Little by Little

WHY DOES SCHOOL TAKE SO LONG?
My 13 year old is using the same curriculum as my boys and it is discouraging her.
Today she fixed breakfast, which delayed school by a good 30 minutes. Then my sons fixed lunch - I guess not to be outdone by big sis. Add one hour for that. I guess that is what homeschooling is all about - taking hold of the opportunities and encouraging the excitement when the kids feel it. But school past 3:30 and I start to climb the walls. Especially since I still have work for the business to do. I scrambled and typed as fast as I could to edit three letters to staff and one article. I finished in time to take the kids to church. We made it and we were only 15 minutes late - would have only been 5 if I could have found my purse and baseball cap. Baseball cap was manditory since I hadn't had a shower!

PRAYER LIKE BREATHING
So what am I going to do about school taking so long? I stopped to pray. Living in this juggling act makes prayer like breathing. Lately I've been holding my breath, though. And scared that the balls would come crashing down around me. It's hard to live in fear, and doesn't make life very fun or joyful. So I'm trying to start breathing again. Here is what I will do to try to make tomorrow go better. School will start on time and I will write down for the kids how long each activity will take. If one child goes over the alloted time, he will work on it later, but all of us will move on. Now, doesn't that sound simple? The curriculum, however, because of it's nature,doesn't fit neatly into a schedule. Let's see if I can make it!

May I breathe tomorrow! And let me say in closing (hymn music, please) I enjoyed today. It is fun having all of us do the same curriculum, and I got to cook in the kitchen with three of my kids!