I’m blah today. I’m not feeling well, I’m feeling down and I’m tired. I’m sure it’s partly (or a lot) hormones, but that’s not really important. So when I’m feeling like this, it’s really hard to drag myself out of it. Everything annoys me. I don’t want to talk to anyone, I just want to go to bed.
But Brian had to leave for work, which leaves that out of the question. So I decide it’s an order dinner, put on a movie night. At least that makes it easier. But I’m still grumpy.
Until Brody asks me to play Guess Who? with him. I actually enjoy that game so I said yes because I felt bad saying no when I was just sitting there.
And do you know what happened? We started playing, I started smiling and my mood was lifted. I still feel like crap but at least I’m not in a bad mood and I can enjoy our Taco Bell delivery and whatever movie they decide on.
I have to remember that these guys can lift me up when I need it, and not just drain me. And that I have to let them. I need them just as much as they need me! Probably more.
Yesterday one of the first grade teachers was absent. Since they don’t schedule substitues, the teacher gave us a list of assignments to complete. There was a few activities for math, a reading and writing activity, word study activity, plus their special and their intervention services. I have to say, it was the best day we’ve had BY FAR. There were smiles, hugs, cuddles, and no whining. No tantrums. No heartbreaking looks from my babies. See, there is one child who is most against virtual learning. Learning in general, but virtual learning is especially tortuous for him. Brody has said all along that he’d rather be homeschooled by me than do virtual learning. Funny, because he gave me the most problems back in the spring. But he was so happy yesterday and finished all his work by 10am, and that was taking our time and taking breaks. He did an amazing job and we all had a great day.
This morning when he woke up, Brody asked me if his teacher was absent again. I told him that she’d be back, so he’d go back to virtual learning. He was so upset and asked if I could just teach him like we did yesterday. Unfortunately, I don’t have the assignments and that’s just not how it works I told him. The school says we have to do it this way. Needless to say, today has been rough. Brody has been pouting, refusing to work, throwing things, turning off his sound, and just generally not listening to his teacher today. I gave him a bit of leeway on his behavior chart (I can post about that later or tomorrow) but I ended up having to move the clothespin to “Make Better Choices” because he just kept carrying on and then started to be disrespectful towards me.
Still, it breaks my heart. I keep telling him, “I know, buddy. I know this is hard but you can do it. I had fun yesterday too, but this is how we are learning today.” And I hate doing that.
Our district is moving to hybrid on October 12th, which can’t come soon enough. Seeing my kids over the moon happy at their sports practices, interacting in person with their teammates, is all the proof I need that they need to be around their friends. They need to be in class, and I really hope, though I’m not terribly optimistic, that we will get to full-time in school this school year. Anything less is just not enough. And if that’s the case, I am seriously considering pulling them and teaching them on my own until we do get back full time. Trying to give it a chance, but bottom line is this is too much screen time and it just plain isn’t working.
I wanted to share a neat thing I found that really helps us stay organized for virtual learning. With five children all home, space is at a premium. And with each kid needing a pile of stuff including workbooks, journals, pencils, dry erase materials, etc. there’s a lot of STUFF. So I went on Amazon and searched up “homework caddy” but really wasn’t finding anything that would hold the workbooks well. On the internet, I zeroed in on a picture of a caddy that seemed perfect, and it turned out it was! I ordered these caddies from http://www.discountschoolsupply.com and I was so excited when I opened the boxes. They are made of heavy duty plastic that even withstood being knocked off the table.
Each kid has their own, and it has a handle so they can move it to whichever work table they were going to be at that day. The taller compartment holds their workbooks, journals, papers and their white boards. They can also hang their headphones over the side. On the other side are 3 smaller compartments that hold their dry erasers and markers, pencils and erasers, file cards and blue light glasses. I just taped the notecard with their name on it and it’s perfect!! The only complaint is that it’s heavy for them, but really it just moves to a table and stays there for the duration of the school day, so that’s not a big deal. Now, their stuff stays in one spot, and is not getting all mixed up together all over the table.
My nerdy self really goes crazy over sweet organization, and I was over the moon happy after I had set these up. Made my day!
Side tip: I bought each kid their own color pencils, and they use them for school only. You have no idea how fast they lose pencils around here, and this way, there is no fighting over pencils!!
I also shut the door to the school room after the school day and they are not allowed back in. It’s amazing how fast they can trash a place! This way the room is all set for the next morning. We’re lucky to have this space!
Feel free to comment and share anything that’s made your life easier during virtual learning!
Yesterday, I was quoted as saying, “I’m killin it!!” I felt on top of the world, homeschooling 5 kids, getting dinner in the crock pot, making stock for tomorrow’s dinner, making cookies with the kids, spending quality time outside.
Today’s quote, at 10:17am, was, “Ok I may need to pour a mimosa.” I didn’t right then, but I definitely did around 12:30pm when I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I have a few small victories like the soup going for tonight, most of the schoolwork completed, kids fed. But I really haven’t done anything with grace or composure today. And I definitely haven’t accomplished the day’s whole to do list.
And I guess that’s probably how this quarantine is going to go. I’m assuming this whole thing is gonna last longer than 2 weeks. I’m assuming the kids will be out of school at least until after Easter. And even with that, I’m not really holding my breath.
If I can string together more yesterdays together, I’ll be happy. Hopefully getting into a routine day after day will help. I think the biggest problem is that I’m MOM trying to be their teacher. I have to teach (which I’m cool with; I’m a certified teacher) but I also am MOM. There’s complaints. There’s whining. There’s flat out refusals to work. There were even tears (only when he couldn’t draw like Mo Willems though). I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “Do you treat your teachers like this?” or “Do you act like this in school?” I know teachers have it hard. But Mom/Teacher is the freaking worst.
