Mondays: Why Always So Hard?

Mondays.

Oh, Mondays.

It doesn't seem to matter how much I prepare us for Mondays, complete my lesson plans ahead of time, and make sure we are rested, Mondays are just hard.

(There is no inspiration offered in this post.)



This Monday started, as probably too many of them do, with me informing my husband that THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE.  Every morning in my prayer journal, I read, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13) and I know intellectually the Bible is true, but I still don't see how Jesus could have meant that it's actually possible to care for home and educate the children all at once. "All things except homeschooling . . . "

Here was my Monday school load, totally typical . . . and I'm still teaching only the younger years. No real writing assignments, no algebra, no science, no real foreign language . . . .

MONDAY--typical of every school day

Morning Basket with All Children

·         Faith

o    Saint of the day

o    Baltimore Catechism

o    “Under Angel Wings”

·         Science

o    “Animals in the Bible”—reading about horses

·         Literature/Poetry

o    Reading “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” plus memorizing excerpts

Subject	Margaret (Pre-K)	Mary (1st)	John (3rd)
Math	Kumon “Are You Ready for Kindergarten?”	Right Start #18 Read Life of Fred Chp. 2	Right Start #83 Xtra Math 10 mins. Read Life of Fred Chp. 12
Science			Continue discussing Galileo with Mama
Reading/Spelling	AAR #27	AAS #11	AAS #19
Literature		Read Chapter of Narnia, complete Memoria Press chapter study guide	Read Chapter of Narnia, complete Memoria Press chapter study guide
Penmanship	One page	One page	P. 17
English/Grammar		Grammar pp. 183-184	BJU English pp. 127-128 Read “Elements of Grammar” pp. 8-9
History		Read “St. Stanislaus Kostka”	Read “St. Stanislaus Kostka”
Latin			Read lesson 7
Music	Piano practice Music theory worksheets	Piano practice Violin practice Read Schumann biography Chp. 4	Piano practice Read Schumann biography Chp. 3

In addition to teaching all of the above by noon--while monitoring a baby (who ended up napping on my back) and a wild three-year-old--there was laundry, three meals, chores of the day (bathrooms), exercise, completing my spiritual journal assignment at morning and at night (attempting to preserve my peace of heart, right?), and so many long-term tasks, it daunts me to consider them.

When will I have time to watch all the IEW DVDs to learn its writing program before the fall? When will I have time to return those three purchases, make new piano binders for 2016-17 season, de-clutter all our rooms, closets, and garage (today I donated two big bags of ten-year-old clothing I'm never going to fit into again!), file our monthly receipts, lose all this baby weight, complete that packet of paperwork required by the doctor, research which new math curriculum to buy, figure out what to do with the battery acid that got on an heirloom baby blanket, open Margaret's bank account (only three months since we promised her), set up the Kindle we were gifted for school use (only a month behind on that task I've promised daily to do), plan the week's meals, plan something for Father's Day upcoming, and on and on and on and on . . . . I feel like doing any one of those tasks with five children swirling at my feet is impossible, let alone doing all of those tasks while I keep going every minute of the day without rest, always with five children needing me--and be sure always to remain peaceful, calm, and self-possessed or you're a bad mom who is damaging the children!

I don't have any inspiring or hopeful note to end on. Mondays are just incredibly hard.

I will be back with my regularly scheduled inspirational posts by Friday, but never on a Monday.