It’s December. And for us that means no school. (No, we don’t go longer in the summer. No, we don’t do tons of Christmas related educational activities instead.)
I could justify it by saying we’ve already mastered a lot this year or something. But honestly I think I’m just the token slacker homeschool Mom.
The silly thing is, I already pretty much unschool. Artist loves to learn, and at this age I feel like that’s really the most important thing. She’ll hunker down on her bed and devour an entire American Girl or Magic Tree House book.
She’ll watch Wild Kratts episodes over and over memorizing every fact about the animals. (For those paying attention, yes I just admitted to letting my kids watch TV and then spouted it as an example of loving to learn.) 😉
Pretty much the only thing that REALLY changes in December is that I stop making her do math every day. So, whatever.
Anyway…I was nominated as a “Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog.” Part of the category description is, “the moms that make you feel better and let you know that it is OK that we aren’t perfect.”
In the spirit of that description, I’ve decided to offer you a little encouragement today! I think the best way to do that right now is to give you a brief-ish synopsis of a typical day around here.
So…without further ado…here’s what life looks like around here! (Changes to our day because of the whole December, no school, thing are in red.)
7ish AM – Artist and Boo get up, grab themselves some poptarts and watch cartoons.
At some point later – Smiles and I get up, I get the kids more food, drink coffee, clean stuff, blah blah blah.
On a super productive day, at this point I read the girls some of our geography book, or Little House on the Prairie, or something along those lines. Maybe we even do a couple science experiments. I mean we haven’t done experiments since like October, but whatever.
9:30 on the dot – Artist pouts because Boo looked at her the wrong way. Also, Boo has a full fledged meltdown because Artist has an imaginary friend and she doesn’t. True story.
10ish AM or something – I sit down at my computer and do stuff. The girls play on their computers. When it’s not December, Artist first does her math at Adapted Mind and Boo does stuff at ABC Mouse.
(I just checked Artist’s computer, she currently has open KB Konnected Kids, Toy Theater, and ZooBorns. So, there’s that.)
THEN – Smiles naps in my lap, cause she still won’t nap anywhere else. A & B wait till the second she’s asleep and then ask me what they can eat. I tell them “Whatever you can find! Just be quiet.” Yep…Mom of the year right here!
Whenever Smiles Wakes – I make an awesome lunch like this Xmas Tree shaped smorgasbord.
Ha! Kidding!!! I did that ONCE, when we had friends over! It’s pretty much stuff like P.B. sandwiches, maybe with a side of cuties or baby carrots.
But here’s my Awesome Mom moment of the day lately….we play Mad Libs while we eat. BAM! We just did Language Arts! Oh yeah!
After lunch – It’s whatever. Maybe some arts and crafts, or a game, or a sewing project, or a nature walk. Sometimes the girls just play in the backyard. I might print some fun worksheets. On super awesome days we bake cookies together or something. On super non-awesome days we don’t do any of that stuff. On Mondays we go to Piano lessons.
At some point in here there’s usually anywhere from a bit to a bunch of TV watching. I try to limit this to educational shows. Right now it’s Harry Potter.
Maybe I do some photo editing or novel writing. Occasionally I blog. Probably Smiles gets into mischief. Ideally Smiles gets an afternoon nap.
3:30 or 4 or 5ish – I scramble to get the house clean and dinner made. Smiles often clings to my legs and screams. Or pulls everything out of the cabinets, puts random stuff in the trash, or somehow finds a roll of toilet paper to unroll, because that’s the best. Ideally A & B entertain her some. Often A & B play with some neighborhood friends. Some weeks we have Taco Bell for dinner more than once. I am the best wife/mother ever. 😉
ALWAYS – Before bed, (which we try to make happen around 7:30 because the kids are tired I’m SO done), I cuddle with the girls and read them each a devotional.
Then I tell Boo a “princess story” which is the story of Princess Boo and recaps her day. She chimes in with things that were especially awesome, or made her sad, or whatever. I try to be patient when she goes on and on and realize that this is super important time together, no matter how much I just want to finish up the bedtime routine.
Artist and I share with each other our “Bad, Good, Hope.” Something bad about our day, something good, and something we hope for tomorrow. We started doing it this summer and I love our little ritual. 
Ideally at this point I rock Smiles to sleep and can set her down and finish up whatever I need to do, spend time with Misteris, and veg. Sometimes she’s super fussy and I end up having to rock her till go I to bed (where I continue to snuggle her if need be, because we co-sleep…I don’t think I would ever sleep otherwise).
So there you have it. My day-to-day life. It’s not perfect. Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all. Oh and did you notice all the stuff in red? Yep…we change SOOO much when we officially don’t do school.
But my kids are happy and healthy and learning and growing and while some days I make an effort to DO more, and some days I PLAN to make more of an effort to do more, right now there’s very little I really have any desire to really change.
This post was super long, sorry. But I hope I succeeded in making you feel better and letting you know it’s OK that we aren’t perfect. 😀