It's an Oz-some life: Bursting my bubble

This last week had been one of the most productive weeks for school and getting things done around the house that I can remember.

Need an example?

Thursday's School work:

Bible: Lesson and clay modeling reenactment
Math: Lessons for all 3 kids in 3 different levels
30 minutes of reading in chapter books of their choice all 3 kids ( independent work)
Handwriting practice for 2 kids, Calligraphy for 1( independent work)
Reading comp worksheets: 3 kids, 3 levels ( independent work)
Spelling: ( independent work) 3 kids, 3 levels then meeting with me to check
Diphthong practice ( independent work)
Sight word practice: 3 kids 3 levels Meet with me
Capitalization practice/ worksheets- 3 kids,3 levels ( independent work)
Math Warmers/ worksheets 3 kids, 3 levels( independent work)
Grammar: Meet with me for lesson and jingles
Write thank you letters ( independent work)

IN ONE DAY!

Three days of this in a row and by Thursday night I was beyond astonished at the amount of work these kids were cranking out!! Not to mention that the house was relatively clean and I had just made a batch of home made clothes detergent and dinner was working away by 6:00 that evening. What was happening? It was one of those weeks where you think: If I am dreaming don't wake me up. Inspired by my 3 little busy bee's I decided that we would do a "Fun school day" on Friday instead of our weekly cleaning in part because the house was already pretty clean.
Thursday night I planned away...We would be studying Thomas Alva Edison. I pulled out our book of "Real Life Hero's", We would read a story about him first.

I found a 30 minute movie that we would watch next ..... you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZe3ErwbJpE

We would create a time line after reading and watching the video about his life on poster board.

We would take a virtual field trip online: Found here: http://www.meetmeatthecorner.org/episode/happy-birthday-thomas-edison

We would then look at and diagram how a light bulb worked.

Finally we would pull out our "Electricity kit for kids" Time to experiment !

And we did. Friday morning rolled in and it was beautiful! Coffee was had that chilly morning on the back porch while enjoying the morning quiet. Bliss! The kids woke up, did their morning routines, we had breakfast and gasp.......started early.

It's a dream........Please don't wake up, please don't wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then it happened........

My bubble burst. It was like feeding time at the zoo! What had happened to my sweet angels?

Quite frankly I still don't know what the trigger was and why that Friday was soooo difficult!.

Ironically someone I know had posted a picture of a woman with a child and a saying on their facebook account earlier in the week and it said this: "You're making it difficult for me to be the parent I always imagined I would be" WOW! If that doesn't sum up my Friday I don't know what does.

The truth of the mater is, that maybe my point of view was skewed. Maybe they weren't that bad. Maybe it was just that the previous days this week they had been so angelic that my expectation was too high....maybe....

As a homeschooling mom I have be be aware that there will be days like this. The most perfect of perfect situations can sometimes turn out so far from where you intended. For my self as a Christian I have to rely on my faith to know how to handle the situation. Sometimes that simply means remembering the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" NNNOOOO! I jest!......I jest! I just couldn't help my self thou. In all seriousness I have to step back and remember how many times in my life I have and will in the future mess up and the grace and forgiveness that has been extended to me. Remembering this truth gives me the patience to correct my children with love. Situations like this also push me to seek the Lord and know him better. Searching his word for guidance and reflecting on what I already know to be true. In addition, some greatly therapeutic sessions have occurred between my self and a few other homeschool moms over a cup of coffee. I have gleaned much from their friendship.So many times I post the things that we have been doing, the fun, or the good, that I think it is important to share the fact that at times there are rough patches. We all go through them. You are not alone!

As some of us prepare to begin another week with the beautiful people we call our children let us be reminded that they are a heritage from the Lord . Let us never grow weary of doing good work.

And as the famous "Dory" from "Finding Nemo" would say........Just keep swimming!