Lately I have read post after post from moms who are looking at joining Classical Conversations or Homeschooling in general, but they have a fear of all the work and start to lose hope before it begins. If you are that mom, let me tell you, You're Not Alone... I believe every mommy and family goes through this thought. I know we as a family did, and I as a mom.
We (my husband and I) went back and forth on homeschooling. Could we financially do it? Could I actually teach our children? How would we do it with everything else we have going on? These were our answers.
1. Maybe, but it would take a lot and I mean A LOT of sacrifice to do it.
2. Well I taught them their ABC's and 123's and how to do different things.
3. With help from God! Because honestly that would and is the only way we do it.
Our days have started to take a turn on the easier side here lately. But, the beginning of our school year there was a LOT going on. It was all by the grace of God that we made it through the day. There were days when school took a back seat until doctors visits were done, calls to insurances were made, and therapy was finished. There were days where we did school sitting in the lobby of doctor offices while Grandma went back to see her doctor, or we waiting for physical therapy to start.
Early on I knew that we would have to do school year round to meet the requirements for our state. Honestly this is one of the many reasons why we choose to homeschool. With the amount of doctor visits, hospital stays, and surgeries my oldest has to have, she would never be able to meet the 180 days in traditional school. Homeschooling also gives her therapist better available times for her to do her PT. So we don't fight with the other kids on the list that can only come after school hours.
So, on to our days and how we do them, this is not with hospital stays and doctors visits added. Just PT.
First off, I don't do a set time for when we start and stop. I have tried this and failed miserably at it. So we do a routine, and it works for us. We are having to find a new one now, since my daughter no longer has PT on Monday in the morning. So for now..
Almost every day we start the same with: Kids get up and have Daddy time before he leaves for work while I nurse the baby and then get ready or at least pull my hair up. Then I get coffee and catch up on the news while the kids eat breakfast, THEN.....
Mondays: We start school. Math and Language Arts, then break time. Here it's normally lunch time, so we eat. Then it's on to CC review. For review I turn on our Google Chrome and we watch videos from CC connected on the TV and sing along. Then we turn on videos I have found on YouTube that go along with CC lessons for that week, and we watch 1 or 2 of them. After this it is nap time. This is when I get a chance to do a load of laundry, take a shower, or if it was a rough night before with the baby I'll lay down and take a nap too. Once nap time is over I start getting things ready for dinner.
Tuesday: We start school. Math and Language Arts, then it is time to get ready for PT (Some times Grandma keeps the younger two.) We do CC review in the car on the way to PT and in the lobby if we get there early. After an hour of PT we head back home for lunch. Eat lunch then load up in the car again to head to Horse Riding Therapy. The ride out to the ranch is normally nap time for the kids, since the drive is long. Once at the ranch, Lizzy does her riding (once a month her old PT comes out to do Physical Therapy with the kids while on horse back, it's really cool!). While Lizzy is riding, Tony walks around checking out the chickens and other horses and animals around the ranch. Once her hour of riding is up, it's time to head home. Lately we stop by and grab a pizza for dinner since that makes things so much easier. If we don't do pizza, then we go to their dad's work and visit him and have dinner there. He normally pulls a double those days, so it gives the kids a chance to visit him.
Wednesday: This day is rough to keep on track because this is daddy's first day off, so the kids are all about doing things with daddy. When we can get them settled down, we do Math and then Language Arts then break time until later. Our CC review is broken up throughout the day as we can slip it in. This is also the day that I try to play catch up on house work and laundry.
Thursday: This day is CC co-op day. We get ready and head out the door to co-op!! After we are done with co-op and the kids have played with their friends we head home for naps. Any house work or laundry that I wasn't able to finish gets worked on.
Friday: We start school. Math and Language Arts, then on to CC review. Break for lunch and then some fun science experiment or crafts after. After we finish with our experiments or crafts we clean up and then it's nap time for kids and catch up on house work/laundry for mommy.
Saturday: Play day and house work day
Sunday: Church and Rest
One thing I know I need to change in our routine is beginning with prayer. This is one thing I need to add that I know will help us.
Sorry for no pictures this time.
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