Monday

So, here I sit, at the computer, blogging, which I haven't done much of for awhile.

A regular day today. School day, that is. We got up ten minutes earlier because Ed and I decided that since I read scriptures with the kids as soon as he walks out the door for work, that he'd like to participate. We just needed to get up a few minutes earlier. The older two kids and I, that is. That is. A phrase I noticed I've just used twice, shows my level of sleepiness.

So, after scriptures and a story from the Friend magazine, we continued our history study of heroines of the Revolution and the compromise to establish Washington D.C. in the south, so that the north could claim taxes from the south. Politics. Government.

We also read about jellyfish and octupuses.

Then we proceeded to the dining room table so none of us would fall asleep, where Jon commenced copywork and Rebecca decided to memorize Paul Revere's Ride, do some MCT Practice Town, spelling and did a journal entry on Ben Franklin. Yes, she always gets much more done in the same allotted time. I have to remind myself that he is two years younger.

This morning I had reflections remembering when I had only the two and Jon was my baby. Perspective changes when you think of one as "THE BABY". I notice that I will probably always treat Bella like the baby. People probably roll their eyes at me babying her. At least, I used to roll my eyes at mothers who did that with their babies. Now I understand. So, I pretended Jon was my baby. I love my baby.

Then we took a break, who knows how long it will last. An hour, maybe three. Jon is playing the piano. The younger girls trying to win my attention. We still need to get dressed, do morning chores, oh, and eat breakfast. By then it will be time for lunch, and we still have math and projects. Sure seems like a lot after two and a half hours of history and only part of our English.

Yesterday I decided I needed better lesson plans. I ended up pooling my resources and came up with a plan that extends through Feb. It includes all our subjects: history, science, reading, grammar, writing, math, projects, geography and critical thinking. I organized it so I wasn't trying to do everything in one day, like I try to do sometimes.... It's good for me to have that vision so then I know what dvds to get from netflix and what books to possibly check out from the library. As it turns out, we probably won't need any. We will be studying Thomas Jefferson, the French Revolution, Eli Whitney and Lewis and Clark, and I have many books on those things. I am also starting a k12 2nd semester of literature study with Rebecca which includes Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes and Don Quixote. We will see how that goes. I am always looking to the future, right, because she is growing up and continually needs more.

Hopefully, I will have more time for the little girls.

Also, last night we watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". Wow. Needless to say, we will be switching up our diet this week also, in an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Life is happening...now. Off to get dressed for the day and, oh, yeah, breakfast, which is now brunch.