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| Why are my pictures always fuzzy? |
Today was our first official day back to school! I'm trying so hard to be less rigid, to embrace that we are a family first, a school second. I will share what our flexible day looked like.
6:00 a.m. Wake up late, having not set my alarm for 5:30. I didn't exercise but chose instead to finish reviewing what curriculum materials I could for our first day of school--my having yesterday run out of time and feeling unprepared. Joseph (1) wakes up with me.
6:30 a.m. John wakes up, asks what I'm doing, and eagerly asks for his school orientation right now. I want to say no because this isn't how I envisioned it, everything is supposed to go in a particular order. But I decide that I have an eager seven-year-old begging to learn about school, so I'd better embrace it. We do his orientation in our pajamas.
FYI, I am trying My Student Logbooks this year, which seem neat. The children chose their own covers and we're all excited at the prospect of using these.
7:00 a.m. Mary (5) wakes up.
7:30 a.m. Family prayers with Daddy (including Rosary in the morning instead of after dinner--new family experiment!)
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| John (7) begins second grade, watch out or he'll shoot ya! |
8:00 a.m. Margaret wakes up (sleeping two hours later than normal because of our day trip Sunday)
8:15 a.m. Eat breakfast
8: 40 a.m. Get dressed, morning chores
9:00 a.m. Clean kitchen and start laundry (already behind schedule by about an hour!). Assign Mary to read to Margaret and John to babysit Joseph while Mama cleans the kitchen. This lasts five minutes before fighting breaks out and Mama has to take time to discipline.
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| Mary (5) begins Kindergarten, but note that she made a new sign that says 'second grade' |
10:00 a.m. Send John and Margaret to play in the back yard while I do Mary's Kindergarten orientation and first lessons, with the baby in tow. Spend lots of time during our lessons removing the baby from having turned the printer on/off yet again, throwing pencils and crayons, coloring on things, tearing books, and other typical toddler behaviors.
10:30 a.m. Nurse Joseph down for nap, while Mary listens to her English literature story on www.BooksShouldBeFree.com. Mary finishes listening to her story, wanders into the upstairs bathroom, finds some bugs in the bathtub, fills bathtub with an inch of water and dumps a bottle of foaming hand soap in it "to drown the bugs." Drain tub and finish school with Mary.
10:45 a.m. Pause to admonish John for overly rambunctious adventure with three-year-old sister who got hurt, calm down said sister's tears, feed preschooler a snack ("No, the rest of you can wait till lunch!"), do potty checks, and put in second load of laundry.
11:00 a.m. Send Mary outside to play, do second grade with John, and keep 3-year-old with me (she writes letters next to me).
11:45 a.m. Eat lunch.
12:15 Baby wakes up (that will be his only nap of the day), 3-year-old goes into Quiet Time. Mama leaves dishes unwashed and takes 7-year-old on a walk for one-on-one time, leaving 5-year-old crying sadly at home. Mama can't win for losing, that's for sure.
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| Margaret (3) is in preschool: she wrote her own name! |
I feel like I was racing at a gallop today, yet we were still "behind schedule," I did only about 45 minutes of school with the two oldest children, none with Margaret (who kept asking for it), and we didn't complete all of our basic subjects.
John finished math, phonics, spelling, English, and penmanship. We didn't do history or catechism. (We'll start science and Latin in about a month.)
Mary finished math, phonics, spelling, English, and penmanship, but we didn't do catechism. (We'll start science and drawing in about a month.)
Back up on that horse! The bright side: we got a lot done in only 45 minutes, so all I have to do is squeeze out some more time for each child. Of course, the worrier in me just doesn't know how to find more time!
Why not work into the afternoon? I'm trying so hard to keep elementary school education from creeping into our afternoons. (That said, we do our History read-along fiction as bedtime reading.) The afternoons and evenings are filled to the brim as it is with the busy-ness of life!
you are just so awesome!! I absolutely admire your " get back up on the horse" attitude! I am relishing the school time I am getting with the kids this summer, because before I know it...they will all be gone, and Ill be left just with Blaise and my sweet snugly newborn...wait....that sounds good too!!! Good Job, momma!
ReplyDeleteSOunds like a great day!! Worry not! Are you following the Amongst Lovely Things series on Teaching From A State Of Rest?? Check out her blog. There is a webinar you can listen to and a series of posts (and an ebook you can purchase...I didn't purchase it). She is also doing a series on the Read Aloud Revival....totally unrelated to your post but some great interviews that she has podcasted. WE plan to start school either August 1 or right after the Assumption. Haven't decided which yet. Ohh, and have you considered doing John's catechism at the breakfast table? It is the sort of subject everyone can benefit from anyway. Or even reading to him (them) from history books. Then you don't have to worry about squeezing it into the formal schoolday.
ReplyDeleteIndoors the camera generally doesn't have enough light to work with so it chooses a slow shutter speed. That causes any little movements (from your hand holding the camera, or the children themselves) to be blurry and show motion. In order to get the camera to choose a faster speed, use a flash or add more light to the room or your subject (move them closer to a window; turn on more lights, etc).
ReplyDeleteAlso sometimes there may be a fingerprint on the lens that needs to be carefully cleaned off.
Sarah: Thank you for the tips!
ReplyDeleteJamie: Yes! I had purchased the pdf and MP3 files of Teaching From a State of Rest a few weeks ago, but hadn't yet been able to listen to them. Today I listened to my first audio file and it was wonderful and inspiring.
ReplyDelete