A Day in the Life of the Christy's Part 1

I get asked often about homeschooling. People want to know how I can teach High School and how I include the toddlers and baby. These are very good questions. I usually shrug with some dumbfounded look on my face when I'm asked. Thank God for blogs! I can sit quietly and think about it. What exactly do I do?

Let me start with the first day of the week, Sunday. After Mass, 1/2 my kids are hauled off to Taco Bell by Mary Kate's idol and Josie's Godmother, Mary Seura. My parents come over to play games after their Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel. They take Mary Kate home with them to spend the next day at the Fransiscan Center volunteering with the Sisters. Later in the day  I try to find about 2 hours to sit down with the cutest and tiniest laptop ever (thanks Nana) and work on putting the kids homework in my Homeschool Tracker. It is a software program for homeschoolers to keep track of homework, grades, hours, test scores, transcripts, etc. I can't think of anything this program can not do.  I copy all of their assignments and put them in their personal report cover that carries all the previous assignments for the year. The little kids have one page per week. Nick has 3 pages per week that has detailed explanations about each assignment, which is why it is so long.

Sunday night, after quiet time, prayer time and bedtime, I sit at my computer and study the next 3 lessons of Algebra .  I then prepare a preschool curriculum which usually begins with me slapping myself for not ordering the much needed library books for the little kids. Now I have to come up with something else! Fear not, my house is full of preschool stuff. By about midnight, I'm ready for bed.

Monday morning, we leave the house at 8:30, drop off Theresa at school (she's in 2nd grade at the public school...another blog subject), then we are headed to another homeschool family's home who is next in the rotation of our 4 families. Class #1 Speech for High School, Spotlight on the Saints with the middle children (cute modern day play's based on a Saints virtue), and preschooler's with me and another mom, Carol. Class #2 is Algebra with the High School (ME!), Life Science with the middle ones and Science with the preschoolers. Class #3 is PE for everyone. The host of the home makes lunch for the moms.  Every 4 weeks, we watch the middle kids perform their play after lunch. This co-op is simple, small, cozy and fun. All the kids enjoy it. I feel like I'm with the finest families in the world, each with their own special gifts. The Defeo's have 9 children (8 girls and 1 boy...LOL...I know, right?) The Samsons have 7 children (the 7th due in 2 months). The Hilboldts have 8 children (6 grown. Its important to note that I was 5 years old when they got married. I'm sure Carol wants everyone to know this. LOL). Then there is me that only hits the average in number of children.  We go home and finish the school day with learning about the artist of the week, usually by video while open books of the artists famous paintings lie open on my bed.  Mary Kate has arrived back home by then and Theresa will arriving home by dinner. Yes, dinner! She has tutoring after school twice a week. She is going to be a genius when I start homeschooling her next year.  Currently, I am picking up Theresa from school and taking the 3 kids to their King & I rehearsals at Red Bridge Bible Church. That lasts throughout the evening. School of Religion and Boy Scouts are put on the back burner until this is finished in a couple weeks. They are having SO much fun. Roy and Nick play volleyball at the Shawnee Mission Civic Center and I am listening to small crashes, a few screams and shooing little people off my lap while I type this. 

The preschoolers doing their Nativity play. That 45 seconds said it all.

This is the practical life of our first 2 days. Add in some laughing and smooching and you just lived 2 days of my amazing and blessed life.  Honestly, I don't know why people care. I just know that I'm asked frequently about what I do and how I have time. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to pick up all the important documents the toddlers climbed up the bookshelves to dump on the floor for no reason. Then  I have a load of diapers to wash (useless fact...I can complete this task in 34 seconds; the amount of time it takes me to hold my breath). And maybe, while I clean relentlessly, I might find the phone thats been off the hook for hours. Until Part 2.....