24 hours

There's simply not enough time in the day to do everything I would love to do everyday. Here's a quick rundown of my ideal day:
Get up at 6am to do everything that needs to be done without distraction from children. This includes getting ready, completing any type of correspondence, and doing Bible studies, as well as any undone chores. (1.5 hours).
Make a healthy and hearty breakfast, and awaken the kids at 7:30 when the automatic coffee maker begins to grind the beans. (1 hour)
Guide the children to enjoy learning while playing with reading lessons, worksheets, art, science, snack, etc. (2.5 hours)
Make, eat, and clean up lunch. Prepare for nap, to which the children look forward and in which they eagerly participate. (1 hour)
Cook dinner during nap, so that when they awaken at 4, we can go outside to play with our friends until dinnertime.
Clean up after dinner. Bathe, read a story, pray with the kids, go to bed (which, again, involves no resistance of any kind.) (1.5 hours--it's a lot of kids!)
While the kids are in bed, complete the chores: fold and put away a load of laundry, do a load of dishes, spray the table, sweep the dining room and kitchen floors, vacuum the carpet, and take out the trash. (1 hour)
After the chores, prepare for the next day of school, which includes choosing worksheets, choosing lapbook activities (and cutting them out), and preparing storybook, art, or science projects. (30 minutes)
Exercise to a 45 minute video, then make sure to stretch to avoid back pain, which is another 15 minutes.
Shower.
Prepare automatic coffee maker to actually work the next day. (5 min, but an important 5 min!)
Sew a bit, to justify the "Cadillac" sewing machine and mounds of fabric I've collected over the years. Make new clothes and repair old ones. (2 hours)
Study a foreign language. Options: Chinese via CD or Spanish via textbook. I'd also love to be able to read the original Greek and Hebrew of the Bible. (1 hour)
Check Facebook again. (oh, 10 minutes or so--right!)

Holy cow, it's no wonder I'm so tired! I'm trying to smush 26 hours of doing into 16 waking hours!

Here's my actual day:
Wake up at 7:30 to screaming children.
Wrestle with the kids to get them all dressed and ready.
Cereal for breakfast. (not the hearty, healthy meal I'm always intending to make!)
Bottles for babies. Change diapers, change clothes, change bedsheets because diapers leaked, get them into the high chair.
Go get ready. Lean ear out the door once every 3 minutes to check for choking or provoking.
Wipe up three spills with bath towel from last night's load of laundry still laying on floor.
Throw dishes in sink.
Make coffee, because I forgot to do it the night before.
While waiting for coffee, hold eyes open with fingers and try to avoid conversation at all cost.
Fix coffee. Try to remember to drink it.
Corral kids for school. Remind David 15 times to sit still and quiet for the story. Finally let him go play.
Make snack. Field questions from kids like, "Why couldn't we have sprinkles? I don't like this. I wanted hyper-juice instead!"
Call kids back to the table 10 times each. Promise to spank them if they do it again.
Throw snack out after kids leave table again. Put crying babies in beds. Push kids out of babies' bedroom.
Crush 17 Cheerios into the carpet on the way out of the bedroom. Yell at kids for breaking the rule. Vacuum Cheerios... then decide to vacuum the rest of the cluttered floor while you have out the vacuum, but don't bother picking up the clutter. Vacuum sucks up a whole shirt (yes, it happens), and burns out the belt. Go dig up some air-freshener from behind the child-lock under the sink. Spray it liberally and high away from kids, who are attached to my kneecaps. Remember to put it back or the kids will spray it in each others' faces.
Beg kids to sit at the table, avoiding the sticky milky spots, to do worksheets or art while I do the dishes.
Check the clock. (Please be naptime!)
Fish out a movie all the kids agree to watch, preferably educational, but anything will do! Tell them 3 times to sit on their bottoms and watch the movie. Leave each other alone!
Announce naptime. Deal with whining, crying, temper tantrums, splitting them up into separate bedrooms, spanking, cuddling, storying, ignoring, breathing. Go outside to get my sanity back.
Finally get the last kid asleep. Sit down to sip coffee I forgot to drink this morning. Get right back up to collect the babies, who have just awakened. Bottles, change diaper, change bedsheets again if necessary, put them in high chairs, and pray they'll be quiet enough to let Saja keep sleeping on the couch.
Get Saja a snack when she wakes up. Tell her, no, she can't go outside without me, and I can't go outside without the others who are sleeping.
Hold Kora for 15 minutes when she wakes up. Meanwhile, get David a snack.
Potty, brush hair, strap babies into stroller, go outside to play. Keep a sharp eye on David, who tends to run in the street. Spank David for playing unkindly with neighbor kids. Take Cheerios to keep babies happy.
Call kids inside. Put on another movie to make dinner. Saute, boil, bake, broil, steam, eat, clean up.
Start bedtime. 2.5 hours later, push through the fatigue and finish bedtime.
Do the chores, prepare for school, set the coffee maker, check the calendar for tomorrow's activities, think about working out, but decide to sit at the computer instead. Stare at the screen blankly with a cloud of weariness covering my brain.
Move Kora out of my bed. Make the bed. Climb in the bed.
Get out of the bed to turn on the fan, set the alarm, brush teeth. Say goodnight to hubby.
Climb into bed, wishing there was more time to sew, learn a language, pray, exercise, shop, meal-plan, spa days, etc. Fall asleep before head hits pillow.

