We have no average days here in our home-school. By that, I am not referring to the emotional state of either teacher or pupils, but rather to the fact that I am allergic to routine. Like so many allergies, it is not something I wake up planning, but rather something that simply happens to me as I encounter the world on a moment by moment basis. I will give you yesterday as an example.My ideal is to have school started by eight o' clock, but that usually varies by 15 to 30 minutes either side of eight. Yesterday we didn't get started until 8:45. I don't honestly remember why; it just didn't happen. I think I had one or the other of the kids doing their piano, and then they were playing nicely together and I just didn't have the heart to make them stop.
Once we finally got started, things moved along fairly quickly. I won't bore you with details of our lessons. If you want to know how and what we're doing, just ask me someday and I will ramble for hours, alternately whining, bragging, and generally making a nuisance of myself. Periodically, we would stop lessons for snacks or a little break, but we were all but done by lunch time.
I received a message from a friend of mine who lives a few miles out of town. She and her daughters were canning peaches and wanted to know if we'd like to be involved. Of course we would; so we fed Daddy lunch, then drove out to the S farm. The kids ran around outside with the youngest members of this large family, and we ladies stayed inside and canned peaches. So far this month I have also canned pizza sauce and applesauce with this family. They teach me to can and I give two of the older girls Spanish class. It's a great trade.
When we got home, the kids wanted to swim. Our local YMCA has a pool, but it's a little too cold for Mama. Luckily, Daddy can be easily bought by the big, pleading eyes of his seven-year-old daughter, so he took the kids to the Y for a swim. I took advantage of their absence to buy my groceries for the day. I don't have to tell any mother how nice it is to go buy groceries when the kids are not hanging on the sides, demanding the right to push the cart (even though it's so heavy that they are a public danger) and begging for everything in sight. Oh, and let's not forget the critique of whatever I choose to put in the cart and the apparently uncontrollable need to touch EVERYTHING.
I got home and was able to put my groceries away in complete peace. Ahhh. I started making supper, but the Salmon was still very frozen, so by the time everyone was ready to eat, the rice was done and had been for a bit, but the Salmon, while smelling wonderful, was a good thirty minutes away from completion. Instead, we had re-heated fish sticks with our rice. The Salmon became leftovers before it had really had a chance. I planned Salmon, we ended up with microwave fish sticks. I will not be one of those mothers whose kids brag about her cooking.
When supper was over, it was time to get ready for bed. After baths and teeth brushing we all sat down for devotions. We're working our way through the Chronicles of Narnia, and last night was the very last chapter of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Some of the things we did yesterday are done more or less every day. Some of them happen only every great once in a while, or even never before. All that to say, every day is an adventure; today will be completely different, but just as fun, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
