School Days....

Last week we sort of eased back into school.  I love summertime and the laid back days, so this was hard for me!  Here in the south it is still very hot outside and to me "hot" means no school!  However, I knew that it would be wise to get a jump on our academics, so we have begun!

  I didn't have near the free time to clean out and plan for our school year that I had hoped. That is real life though.  I feel like I have lived in that mode for the past several years with my mom's health failing, her death, now my dad having to be cared for and babies thrown into the mix!  God is gracious to me though.  Some days are very long and very hard but I try to remember how fortunate I am that I have the privilege to home school.  I often wonder how much longer we will have that freedom!

 This week we started our first "official" full day of school.  Monday.was.HARD!  I felt like I literally went from one child to the next helping with different things.  Having a first grader to me is the hardest year.  It is such a foundational year and requires a lot from the mom!  It can be monotonous, but there is nothing like those "light bulb" moments when they get something new!  If I thought I was going to get a minute "breather" something else would come up like..........a poopy diaper, washing machine "singing" to me that the load is done, baby needing to be nursed, or something much bigger like my teenage son running out the front door to chase the three year old that decided he would take a walk down to the road.  (He claimed that "Buddy -the lab- was going in the road, but Matt said Buddy was behind Myles.)   Yes, the days are FULL!

 Our schedule today looked like this..........Up and out the door to run at 7:00 (and I am NOT a morning person!)  While I was running the children were all getting animal chores done, milking done, breakfast eaten etc.  McKenzie left the house to go babysit about the time that I was finishing my run.  I showered, nursed the baby, mopped the floors, started laundry, threw something in the crock pot for supper tonight (I sure do love that thing!),did a math lesson with Malachi..... and then it was time to head to town for piano lessons!  I dropped the girls off and then headed to Wal-Mart (my least favorite place!)  I picked the girls up, dropped a library book off, swung by the bank to make a deposit for my dad and then headed home.  The kids unloaded groceries while I nursed Macheus and then it was back to the books.  I taught Malachi's Language lesson and did Reading with him.  Madeline attempted to lay Myles down for his nap after she fed him lunch but he didn't cooperate, so that was an interruption for me.  Once I got him settled and finished up with Malachi it was on to Mariah.  Thankfully, she can do most things on her own.  We went over her school work for the day.  Meanwhile, McKenzie gets home and takes Matthew into town and drops him off at work.  When she got back home she taught Mariah and Malachi their science lesson.  I am SO thankful that she has agreed to teach that subject this year.  She is using Apologia and is making it much more fun than I would have! 
Madeline is drowning in her school work (welcome to high school!)  Myles is bouncing off the walls and Macheus is playing sweetly on a quilt.  There were probably fifty other things done today that I left out......... but you get the idea.  Life is BUSY!   There is school work to grade with Madeline, laundry to put away, dinner to eat and clean up after, my dad's laundry to wash this evening, and on and on and on.
I was grumbling on the inside yesterday afternoon when a song came on from a cd about blessings in life.  I immediately felt ashamed at how ungrateful I am for all of the positive in my life!
Last night McKenzie and I went for a walk and saw our neighbor.  She is going through a lot of the same things we are with aging parents.  We were talking about the new term the "sandwich" generation-  those of us that are taking care of elderly parents while still raising children.  I laughed to myself thinking........" I could be the poster child for the sandwich generation!"  But...... for whatever reason, this is where the Lord has me right now.  I know it is only a season and I will make it through it.  Today..... I will choose to be thankful!

 My "big boy".  I cannot believe he is a senior!  I remember his kindergarten year like it was yesterday.  Makes me sad............  He will be taking college classes this year along with a small load of "home school".  Thankful for the spiritual maturity we are seeing in this kid!  He has grown a lot in the past year.  He takes a stack of gospel tracks with him to work every day.  McKenzie said, "That has got to warm a mama's heart."  Yep, it certainly does!

 Madeline........... a freshman in high school........... REALLY!?!

McKenzie teaching her science class! :o)  So thankful for all of the help she is to me!  I know she won't be here forever, but soaking her up while she is!

Well, I have lots that I need to be doing!  I better run!  I hope all of you that are making the sacrifice to home school your children have a great start to your new year!