It's the sad truth, but I'm willing to accept the idea that this is merely a season in my life. I'm raising children, not computers who conform to my every whim and wish (and sometimes, computers don't even do that!) I try to find laughter in every day. I try to prioritize my husband and my children, and when I remind myself that God's purpose for our family means much sacrifice, I willingly and even happily put myself to work. It's hard work. It's thankless work. It's endless work. But it's God's purpose for me right now. To shirk God's purpose would mean despair and heartache, even if I thought I were pursuing happiness. My I have the mind of Christ in my role!

P.S. This explains why I've not posted in a while! (I've skipped the dishes to write this. You should feel so lucky!)

Where's my denim jumper?

Homeschool, here we come. Saja's officially registered with HomeLife Academy now as a kindergartener, even though the public schools wouldn't accept her until next year because of those stinking 30 days past the deadline that she doesn't turn 5. My hope is that if we decide to send her to school next year, we can show them the transcript from HomeLife Academy for kindergarten and at least have her tested for placement. A friend of mine who teaches kindergarten in the public school said it sounds like she'd be bored this year... let alone waiting a year! However, kindergarten is not mandatory in Tennessee, so the school system might just shrug their shoulders and place her in an age-appropriate (instead of skill-appropriate) class. I'm not fretting yet. I'm just plugging away at the homeschooling.

It's a bit intimidating to be held accountable for my child's education. I have been teaching them unofficially for quite some time now, simply because in our house, we have to have a schedule, so why not make it educational? So, I thought I'd post our routine for any other mommies of multiple young kiddos wondering how to make it work. It works well for us!

I started doing preschool-type education with my girls because they seemed interested. David is a different story--he hates sitting still to read or color or do worksheets. He does like flashcards and computer games. I guess you just have to figure out what's best for each child, but I'll show you what I've done for my kids. That will give you a starting point, at least.

I started teaching Saja to read when she was almost three. She already knew the sounds letters made because she picks up on things fast, so I used a book called Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I LOVE this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/0671631985/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219252131&sr=8-1

I started out thinking we could do a lesson each day, but her brain tired easily, and we decided to just go for 15 minutes--whether or not we finished the lesson. This book will teach your child the sounds of letters and letter blends, as well as the proper way to sound them out. We made it through lesson 70 by the time she turned 4. The last 30 lessons are headed toward a second grade level and are too advanced for her level of interest. I've started using this book for Kora now. She's 3 and a half.

Now I use the Sonlight Curriculum for grade 1 in reading lessons. They have story books, and ideally, you read one story each day with your child. I read the story first, then Saja reads it. We've done 40 lessons, and they've all been short vowel words (and a few sight words). She likes the stories, and they're significantly easier than the later lessons in the other book, so she doesn't get so discouraged. Some people wrote negative reviews for these books, but they've been exactly what Saja needs.

http://sonlight.com/1R161.html
http://sonlight.com/1R162.html
http://sonlight.com/1R163.html
http://sonlight.com/1R164.html

We also use Explode the Code workbooks for reading. They have preschool workbooks, which introduce the letters and the sounds they make, which Kora does, and Kindergarten workbooks, which introduce the short vowel words, which Saja does. I bought them on Ebay, but the links below will show you the Sonlight pages.

http://www.sonlight.com/KL031.html (First book--get ready for the code)
http://www.sonlight.com/KL032.html (Second book-get set for the code)
http://www.sonlight.com/KL033.html (third book-- Go for the code)
http://www.sonlight.com/1L02.html (Explode the Code--short vowels)

For Math, we just use the Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks you can find at Sam's Club or Walmart. We started out with Preschool, then K, and now we're in grade 1 with Saja. I don't know how accurate those labels are, but we're just moving on to the next one when we finish one.

http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Curriculum-Skills-Preschool-Curriculum%C3%A0/dp/1561893749/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219253197&sr=8-1

Finally, I started using a program called Five in a Row for the science/social studies/miscellaneous lessons. It's super-easy (and cheap) and works well in our family, because it's based on story books that you can find in the library. I go online to memphislibrary.org, order the books for the next three weeks on hold at the Cordova library, and then pick them up the next day. Saves me time and effort. You read the same story to your child five days in a row, and you apply a different area of education to the story each day. For example, today, we're reading a true story about the first man to fly over the English Channel. We're going to talk about onomatopoeia. You'd be amazed at how much young kids can pick up! Yesterday, we talked about France and England, and we colored their flags (thus, the obsession with the flags). They also give you leeway to emphasize art, which my kids adore. They also have a preschool program called Before Five in a Row. The book is less than $40, and all the storybooks are available through the library. And it's really easy and fun. My kids love storybooks.

www.fiveinarow.com

Finally, I read a Bible story to them and work on memorizing a verse and a hymn everyday. The Bible I use is Ergermeir's Bible Story Book. I bought it at Overstock.com, but here's Sonlight's description.

http://www.sonlight.com/KB01.html

We memorize with songs from Scripture Memory Fellowship. Sometimes I make up my own songs and motions.

http://scripturememoryfellowship.org/preschool.htm

I just choose hymns from a hymnal.

All in all, the schooling time takes about an hour (although it sure seems more overwhelming when you read this novel I wrote!). My ideal day goes like this: Bible time, Reading lesson (while David watches his Letter Factory movie), snack, worksheets: math and reading, storybook project (art, science, applied math, geography, social studies, etc.) RECESS!

I'm really an advocate of finding what works best for you and doing it. Don't pressure yourself or compare your kid to others. Just give him what he needs to be challenged, and keep it light and fun. Kids pick up so much from just having fun! Good luck, by the way.