Forward Motion & Random Thoughts

Do you ever have one of those days where it seems no matter what you do, there is just no getting ahead? For every step of progress you believe you've made, when you turn around you are actually three steps further behind. That's the kind of day I've had today.

I began the morning with great ambitions. I was going to make a double batch of chocolate chip muffins, deal with 5 pounds of ground beef (shape and freeze into hamburger patties and make some meatballs), cook the chicken for tomorrow nights dinner, make a double batch of stuffed shells, and get completely caught up on laundry. For some reason I think my family goes through three times as many clothes over the weekends so that when I take Sunday off from doing laundry, I'm playing catch-up until Wednesday. I have not decided what the answer is yet. Either I should just do the laundry on Sunday, or we should all force ourselves to wear the same outfit all weekend.

Here is how my day actually played out. I made a single batch of chocolate chip muffins. I regretted it within half an hour because they were all gone. Just how long does it take 6 people to eat 12 muffins? Apparently less than 30 minutes. The ground beef will still be sitting in my refrigerator until tomorrow, at which point I will have lost the option of not dealing with it. I remembered to pull the chicken out of the freezer at 5:40 pm. I did get the stuffed shells made and we had one pan for dinner. The other pan is in the freezer. I got caught up on half of the laundry. Some of the kids clothes got folded and put away, all of Eric and my clothes are done. However, there is a load still in the dryer, and the washing machine is already half full. I somehow lost a good chunk of time today. It was lunchtime before I knew and I still had so much to do.

Isabelle has happily agreed to doubling up her schoolwork for the next few weeks so that we can be completely finished before VBS starts the last week of June. Even with that effort, I think she will be working on math all summer. We never officially stop schooling for the summer, we just change things enough that it doesn't feel like so much school.

Some of the things on her agenda for this summer are:

• Art appreciation. She will be studying books about the different periods of art history as well as reading biographies of the artists. (By the way, if you like Jackson Pollock's work, or just want to try your hand at painting like him, you have got to visit this site. But I warn you, it is an easy way to lose 30 minutes of your day.) We will visit the art museum at least once this summer. She and I together will be doing an in-depth study of architectural styles. I personally love this line of study and am really looking forward to this. I am going to try to plan some walks or drives through cities where we can see many various types of architecture on display. I think we might also study Frank Lloyd Wright for a while.
• She will be reading Chuck Black's The Kingdom Series as recommended by Joy.
• She will spend a good portion of time in dedicated geography study.
• We will spend some time creating her own Home Management Binder, as well as creating a scrapbook of recipes that we make together.

That's all that is on our list for now, but I know we will come up with lots more, not to mention all of the time we will be spending outside and going on "Family Field Trips." I am excited to begin planning for next year, our fifth year of homeschooling! Isabelle will be doing fourth grade work, and Alex and Olivia will be spending some more in study, specifically beginning to learn to read and write, and getting acquainted with math facts. This planning period is always such fun for all of us.