This week we celebrated Miss O's 9th Birthday, nine! Come March I will have three 9-year-olds! Time flies and she loved every little bit of her big day.
I was also able to sneak away to dinner for a friends birthday the following night. Pimento burgers: my favorite "splurge-type" food ever.
Here is rundown of how life+school went:
The first week is an orientation week. Read the syllabus, get familiar with the course and expectations, college policies and the like. I was able to knock all of this out on Day 1 and immediately began working ahead in each class (so the work that I am doing now is actually not due/expected until next week and I hope to keep this up as long as I can). On average I would begin studying at 8:30 and get in bed right before midnight. I wake up at 7am, so I still get a full seven hours of sleep this way. This worked well for us.
For those of you wondering, in the morning I look over my emails and assignments that I need to complete that day while my kids are still asleep. Then I put it all out of sight and we continue our regular day of school, gym, field trips, housework, meals, etc. until 4pm. At 4 it's downtime for all the kids and I can do whatever I please. Today I am using it to blog, yesterday I used it to complete a unit of math practice. If I have any reading that needs complete now would also be a good time to do that. 5pm begins the dinner grind (which is already prepped for at lunch time), my husband comes home and we eat, have family time, baths, prep for the next day etc. Right around 8pm all of the kids are in bed (the older ones are allowed to stay up in their rooms as long as they are quiet) and I can use the rest of the night however needed.
(my two kindergarteners & BOB books)
There are a few key factors that I have noticed are huge game changes in the ease of this for us.
-My youngest is fairly independent now (insert tears). I do not have babies to feed and change and chase after. I would imagine this would make it a little more difficult, but not impossible. I mean, everything is a little harder when you have a little one anyway and you just adjust.
-We have family chores. We all pitch in around the house and get things done every day. With a family our size people assume it chaotic and messy and it's actually the opposite. We are pretty structured and because everyone has things they have to complete each day, it means that the trash is taken out as soon as it's full. Dirty dishes are rarely ever in the sink. Laundry gets cycled through really fast. Floors are swept after each meal, etc. This lifts a huge weight off of my shoulders because I don't have to do it all (nobody does), I do not have to and don't spend my days cleaning the house or trying to stay on top of the laundry.
-My husband is really supportive. I mean, he is ALL IN. He is team me and I am team him. We help each other however we can. He has more opportunities to study at work during the day so at night he puts the kids to bed so that I can get started right away. I make sure his lunch is made the night before so that he can spend his night and morning before work however he needs to. Small things like this make a huge difference. If you are a mom you KNOW that bedtime can take over an hour some nights! A supportive husband makes it or break it in my opinion. Not a husband who just agrees and says "yea do it". But a husband who agrees and then supports you in his actions and encouragement.
In the end, every family is different and every person is different. I have friends who are single with no children who tell me that there is no way that they could ever manage school and a family while I have friends who homeschool full time, teach and go to school full time no problem. If it's something you are passionate about you can absolutely make any situation work.
I will be posting more about juggling it all as I get deeper into the semester- but for now it's Algebraic equations while my fam sleeps :-)
--my typical desk view, less cluttered than normal for you!--
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