But as I told the kids, no one is happy about this situation. We still have to make the best of it. We have to suck it up and deal with what we’re given because we have no choice!!!
So we’ll plug on. I’ll plan for a better tomorrow. And always rememeber there’s a case of Prosecco and a case of orange juice in my garage.
Ugh, could you die??? This kid just knows exactly how to refill my cup. He’s also super skilled at emptying it, too, but we won’t go there right now. That’s us playing soccer together. 🥰
I love love love artwork like this. I’m going to frame this one for sure. It makes me smile every time I see it! Kid totally melted my heart.
Spring School Sibling Picture
Here’s another one! This def reminds me how lucky I am, and how much I’m loved and needed. My ❤s.
I hang these things up because in certain moments, I NEED a reminder of why I’m on this planet, of why I need to put on my big girl panties and keep truckin’.
Because I’m Mom. Mommy. Mama. MOMMAY! And don’t forget Mommymommymommymommymommy.
After a busy, tiring weekend, Mondays really suck. Brian had to get up early and go to work. I don’t bother setting alarms because with 5 young children; why would I need to?
My daughter woke me up at 8:30am. When do I ever sleep that late? When do we ALL ever sleep that late? Usually I wake Easton up at 730 to go out for the bus at 805. Oops.
So I quick threw in clothes and woke Easton up. While he got dressed and brushed his teeth, I toasted him up a waffle and packed his lunch and snack.
Luckily Pappy was home so I could walk Easton up to the school while the other 3 kids slept on!
I must have looked awesome dropping him off with my messy hair and puffy eyes. The other kids finally woke up at 915am! We had a nice lazy morning until I could drop them off away school at noon.
Then thank goodness, I got in a bit of yoga and a nice, hot shower before I had to pick them back up again.
Now everyone is back home. I’m ready for a nap since being awakened from a dream sleep. I’m wondering what we’re going to have for dinner. I’m hoping I can get my act together for tomorrow! But I’m also looking ahead to the chaos that comes with Halloween Wednesday, and the candy hangovers the next day.
Put this week down as a wash, I suppose. I can manage doing some wash and the minimum of cleaning to get through, along with some family Halloween movie times!
What do you do when you have a 6:30pm soccer game (an hour away at rush hour!), and your husband is working late? Â Why, you take the kids of course!! Â And half the toys in your house, a bag full of snacks and iPads. Â And you stop at McDonald’s on the way for Happy Meals. Â And you promise them that if they are good while Mommy was on the field, you’d buy them an ice cream treat on the way home. Â You do what you gotta do!
You make them run around before and after the game, as well as at halftime to ensure tiredness. Â It also helps if your friends bring their kids too!! Â Especially when you are on a nice turf field with no goals, and a half an hour after game time you have to pack up your camp and drive to an unlined field in town that has goals and set back up again.
You get to play your game, get a win, and you have well-behaved children while you are doing so. Â So at 9pm, you drive back to the same McDonald’s and order milkshakes and flurry blends. Â You don’t care that some ice cream and M&Ms got spilled and dried into your van seat. Â You don’t care that there’s Happy Meal garbage everywhere. Â You don’t care that the kids stay awake all the way home because they are just being so dang good in the car! Â You even say yes when they ask you if they can take their iPads to bed at 10pm because you are just thrilled (and surprised!) that they were so well-behaved for you the entire long evening. Â Because you got to play soccer. Â Because you didn’t have to worry about them.
Because life has gotten a lot easier in the last couple of years. Â Because it’s never going to be easy, but it certainly gets more enjoyable.
If you clean up spilled milk with towels, put them immediately in the washer, unless you like playing “Guess What That Horrendous Smell Is” the next day.
Sometimes I just need to have no one touching me or talking to me. Sometimes all the attention just wears me down until I want to run away screaming.
When the kids have ipad time especially, they gravitate to me and insist on showing you all the funny or cool parts. Even just listening to some of these awful YouTube videos is enough to drive you nuts.
So, inevitably, it starts feeling overcrowded on the couch, so I move to the floor and lay down with a pillow. The “aloneness” is heavenly but fleeting. One by one, I become surrounded by animals and kids.
The other day, this happened, and instead of getting annoyed, I smiled. I remembered when our cleaning service was here, a sweet Russian woman with her mom. As they were leaving, her mom spoke to me in Russian. Her daughter translated for me, “you are the richest woman in the world.” She said it isn’t about the material things I may have, but the five beautiful, healthy kids and a husband and all the love in the house.
That was such a moment for me. I wanted to commit to remembering that at my rough times. It really touched my heart.
So while I’m laying on the floor, slowly being surrounded, I thought of what she had said. And I thought, “they just want to be near me. They love me that much, that they just want to be close to me.”
And I smiled, feeling like the richest woman in the world.
I gave in to the reality that I can’t keep up with a house full of people and animals (sometimes they are one and the same!) I am now having a cleaning service monthly. I feel guilty, but it’s either spend time with the kids or clean the house all day. Brian’s been working so much more lately, and I worry for my sanity!!!
I hate the feeling of inadequacy that comes with hiring help, but I think I’ll get over it! I have a clean house to feel good in, no guilt over staring at dirty floors while I have a cup of coffee, and I have more time to do fun things with the kids.
There’s still PLENTY to do to maintain it, so maybe down the road we do every 2 weeks, but this is a huge weight off my shoulders right now!
Quads Make Seven 