heartofdakota.com

So many times we read how wonderful everyone's day goes and many times that also happens at my house. But that was not the case. So for all you who are having a rough day, hopefully this encourages you and you don't feel like you are the only one.

Today is Thursday and on Thursdays, my kids are responsible to make their own breakfast. My husband has Bible study and can't help them. I work from home and I can't help them. They are more than capable. I told them time and time again this morning to go make breakfast. My kind reminder occurred about every 3-5 minutes for about 15 minutes straight until finally I got irritated because I had to stop working and literally go get them into the kitchen. They are finally in the kitchen getting breakfast and all disburse to the playroom where they proceed to fight over the fort they just built (you know, the one they built instead of getting breakfast....). Then I promptly jumped up to break up the fight (even more agitated than before) now discovering that they built a massive fort that would take quite a bit of time to clean up before school could even start. Yeah - I lost it right at that moment! I tore down their fort with determination and lots of loud words. By now, I am fuming and everyone else is crying. Okay, okay. Time for apologizes in hopes that I can still salvage the day - mind you it is only 8:10 AM.

Everyone finishes breakfast and we meet at the table for DITHOR at 8:30. Things look like they are on the up and up. I got this!!! Well......no . We do our discussion time and everyone disburses to do their reading mostly independently - I make all of them read 2 pages to me and they rotate through. I have my youngest start by reading her 2 pages to me first. Then my oldest. And finish with my middle child. Today my two youngest have a vocabulary activity page. I help them with this while my oldest is working on a prediction assignment - she must read 1/3, write something, read 1/3, write something and then read 1/3 and write something. Well, halfway through helping my two youngers with their vocab activity I smell nail polish. Yes, nail polish! I jump up and my oldest is in the other room just happy as clam painting her nails. Painting her nails! Seriously?!?!?! So, I took it from her and threw that nail polish bottle in the trash. Okay, she is back to crying. I am back with the other kids. She eventually finishes her DITHOR in record slow time and emerges from her room with a scowl. I am not gonna duck and cover but I also don't know that I care to linger in the room with her either. However, it is her time to spend with me one on one. I embrace the challenge like a kid gulping bad medicine! We manage through her Genesis study and math lesson. By the end, I no longer feel like she thinks I am her mortal enemy but also know that we are far from being BFFs. She moves on with herself to independent items.

My turn comes with the youngest child. I just love her today! She did everything asked and with a good attitude!

Next - Sam (DS). Oh my goodness. I think WWIII just happened in this house! Sam had to read a book today and the there were quite a bit of words but all of them easy. He throws himself on the ground and says, "I can't read that. There are too many words. The words are all too small." all while crying and flailing/thrashing on the floor like a fish out of water. I told him to go sit in time out until he calms down. He goes over there and starts to gather himself (time out works great for him when he truly just needs a bit of time.) Then he emerges better grouped but with significant vocal reservations about the task I have laid before him. So I told him, "If you can't read the words, get a magnifying glass then." He does LOL. He goes and sits on the ground looking like a detective studying evidence for the most minute detail. About 30 seconds later I hear, "Hey mom, these words are so easy. And don't even need the magnifying glass." Then he looks and sees that he has to copy a paragraph for the Draw and Write through History book in cursive. Again, he is back down to the floor carrying on. I tell him to go to his room or the time out chair till he calms down. He does. He comes back to me once he has stopped crying with his lined paper and book in hand. He sits down at the table, opens the book and notices that there is capital cursive O on the page. Again, the tears flood his face with a loud screech following, "...but I don't know how to make a cursive O." Uhm...seriously! The writing is already in cursive people!!!!! LOL. My goodness! I am struggling at this point to not laugh in his face because it is just so ridiculous. I need to gather myself! I told him that if he can't remember, just print a capital O in regular writing. He ends up looking at me like I am the crazy person and ends up writing it in cursive anyway. Okay..... WHATEVER!!! Then I read to him for our together stuff and it is now time for him to complete vocabulary. The look he gave me was like I told him that the dog died or something. Uhm....time for lunch! I can't take it anymore.

We have now had lunch and he just did vocab on his own. My day is finally turning around. But who knows - give it 5 minutes and I am sure we be passing around the tissues for when the floods open on my kids faces.

I am not asking for prayer or anything. Honestly, today was such a rare day but I knew this day was coming. No one really wants to be in school by now and the newness and excitement has worn off. I guess we are back to the grind. I only shared this because I want others to know that you are not alone if you are having a bad day. For me....when this day is over....we are all going for ice cream. And no school tomorrow either. I am taking it slow. But today, I am just going to have to wear my hat of self-control and seek the Lord to make me shut up when I am ready to scream.

You have a way with words! I think moms, homeschool moms, must have the hardest job on the planet! What mental training we go through. Having a newborn is rough too. How about a moment of appreciation for the hs moms WITH newborns. Amazing. I hope some day your kids (and mine!) will look back and realize how much you love them...even when they were flopping on the floor over cursive "O" or painting nails when they knew they should be reading. LOL.

(((hugs))) may you have sweet dreams tonight and be well rested.

