Wish all days could be like today

(I wrote this a couple weeks ago and forgot it was waiting to post!)
Wish all days could be like today...The perfect home school day in our household:

-because I was able to get up on time ( I love to BE up early, and get a lot of stuff done before much of the day is gone...but I don't like to GET up early. I'm a night owl, not a morning person. It takes me a while and a cup of coffee to get going in the morning...and usually by the time I've stumbled out of bed and have my coffee, I must rush to get Grace & Isaiah ready for preschool: dressed, hair brushed or gelled (Isaiah's mohawk), and fed breakfast), and I usually throw a sweatshirt on to camouflage the fact I'm still in my pajamas when I drop them off)

-I got Grace and Isaiah to pre-school on time (they're supposed to be there at 8, at which time they have stories read for them for 20 minutes while their teachers do devotions with the director, then their teachers take them to their classes...so Grace let's me hear it when they're late and have missed story time)

-Olivia actually got up when I told her to so she was dressed and fed and READING by the time I came back from dropping off the littler squirts (She is like me- a night owl and not a morning person- and I usually have to holler at her about ten times to get up, after turning on her light and opening up curtains and leaving her door open so she can hear her brother and sister being loud; and then I usually resort to physically pulling her up to sitting and making her climb down from the top bunk so she's on her feet)

-I got the dishes washed and kitchen cleaned up while Olivia read and did math (I can't face the dishes at night, I'm usually so wiped out from the day and just want to hang out with Jerry and relax before the bedtime routines begin...but it's hard to find a good time during the day to get them done. Morning is ideal, but I don't want to have Olivia wait on me while I wash them....so when I actually get something done that needed to be done while she's working on her own, it's stinkin' awesome!!) Added to the fact is that she did math on her own, WITHOUT COMPLAINT, WHINING, or TEARS...which is more often than not the norm -which is why math, along with spelling, handwriting and language arts- are the first things we do, so the stuff she likes more: history & science, are a treat for doing the necessary evils)

-We were focused and got A LOT of studying done (I get distracted easily, if I'm not careful I can waste an hour on the computer when I had intended to look something up super quick and get back to teaching. Unfortunately, Olivia's the same and likes to try and multi-task also....but I have to keep an eagle eye on her to make sure she's really paying the most attention to the priority task at hand- learning.)

-We were done with "school" before noon!! (At our best, we can get "school" done in 2 hours and have the rest of the day for whatever, however, with distractions and interruptions, some days were not done until late afternoon!)

I've been very blessed so far this year to have only one student, as we took advantage of the opportunity for Grace & Isaiah to go the MK Station (Missionary Kid Pre-school, here on this mission center) 8a-12p weekdays. We leave here this weekend (We left Tuesday, Nov. 11) and I will then also start home schooling Grace in Kindergarten work (and Isaiah when he wants to be helpful; and keeping Isaiah busy with something else when he's not helpful). I am in awe of the home school moms I know who school multiple children and have more than one under school age child. 

PLEASE Comment and give me your tips, Wonder Moms!

Don't misunderstand, I love teaching, love home schooling and love that I get the opportunity to do so. I am blessed to have the privilege to be home with my children!! The biggest difficulty with it we have is (big surprise) avoiding being derailed by the "tyranny of the urgent": housework, phone calls, potty training (which we are in the midst of with Isaiah, which means an alarm goes off every 15-30 mins. and I stop whatever I'm teaching to dash off and take the boy potty....or clean up an accident and change his clothes), getting drinks for kids, snacks for kids, setting up a game on the computer for the littler kids, paying bills, making meals, doing laundry, checking e-mail, checking e-bay, writing/editing/stuffing envelopes with/ labeling envelopes for/ sending newsletters, updating the blogs :), taking a shower....you get the idea.

Why did we choose to homeschool? It started out with just a couple reasons, but we have since added to that list with the new reasons we've discovered. At first, we started home schooling because we planned,  since getting married,  to go into overseas missions and are interested in being posted in an outlying "upcountry" location and not a large city or mission center, which would make our family well suited for since we are home schooling  (because we would not be "tied" to living and working only in  areas with appropriate schools).  Second, since I got a degree in elementary education, it seemed silly to me to send my child to school when I was capable of teaching her on my own, while at the same time being certain a strong foundation of faith and good character is being developed in her. Though, I should say, I don't believe a degree in education us necessary to home school. I think any parent that truly desires to provide the best education they can for their child is capable of doing so; there is so much good home school curriculum out there for both the seasoned educator and the parent with no teaching experience.

In one our first years home schooling, the decision was cemented for me as our educational method of choice, when while doing a Bible assignment reading, and in response to questions I asked about it, Olivia chose to give her heart to Jesus. I got to be an integral part in her conversion BECAUSE we chose to home school!! I also got the joy of being the one to teach her to read...and the list goes on!

I know my children, their strengths, weaknesses, learning styles and ways to motivate them better than any teacher in a classroom of dozens of students could.

We get to:

tailor what our children learn and when they learn it. We include biographies of missionaries and as we learn about people around the world, we pray for them!

Build intimate and meaningful relationships with our children.

Tailor  teaching to fit our children's dominant learning styles.

Give our children in-depth, personal attention in any subject with which they struggle or excel. We are able to teach our values and beliefs to our children and address their questions when they have them.

Protect our children from the negative influences they may encounter outside the home. 

We can Nurture our children's natural (musical, artistic) talents so they thrive and grow.We are able to address "big issues" with our children when WE feel they're ready. Share with our children the common, everyday joys of life. 

Teach them how to manage a household, cook and clean so they are more independent and prepared for life on their own. Help our children mature through the difficult times in their lives. We can even take vacations during the school year (and make them educational)!

(the following reason is copied from a blog I came across of a home schooling family with 13 children. I liked how she phrased this, so I copied it in, her original post is at: http://imghanaadopt.blogspot.com/2008/10/basic-beliefs-why-do-we-teach-our.html)

 "Not only do we believe that parents should be the primary adult influence on their children's lives, but we also believe that siblings should be each other's best friends. Family should ALWAYS be a greater influence than peers.

When teenagers spend 7 hours per day at school ... and 3 hours per day in after-school extra-curricular activities ... and 2 hours per day doing homework .... and 8 hours per day sleeping ... that only leaves a couple hours per day for relationships with family members. It is nearly impossible for siblings to be each other's best friends, if they never see each other.

If our older children were gone 10 hours per day, they would not have very close relationships with our youngest children. However, because they have all spent their days working together, learning together, and playing together, our children are VERY close to the siblings that are even 10-15 years younger or older than they are."