Barking Mad

How Do They Do It?

I really don't know how people with more than one child, and they homeschool those children, do it all? 

Tomorrow marks two weeks that I've been homeschooling Gaby and while our days are not strictly regimented,  it's not as easy to get everything I used to be able to do while she was at school, done. 

Laundry?  Ha! We used to have a really nice comfy chair in the living room.  The kind that matches our sofa.  Now we have this pile of clothing and towels where the chair used to be.  Oh, the chair is still there.  I think.

Dusting?  Ha!  Lately I've taken to letting the cats lay all over the surface of whatever needs to be dusted and that pretty much takes care of it.   I'm still trying to figure out how to get them up on top of the ceiling fans.   Those things haven't been dusted in ages!

Vacuuming?  Ha!  I've managed to misplace the vacuum.   How does one misplace a vacuum?  Well if I knew, I'd know where the damned thing is!  I really really need to find it.  

Going to the Y?  Ha!  We go swimming and walking but that's about it.  I could leave her in the daycare type area that they have, for up to 90 minutes while I work out, but something feels - not right, about doing that.   I'm sure the folks who care for children while their parents work out, are competent and caring.  I'm just not completely at ease leaving Gaby with anyone I don't know.    Not right now anyways.   I could leave Gaby with the hubby in the evening and head over to the Y but then I beat myself up with guilt that I'm not spending enough time with him, or that I'm leaving him with all the evening chores after he's worked a really long day.   Or am I just making an excuse not to go? 

Meals?  Ha!  They're hit and miss at best.  But then, lately I have really detested cooking.   Almost everything I make seems boring and just thrown together.   Baked chicken, a veggie and occasionally a starch.  Or sometimes it's just salads literally tossed together using Olivia's Organic salad mixes - the ones that come in a box.  Slice a few carrots, cucumber and some onion and call it good.   Then there's the pizza.  But let's not talk about that OK?   

Blogging?  Ha!  I don't know why I should break my streak of saying I'm going to post something on a certain day and then not doing it.  Now I have a genuine reason not to post...I don't have time! I'm sitting here late at night, as it is, while the hubby attempts to sleep as I tap tap tap away on the keyboard.   Around midnight is when he'll typically start threatening to go down and shut the breaker off that powers the computer. 

So, what am I doing wrong?  Am I spending too much time playing/learning with my kid?  She is a pretty independent kid and can play on her own, read on her own, write, do whatever she wants...but I don't like the idea of sitting here blogging or processing photos while she's  in another room doing whatever it is she's doing.    All I know is that I'm in a huge rut, setting a really poor example for my daughter about how not to get things done.   No, my  house is not a disaster, but it sure isn't as tidy as I like it to be.   We spend a lot of time outside (and more soon, because Gaby wants to plant a "Pilgrim garden", and truth be told, I can't wait!) and then when we come back inside it's hard to get myself in the swing of mopping, scrubbing, dusting, writing, returning phone calls and emails, and dealing with the ten million little things that can pile up. 

Oh sure, I can fold clothes, vacuum (once I find the damned thing!), and deal with other mundane chores while she's right there, but once we're done with the schooling part of being home, I'm done. How on earth did I get anything done before she went to school?  The house was clean, clothes were washed and put away, meals were decent, and hell, I even found time to furminate the cats, and then blog!

To think about trying to accomplish everything that would need to be done with more than one child, is beyond my comprehension.  Oh, I know it can be done.  I've seen it.  And these people have immaculate houses, shiny, happy kids and spouses, and seem to be able to prepare a five-course meal without blinking. 

How do they do it all?

Or are they just skimming some of their kids Ritalin? 

I jest...I think.

So, This is Homeschooling?

Monday, May 7, DAY ONE 

Gaby comes running into the bedroom at 5:45AM, bursting with excitement! 

Gaby:  Mom, mom mom, mommy mom, mom mom, MOTHER!   Wake up, it's time to homeschool me! 

Me:  *trying to peel one eyelid up in order to see exactly who was responsible for letting Stewie from "Family Guy" into my house!*  Huh? What, wha...Gaby!  Do you see what time it is?  For the love of Melatonin, can you please go back to bed until a more reasonable hour . . .like maybe 10AM? 

Gaby:  Mom, mom mom, come on, get up!  Let's have our morning meeting, then some welcome work!  I'm so excited! 

Me:  Morning meeting?  Is this homeschool or are we rallying the staff at WalMart? Can I at least get something that resembles caffeine before I attempt to do the homeschool thing?

Gaby:  Here mommy, I brought you a cold Diet Coke, but I sort of knocked over the strawberries and some other gross stuff in the fridge, 'cause the Diet Coke was in the way back. 

Me:  I've taught you well young Jedi...taught you well indeed! 

Despite being woken up at the butt-crack of dawn on Day One, who can resist the charms of this little beauty, especially when she's bringing with her, icy cold caffeine?

Tuesday May 8, DAY TWO

6:05AM

I'm deeply asleep and dreaming about brooms.  Yes, I said brooms.   There's this guy from one of those informericals in my dream,  the one who talks a million miles an hour about that Slap Chop thing (his name is Vince, I think) and some other lint roller thing called the Schticky.  Even when I hear him, in my mind, saying, "Schticky", I want to punch him in the face.   And there he was, in my dream.  I am pretty sure I was going to smack him upside the head with one of the brooms until...

Gaby:  Mom, mom, mom, mom mom mom, MOMMYYYYYY!  Lookit what the tooth faerie left me. It's money!  More money!  

(Gaby lost her 7th tooth, yesterday.) 

