Giddiness

School is about to start. Oh my gosh I feel giddy just saying it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. As a mama who has homeschooled a couple for 12 years (and counting), I do not mind spending time with my kids. I really really enjoy my kids, but I am becoming a terrible parent.

It just that  .  . . how do I say this . . . I really need to go "potty." I need 5 uninterrupted minutes of complete privacy in my day. Seriously people I am losing  my mind. 

I am out of ideas too. It's been a really hot month and sending the kids outside is akin to child abuse. So most of the day we entertain them indoors. I can not think of anything else to do. No kidding.

I cannot swim one more time in the neighborhood pool which --because it is so blasted hot out -- is roughly the temperature of pee.  It's super creepy. And it's not refreshing. And also - yes I'm venting -- I cannot bear hearing 50 kids yelling, "Look at me, Mom" any more.  And weirdly it's my kids saying it that bugs me the most.  We ARE LOOKING at you! TRUST ME! That's why you're not drowning, you crazy nut. Why do you think I keep saying, "Walking please," "No diving, jumping only,'' "Don't hold your brother's head underwater, sweetie," etc.?  It's because I'm LOOKING at you.  Seriously.

I cannot paint anymore. I hid all the paints and claimed we ran out. Ditto the scissors.  I cannot make any more "healthy" dips to entice them to eat healthy food. Yesterday I whipped up a batch of "cake dip," threw the animal crackers on the table and told them to "have at it." It may or may not have been breakfast time. I plead the fifth.

Our reading lessons have fallen by the wayside because, frankly, I have lost my patience. By the time I get to the third child who cannot remember what sound "t" makes, instead of patiently making the sound, I dramatically throw down the book and begin crying.  No, I don't really do that. But I really, really want to. I suspect they sense my impatience. That may be why The Blitz when he hears "reading time" starts yelling, "I don't want to be third, I don't want to be third." Lucky for him neither of his older siblings know what "third" means.

Yesterday Sunshine had to watch them all day because I did not have child care set up and I had to work.  Since she spends so much time in the hot sun playing softball I decided to offer her a reprieve and told her to let them stay in all day and rot their minds with television. One day won't kill off too many brain cells, right?  So when I finally got home after taking Tink to "meet the teacher" and then an emergency trip to Sam's for TP and 90 pounds of fruit, the boys begged me to finish watching the movie with them. I mumbled something about laundry and ran off, fast.

I cannot watch one more Disney movie.  No I am not exaggerating. I did not know I could be such a cynic. I am starting to criticize the heroes and heroines. What is up with Ariel's hair? I know she lives underwater and all but she really needs a new hairdresser.  What's up with Buzz Lightyear?  How dumb can an astronaut actually be? Everyone knows dummies don't make it through the Air Force Academy and into NASA. The way the prince in Aladdin begins the movie with racial slurs about the barbarism of his own homeland. My new favorite artist is Jon Cozart because of his portrayal of Disney Princesses. Yes, I have watched way too many movies this summer.  I also cannot eat any more popcorn. I think I have scraped my insides clean.

So I'm giddy. Giddy with joy and excitement. I have sold out folks. My only goal now is to potty in private and have the floor clean for one hour.  I'm not at all phased by having 4 kids in three different schools. That has to be easy compared to summer. I do not care that I have so far plunked down $150 for uniforms and $120 for supplies (and know I'm not done yet).  Worth  . . . every . . . penny.

 Tinker starts school Monday - kindergarten already.  Tater starts school on the 19th. She's excited for a senior year in "real" school. Gateway is thrilled to have her back.  The Blitz goes to Pre-K and The Captain back to Kinder on the 26th.  Sunshine will not start homeschooling 10th grade until September 6. We're going to soak in the quiet for a couple of weeks first.

And then, I'll probably cry. 

School Time Rhythm

I notice that a morphing of this blog has occurred.  It began as a way to keep the family abreast of all the changes in our world when our 3 Littles joined the family; since, it has stretched to  become part photo album, part memoir, and part mommy-stays-sane by thinking aloud.

Right now as a first time "school mom" I am trying to figure our how to order our lives so everyone (including me!) gets what they need but we aren't over-reaching.  Public schooling two and homeschooling two is befuddling.  Add to that Peppers two classes twice a week at the community college, The Captains three therapy appointments and Sunshine and The Captain's sports, and my mind is spinning.  Some day (sooner than I think) I will long for these days!

I call it scheduling, but in actuality it's more a process of decoding the rhythms of our home and considering how to place things in a predictable order.  All 5 of our kids thrive on order.  Here is how I *think* our schedule will look most days:

5:00 - Mom rise and have quiet time
5:30 - Finish lunches, make breakfast                        
          (I make everyone's lunch, including for those of us at home and then  its' done for the day!)
6:30 -Wake The Captain and Tink, Breakfast, Dress
7:10 - Walk to school with Littles
9:00 - Bigs start school, The Bitz home-pre-school
10:20 - Walk to school to pick up Tink            
            Play at park on the way home
11:30 - Lunch for Littles            
            Game time with Mom
1:00 - Rest for Littles, Lunch for  Mom and Bigs            
           Mom's break time
2:15 - Walk to school to pick up The Captain
3:00 -  Snack            
            Puzzles, chores, indoor play or Swimming (at least 1x/week)
4:00 - Homework time (school kids)  room time for tots
5:00 - Dinner prep and tidy toys
6:00 -  Dinner, then outdoor play
7:00 - Jammies, stories songs
7:30  - Bedtime for Littles
           Relaxin' time with the Bigs and Dear Hubby
8:30 - Prep tomorrow's lunches, organize back packs, etc.            
           Exercise!
10:00 - Hit the hay!

