Day 1
I lay in bed last night, wide awake. So physically anxious that sleep was out of the question. Had I planned enough? Would the girls be interested? Could I fill a day - or even just a morning - with activities that would engage them? Or had I planned too much? Would I be rushing to get through my lesson plans? Did we make the right decision? Should I get up and work some more on the bulletin board?
Knowing that the alarm was set for our early-family-exercise session, I desperately tried to shut down. My level of anxiety was a complete surprise. After a scalding, almost-midnight shower by eucalyptus-mint candlelight (I pulled out all the stops...), sleep won at last.
The girls, on the other hand, were super-excited to get started. Eden found me on the playroom floor ripping apart perforated calendar numbers right before bed.
"Mom. I need to ask you a question. About homeschooling."
"Yes? Ask away."
"What time should I meet you? And where? And what should I be wearing?"
She wrote it down. "7:00. Play clothes. Living room. Wake at 6:45." She took her note to bed with her.
And we did it! We were out the door around 7 for a walk to the park, beginning our day with family exercise. By 8 we'd had breakfast and Bible study and kept going from there, with minimal resistance. Eden memorized a poem, Chloe read a few pages in her reader. We did math with beads. We set up our calendar. We practiced piano. We made it to dance class.
I'm not expecting all of our days to run as smoothly as today - I'm not even really expecting tomorrow to run as smoothly as today. But I am expecting to sleep tonight.
Knowing that the alarm was set for our early-family-exercise session, I desperately tried to shut down. My level of anxiety was a complete surprise. After a scalding, almost-midnight shower by eucalyptus-mint candlelight (I pulled out all the stops...), sleep won at last.
The girls, on the other hand, were super-excited to get started. Eden found me on the playroom floor ripping apart perforated calendar numbers right before bed.
"Mom. I need to ask you a question. About homeschooling."
"Yes? Ask away."
"What time should I meet you? And where? And what should I be wearing?"
She wrote it down. "7:00. Play clothes. Living room. Wake at 6:45." She took her note to bed with her.
And we did it! We were out the door around 7 for a walk to the park, beginning our day with family exercise. By 8 we'd had breakfast and Bible study and kept going from there, with minimal resistance. Eden memorized a poem, Chloe read a few pages in her reader. We did math with beads. We set up our calendar. We practiced piano. We made it to dance class.
I'm not expecting all of our days to run as smoothly as today - I'm not even really expecting tomorrow to run as smoothly as today. But I am expecting to sleep tonight.
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