X-post What is ps like for you, the mom?

[RainbowSprinkles]

It is a possibility that my two oldest will be going to ps next year. I'm wondering what is it like for you, the mom? Especially if you still have little ones at home with you.

 

What are your days like? :bigear:

[ErinE]

I had only one at home (too young to start hs'ing), but my eldest was in ps for three years. I would see him off early for the bus, have 30 minutes to an hour of "quiet time" until my youngest woke up. I had free time for errands and housework, but the homework commitments were trying. My ds would come home with 30-40 minutes of schoolwork, in addition to 30 minute reading requirements and special projects at least once a month. I volunteered at least once or twice a week in his classroom.

[matilda]

I would send the kids to school in the morning and finish my chores. Then we could hang out or run errands or meet friends at the park. I had more time to work in my yard and more time to play with my younger kids. I always volunteered in their classes and for the PTA.

 

The craziness started again when they came home from school. They had homework and sports and lessons. The only thing that is different now is that we are completely done with school by the time all of the extras start.

 

There are advantages to sending your kids to ps. My house was cleaner. Saturdays were easier, because I could do more errands during the week. I had more friends because I knew people from school and I could get together at the park or whatever with my other friends with little kids.

[happycc]

Wake up drag everyone up, rush rush rush...make sure lunches packed, meds taken for those with asthma, breakfast eaten, backpack packed, homework done, hair combed, kids dressed, baby woken, changed and dressed, I am dressed and up, warm up truck and scrape off ice, shove grumpy baby in the carseat, kids complaining about other kids getting mud on their seats, kid forgot to bring lunch, kid gets out and gets it, kid had to go to the bathroom even though you told everyone to go before leaving the house, kid forgets his jacket, kid who forgot lunch slipped and fell, you deal with that while the other one who forgot to get the jacket forget to close the door to the house, close the door to house, drive to school, deal with traffic and road rage, deal with the drop off and mean and rude parents, while in line you need to call the school nurse to come in that day because one of your kids had a low peak flow and may need their puffer, either stay and help in classroom or rush home to change and feed baby, dishes, get a phone call one of your kids is sick and need to be picked up, load baby back in car, drive back to school, go to the office, see your kid with barf all over and crying, sign your kid out, take him home, bath, laundry, place kid back in bed to rest and keep him hydrated, check temperature, maybe call doctor, maybe go see doctor, come back, entertain baby, baby nap, lunch, more chores, prepare for dinner, more chores, change and feed baby, entertain baby, load baby and sick kid back up to the car, deal with traffic and rude parents at the pick up line, some kids to car late , parents and teachers grumpy at you, grumpy angry hungry kids while driving, get home, hang up jackets, put shoes away, unload backpack, read notes from teachers, get kids to start on homework but they are hungry so they eat, they are thirsty, so they eat, they have to go to the bathroom, go to bathroom, they are hungry again, eat again, thirsty again, bathroom, distracted by neighbors, remind them to start homework, get them to start homework, homework started--kids don;t remember that their teacher ever taught them the information, you reteach the lesson, they still don;t get it, another child reminds you they need some kind of project supply for something due the next day, you look on the calendar and go oh no! you get the kids ready to go out and fight with traffic to the store to get the supply, you get them all back in and restart the homework process but now the kids are hungry again and have to go to the bathroom, you then need to start on dinner, homework restarted again, husband home and wants attention, you give him some attention, get dinner going, homework going, more reteaching of lessons, correcting of homework, you tell the kids to get homework done for 100th time, you give them dinner, restart homework and you have to run around the house collecting things representing your child to place in a paper bag so he can TALK about it in class, you rush them to the bath, get them ready for bed, make sure backpacks packed, you make sure the kids have what they need for whacky hair day, lunches packed, meds taken, make sure they have money for tomorrows Jamba juice day, remind them to turn in their homework, a child tells you so and so said such and such to him and he doesn;t want to go to school, your other child needs a phone to call their friend to find out what else he needs to do for school next day. Sometime in that time you change the baby and bathe the baby and feed the baby a few times. You get the kids finally to bed, and you get a phone call from a parent that your child did such and such. You quickly send an email to the teacher to tell them that your child didn;t understand his/her homework and you receive an email that they NEED parents to help with such and such or else your child will be deprived of such and such.

Don;t forget to add in afterschool activities to the schedule. NEED I SAY MOre. Ironically my house is cleaner since we homeschool as I add in chores as breaks from homeschool work. I am not as exhausted. Not depressed or stressed.

Edited November 20, 2011 by happycc

[Christie_P]

loved it! Thanks for posting that. :) Nice to be able to say that hs-ing is not the cause of all my troubles - I'd just have a different set if they went to ps.

 

I like the problems we have hs-ing. I think I'll keep these. :)

[....]

My daughter went to ps for 2 years. My son went to ps for K.

 

Constant fundraisers...get ready

I waited at the bus stop 3 times every day...rain, snow, heat (with a baby).

