A Monday

7am:  Kids awake asking me in loud whispers if they can go into the living room.  And is it a free day for the Wii (NO).

7:30am:  Reese returns to the bedroom to inform me she is hungry. 

8:00am  I finally drag myself out of bed to make breakfast (cream of wheat).  Kids eat and disappear to play.  They are being nice to each other.  I eat breakfast while checking email and facebook.

9:00am  Kids want to watch a show.  They asked nicely, so okay.

9:45am  I manage to get in the shower.

10:00am  Eli decides to take a bath.  Reese heads to the schoolroom to work on her Bible work.  Math lesson with Reese.  She is currently working on a review of the first chapter of Singapore Math 2a.  We played a place value math game.  Eli gets out of the bathtub.  Math lesson with Eli.  Read "Jack and the Beanstalk" for a second time.  Listened to Reese read some poetry.  Eli says he is hungry.

11:40am  Went to kitchen to fix Eli a snack and realized it's almost lunch time.  Prepare mini pizzas with leftover dough.

12:30 pm  My pizza is done so I sit down.  Try to convince Eli to eat some of his food.  Reese is done and off playing.  Eli leaves to see what she's doing.  Art projects in the form of little books are happening.  Eli writes a book about his hair, it's very funny. 

1:00pm  Kids and I go out to return some library books and hit the post office.  Realize in transit that the PO is closed because it is Presidents' Day.  Darn.  Kids want to go to the natural grocery store, and we sit outside Starbucks for a little while.  Books are back at the library so it wasn't a total loss.

2:00pm  We return home and I announce that cleaning must occur.  Kids work on their bedroom while I goof off on the computer and drink my coffee.

2:45pm  Room clean, clothes put away, living area decently picked up. 

3:00pm  Wii time!  Reese decides to read one of her American Girl books.  TV turned on and it is discovered that Clifford is on PBS. 

This part of the afternoon is our free time, so I'm thinking I'll do some sewing.  Kids are allowed to play Wii.  I ponder what to make for dinner. 

Tomorrow I might gently encourage more schoolwork, or not.  I've been thinking a lot lately about the value of play and how to balance academic work with original organic things that come from just goofing around.  Would Eli have written his little book if I'd pressed him to "do his boxes?"  I don't know.  Would Reese pick up a book on her own if I pressured her to do more and more schoolwork?  I don't know that either. 

I'm also looking at curriculum for next year (or whenever we finish our work for this year).  I really still want to do Ambleside Online because I LOVE it.  Reese and I would never have read a lot of the literature we've read this year without it.  I checked out the AO curriculum through 12th grade and I really do love it.  I know I would learn a thing or two as well if we keep up with AO.  However, I realized that Eli may not be ready for the rigerousness of AO Year 1 next fall.  I'd like to take another year and get him reading.  But I'd also like to add to his schoolwork, maybe in history or geography.  I can take pieces of AO Year 1.  And I also realized that at some point, I'll be working with two different years in AO, and I think that might make me crazy. 

I also love the curriculum laid out on the Simply Charlotte Mason website.  What I'm considering is using their history/geography modules so Reese and Eli can learn those things together, which would free me up to do less planning and separate lessons.  I'm still considering.  Both curriculums would provide a more than awesome education, so I think it might come down to what I like better.  We shall see.

Well, I'm going to have my "free time" now.  :)  Happy Monday!