Ready for Monday?

[prairiewindmomma]

I am not.

Christmas is put away. I ordered groceries. The dishwasher and washing machine are humming. I am sitting down to finish lesson planning for the week... and I am just not ready to pick up my regular routine again. 
 

We will. We need to. But I need to plan some fun things in to life to look forward to.

 

Where are you at?

[JustEm]

Christmas is not put away yet!!  I am not ready for it to be.  But we are starting school up again tomorrow and I'm hoping it runs smoothly.  Meals are planned for the week, groceries are bought, laundry is folded and ready for kids to put away in the morning, and I'm feeling good about the year.  School planning may have just gone out the window though because we may get a puppy.  If we do, I'm changing the rest of the school year to revolve around the puppy.  Kids will each keep a journal about the process of all this puppy.  They'll learn to build a fence,  track the expenses involved, learn to train the dog, do agility training, and other stuff.  It just seems like the easiest way to focus on the puppy while not letting school fall out of focus.

[BusyMom5]

Christmas is put away and my house is super clean.  I've got my week planned, tomorrow is a very light day, and I'm planning a half-week bc I know it will take a bit to get back into the groove and we've got a few other things planned this week.

[Ali in OR]

Inside decorations are put away, some outdoor decorations are down and in the garage, house is clean, I have to wake up early again tomorrow, and I took full advantage of break by not doing anything for my job. And now after catching up a bit here, I'll post a jamboard so my fellow EA's and I can help with tomorrow's algebra 1 lesson, send an email to our computer tech guy, and start to look at the geometry class I'm supporting second semester. And maybe read and definitely get to bed on time. 

[Junie]

Ha. :)

We are not starting school this week.

We haven't put anything away.  In fact, the house is in disarray because dh painted our bedroom last week and I had to move 1,000 books.  (Well, I didn't actually count them...)

We still have our two college kids home, so I'm going to let the kids all hang out together at least for one more week before I put anyone back to work.

Also, since ds20 is home, dh lost the room where he was teleworking (ds20's bedroom).  So, he will be teleworking from my bedroom which is where we usually homeschool.

We school all year and no one is graduating this spring, so I'm not worried about an extra week or two of Christmas vacation.

[theelfqueen]

We have a general lesson plan this week ... I haven't decided whether to start just the outside stuff (Japanese class, Mark Rober's class, ground school) or everything (math, English, History) or somewhere between. I will have to make that up tomorrow lol 

We don't take down Christmas til Epiphany. I haven't planned meals for this week yet and grocery shopping will need to be happening- probably instacart. 

[slackermom]

I'm as ready as I get, I suppose.

I hadn't set up a January calendar yet, so I found out today that my 16yo and I have medical appts at the same time on Monday (mine is zoom, kid's isn't).  I had to enlist my ex to handle transportation for the kid's appt.

Kid also starts an intensive 2 week online CC class tomorrow.

I never decorated for Christmas, as I am trying to just focus on decluttering. Ex has all the decorations in storage anyway. and he had covid in December, so, nope.

[Condessa]

No.  

I’m close to panicking.  How am I going to do this!?  Yes, I’ve pared down and made plans and reorganized teacher-intensive subjects onto the two days per week Ri usually doesn’t have appointments.  But seriously, practically speaking, is it even possible to homeschool six elementary students in two days a week?  I keep looking for a way out of this, and there isn’t one.  We can’t afford to move over the river into the neighboring state.

 I thought I at least had the babysitter issue taken care of, with two great babysitters generally available during the school day who can manage the kids doing their more independent subjects, but now that is falling through.  My go-to sitter decided to get a full time job, and my second sitter decided to go attend college in person this semester, and so is not in town. Even my number three sitter with worse availability has had a family member with COVID, so won’t be available for several weeks at least.  In the past I have had an awful time trying to find anyone up for daytime babysitting of so many kids plus managing schooling with them.

 I don’t know what to do.  Everything has worked out okay so far, and I am trying to let go of the worrying and just get through one day, one week at a time.  But it’s not working.  I am okay while I am busy going, going, going.  But when I stop. . . I want to be savoring these moments with my family together, and instead whenever I have time to slow down and think, I unravel.  

[Farrar]

I feel personally attacked by this question.

Kidding.

Mostly.

Christmas is mostly put away. Kids helped. One of my favorite ornaments fell and broke as the tree was being taken down today though. Bah humbug. I'm mostly caught up with work stuff for clients. Not caught up at all with teaching stuff or curriculum writing stuff. And my sleep schedule is wonky as all get out. Sigh. Dh is doing laundry. I stocked the house so well pre-holidays that I don't think we need to go to the grocery store for another week or two at least. We get a weekly delivery box that has fresh fruits and veggies as well as milk, eggs, and a loaf of fresh bread so I don't have to think about that stuff much.

