Today we’ve got Carla sharing about her busy day as a work at home homeschooling Mom! If you’ve missed any of our ongoing series “A Day in the Life of Another Mom” take a peak and read back. Isn’t it great to be a fly on the wall of someone else’s kitchen wall and see that we ALL have days like that!
6:10 Wake up--gasp at the clock...the kids slept in! I wonder when that happened last? I rouse my husband and we quickly get ready for the day. By 6:30 everyone is up and we head out the door. Three years ago my husband went back to school and we thought we'd save money by selling our truck. It's normally not an issue, but we needed the car today for swim. So, we drop him off at the bus stop.
I laugh when my 2-year old asks what day today is...a question he loves because his 6-year old sister asked the same thing for ages!
6:50 Arrive home, feed 3-month old, lay her down, quick clean, peak at Facebook, and retrieve older children from Diego!
7:25 Friends begin arriving! The 4-year old wonders if today is a trash day--I chuckle as I think about how much they love that dump truck! The 2-year old girl immediately heads to the child-sized table with simple craft supplies, and the 2-year old boy runs to join my 2-year old at the trucks.
8:00 Breakfast: whole grain bagels, bananas, milk
8:30 Kids play. My oldest makes a poster about whale sharks. The boys dump out three toy bins looking for the perfect "tool," (lol)! Suddenly, I hear a scream. "Mommy! There is a HUGE mess here, and I know who did it!" I make sure I am not laughing when I meet my daughter by the craft table. "I know who did it too...we'll get it all when we clean up." The 2-year old girl had cut about a million pieces of yarn into ten million tiny pieces, and dropped them all over the carpet by the craft table.
9:30 Clean up. I have a fabulous cleaning playlist on YouTube. Even the 2-year olds help.
10:00 Baby wakes up. Oops...snacks were about to start. Everyone waits very nicely while I bring the baby to join us.
10:05 Snacks and Phonics. Apples, fish crackers, and water. And phonics on a whiteboard. The kids really enjoy their little daily dose of phonics, even though it's targeted at my daughter. They all want a turn to write on the whiteboard, but they will have to wait until after snacks. My daughter tells us that whale sharks have 3,000 teeth but don't use any of them. The kids finish snack talking about sharks and fish.
10:20 We go outside! The kids find a hister beetle, a ladybug, two spider webs, one new fire ant nest, and two slugs. I only cringe a little bit at the slugs, and mark the ant nest to kill later. We water our garden. The two-year old girl informs me there is poop in her panties. What! In we go. After a very careful peeling of each layer of clothes we discover the good news: It was a false alarm! I actually laugh out loud. She uses the bathroom and we return outside. I grab a small handful M&M's for the stress. ;)
11:00 I debate going inside for school time and centers or staying outside. The weather is too perfect. We stay outside.
11:50 We head inside, clean up, and fix lunch.
12:00 Lunch: egg sandwiches, tomatoes, oranges, milk. Two of my kids pull the eggs off their sandwich. Silly kids.
12:45 Clean up, make beds, use the toilet, discover and clean real poop in 2-year old girl's panties, read stories.
1:15 Nap time. I get on the computer.
1:30 Baby wakes up. Sigh. She *will* learn about nap time, but not yet. She eats and goes back to sleep. I work on my next unit and a new printable. My oldest writes in her journal, ties yarn balls, and plays on the computer too.
3:30 Nap time is over. Everyone slowly wakes up, we clean up the beds, grab some crackers, and head outside again. There's only so many of these gorgeous spring days before it is way too hot to go outside at 3:30 in the Houston afternoon! 4:30 Parents start arriving, my oldest changes clothes, and I grab a few snacks.
5:10 Last friend goes home and we head to the pool. My oldest is on our neighborhood swim team (which is a lot like swim lessons), and they will meet every day in May and June. I laugh when one of the other moms tells me her daughter said my daughter had "the cool swim cap."
5:50 Return home, feed baby, quick run on the treadmill, peek at email and Facebook. Cook pasta for dinner.
6:50 Pick up Husband, eat dinner, get kids ready for bed (teeth, scriptures, jammies, etc). Laugh when 2-year old has to use the bathroom four times between getting tucked in and falling asleep.
8:30 Do dishes, tidy up, and rotate the laundry. Wonder if I'll have time to fold it before my MIL visits this weekend. Well, some things are more important than others.
9:30 Watch a show with Hubby and eat ice-cream. I hope it doesn't counteract my attempts to lose weight too much.
10:30 Go to bed. I'm exhausted and it's unlikely the kids will sleep in two days in a row!
Carla homeschools her young children and keeps a small in-home daycare. In her last life she taught high school and junior high school science. She blogs about preschool and shares printables, lessons, science experiments, and more at Preschool Powol Packets. You can also visit PreschoolPowolPackets on Facebook.
What is your day like?
Would you like to contribute to A Day in the Life of Another Mom? We’d love to read about your day! This series will be ongoing as long as there are people willing to give us all a glimpse into their lives. If you would like to share A Day in Your Life please email me your day to l123homeschool4me (at) gmail.com. Feel free to include picture (s). I will let you know promptly when it will be posted. (If you have a blog please let me know as I will include a link to your blog in the post.)
