My Perfectly Planned Day
After waking from a wonderfully rested night’s sleep I happily get ready for my day. I smell the roasted grounds of coffee brewing as I gracefully descend the stairs. I sip from my beautiful white mug…the one that is perfectly shaped and holds just the right amount of coffee. Before getting into the shower I slip the “from scratch” cinnamon rolls in the oven. I take an uninterrupted shower and ready myself for the fun filled day of learning I have planned with my son.
My son wakes from his slumber, dresses himself, makes his bed and feeds our pets without being asked. He is sitting at the kitchen island reading his Boy’s Life magazine while waiting for me to appear from the bathroom freshly showered, makeup perfect and smiling graciously at my little love.
We start our mornings slow with art and story time and poetry and Shakespeare . Everything runs as planned. My son’s single line drawings mimic those of Picasso himself. His recital of Shakespeare mirrors culture and intellect.
We then have a beautifully manicured tea time where we read advance poetry and sprinkle rose pedals and culture over our table while enjoying our moist orange poppy seed muffins that my son and I whipped up together the day before while laughing and enjoying each others company.
After a wonderful walk on the beach collecting sand dollars and seashells we begin….MATH HISTORY SCIENCE and WRITING. And as the rest of the day goes no muttering, no arguing, no rebellion is heard, seen or felt as my perfectly planned homeschool day is effortlessly implemented.
YEAH RIGHT.
That is the dream I dream when I see images of homeschool activities on Instagram. Honestly, the ocean is a bit of a drive for us here in IOWA.
Reality is a bit different.
I wake up much earlier than I want to because we have one shower and if I don’t take mine first I wind up taking it on our lunch break.
When I peel myself out of bed I stumble down the stairs like a drunk in search of my first cup of coffee.
Bliss is when I remembered to set the coffee maker timer to start before I wake up. Happiness is found if I managed to get the kitchen cleaned before bed and no one in the house decided on a midnight snack.
Most mornings we have a bowl of cereal with fruit or apple sauce or a homemade smoothie.
Our school day always starts later than I want and we never really get everything done in a day. I want to have nature walks, and art and Shakespeare and fun. But there are also OTHER subjects to teach.
There is muttering, there might be a bit of rebellion here and there and if the opportunity presents itself a picture may be taken to post on Instagram.
And sometimes I don’t even think about dinner until 4:30 and throw something together at the last minute with what I have on hand.
The truth is my hair is messy, my house is messy and our day is messy along with life. Homeschooling is part of our everyday life and we have fun days, good days and messy days. On most days much of the time what I have planned doesn’t get completed. And that is okay, we just start where we left off the next day and keep plugging along.
We homeschool so we can shape our son’s heart. We happily homeschool so that our beliefs, values and family culture shape who he is as a person. We do not strive for OR plan for perfection.
I plan our schedule two weeks at a time and continue to adjust our schedule each day to accomplish as much as we can with happy hearts and continue to happily homeschool in Iowa.
Remember as you plug along on this journey to give yourself grace and your children mercy.
Happy Homeschooling ~ Bridget Anne
