Whirlwind days start at the crack of dawn. I nurse the twins and then crawl back under the covers hoping for a few more minutes of sleep.
The big kids sneak downstairs to watch tv until the little people (the two 3 year olds) are finally awake. They drag daddy out of bed and he starts coffee and makes breakfast while I try to wake up. Usually it is the coffee that calls me out of bed, sometimes it is a cranky 11 year old with autism in a funk (that was this morning).
I am longing for the night when I can sleep just 4 hours IN A ROW without someone waking up needing me or some little person kicking me in my sleep.
We have finally purchased an alarm clock after living without one for the last 4 years. Who needs an alarm clock when you have 5 kids? Someone is surely to wake up and demand food when you would really rather sleep. The truth is, our kids have ALWAYS been early risers and if they sleep in then that's OKAY.
Some crazy woman (okay, me) decided that we needed to start getting up at 7am (what was I thinking?) in order to redeem our day.
I am SO looking forward to the alarm going off in 5 hours (not).
For the rest of September we are working on tweaking our morning routine (which, right now, is taking ALL day). It is no easy task commandeering this ship called a large homeschooling family.
We eat our breakfast while reading our Bible and talking about our missionaries and saying a prayer for the day. Today I even managed to sneak in a really beautiful worship song that I found last night and the kids actually enjoyed it.
Today was Tuesday and it was Elisha's Econ 101 and Gov 101 live classes with Founder's Academy at Currclick, so he joined us later in the day.
While we do our group work and discussions the twins must play happily (but quietly) in the room. The big boys must sit (and not hang upside down or tie themselves in knots) while we talk, read, and tend to our assignments. This is still a work in progress.
Before we even really get started some three year old (or both) wants to nurse and I am balancing my notebook in the air (it is heavy) and trying to keep things on track. (Just an FYI, we are trying to wean them, it's going well, HA).
After Bible we move on to History. We listen to some audios from MOH or AC, or read a bit. Then we move on to discussions and projects. There are so many fun projects in these two programs and we may very well take two years to complete Ancients.
Somewhere in here we stopped for homemade pizza (the dough was made during breakfast prep and rose all morning).
Today our History projects consisted of creating a new animal out of playdough. We had an interesting discussion about God creating everything out of nothing and where that nothing came from. Then the boys created self portraits (because we are created in the image of God).
Just when you think you know your kids, they throw you a curve ball. The child that I thought would complain his way through those projects dove in head first and finished with flying colors. My other two (creative kids) were stumped and fought me all the way. I was left scratching my head totally confused by the change in roles (don't mess with your mama's head like that!).
Science class follows our history class. Today we did an experiment for our year long Anatomy and Physiology class. We are in the process of mummifying an apple (I will let you know how it goes - it takes a week). We discussed the scientific method and started to write out our experiments when meltdowns began. No one likes writing (I am hoping to turn that around this year). Guess what we are doing tomorrow?
We didn't get to our second science class today (Our Planet Earth) because we ran out of time, but that's okay. We still had a relatively good day and there is always tomorrow.
Grandma (who is also our Special Education Assistant) took all the boys to the beach on this cold, cloudy afternoon.
I put the shake n bake chicken in the oven and then nursed the twins to sleep while Jonah went out with a friend. The twins had a nice and long 2 hour nap while the house was quiet
The big boys came home all wet and covered with sand (note to self - get wet sandy clothes out of the bathtub).
Daddy came home and was able to put the finishing touches on dinner because I was still pinned to the couch by sixty pounds of three year old.
Grandma and Grandpa came back for dinner. Hosanna was over the moon to visit them today and Zion slept through the whole thing.
The kids all played hard after supper. Did I mention when they play hard they are SO LOUD?
Then comes bedtime. All the kids settled well except the night owl eleven year old (Elisha) and the wild and crazy little three year old girl (Hosanna) who is apparently exactly like I was at that age.
Hosanna ran circles around me tonight and finally crashed around eleven, but Elisha was in and out of our room until well after midnight.
So, here I sit, it's after 2am (I am writing this for me just as much as for you). The alarm is going to wake me way earlier than I want it to. Our life is like a whirlwind when it starts in the morning and no matter how hard I try it continues until the last one is down at night (that's usually me).
What does a typical day look like at your house?
Don't let the absence of the big boys fool you, they were there, but they were just too quick for the camera.
Jumping rope with the lights. Joy in the simple things. Oh to be 3 again.
Daddy casually glancing in the box to see how many more strands of lights we have to test, while Zion tries on a new necklace.
See how fast they were moving.
No, this was not a rope light. but that would have been fun too.
Untangling the lights and working together.
Almost finished...
This new tree comes close to the ceiling (which isn't extraordinarily high to begin with) and is significantly higher than the tree we inherited from my Nana.