The Practical Side of Life

I can honestly say that though we have not entirely drifted off course we have strayed a little too far in recent months...maybe even perhaps gone beyond drifting and actually been steered a little off course by the hands of those that hold the helm....which would be none other than mine. Hard working husband is gone the majority of the time these days so it is up to me to keep us on course...which I have not fared so well at doing. My overwhelmed, depressed, unmotivated and even all out apathetic state have done our family a huge disservice. Though the house is pretty much always straight, since I pretty much thrive on clean and organized, any kind of structure to our days has dissipated over time throughout all of this. So, in bringing it back in order to return to the very needed organized days of our lives I have planned, charted, and made lists of everything needing to be done and who does what. In so doing I came to the realization and conviction that my computer time must be limited to only nights. Since I rarely spend any night hours on the computer when long awaited husband is home then that pretty much limits me to night time posts on shift nights. Kinda sucks...cause I just like to write...whether anybody ever reads or not. But I cannot successfully run a ship from a computer desk while barking orders at my crew from a stationary position. I must be the motivational captain....so I rise to the occasion and go to tend my flock...or man my crew....or just do my job.





I will say the rewards are entirely far reaching. There is nothing in the world like hearing a 2 year old quote Scripture as he wiggles around and plays until finally drifting off into slumber or watching 3 year old's eyes shine as he stands doing hand motions and quoting verse upon verse that he has amazed me by memorizing in his tiny little brain. Even after 12 years of parenting they continue to amaze me by what they are capable of and how moldable their tiny hearts are. So it is that I take over my days once more as I teach, instruct and mold 8 younger lives into something that will hopefully exhibit the very essence of God and each of their callings as they grow and mature. Writing personal thoughts a good portion of the day is completely therapeutic for my own self but it fails to result in schooled children, an organized day or a clean house. So it is that with great amounts of self discipline I pull myself away from the computer during all daytime hours as I take a daytime fast from all computer related projects...such as writing, research and everything else for which I continually put it to use.



And for my own memory in years to come....cause I know I will never in my life remember the mundane.....and the really bored at heart who wonder what exactly the days of a little large unknown family in Texas look like......here's a rundown of our old schedule that has now been modified and adapted to integrate 3 new ones into the school/chore schedule. And one of these days when I finish...if I ever finish....managers of their entire lives I will post a much more detailed chart of what our goals are for each day. I am quite certain every reader out there could absolutely care less what we do all day long but for my own benefit...the very reason for this blog....I will post it for me.



For now...and it's working so we'll stick with it for as long as it works. We only do 4 day school weeks so this is our routine M-Th. On Fridays we change it up and use school time to do science fun stuff, "field" trips to the lake or wherever sounds like fun that has collectible stuff like rocks, shells and whatever, and art projects....or for months like Nov, Dec and Apr we focus on art and fun stuff that have to do with the holiday. Homemade nativities, toilet paper roll pilgrims, a foil panned real grass garden with a tomb and a rolled away stone (complete w/ picket fence...but I'm thinkin Jesus probably didn't have a picket fence going where he was buried), etc. Our Friday afternoon routine does not differ from M-Th and is carried out as usual with the same chores so the house does not ever get out of control. And we do carry out the same chores on Saturday as well though the schedule is not as rigid. And yes....when it says Evye cleans bathrooms, she does everyday. With 4 little boys all using toilets all day long along with everybody else we have going they desperately need to be cleaned every single day.

Along the chore lines.....I was cleaning a dr's office for my mother's cleaning business and having to meet OSHA standards at the age of 13, my brother only 11. So, I am certain that appropriate aged children can clean and clean well. So, when I say they do dishes, cabinets, mop and clean bathrooms it has to meet my standards. I'm a little more forgiving than OSHA but my standards require that it be ready for and acceptable to guests. There is no acceptance for half heartedly completed work. We seek to teach them that they are to honor the Lord in absolutely everything they do from school work to even the most mundane of cleaning bathrooms and scrubbing the bases of toilets to picking up dog poop and cleaning up mounds and mounds and mounds of chicken crap.