Me:  If you go back to bed until at least 7:45AM I'll give you $20.  

Gaby: Would you give me $50?  

Me:  Never mind, I'll just teach you to make coffee.  Besides, how hard can it be to grab one of your old insulated sippy cups, pop a K-Cup in the Keurig, shove the lid down, and wait for the hot brown goodness to fill the cup.  Wait a few minutes.  Put the lid on, and bring it to mommy.   I don't even like coffee, but if we're going to be getting up before the chickens, I might as well learn!  Or better yet, just keep bringing me the Diet Coke.  That way no one gets burned.  And I don't have to force myself to like coffee. 

Gaby:  I don't even know what you're talking about.   Where does money come from? 

Me: Well it sure doesn't grow on trees!   Oh wait . . .yeah, I guess maybe we can cover that during "homeschool" too! 

Today was pretty lackadaisical.    While I spent a lot of time over the weekend talking to family and close friends who homeschool, I still really had no clear path ahead.   Gaby has wanted to do a lot of reading, so she's done that.  We also spent some time outside, in between rain showers, identifying nouns.   Each evening I'm planning out the next day's activities.   I've gotta tell ya, I have an entirely new respect for teachers.  The good teachers.  The ones who put so much time and effort into more than getting our children to spit back out words and numbers they've memorized, but the ones who engage them in the process.    There's so much time spent in preparation.   I've spent about 4 hours each night, of the past two, just preparing things for the next day.    I'll never look at school teachers the same way again.  I'll never look at homeschoolers the same again, either!   

Crappy cell phone pic of another boring worksheet that mommy gave her.  She literally rolled her eyes when I asked her to do it.   She had it done in less than a minute.  So much for 1st grade worksheets!  No, I'm not just going to shove worksheets in front of her and call it good...but for the first few days, we're probably going to be doing a lot of them.

What I've done, and will do for this week and then probably add a lot more "hands on" stuff next week and moving forward, is pattern what she's doing based on the stuff she was bringing home from school.  I wanted there to be a little continuity between such an abrupt stop of school and what we're doing here at home.    However, I think I've gone a bit overboard based on her reaction to yet another worksheet I had her complete this morning.  

Yep, I'm gonna have to step it up so that Gaby doesn't end up keeling over from sheer boredom. I think I have some pretty cool ideas for the rest of this week, that might help her be more comfortable with moving away from a traditional classroom regimen to a more natural setting here at home.

I'm teaching her some Spanish basics, and while she already knows the numbers 1-10 and several colors, I'm going to teach her the names of some common farm animals. In doing that, we're going to go visit a farm and I'm going to have her tell me each of their names in Spanish.

Gaby has been asking a lot about what it was like when "Daddy's people (Gareth is British and she is absolutely fascinated with everything and anything English! We can't wait to take her to England so that she can visit several aunts and uncles and other family and friends.) came over from England and came to America?" I'm hoping she doesn't think that I'm so old that I would have first hand knowledge of the actual arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock (hush up Meg! I don't need any more smart-ass remarks about my age!), but just the same, we're going to take a trip out there on Friday. I've always wanted to visit Plymouth Rock and then step back in time and walk through the village at Plimoth Plantation. I think Gaby would love the opportunity to go and see what it might have been like to live during the 17th century.

I've also got loads of really interesting science experiments lined up, and will be stocking up on sugar cubes and stick pretzels to make things like igloos and farms. I also thought I'd toss in some basic cooking lessons. It can't hurt can it?

I'm still wading my way through the plethora of information that's coming at me from every direction, all the while trying to make sure I submit everything that needs to be submitted to the district (I get a twitch in my eye every time I say, "the district." I'm still fuming.) in time. I'm a bit concerned that I'm not clear on how the reporting and testing works, and how I match it up with where she was in her classroom at school. I'm going to be talking to someone who handles issues like this for the state of New York, and who also is an attorney, just so I'm certain that I'm crossing my t's and dotting my i's.

I'll be honest, at the end of the day, I'm overwhelmed. I think education is so very important and even if it's just going to be for six weeks, or whether I "get the bug" like so many others are assuming I will, and it ends up being six years, I want to make sure I am affording Gaby every single opportunity to not only learn, but be completely engaged in the process. I'm nervous about the math part of things because I can barely add 2+2, let alone even comprehend things like algebra and geometry. I had to have tutors in college and it still really never sunk in. I pretty much detest math.  But being that I'm fairly certain I'm never going to pilot a space mission, or work in quantum physics, I'm able to get by without a strong math background. Gaby? She loves math. She is so much like her daddy in that she loves numbers. It's a bit frightening. I want to make sure that I'm either completely up to the task of instructing her in math, or at least be able to find someone who is.

It's all going to be alright. I have to keep telling myself that, and believing it. I'm doing what's best for her. I have so many people surrounding me that have "been there, done that", that there would be no excuse to say, "Well I didn't know what I was doing!" At the end of the day, if I decide six weeks is enough, we'll still have a lot of sugar cubes and pretzel sticks, bottles of glue, glow sticks and glitter (wait 'till you see what we're gonna do with those!) and construction paper to last me a couple of years! And? I'll still have the awesome memories of the six weeks where I said "I can" instead of "I can't possibly do this!"

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Update on my sister...Diana is finally home from the hospital. They were able to determine that no permanent damage to the heart muscle occurred as a result of the heart attack, thank God! She's at home, resting, and looking towards making some positive changes so that this never happens again!

Diana asked me to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.  We're all very grateful to be surrounded by the people who reach out to us, support us and are there in thought and prayer, during some pretty stressful times.