Monday - The Captain therapies; pick up at school at 12:30
Monday and Wednesday -- Pepper college courses 3:00 - 5:20,
Pepper sits in evening for neighbor
Wednesday a.m - Sunshine at Mother's helper job
Thursday - The Captain, therapy; pick up at school at 2:00

It looks do-able on paper.  Meal prep work in advance will be key; I'm very committed to feeding my family whole, real, home-cooked food and that requires a time investment.  On the weekends I'll be looking ahead several days and prepping vegetables, preparing sauces and dressings and cooking some main dishes.  I also double, triple or quadruple batches for things like meatballs and spaghetti sauce in order to save time later.  Pepper pitches in to cook supper a couple of times a week which frees me up to work on taming the "stuff monster" which requires constant vigilance.

I'm interested in your school time schedules.  What does your fall rhythm look like?

Ah, the good old days of summer

Yummy Lettuce/Chicken Wraps for Back to School

Lazy summer is nearing an end.  The "bigs" have been so much help and it has made our no-schooling time so enjoyable.  Yesterday after taking her next-to-last Intro to Psych test, Pepper relaxed with her ukulele, part obsession and part constant companion.

Sunshine built the most fantastic fort ever. Let's face it, if you live in Texas, you'd better find some ways to play indoors in August.

 

With school starting in only 3 weeks, we are shifting focus around here.  I just moved the kids "wake up lights" to come on a half hour earlier; next week they will be adjusted again.  We are practicing a "school time" schedule to make an easy adjustment to the rhythm of our days.  By the time school starts, the rhythm will be set and we can focus on helping The Captain adjust to Kindergarten, itself.  I blogged about it for adoption. com but then re-thought it a bit and realized we needed to ease in and not just jump in with both feet (duh!).

Tinkerbelle will be headed to Pre-K 3 hours a day; her days will either begin or end at the same time as The Captains.  Both will attend Old Town Elementary, right across from our neighborhood.  Sunshine and Pepper will be homeschooled again; we are starting after Labor Day.  Pepper is taking dual-credit classes at the community college. In the fall, she'll be taking composition and art history.

It all adds up to me reorganizing myself in the kitchen.  We are "back to bento" for the fall.  Our bento lunches pack a lot of protein into an interesting and compact arrangement.  They are so perfect for lunch.  We are teaching The Captain how to take his lunch out and eat from the bento boxes; he is just a boy who needs to practice things!

For today's lunch, I found this interesting recipe on Iowa Girl Eats and then made a few changes so that I can make it any time with ingredients I always have on hand.  It was so wonderful, it'll go on a 2-week rotation.  We enjoyed it with edamame and cous-cous.

P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wrap - adapted 

Serves a family, or 6  hungry adults
(approximately 185 cals., 5 grams carbs, 8 grams fat, 21 grams protein)

Ingredients:

1. 4  large cloves garlic, minced
2. 3 tsp fresh ginger, peeled & minced (I buy it frozen - MUCH easier to deal with )
3. 1-1/2  tbsp  sesame oil
4. 1/4 cup  soy sauce
5. 2  tbsp  peanut butter
6. 1  tbsp  honey
7. 2 tbsp rice vinegar
8. 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce (I use the one with the rooster)

1. 2 tsp. olive oil
2. 3 fresh carrots, washed and diced finely
3. 2 lb ground chicken breast
4. salt & pepper, a dash of each

1. 18 or more large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry (you can buy these all prepared now, in a plastic box!)

Directions:

Place the first 8 ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.  Microwave 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth and set aside.

Using a large non-stick fry pan, heat the olive oil briefly and add the carrots.  Saute for 2 minutes, then add the ground chicken, salt and pepper.  Stir fry until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink -- this only takes a few minutes.  Add the sauce and cook a few minutes until desired consistency is reached.  I like to cook out a bit of the liquid.

Place the chicken mixture in a bowl.  If desired, garnish with chopped green onions and/or ground peanuts.  I used just a bit of chopped cilantro.

Preschool Fine Motor Skills

Disclaimer:  This blog has morphed from newsy "keep the parents up to date" blog into a combination of that plus homeschooling stuff I'm trying to remember plus  "online scrapbook" for when the kids grow up.  Sorry Grandparents, some of these posts are probably downright boring to you!

I saw an idea on Pinterest to use egg cartons with colored paper in them to help little ones sort by color.  My thought on the matter was why not use plastic Easter eggs in the cartons for double the fun?

Of course we were limited to the colors of eggs Mama could easily reach!  In this example we're using Skittles but we have since started using buttons.  They don't care about the candy as much as the sorting so the buttons are fun because I will let them have a lot of buttons but only a few candies.

This set up (times 3 of course) is now stored in my "Preschool in a Box" which I will remember to write about one of these days!

The Home Arts and School

When I was in high school, each semester for 3 years, we chose between home economics, wood-shop or mechanics.  I chose Home Ec all but once, and loved it.  Home Ec is a thing of the past in schools today, as much due to economics as to politics.

Home education is the perfect venue for Home Ec.  Now that both older girls are in their teens, it seems an appropriate time to introduce (or in some cases, review) these home arts.  I was working on a modern Home Ec syllabus when I happened on this list of 15 life skills our kids need. Some of these were perfect additions to my Home Ec course.

I don't know if I will be homeschooling the "Littles." My official line is that I won't, but our homeschool lifestyle has provided so many blessings, I'm keeping it in the "back up plan" department.  If these three ever use my Home Ec syllabus, I will revise it based on their interests and what I think they need to know at that time.

After all this work, I've decided to share it.  Why not?  One caveat, this Google.doc is a working document for me, so I will be changing and adjusting it as I work my way through it.  If you use it and want it to remained unchanged, I recommend you save a copy for yourself.  That way you can edit it, as well. I have linked it here, enjoy!