Do you school in December? I have decided to officially take the month off. Originally I figured I would school until December 12th. Then we took Thanksgiving week off and I changed it to December 19th with the thought that we needed to make up the week we took off. Then last week hit.
Monday the house was a mess from the weekend. I used the morning for us to clean and do chores we should have done over the weekend. Chris picked up an overtime and wasn't getting home until 7:30 p.m. (he left the house at 3:30 a.m.). While it is Fantastic that he was able to make some extra money (especially in the state of our economy) I had to make changes to our day. While CJ was at guitar lessons I brought the other 4 kids to Target and BJ's for a few groceries (the original plan was to do a complete shopping that day when Chris got home). We picked CJ up and dropped him off at the highschool for football practice. At 3 I was finally able to put a very cranky toddler down for a nap. By now I needed a break and sent the kids outside while Emily slept. Believe it or not but as crazy as it may sound, at 5 p.m. when the kids came in I actually tried doing school. This probably would have worked out better than it did but Emily then woke up from her nap and she was in a worse mood than when she went to bed. I tried putting Blue's Clue on but she would only watch it if I held her. After almost an hour of this I raised the white flag in defeat. The rest of the night consisted of both Emily and I in tears. When Chris got home at 7:30 he said we could just order Pizza from down the street or cereal. I was determined at this point to give him a good meal after working such a long day. After a few more bumps in the road we finally sat down for dinner at 8:45 p.m.!!!! Thank goodness, it tasted great and it was worth the wait (chicken parmesan, spaghetti and a salad). I went to bed with a very heavy heart and felt like (again) I was a failure.
Tuesday I felt slightly better but I knew something had to change. First up....schools cancelled until January. I don't know why I keep thinking it would be a good idea to school through December. Life in general is busy added to it birthdays and special events. Now when I say no school I mean not in the traditional sense. We will be using this time to do Christmas crafts, bake cookies for neighbors and friends and spend time together as a family playing games and watching movies. I am hoping we could do a nursing home trip.
Next, I need to do some serious planning for January. There is the saying "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail." We have been working without any set structure to our day or me planning things out. I keep saying these are things I need to do but then life gets busy and I don't. I am re-reading Managers of Their Home right now. Good stuff. I believe this is just what we need.
Wednesday Chris and I did our Christmas shopping : ) Except for a CBD order I believe we are done (except for each other). A lovely friend of mine has volunteered her daughters to help me wrap. Last year she made the same offer and passed on it. Boy was that dumb. There I was Christmas Eve finishing the wrapping. I won't do that again.
Thursday and Friday were better days even though I was feeling under the weather with a cold. Thursday we went to high school co-op. It is real hard to stay focused this time of year (and the cold didn't help). It was decided this week that we will make this coming Thursday our last co-op until January. Yahoo!!! I think we could ALL use the break.
Friday we made our first craft. It was a Christmas snowman. The project itself didn't go all that well. The glue wasn't holding very well. But you know what.....he Christmas CD that was playing made up for it. While the kids were finishing up I made Chocolate Crinkle cookies. We were then suppose to decorate the tree but we hit a snag (this is for another post). This was gonna have to wait. CJ has been in a play at the church this weekend so Jessie, my mother and sister and myself went to go see it. TALK ABOUT FANTASTIC!!!! Again, I am hoping to do a post of it tomorrow.
Saturday the middle kids had play practice in the morning, CJ had the play at night and in between we were able to decorate the tree. Chris brought the boys to see the play and I stayed home with the girlies. I love watching how the two sisters (or sissy's as we call them) interact. Emily went to bed around 7:30, Jessica 8:30 and then I had almost 2 hours of quietness. I love these stolen moments.
1 comment:
You're not a failure; you're human. ;-)
This is our first year taking December off, after seven years of homeschooling. I thought about it last year, but it didn't work out. It's been great! There have been a few days when I've actually felt a little bored! Nothing like boredom to get you ready to get back to your regular schedule.
It's been really nice not having to worry about school with everything else that goes on during December and it's given me lots of time to plan. I actually have the first three weeks of January planned out and ready to go -- I even have all our copies made and things printed off the Internet!
It's been well-worth the time off.
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