*sigh* Thanks for sharing about your not-so-good day, and here's a (hug). I have had a couple of rough ones this week already and we just started our new schedule (though no new guides or anything fun like that, and I am making them get up earlier). I know how you feel, and have often reacted as you reacted. God is teaching us just as much through this time as He is our kids, or maybe more. May He give you grace and peace and may tomorrow be a better day!

Blessings

Hugs from here are on their way as well.

Oh, those days are trying.

I started doing one thing differently after reading a little story my aunt shared with me about making your bed first thing in the morning. You can read it here, http://lifehacker.com/why-making-your-b ... 1583954961. It is amazing how much doing that in the morning helped me throughout the day whenever anything started going downhill. That, in addition to always reciting Phil. 4:13 to myself with any needed deep, relaxing breaths!

Thanks ladies. The rest of my day ended smoothly and without complaint. Everyone seemed to have transformed after lunch and each finished their day with zeal. And yes, we ended it with ice cream! Ice cream solves everything LOL.

This year for our school scheduled I have decided that we won't do school on Fridays. We will see how this goes but one thing I did this year was to drop co-op down to only 2 periods. My oldest dd is in a play there and she loves to act. The price is very nice (as I am the treasurer so my kids don't pay tuition, only student fees when there are any) and that makes it so that I can still get a full day of school in on that co-op day. So that means that if we follow the guides every day except we do DITHOR and dictation on Tuesday-Thursday. If I don't have to do that, on Mondays we can rock the day in 3 hours. That leaves Friday as a fun day. One other thing my kids asked for was they wanted to do a nature study again. We had done this prior to finding HOD a couple of years ago. Now, we have Fridays I also asked the kids if there was anything else they wanted to learn about. My son had learned Chess last summer and loved it. My oldest wants to learn to sew. And my youngest wants to learn Crocheting. We will now do these things on Fridays Since these things aren't scheduled and are driven by my kids, it will be nice to just relax on Fridays and go with the flow. We have never had this kind of R&R built into our school day. I am excited to add it in for this year. I think it will also help significantly with our mental health.

Tabitha - thanks for the video. I read the article but am going to watch the video in a bit. We do actually make our bed every day. My house is a mess....but I love having a made bed to get into every night. And it definitely does give me that sense of accomplishment to start my day off right

That was a bad day? That sounds completely normal here

Maybe that's why I don't post about good days that much

Nealewill, what a day! Those are days that I don't necessarily finish--I want to just send them to their room and be done! Good for you for sticking it out and keeping control. You are right, people need to hear about those days also so they don't think there is something wrong with them!

MomtoJGJE, you are so funny!! You have things so smooth and streamlined--no way are your days always like that!!

I love your honesty and I appreciate you sharing!!! I chuckled when I read your post, as I think we can all relate to those "not so wonderful" days. For us, I find there's always a learning curve to getting back to our routine. Once we're on it, things run much more smoothly, but there's definitely a transition. I especially enjoyed your fort story. Oh, my, yes, I've had days like that, with my children setting up the entire living room in play, early in the morning. We have a very small house, so you can imagine how that works with homeschooling!!

Thank you for this post! Without having time to go into all the details, (or our lunch will burn while I type ) our day has started out rough too. Bad attitudes and selfishness. My baby is due in 1 week, so I am trying to be diligent to get our school work done before the upcoming break. Sometimes (on days like this in particular) I wonder how in the world I can continue to be a good homeschooling mommy with another sweet baby to care for? I am amazed at how quickly kids can forgive and move on (compared to adults!), and so I thank God that when the days are rough, we can address all our bad attitudes, take breaks if needed, apply consequences if needed, and move on. It is not fun or easy. I prefer the easy days.

Oh dear! I'm so sorry to hear about your rough day! There are going to be days like that, but you're right, usually ice cream fixes it! I am glad it ended better, and you know you are not alone. I remember my mom often saying about mothering, "The days are long, but the years fly by." I must be getting older, because I do find that to be oh so true! May the Lord lift you up and give you happier days ahead! I'm not worried. You are a positive person by nature. A pick yourself up kind of gal that gets it done. One rough day does not make a rough school year. If it did, not a one of us would survive to homeschool another day or year! I see your kiddos' smiling faces and their good schoolwork - you are doing a LOT right, and so are they! Remember that, in the midst of the one off. I'm glad you are taking off Fridays and scaling back a bit on the classes. Mothers need time just to eat ice cream now and then too! Even if it is just the leftover ice cream in the very bottom of the carton with no oreos in it because all of them were eaten by the children, and even if it is late at night when everyone else is already fast asleep. Yes, this is often the life of a homeschool mom. But, most days, I still would say it is worth it.

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:Even if it is just the leftover ice cream in the very bottom of the carton with no oreos in it because all of them were eaten by the children, and even if it is late at night when everyone else is already fast asleep.

This is totally my life LOL. How did you know???? Every....single....night! That way...I don't have to share LOL.

And on a positive spin, we haven't had nearly this much of a doozy since! Very excited because everyone seems to have brought their positive attitudes and "A" game most days since