Kids got up so early that they wouldn't eat breakfast, so I was always getting calls from the nurse's office because of stomach aches (my daughter was a frequent flyer in the nurse's office).

Kids were exhausted when they got home. Probably spent an hour on homework, signing permission slips, looking at fundraisers.

Seemed like we were always driving around to different stores looking for posterboard or 300 pink foam horses.

Our school was always asking parents to come to class and help the teacher. They wanted a parent up there at all times. :glare:

We always had problems with other kids: kids making fun of my daughter's clothes...one boy on the bus kept trying to get other kids to touch his you-know-what...

 

I'm trying to be positive here, but those were our experiences. :D

[....]

 

I like the problems we have hs-ing. I think I'll keep these. :)

 

:iagree:

[Hedgehogs4]

Oh my--after reading those posts, I'm thinking the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side. :001_huh: I'll keep my hs problems, too.

[boscopup]

We did private school for 1.5 years. Here's how our day went:

 

Mom gets up and showers, gets breakfast ready.

Mom wakes kids up... they'd rather sleep a bit longer.

Breakfast at the table, rush, rush, rush.

Get everyone dressed and shoes on. DS2, where are your shoes?!? Why aren't they on?!?

Head out the door, realize baby has pooped. Go back in to change him. :glare:

Run back out to the van. DS2, sit in your seat so I can buckle you!!!

Ok, everyone ready? Let's go.

Ugh... we're running late. Again. DS1, you'll have to RUN to class! Hopefully that person going in right now will leave the door open since the bell is ringing. If the door closes, we have to all get out so I can sign DS1 in at the office around the front of the building... drop-off is at the side of the building.

Drop him off, listen to DS2 whine about not wanting to do whatever we're planning to do (grocery shopping or going home - doesn't matter). Unfortunately, a lot of the things I'd LIKE to do are not open yet. It's only 8am.

Go home and get littles started on play time. They miss their big brother and don't play as well without him.

Try to keep up with littles (again, big brother is usually a big help!). House cleaning? Not happening.

Eat lunch, put littles down for naps. Ah, quiet time.

Wake kids early from their naps to pick up DS1, since he gets out around 2:20pm, right in the middle of our typical nap time. :glare:

Running late again (because I'm trying to let them sleep as long as possible!). Hopefully I'll pick up before my friend picks her son up. We had races. :D Or if we're not running late, we can't get in car line, and have to drive around the block that the school is on, because you can't stay out on the road. Sometimes we had to drive around 5-6 times before we could get in the parking lot.

Take DS home. Give him a little bit of play time. Watch kids fight, because they fought so much when he was away all day.

Homework time! Kid is dead tired, it's the "witching hour" before dinner. Spend an hour on stuff that could easily be completely taught much quicker in the morning when everyone is happy and energetic. Throw in some math because they're using Saxon at grade level. He likes the math I give him, but I make him do school math first. Not getting any other afterschooling subjects in. Too tired, and too hectic (1 year old melting down, etc.).

Eat dinner, play with dad, go to bed.

 

I was always in a frenzied mode because of the school schedule - dropping off, picking up. It takes about 10 minutes to drive there, so that just adds to the stress. I couldn't really help in the classroom because of the littles, and I know everyone understood that and didn't expect me to help, but I still felt guilty.

 

When we started homeschooling, I relaxed BIG time. The kids got along better. My house is cleaner, since DS1 is a big help at picking up the scattered toys, and I try to schedule in a quick pickup everyday, so it's easy to do. I won't say my house is CLEAN, but that's ME, not the way I'm schooling. :tongue_smilie:

 

I could see school freeing up time for mom if ALL the kids were in school, but when you still have littles at home, it just makes it more hectic, especially if you have to pick up in the middle of nap time. That nap time was awful.

[5 Hikers]

It is a possibility that my two oldest will be going to ps next year. I'm wondering what is it like for you, the mom? Especially if you still have little ones at home with you.

 

What are your days like? :bigear:

 

 

My oldest went when my middle child was 4wks-2 years old. My 4 week old would be up all night, of course, and we would all drive my oldest to Pre-K and drop him off. I would come home and nap. Around 11 I would get back up with the baby, take care of his needs, cook myself lunch, and do chores. I would pick up my oldest, come home, and play with him. We'd eat dinner, bathe and go to bed. It was very nice and easy.

For Kindergarden my baby was 1. He was never a good sleeper, but he would sleep late in the mornings to about 9. I always had to wake him up to drive my older son to school, which made me cry. I got up at 6:30 to shower, woke my oldest up to feed him breakfast, and waited til 7:15 to get my baby up and throw everybody in the car. We drove to school and I usually stayed all day at school. I was the room mom, VP of the PTA, and a volunteer in the school library. My son's K teacher was great, and she let me stay in the room all day. My 1 year old really cooperated, he stayed in a stroller all day though. :glare: I brought toys, snacks, and kept him entertained while we ran about doing things at school. I would either eat lunch with my oldest son at school, or I would head home to let the baby out. My 1 year old took only 1 nap a day at most. Of course, it was usually around 2pm which is when I was in the car-pool lane. When we got home both kids were whiny and needy. My oldest played soccer on T/TH, Wed. nights we went to church, and every night we had homework and dinner. I bathed them, put my oldest to bed around 8pm, cleaned the house, and lay exhausted hoping the baby would go to sleep.

