Saturday, November 13, 2010

Trying to "just" Keep up

Some have asked "how I've been"... you sweet friends!... you've noticed I've been a little absent on the blog:)

We've been great..... I just feel like I"m always trying to just Keep UP with everything that needs to be done... around the house, for the kids, with their school work, with our church/community, trying to keep up with Brian (whose pastoring, working 20+ hrs a week at a local community college & teaching 2 online courses!!!), etc! Added to that is lack of sleep and my body's efforts to keep up with Nate's "milk demand"....

and you've got one tired Momma who can't quite get the thoughts into sentences at the end of the day!

This homeschooling year has been soo much busier that I expected!!! Keeping three kids intellectually simulated, at their own levels, for hours each morning has been very challenging!!
(kids painting- learning about monks artwork in caves in India.... no I didn't pull out the plaster of Paris.... maybe next time)
(Lydia working on her "ad" family words!!)
In fact, I share some of the doubts as Erica that I'm "not doing enough".... but I praise God that He made their minds like little sponges at this age and they are soaking in all in, regardless of my teaching and failures!

In the craziness of the day, I am soo thankful for the helpers I have:)

(Anna helping Lydia with reading)
(Lydia putting on Nate's shoe and Chris teaching Nate about sticks...
Nate's really taking it all in)
And I am going through the challenging process of taking out the things of my day and week that "can wait" because....

I sure DON'T want to be too busy or sleepy to miss these moments:






One of my new goals (which I am totally BREAKING to get this post up) is to go to bed earlier!! Getting just an extra half hour or so of sleep at night has done wonders to my attitude and sleepiness during the day. I appreciated this post by Momopoly about her need to sleep to be a better mom!!

So maybe sneaking to bed at 10 might help me not "just" keep up, but join them on the trampoline while dinner is in the crock-pot and couch is free from "needs to be folded" laundry...

but I'm totally willing to leave the laundry and have breakfast for dinner, too!! LOL!!

Minor "house keeping"... someone asked what curriculum I was using this year with the kiddies... I posted about what we use HERE!! The only changes have been that I have found some "writing"prompt books targeted for pre-k and K that I have added to Chris and Lydia's weekly work. And after Christmas I hope to start all of us memorizing number families.... HOPE is the KEY word there!!

7 comments:

Jenny said...

The kids are looking so much older! How does that happen?

I so agree with this:
"I praise God that He made their minds like little sponges at this age and they are soaking in all in, regardless of my teaching and failures"

Almost every day I worry about if I'm doing it all wrong!

Ashley said...

Thank you for sharing. It definitely looks like you have been busy. I am so encouraged to know that I am not alone!!

Drea said...

you are so busy, but u balance things so well I think!
It makes me feel so good to go into your house and it not be 100% - seriously! I think thats a good thing!! The house doesnt have to be perfect. As long as its function-able ;-) that should be on a shirt btw or something.

Lydias hair is so long btw! its like half her body length.

Stacey said...

Other than the homeschooling part, I think I could have written this post! And when I get tired, feel like I'm trying to just keep up, it gets me to the point where I could almost say I'm depressed. I can't imagine adding homeschooling into the mix!

On a positive note, I think you're doing a fantastic job with your kids :) I read a post on Michelle Duggar's blog the other day about homeschooling, and her biggest encouragement was to not get overwhelmed with everything (ie. too much emphasis on curriculum) when your kids are so young. If they can learn to read and do basic math, they are doing well at a preschool/kindergarten level.

Anonymous said...

Aww. Cute pictures. I have made it a goal this week to get in bed by 10 instead of 11 or 12. Good luck!

Bunch of Barrons said...

Great shots...hang in there! Glad you are remembering what's important, and not missing the moments with your kiddos! :)

Anonymous said...

Don't be worry about "just keep up" we all do have such time/feeling sometimes. It does not have to do whether you have a family or not, there is just a time like that and believe me it will pass by sooner as you would think about it now and as Drea said it does not have to be always everything 100%