I really do love school. I really do. But this first week of school this fall is threatening to kill me. I’m hoping we’ll adjust and things will fall into a good routine. If they don’t I may have to arm myself with some pretty dangerous weapons to fight my way through this year.

Right now, I am taking a break in my day. Not because I’ve reached a point where I finished my to do list and have plenty of time for a break, but rather because I have come to the place where if I don’t take a break, I will probably regret it later. I actually meant to take a nap today, but that didn’t happen. I meant to have all the bills written and the sewing done by now, but that didn’t happen either. As a matter of fact not many things are happening these days. School has taken over and is eating all the time, and my energy as well.

I think the subjects are going well. I am enjoying the time I am spending with Elise, but I do admit it seems like it would be much more rewarding if I didn’t have the boys clamoring for attention as well. Monday started off okay, though even then I realized how hard the year will be. John was home since it was labor day and he took the boys for the morning so I could concentrate on school with no distractions. Even with the boys gone, it took us all the way until lunch time to finish our scheduled school (well, most of it, we had to put off some reading). That was when I realized that the time I had allotted for the school work was not going to be enough.

On Tuesday, my sister showed up and I was surprised to see her even though I know she always comes Tuesday mornings to watch the kids. I thought I’d accomplish great things while she was there for 2 hours, but instead ended up using most of the time to just sort out car and insurance issues. Later that day John called needing some paperwork from me. I was less than gracious as I stepped over the timeline which refused to stick to the wall, answered the phone holding a book I was reading aloud to Elise in one hand, and tried to talk over the piano the boys were playing. It seems like the only time I wasn’t trying to read over the boys’ noise that morning was when they had wandered off quite quietly to cover themselves with the last remains of my make-up, including mascara. I guess I won’t be wearing makeup again anytime soon. As I talked to John I realized it was already 12:30 and I had not even began to plan lunch. Sigh. The rest of the afternoon wasn’t much better. Once the kids went down for nap, I had to find the paperwork for John and start cleaning off my desk. I had great hopes of writing the bills and doing some sewing, but before I knew it we were headed off to dance. While I was at dance, I realized that I had left my uneaten lunch warming in the oven. It was basically a piece of charcoal when we returned home, and I was noticeably hungry. I had planned a craft project for when we returned home from dance. But of course, after chatting away to friends, dropping a friend off, going to the grocery store to get some things for supper, and finally heading home, I really wasn’t interested in trying to squeeze a craft in before supper. Besides, I still had all my to do list to start on. That evening I spent pretty much my whole time finishing up a custom blanket, which was wonderful to get off my list, but which meant I still had bills, other sewing, and misc things to do.

Today, I hoped things would go better. Because of the rain, John took the car, so I was stuck here. Surely, I though, we will get so much done and be done quickly. But again, despite our starting fairly early, we worked almost until lunchtime yet again. It didn’t help that I had several interruptions to take Will to the bathroom (who is working really hard on finishing potty-training, but is now having issues with knowing when he really needs to go), clean up broken glass from the snack bowl that got left on the table, change a diaper when Will didn’t make it to the bathroom, comfort Seth whenever he thought he just needed some extra attention, and answer Will’s persistent arguments about a broken toy. He has decided that the words “But I don’t want to,” hold some sway in an argument and will use them as his only defense against something I’ve instructed him to do. Amazing how long of an argument he can sustain on those 5 words. I had a new potential seamstress drop by at 12, and I think I made sense as I struggled to instruct her on what she needed to do while feeling like my brain was beginning to slip away. In the background several geography songs were playing on repeat while the kids colored pictures. You might hear me humming these as they are beginning to play over and over again in my head. But on the plus side, I can now name the countries of Western Europe. Hopefully they’ll work as well on Elise as they are on me.

I now have so many things to do on my to do list, that I don’t know where to start. Right this moment I think I am supposed to be making an Italian dessert with Elise as part of our Italian study. Will should probably be wearing pants instead of just a diaper. And I should have all my embroidery done for the day. But instead, I am taking a break. Elise and Will are playing happily outside in the rain, something Elise says she “NEVER” gets to do and has been begging to do every time it sprinkles. Seth has just finished his snack and is sitting contentedly beside me. I think I will try to enjoy this moment before it gets crazy again.

There are many reasons why I home-school, and I guess after a post like this, I might get asked for some of those reasons, but I will save those for another time. Right now, I will just say, that despite all the craziness, the stress, and the undone chores, I would not trade my chance to teach my children at home for anything.