Days of Our Lives

I posted this rough draft of our day on a homeschooling forum. The question was "What does you day homeschooling a middle school child look like?"

7-8am: Repeated attempts to drag dd10 out of bed. She takes 6 dance classes a week and gets home at 8:30 pm most nights, so I do want her to get as much sleep as possible.

"Do we have to do school today?"

Breakfast: Lots of "But we always have cereal! Can't you make waffles? Can't you makes biscuits?" (I do, as a matter of fact, often make a hot breakfast)

Mommie has coffee with Silk vanilla soy creamer and freshly grated nutmeg.

Girls unload dishwasher and feed pets all the while relating Star Wars trivia.

"Do we have to do school today?"

"How much school do we have to do?"

Girls practice piano ("Do you want to see me play it with my toes?"), and dd10 does violin.

"Can't we just not do school?"

Mommie: "Down to the school room!"

"But I have to go to the bathroom/I'm still hungry - may I have Cheetos?/ I need to change - this is itchy/ What are we having for supper?/ I bet Luke Skywalker did not have to do Latin"

Mommie pours more Silk vanilla soy creamer in her coffee.

Down to the school room where the downstairs cat Dorothy, aka "Dorf" lives.

Many attempts at Latin, Math, Phonics, History, Science, Grammar, etc interrupted by cat knocking over glasses of water, cat rubbing indiscreetly on school books, children running screaming from the table because a ladybug has landed on the far side of the table.

"Do we have to do school today?"

Mommie - "Go outside and walk around the yard few times!"

Mommie seriously considers drinking Silk vanilla soy creamer straight from the carton.

dd10 "dd6 is distracting me; may I take my work upstairs?" translation - may I go to my room and write a Star Wars book, while listening to my iPod and eating cheez-its?"

Mommie brings down yogurt, cheese, and whole grain crackers. Cat sticks her face in yogurt; girls hoot hysterically as cat grooms her pink-coated whiskers.

dd6 whispers to the thin air beside her before she writes down each answer, because Luke Skywalker is telling her the answers.

Mommie suddenly realizes what time it is and hurries everyone up stairs, throws a bag of bread at dd10, and instructs her to make sandwiches. "We always have sandwiches! Can't we have ravioli or quesadillas?"

Mommie considers taking a shower, but settles for washing her face and applying concealer under her sleep-deprived eyes.

Mommie grabs a protein shake, loads the car with the girls and a laundry basket full of books, and heads to town. The girls take various music and dance classes, while mommie "carschools" the other. A mad dash home for supper or to the sub shop depending on the day.

Home: Mommie considers a cup of evening coffee to help her stay awake until bedtime, and settles instead for a swig or two of Silk vanilla soy creamer. Play recital pieces once more; recite Latin lesson to Daddy. Tell Daddy about Jabba the Hutt's son. Family Prayers, and we are done!

Not quite: dd10 wakes up with growing pains. Dd6 is "lonely" and comes in to bed.

We're all in the bed.

Then the alarm goes off, and we do it again.

Royal Stitching

We dvr'd the royal wedding, and we watched it over a breakfast of scones and tea. I dragged out the Royal Doulton - I will forever hear Hyacinth Bucket's voice when I think of R D! I made a scone recipe I found on the King Arthur Flour website - very appropriate. Friday and Saturday, I stitched the Royal Wedding design by The Sampler Girl - with a few changes by me. I wanted to include interlocking initials for Will and Kate, but I did not plot it out very carefully. I was so impressed by W & K that I really felt compelled to include a pair of hearts. I hope you don't mind Tanya!

I had planned a Jane Austen Day to celebrate the royal wedding, but as I finished 'At Pemberley' I knew I must stitch the wedding design. So I stitched away listening to 'Barchester Towers' on my iPod. Then it was back to reality with carting the girls to dance lessons. ;)