Who woulda thunk?

I think homeschooling was the best decision for me at this point of my life. When thinking about the last week and a half I can honestly say - I have achieved so much! I have kept my house clean (except on the weekends when I take a break)... ok so at least one room is cleaned everyday. I have been keeping up with laundry and I have stopped eating so much sweets! You see, when I was home alone during my last quarter of college, it was easy to sneak a half a package of cookies for the day - especially the peanut butter graham cracker cookies covered in chocolate... what can I say? those with a tall glass of milk... one word: addicting! Now, I can't sneak because I am always upstairs with the kids, so I can't hide it from them. Not even a quick cookie from the cupboard. That has definitely helped my blood sugar.

Also if I were home alone, I would start my day with a tv show and then get sucked in - "One more episode and then I'll clean the kitchen (or living room, bedroom, fold laundry, etc)" NOW, I have to be productive because I stay up stairs to help the kids with their work - so what else am I going to do? Also, my time is very limited so I can't get sucked into TV and I have little time to get things done so I have to use it wisely!

I do however feel like I am constantly working - which feels good at the end of the day, but tiring in the middle.

These are all wonderful byproducts from homeschooling; however, I think the best one of all is that I am getting closer to my kids. I spend almost all day with them! I usually have about an hour to myself in the morning and a half hour of "Me-time" in the afternoon. Other than that - I am with them. I am constantly reminding myself of the mom I want to be, and I have more fun and feel closer to them when I try to be that person. I am trying to be more loving and understanding with Elijah. I am also trying to have more fun with them. We have PE together which is some good quality fun time. I get a couple of minutes alone with each of them as we read aloud together. It has been wonderful.

That being said, I am not going to deny how many times during the day I think, "How in the world is this going to work?" It would be extremely helpful to have two computers so they can do math and science at the same time. Science will be better if/when we get a TV that can connect to the computer (Brian and I were dreaming one day at Costco and we were thinking about our tax return next year), because then all three of us won't be crowded next to the computer. On the other hand, I think I would miss them close to me and having Elijah's head on my shoulder.

Having two places for them to work would be nice. Right now we have the desk in the living room with the computer on it, and the dining room table that they do work sheets at. The dining table moves really easily when it is bumped and so it makes it hard for two kids to be working on opposite sides of it. Also, when I am working with one student, the other has a hard time of focusing. Maybe I should ask Christina how she does that.

Also, it would be immensely helpful to have two of me! I am constantly having one of them waiting for help from me. Hopefully it will get better as the year goes on. We really need to work on their direction/instruction reading - that would solve a lot of the problems. Common sense... hmm... how do we develop that? just kidding... kind of...

Anyway, as a whole, it has been pretty good. I hope it will change our family for the better. I think we are on our way.