Routines in the Chaos

Pour cereal, grab a few spoons, herd my little ladies to the table with groggy eyes and hair everywhere...

This is the beginning of a day at Little Angels Academy.

Open a Bible and read a Bible lesson, wipe up the milk that spilt, continue with the Memory Verse, snap in front of my daughter's eyes to make sure she is awake, ask a few review questions, pick up the spoon that falls on the floor and get a new one, ask for prayer requests, take turns praying, keep my three year old from interrupting someone else, everyone say Amen! Teeth brushed, hair combed, bodies dressed...

My day continues.

All books stacked neatly in front of each child, my three year old crying to use sharpies which I refuse, hunt down a crayon and princess pencils to replace the sharpies and bring peace, divide fractions, talk about weight measurement, find another coloring page for my three year old, trouble shoot a computer program, teach a new program, continue dealing with dividing fractions as that is never easy, assign handwriting work and writing assignments.

Let's take a break for lunch. Prepare hotdogs or grilled cheese, and popcorn for a treat.

Continue school by working on linking verbs and graphing sentences. Assign independent work so that I can begin my preschooler's lessons for the day. Sing our ABC's, sequence cards by size, count to five, read a few books and develop reasoning. Back to the whole group. Learn about the ocean, create mini books, and complete puzzles. Begin working on an ocean project.

Sound chaotic? As I type this my husband reads it over my shoulder and mentions that it sounds as if I had nothing pulled together. Maybe it does! But believe it or not, I had carefully written lesson plans on the table right in the middle of the chaos.

You see, homeschooling is more about living while learning. We don't cease to be together while we learn about the continental shelf. We might have questions about the animals or maybe even talk about the little creature on Finding Nemo that used his little light in the darkness to attract food. We have emotions to work on, activities to cooperate through, and disciplines to reinforce like hard work patience, and taking turns.

We learn together and we live together. In all of the chaos, there is routine...in all of the living, there is learning... and in all of the learning, there is love.

Just another reason why I love homeschooling.