Haven't felt like blogging much lately. Busy, busy, busy!
I have revamped our school schedule...
Ideally this is how it should go...
Breakfast, clean up dishes and floor under dining room table.
Get dressed, make beds.
Have group devotional (mom and kids), calendar time, Review 21 rules of this home, and memory verse.
Then Reading time...about 45 minutes with Layton while Elijah and Cheney play upstairs with Nathaniel playing in the crib. Then about 25 minutes with Elijah while Layton and Cheney play on the front porch and Nathaniel falls asleep for his morning nap. Then about 15 minutes with Cheney while the E and L play. For me, It is really hard teaching both Elijah and Layton to read with distractions. They need this one on one undisturbed time.
Then snack time while they listen to books online. Old classics. They love it.
Math time with each...alternating each of them again while Nathaniel naps. Trying to alternate the activities with the others with things like playdough, water colors...not sure what else yet. Hopefully some kind of on-going craft they can do. Can't wait until they get a little older and can do the lapbook stuff!!!
Then Lunch.
Playtime outside. about 45 minutes.
Naptime for Nathaniel and Cheney. At least 30 minutes quiet rest time for EVERYONE... especially MOMMA! Then have Layton read aloud and finish up any Vocab and spelling work.
Then we are supposed to do some kind of Unit study where we do our Konos unit. We will be starting our Animal and Plant classification stuff soon. They are excited. I purchased kits for growing butterflies and a frog. I guess I will wait to start those until after our trip in the middle of February. I have to order the tadpole and crysalises (sp? LOL) We are going on two weekend ski retreats with John in N.C. and will visit John's family up there the week between.
Snack...
Kids either get to watch TV or free play inside or outside.
Then I cook dinner.
Then we clean up.
To be perfectly honest by this time of day, I am pretty much tired of spending time with my kids. I feel like I need space. We haven't exactly figure out how to handle this. John has been out every night except Thursday this week with events getting back after the kids are in bed. So the kids and I have spent a couple nights watching movies together. We watched the Sword and the Stone one night. I am glad we watched it On-Demand before I bought it. I didn't remember the whole story line when from when I was a kid and had been thinking I probably needed to buy it because it was a classic and all. Well, I changed my mind. Tooo much sorcery and stuff. All in good fun but still. I mean I suppose that sounds dumb to say when MERLIN the WIZARD is a main character. I should have thought that before. But I thought more of the story was about the boy and not how the wizard turned the boy into a fish, squirrel, and bird to learn lessons.

So...trying to figure out how to keep the house clean, feed the kids, about 6 times a day. SEROUSLY they eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. And I am supposed to lose weight in all that eating. I am going to have to get better about getting out my celery sticks and fat-free dressing.
Tonight we finished up the chapter book...The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (he also wrote Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little). It was lots of fun piled on the couch together with our popcorn and drinks under a blanket with the kids in their pajamas. They really loved the book and even asked when we could read it again. We had to finish going online to look up the meaning of the word "crepuscular" because the boy in the book was trying to figure out what it meant while reading about rabbits. It means...of or having to do with twilight...then we looked up twilight...the time as the sun is just going down or coming up. Don't you just love reading? It was soooo much fun. Reminded me I need to keep up with the chapter books. Our next unit of study with plants and animals uses the chapter book, The Secret Garden. I read it a few months ago to get familar with it again. It think the kids will be sooo inspired to grow things and learn about plants and animals.
Oh, well, better get some laundry done. Football season is over so I am not sure if my dear sweet hubbie will be keeping up with all the folding like he did when he was watching the games. Oh...Yea!!! Timmy Tebow!!!! He is such a God's guy!!! I pray God uses him greatly and that God protects him from temptation and attacks while he is in all this limelight.