Is It October 12th Yet?

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.

It’s a Good Thing

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!

Nuggets of Wisdom #324

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.

You’re welcome.

Personal Space

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.

Salvaging a Bit of Sanity

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!

Low Carb Menu Plan for the week

If I don’t plan on the weekend, I’m scrambling all week to feed my family dinner.  And it’s especially difficult when you are keto.  I talk to more and more people who are starting down the low carb path, so I figured I’d share what works for us.  Recipes we are trying, how kid-friendly recipes are and what changes we made.

Usually my plans change during the week, depending on our activities and things that pop up, but I try to adhere as closely as possible to the menu.

So for this upcoming week, here’s my menu:

Monday – leftover burgers from our picnic yesterday (using lettuce as a wrap for the low-carbers) and low carb cole slaw

Tuesday – quesadillas made with taco seasoned ground beef and cheese on a tortilla, and I’m going to make cheddar taco shells for us adults like these …ooohh or maybe NACHOS

Wednesday – a favorite of ours, Big Mac Pie

Thursday – I have leftover spaghetti squash made and frozen, so I’m going to make cheesy spaghetti squash and maybe use broccoli instead of the spinach

Friday – Pizza Day! I’m going to make Zesty Chicken Pizza from The Ketogenic Cookbook  …the kids will get regular pizza from the dough in a can but I’m hoping they’ll try it!

Ok that’s the plan…here’s hoping

My (Belated) Mother’s Day Post

I had a wonderful day with my family and I hope all of you did too.

Of course, the days after Mother’s Day are then extra busy, aren’t they?

So what does a mom with 5 kids, 8 pets, 2 in-laws and 1 husband get for Mother’s Day????

Why, a brand new wine fridge in her bedroom, of course! #besthusbandever

Currently…

So we had a busy weekend…

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! We had a busy day at Easton’s school, then back and forth to preschool. Then we had to wake up 2 sleepy kids to go trick- or-treating!

Mommy was prepared though…

(My special hot chocolate in my mug!)

The kids had a blast and got way too much candy! (I love you, house that leaves out a basket of toothbrushes! )

They did have to be reigned in and reminded of rules and politeness about halfway, but they were just so excited. More excited to ring doorbells than get candy because that’s what they cried over!

Overall they had an awesome Halloween and we hope you did too!

Finally!

The quads FINALLY had their first day of school yesterday! It’s only an hour and a half, but it’s something! They go in the afternoon and since Easton goes to school in the morning, I have Easton time while the little ones go to school.

And it seemed to tire them out too because everyone went to sleep with no trouble last night. Yay!

Of course we did our photo shoot 🙂