*head explodes*

Homeschooling Five Students All At Once

Oh my gosh, this is rough. Not throw-in-the-towel rough, but perhaps kiss-my-life-goodbye rough anyway. Because of various impromptu activities last week, today is the first day I'm doing a full school with everyone, all the subjects at the right times. Talk about juggling! I haven't had a moment to breathe since 9:00 a.m., and usually I've had a queue of kids waiting for me behind the one I'm working with. Crazy. Once we get Libby used to her new and more difficult subjects, and once we get Jackson working just a little more independently, I'm hoping it will calm down. Kindergarten years are always the most time-consuming for me, because the kindergartner can't do anything without me. Jackson has always had someone older to work with which was helpful, but LIbby moved up a level this year and so I have intensive work with Ethan on letters and math and with Jackson on history and reading. *faints*

And it was this nutty and busy even though Kyrie and Macklin had miraculously both fallen asleep around 10:30 a.m. and remained asleep 'til lunch. So I didn't even have demanding toddlers to add in to the mix. Anyway, just thought I'd surface for a scream of terror. Ack!

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Now playing: Rob Thomas - Lonely No More
via FoxyTunes

Twelve Big Years Old

Happy birthday to my wonderful Christian! Whatta kid. I wish everyone had a Christian like mine – such a hard worker, so obedient, so willing. He's my hero. :)

On the homeschool schedule for Wednesday: Home Economics

This is one of the great things about homeschooling – when my visiting teacher calls up and says she has rows and rows of beans ready to pick, I have built in slave labor! No! No. I mean, I can lighten up on the history for one day, and teach the kiddles a skill I never learned myself: canning.

We went and picked beans Tuesday afternoon during a light rain. We only got one row picked before it became a heavy thunderstorm, but given that I'd never done beans in my life one row seemed like enough. Wednesday morning we rinsed, rinsed, rinsed, snapped, and packed jars. (I used every quart jar I had and then called two older sisters in our ward who don't can anymore and got jars from them, too.) We ended up with seventeen quarts, after a good two hours' work.



Then I went to my visiting teacher's house and watched the pressure gauges while we processed the beans, and six hours later, voila! Sixteen quarts of beans for the food storage! (One quart broke in the pressure cooker.)



Yes, this is not a complete year supply. But I'm ridiculously proud of it anyway.

Simply Gorgeous

I'm trying to hold on to today, even while it slips minute by minute past me. Today is our last official day of summer vacation: school starts next Tuesday, and I go back to juggling household chores, personal endeavors, running-about errands, and five students' progression. I love summer and am always sorry to see it go. All of my ambitious plans of last May have not been executed like I planned and hoped, and now I'll need to try to fit them in with everything else that crowds our busy school day schedule.

The weather is so beautiful right now, too. It isn't as unbearably hot as the end of July, and yet not so cool that we have to shut the windows at night. Last night Blaine and I were walking home from several blocks away at 10:00 p.m., and the temperature couldn't have been more pleasant. Autumn isn't in the air yet, but it is nice to have those oven-like days behind us.

Tomorrow we'll drain and clean the pool, and leave it to dry in the sunshine. We'll try to paint the front door frame, which really should be done while we can comfortably leave the door open twenty-four hours a day. We'll mow the lawn and organize the bikes in the shed. And while there are still plenty of warm, sunshine-filled days ahead of us before winter sets in, it still feels like the end of something golden and lovely.

Candles on the cake

Happy birthday to my sweetheart. I hope you have a wonderful day, Blaine, and that you know we all love and appreciate you.