Sooooo.....this all sounds good in theory but each day has it's own share of unforeseen detours and the unexpected. Obviously there is nothing in me that is an expert on any of this seeing as how we've been out of the routine since late October. But once applied we fell right back into the groove. But this is all said very, very, very humbly, as it rarely goes completely according to plan. We do manage to get all of each thing accomplished 98% of the time but the playtime is totally dependant on how much each one has chosen to fool around while doing their assigned tasks. If it somehow took 1 1/2 hrs for handwriting alone since they saw fit to lay all over the couch, hang upside down from the fans, put batteries in toys for little siblings, return to the water jug so that they have successully drunk 2 gallons of water 8 ounces at a time in a 2 hour period and roll around enough that they fall off the top bunk multiple times then their playtime is highly cramped. Example.....just last week Grayson took 1 1/2 hrs for one subject and then chose to make clothes folding...as it was rainy and no outside chores could be completed so he pitched in indoors....take 3 entire hours he went straight from school to chores to dinner to shower to bed. They do this enough times and they quickly figure out that they can significantly speed up their day. Bad attitudes and whining also earn them more chores so so they may have more than just the basics of what are listed. This, of course, uncomfortably cramps playtime too. And for running each other down or fighting they take on one of their "victim's" chores in an effort to not only apologize with words but also show through physical demonstration and acts of love that they are sorry and they do value that person. So, this schedule is highly variable but provides a good outline as to how our days are structured.

Anyway...for my records in years to come and for the truly bored at heart......


5:30 - I wake. Shower, dress, make-up. See Brad off, morning Bible reading and prayer, computer time, coffee, run. On the days I run this early the shower/dressed for day/make-up routine waits til after I am done. On the days it is too cold to run I just go running during naptime.

7:30 - All children wake



7:30-8 - Grayson -dress for day & all outside chores (all dog care, all chicken care..there's 75 so it takes awhile)
Evye & Aubrey- dress for day & dress all little boys
I feed, bathe and dress Ivye



8:00-9:00 - breakfast for everyone, kitchen clean-up by everyone (dishes, cabinets, wipe down table, sweep), bedroom clean-up (make beds, pick up stray books from reading the night before, pick up any contraband that saw fit to creep its way into the little boys' beds as they went to bed the night before), brush teeth



9:00-noon - school



9:00-10:00 - family Bible w/ all 8, Scripture memorization work, missionaries and geography/history work w/ all 8 (Ivye goes down for nap at 9:30 so geography/history is done without her running around digging in drawers or filling the toilets with Fruit Loops)



10- 10:45 - Grayson - math on computer
Evye - spelling, handwriting
Aubrey - reading lessons with me
4 little boys - puzzles, car mats, "school" books, playdoh

11-noon - Grayson - spelling, language arts (letter writing or blogging which I edit), handwriting
Evye - language arts (same with her - though she favors letter writing), math which requires me teaching her for now. Next year will be computer work for her also.
Aubrey - math, spelling, handwriting
Garrison, Grant and Garrett - reading lessons w/ me

Noon-1:00 - lunch, brush teeth

1-1:30 - kitchen clean-up (same as breakfast), floor pickup

1:30-3:30 - Grayson chores: M-Th- Brad's shop, playroom, outside pickup, poop duty, van clean out. Fridays are clean the chicken coop day.
Evye chores - fold clothes, clean all bathrooms, extra inside detail work I assign
Aubrey - fold clothes
Garrison and Grant - help Grayson with all chores
Garrett, Gavin, Ivye - nap

I use this time to organize, going room by room organizing and doing detailed cleaning....and maybe try to blog every few days when I grow weary of chasing my tail in the cleaning world. If morning run did not happen I use this time to run.


3:30-dinner - all outside play where they jump for hours, axe down trees, climb the trees they don't chop down, build forts, dig holes to China, play war, conquer the Alamo, change the outcome of Pearl Harbor, save the Titanic, rescue earthquake victims, avoid falling into volcanoes, predict tornadoes and then survive them all and just, in general, use tons of imagination and pent up energy

6-7:00 dinner

7-8 - Grayson - kitchen duty
Evye - dining duty, sweep, mop
Aubrey - help w/ dining and kitchen duties
little 5 - baths

8:00 - Grayson - shower
Evye/Aubrey - shower
little 5 in bed

8:30-9:15 - reading in bed for older 3

9:15 - Lights out


And then we start all over again!!

And I am fully aware that this was the most mundane, most boring post ever but it is most definitely the practical side of life.....and the realization that I must take a daytime fast from the computer while I focus on life beyond me. Yep....pretty humbling when one realizes they have become so self absorbed that life is no longer about who is around them but just merely their own emotions and how to get through the day in one piece. So it is that I pull my head out of places where the sun doesn't shine and regain structure and think beyond my own emotions and everything that self absorption is, refocusing on even just a few of the thousands of gifts I have been given in life....a husband desperately in love with me and that adores absolutely everything about me despite my many idiosyncrasies and entirely fallible ways, 8 absolutely beautiful children, and the fact that I live in a country that allows me the freedom to teach those 8 children. HSLDA and Texas Home School Coalition do great and mighty things to fight for that freedom and for that I am so entirely thankful.

The "blessed" list could go on infinitely but, as is.....the hot shower beckons, my long awaited, newly released, station night movie calls and graham crackers and icing along with some hot tea are sounding pretty good.