How Time Flies!

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I have written here. But it seems like the past week + my brain has been so full of things that when I have a chance to sit down and type, I am too mentally exhausted. So, here is a quick summary of things as they stand:

--Homeschooling suddenly went kaput after Spring Break. Don't know why. Things have been going great for several years, now out of the blue--pfffffffffffffft. Because of that, things have been really frustrating around here, and G was getting very little done. Ok, some homeschooling moms have consoled me with how much my girls are doing, like watching nature documentaries and doing martial arts and guitar lessons and Spanish lessons and videos, and educational books, etc. Still, I am not happy with our current rate. Which has led to. . .

--Restructuring the daily home life. I thought some of our problem was that the way I was trying to organize the daily "to do" list was too open-ended and ended up being frustrating for both me and G. I was making one list for the day (schoolwork and chores) and G was mostly able to choose what she wanted to do when, and there were rewards for finishing it. But then she would procrastinate and want to do her vacuuming chore after I put E down for his nap, or want to do a project that required my assistance right when I was getting occupied in something of my own. So I am trying some new ways of ordering the day, in the hopes that will help, breaking down the day into morning and afternoon work. And this offers her more incentive too, since she likes getting stickers as rewards for getting her work done, and now I reward her for work and chores done in the morning and in the afternoon both. She also gets a heart sticker for her daily "heart lesson," like obeying her parents the first time, not interrupting, etc.

I also am establishing firmer morning and evening routines, since they are key to keeping things in order around here, and I need more order! So now in addition to making the bed, getting dressed and putting away pj's in the morning, each girl also has a zone in the bedroom for which she is responsible: G has the dresser top, M has the closet, and B has the boxes at the foot of the bed where invariably yesterday's clothes and toys are found stashed. So now we start out the day with the room picked up, and the girls really like the idea of having a part of the room that is "their zone." In the evening routine the zone to check and pick up is in the living room: G has the toy shelves, M has the bookshelves/cupboards, and B has the floor.

I am also giving each girl responsibility for the kitchen table at one meal a day. So far this is working well, and arguments about who gets to pick what cup color or style of spoon are waning, since each girl knows she will have her time to choose everything. So the girl is responsible for setting, clearing, and sweeping the floor underneath. The only catch is that I can't stand the girls putting half-wiped placemats away, so I am the one to wipe the table--which often means that it never gets done, since by the time they are done with a meal I am off nursing Evan or doing one of a thousand things and don't make time to go back and finish. But when I wipe up immediately this new routine it is a huge blessing, since I don't have to look at a messy table or crumby floor after every meal. Seriously, I never realized what a difference to my kitchen or my spirits a clean table would be.

(And this is where some of you are shaking your heads in wonder, thinking, "you mean you don't clear the table immediately after every meal?! Tsk Tsk." Some of you are also not going to be asked over for playdates without at least a day's notice. ; )

And then there are parts of the routine that are for me, like keeping up with dishes better and wiping the table immediately, and zone work (ala FlyLady) and starting the day with Scripture at breakfast (something the girls love but which we fell out of the habit of doing when M started school and suddenly they were not all gathered for the meal at the same time). They are all GOOD things--but they each are one more thing to do, and one more thing I have to remember to do.

So, training the girls and myself to this new order has been tiring. And like I said, there are even more things that I want to work into the rhythm of our day, like reading and devotions and exercises. But I have to do the most urgent things first--the ones that will help me stay sane.

--Then we are also trying to do all the usual wind-down the year things like teacher appreciation lunches and paperwork to register M for homeschooling next year. And I feel like I am quickly running out of time because. . .

-- We are pulling M out of school the Fri before Memorial Day weekend, and we will start our Summer Road Trip Homeschooling Extravaganza! (Or, to quote from MTV of my youth, "Amuck in America.") We have to arrive in my hometown of Champaign, IL before my cousin's wedding in Chicago on the 6th, but until then we will wander through states, focusing most of our time on people and places in CO, I hope. After the wedding, D will fly back home (still have to get the airline ticket and figure out his transport from airport!) and the girls and I will hang around in IL for a few weeks, getting our fill of Abraham Lincoln sites and the Amish and whatever else Central IL affords. Then my parents will caravan with us on a long, education-rich trip back to CA: our plans include the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in MO, the "little town on the prairie" DeSmet, SD, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, maybe some of the Oregon Trail? Still have LOTS of flexibility, and my parents are being so awesome, and allowing me to choose most of our sight-seeing and being along for the experience.

(My parents are seasoned road-trippers, and we grew up driving yearly from IL to AL, to CO, and some years to the East coast or CA--we are not going anywhere they have not gone before! But almost everything that we will see this summer, like Yellowstone, my parents did B.C. (Before Children) and so it will be new for me! My parents are also retired educators, and appreciate and enjoy making the most of learning while you travel.)

So as I prepare to be away from home for more than a month, I keep remembering things that I need to get or do before we go. Like get shoes for the girls for the wedding. Like make sure G has clothes, since she has outgrown a lot. Like get G a new swimsuit--just did yesterday. Like get girls new sunhats. Like get someone to water my plants, and someone to take our Community Supported Agriculture share for those weeks.

Anyway, things are just wearing on me right now--getting stressed by so much to do and having the whole house and kids falling apart at the same time. But slowly, it is all coming into place. G got more school done in the past three days than in the last two weeks combined. The girls are not fighting the new routines and seem to enjoy them. I am making myself be focused on the tasks that must be done, and that feels good.

But that is one more reason why I have not been posting.

I so appreciate that some friends and family stop by here to see how I am doing and what I am up to. I sincerely thank you for your interest. So when I am gone for the month of June, please check by every now and then, just to keep yourself in the habit. ; ) I will post when I can!