For 1st grade my younger son was 2. This teacher did not allow me in the room because she felt my 2yo would be a distraction. My day still started early but I dropped my oldest off at 7:20 and just went home. I then entertained my middle son for hours. He was an extremely difficult toddler. If I turned my back for 2 minutes I would find him on top of the fridge or running free outside. He could climb anything, and none of the child-proof things kept him out. I would actually leave at 1:30 to pick my oldest up, even though school didn't get out until 2:20. I would just sit in the car pool lane, because my middle son was locked up for an hour in his carseat. I also went to Target a whole lot, because I could just push him around in the cart while we got a drink and ate popcorn. In the midst of all this I was still VP of the PTA, I kept the house spotless for meetings, I cooked, I baked for the school, and I wrote the school newspaper. When I picked my oldest up we still had sports, homework, dinner, and bedtime.

[hsmom]

I have two kids in ps still. They are older now, but still ps takes some times too. In between remembering to make sure they have lunch money, teachers calling for meetings, school activities, sports related to school. Making sure they have all the supplies they need, because the list at the beginning of the year is never all they need. Oh and going by the schools schedule. Yeah doesn't sound so bad, but it is annoying sometimes. Mainly since I have one still at home so our schedule goes with theirs. It is not fair to have 2 off for a break and have one still working. Those are my main hardest parts sometimes, because sometimes with our hsling juggling in a meeting with a teacher or a school activity really throws us off. It was worse when they were in elementary for the school activities, but meetings are worse in middle and highschool. It seems they always want to talk about something. Also the fact you darn not go to far from where the school is cause if they get in trouble or get sick you need to go get them asap. They are noisy! Honestly I cannot figure out why they need to know so much, but they feel they do. Somethings I am not comfortable sharing and I tell them.

 

Now the plus side. I have well really I don't have too much right now. I mean I have the less stress with school only doing one, but I do not have any free time.

 

Years ago when I just had my two older ones, when school was in I had free time. I never went to the store with kids, always had time to get Christmas shopping done and no one ever knew, my house was clean most of the day, I read books for me without pictures, but it was too quiet. It did get lonely being home alone all the time. Now I miss it sometimes still, but I would not trade having at least one home all the time. Now a day off would be nice, but I will get that when they grow up.

[Wheres Toto]

Public school is much better for me this year since my oldest can now drive herself. My situation is a little unusual since I have joint custody and she lives half the time with her dad and used to go to school in his town.

 

When she was in junior high I used to have to put the baby in the car and drive her 30 minutes to school, then sit in heavy traffic for 45 minutes to an hour to get back home. Then another hour round trip to pick her up at the end of the day. Making sure I was always by a phone in case there was a problem or she needed to come home sick. Trying to make a decision at 6:30am if she was really sick or just over tired. It was worse when I worked full time and had to figure out how to deal with school closings, delayed openings and sick days until she was old enough to stay home alone.

 

She transferred to our local schools for high school. I still had to get up, carry out the two little kids still asleep, in all kinds of weather to drive her to school. We are in a dead end neighborhood and the bus stop is fairly far away so I just drove her to school. Then I'd have to go back at the end of the day and pick her up. She couldn't take the bus home because she wouldn't have time to change before we have to leave the house again to drive her 45 minutes away to dance. Then I'd have to pick her up again at 9:00 pm. I spent a LOT of time in the car before she started driving.

 

It was hard to do things with the little guys during the day since I had to make sure we were at the school to pick her up. The kids would be tired and cranky from being hauled out of the house so early.

[The Girls' Mom]

For us it looked a bit like this:

 

Everyone up by 6:15.

Trying to get breakfast down sleepy kids that didn't want to eat yet.

Scrambling to get everyone dressed and cleaned up.

Be ready for the bus by 6:45.

Then I'd have a few hours to run errands/clean house on about half the days.

The other half were spent at the school for various reasons: Volunteering (usually busy work like cutting paper because the school doesn't REALLY want you involved) or taking something to school the kids forgot, or picking up one of my children that vomited at least once a week, or picking up the other child because of asthma issues.

Then around 3:30-4 extremely grumpy/hungry kids came home.

Time was often spent consoling one dd or another over some drama with the other school kids.

Then we would spend the evening doing homework/dinner/baths and prepping for the next day. Everyone in bed by 8 at the latest so we could do it all again the next day.

Not to mention the money I spent on lunches, fundraisers, programs, field trips, book fairs, etc.