I recently read an article in a homeschool magazine called “A Day in the Life”. Each month a different homeschooler submits a day in their life, complete with timeline. I am going to subscribe to this magazine just for this article. It was nice to know that I’m not the only one who struggles with things like time management and who has a hard time checking everything off on my list. Ashamedly it was also nice to know that in some ways that the particular mom failed, I was excelling.
I would like to give you the opportunity to know that I probably fail infinitely more than you think I do.
8:00 am: The phone rings and I jump out of bed running for it. I know it’s Dave in China and I don’t want to miss it. McKayla left for school almost an hour ago. I didn’t see her off, make sure she had a lunch, ate breakfast or wish her a good morning. Parenting fail.
8:15: I’m still talking to Dave and Nathaniel is starving!
Him: I want pancakes
Me: Eat cereal. Have Marshall help you.
8:20 I’m still talking to Dave but now there is screaming and crying because Marshall has ignored Nathaniel’s milk to cereal ration and Jacob has Nate’s bowl. I shut the door to block the sound.
8:22 Marshall decided to step on Mike’s toe. Mike decided to scream and call him stupid. I have to let Dave go so that I can parent. I haven’t had any coffee. I’m still tired. I figure the safest bet for all of us is time out and work. Mike gets to sit next to me while I check email. Marshall gets to empty and load the dishwasher.
8:30 I start a load of laundry and remind Mike to feed the cat and empty the litter box.
Don’t be jealous of all this fun.
8:45 I start to make a pot of coffee and some banana bread because it’s freezing inside my house. Marshall offers to make the banana bread. The coffee pot is abandoned.
8:46 I call Nate and Jake back to the table to eat full bowls of cereal that were left on the table. Don’t underestimate the whining. I also call Mike to the table and we start spelling.
8:47 Crying starts because he forgot an apostrophe. He is now banned from sleeping in his brother’s room.
8:50 We begin math. He’s still crying about the apostrophe. I bribe with candy. Instantly the tears stop. We do more flash cards than I’d like to.
9:00 I briefly explain math to Marshall. Mike and I go back for round two of spelling, which goes much smoother.
9:20 I hand out handwriting worksheets. I never realized handwriting could be so fun for a 9-year-old. He sees every letter as a battle to conquer. “Ha! Ha! Didn’t have to lift my pencil once! Victory is mine!”
9:30 As the aroma of banana bread begins to permeate the house, I realize the I never started the coffee pot. I also realize that it’s very quiet. I hunt down the under five crowd and they’ve found my ipad and are watching Dora the Explorer on Netflix. I change the movie to Leap Frog and tell myself that it’s okay because it’s educational.
9:45 I change the laundry and finally pour myself a cup of coffee and set the timer for some silent reading. Normally we don’t set the timer for reading but our library is giving away free books if you read 20 minutes a day.
10:15 the banana bread is cut. I have to repeatedly tell the children to ‘”Stop singing “We will rock you”!”
10:20 “Stop singing “Can’t Touch This” If you don’t know more than the first line of the chorus, it is no longer singing, it’s more annoying”
10:21 “Stop singing “I can’t stop believing!” If you don’t know more than that line, it’s just noise.
New rule: If you don’t know the whole song you are not allowed to sing. Period.
A terrible rendition of the ABC song is begun.
I daydream about the day when they are all gone and the house is absolutely silent.
10:30 I pry the ipad from Nathaniel’s hands and redirect the twins to a puzzle and some tanagrams. I explain the writing assignment to Mike and hand Marshall a Science test.
10:32 Marshall and Michael abandon writing and Science for a rousing game of balloon toss. I feel I’ve lost control, but that’s okay. The balloon game has migrated downstairs and I have a few minutes of peace.
10:33 – abandon all hope and blog about it. The computer is soothing. I throw several bags of cheetos around the door as I gently close and lock it, ensuring some privacy.
10:34 – I realize the coffee is on the counter outside the door. I cry. The kids have magically tripled in number as I exit my room. I decide to drink the coffee straight from the pot, black.
…thanks for leaving the rest of your day for me to fill in with my imagination! 😀
The way that you *actually* finished the story is FAR stronger than anything I could have ever done in real life! Congratulations and BRAVO!!
thank you 🙂 and the computer is soothing. I am sure that your imaginary rest of my day was much more interesting than the real life rest of my day.
Well, after your third pot of coffee you started playing Words With Friends in seven different languages, but other than that you just stayed in your room and ordered pizza and groceries to be delivered to the kids from the internet. Tough call