved to the bathroom. At any rate, NOW all the crickets are hopping around the bathroom. We keep our heads, the boys catch most of the crickets, and I clean the rest of it up. No problem, but as I get the vaccuum out to aid in our clean-up, I notice the boys' room is a complete disaster already, even before we had a chance to make the beds- which for some reason is one of my pet peeves. We should get everything in order before we make a mess... But I take a deep breath and choose to ignore it for now.

9:30 Drew is complaining to me that he didn't eat breakfast. ("What were you doing that whole time?!) Rather ungraciously, I tell him to go get something to eat, and I walk into the kitchen with him, seeing that the little boys have already grabbed the cereal again themselves, and Chase, in fact, has emptied at least a bowlful onto the table.

9:45 I leave them to their cereal, deciding that now would be a good time to me to get dressed and collect myself.

9:50 I hear the almost unmistakeable sound of Cheerios being poured from the box onto the floor - and not even in the kitchen. But it's my fault - I have to remember not to leave Chase with tempations like boxes of food. There's something irresistible about the sound of it as he pours it out, I think. Anyway, I still have the vacuum out, so it's all okay.

10:00 I finally announce that we are ready to do something, and why don't we make it art - something happy? If I ask the kids to pick a subject they want to do, and provide no qualifications, art is always it. Of course today, because I've declared that's what we're going to do, there's some complaining. But something about my completely incredulous response quells the whining, and we begin. Besides Chase gleefully trying to use the colored pencils as missiles at one point, our drawing lesson goes well overall.

10:50 - There is a mess, though, so I allow everyone to go outside while I clear the table.

11:00 -We are supposed to start again now, but just as I am ready to call the kids back in, Chase asks to nurse, and I let him have some Mommy time (while I read more of my book).

11:30 - I call the older kids in to do some math. Amazingly, that's exactly what they do!

12:00 - We have lunch, and we go over some memorization from our history study.

12:30 - I let the kids play a little on the Wii, as I put away the lunch things.

12:50 - We leave for a friend's, listening to geography songs on the way.

1:00 - 3:00 I meet with some other moms, and the kids play happily with their friends. Who needs quiet time?

3:00 We leave for Wal-Mart. Answering my children's groans on hearing about our destination, I assure them that no one, including myself, is really happy about this. A trip to the store with all of them in tow can be a stressful outing. ("Please walk, please don't hang on the cart, PLEASE watch where you're going, no we're not getting doughnuts/Pop-Tarts/Cocoa Puffs..."). But I put Chase on my back, where he slept through most of the shopping, and the other kids really did well.

4:30 We arrive home, I put away the groceries, the kids finish their promised turns on the Wii.

5:30 - I put some frozen pizzas in the oven (Dave wasn't supposed to be home, and I needed to do something quick and easy). I decide we can all go out and feed the animals while the pizzas are cooking, but having underestimated the amount of time it would take us, when I finally come back inside they're rather burned.

6:00 - We make do and eat the least burned parts anyway.

6:45 - Dave comes home - a very welcome change of plans.

7:15 - I go take a bath, and I luxuriate in it, devouring my book (and forgetting to wash my hair), until the water is cold. Very reluctantly, I get out and join in the bedtime routine already in progress.

Sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 - The kids are tucked into bed, and Dave and I fall onto the couch to vegetate for a little while before an early bedtime for ourselves.

So that's how it goes. We don't always get everything done in a day (you'll notice the Language Arts department was somewhat neglected on this particular day), sometimes we do more than planned. And sometimes it's my my fault that we get derailed, and sometimes it's just...welll, life! And a good one I think it is.