[Loowit]

We got inside decorations put away.  Lights outside are going to be up until next weekend, may or may not turn them on after Epiphany.

I am not ready to go back to school tomorrow, but I think the routine would be good for everyone.  DD is back to work/school tomorrow and DH is back to work, so the boys and I should get schoolwork done. 

[PeterPan]

56 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Christmas is put away.

You're more of a woman than I am! I spent the day napping and researching things to do in (pick warm vacation spot). I even got myself distracted with the idea of driving over to ... to snorkel a bit, which seems sorta crazy.

So that means I did *not* do the photocopying to start the fun Bible activities to go with the new Bible story book, oops. I didn't print anything. And we haven't finished going through our interoception lessons.

So FUN will be putting away Christmas stuff (haha) and watching Get Smart. We started a marathon of it on New Years and we're dutifully plowing through. Ds thinks it's great fun to script lines from it, hahaha. 

I don't think I'll really be back on track till I get the house tidied and put back in working order. Right now it has the subtle accumulation of stuff that you overlook with the holidays (cookies, containers, etc.). We need to get our school work on track and our cleaning will alternate. It helps that I did not take completely off thankfully. We did a couple days of work last week, so we're rather in mode. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by PeterPan

[klmama]

We are starting in the a.m.  While dc works on assignments, I'll be taking down the tree and other inside decorations.  The outside ones will stay up longer.  

[PeterPan]

22 minutes ago, Condessa said:

is it even possible to homeschool six elementary students in two days a week?

Hold it, back up. Were you the one with big therapy driving? You're going into February and the worst time of the year. DON'T DO THIS TO YOURSELF. Right now make a pact with yourself to be KIND to yourself. I would do 15 minutes a day of academics and read aloud to those kids. Read aloud as much as you can. Give them audiobooks a lot. Do a tiny amount of math if possible. Let them write/type for 5 minutes. 

But really, be kind to yourself. It's ok NOT to do a lot of the things you feel guilty about right now. Life will not end. They may be better for the change of pace. Seriously.

[PeterPan]

22 minutes ago, Farrar said:

One of my favorite ornaments fell and broke as the tree was being taken down today though. Bah humbug.

We had a year the whole tree tipped. I kid you not. And I had collected/bought a glass ornament for dd each year. And my mother had given her these hallmark things. And they all went CRASH BANG down. 

I kept the pieces and chunks for a couple years, feeling so guilty, and finally I cleaned them out. It was awful, but life goes on. Now we only break unbreakable ornaments.

[PeterPan]

32 minutes ago, Condessa said:

I want to be savoring these moments with my family together, and instead whenever I have time to slow down and think, I unravel.

When I was doing a lot for my ds, driving to a lot of therapy sessions, I had these times I would just SIT in a stupor. And I really felt guilty about that, like why am I sitting when I need to be up doing stuff! And finally one of his workers was like hello, your mind can only take so much. So many decisions, so many things. 

If you want to survive, you have to give yourself permission to take breaks, unravel, sit and do nothing. Whatever it takes to keep you fresh and healthy and sane, you have to do it. You said there are a bunch of kids, and they can bear some of these burdens. People can chip in and make it work. Siblings can buddy each other. They can help each other do math worksheets or make sure they read or fill out their checklists for the day or do their chores. Everyone can chip in and they can, to a good degree, take care of each other. Only you can take care of you.

And as usual, pay no attention to that if it doesn't apply. 

Edited January 4, 2021 by PeterPan

[Farrar]

32 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

We had a year the whole tree tipped. I kid you not. And I had collected/bought a glass ornament for dd each year. And my mother had given her these hallmark things. And they all went CRASH BANG down. 

I kept the pieces and chunks for a couple years, feeling so guilty, and finally I cleaned them out. It was awful, but life goes on. Now we only break unbreakable ornaments.

The year the tree fell when I was a kid is an infamous Christmas story. It took FOREVER to get it up in the first place. It just would not stay in that stupid stand. Finally, my mom and her bf got it up and sturdy. We decorated it. It was super late and past bedtimes. The last ornament was placed. My mom went to turn out the lights so we could appreciate it. As we were all going, "Oooh!" in appreciation of the tree in the darkness, it literally turned into, "OOOHHHH!" in horror as the tree tipped forward and the whole thing crashed down. 

I'm sure some ornaments broke that night. And my mom lived through it and so did I. Alas. 

[Shoeless]

Christmas is maybe 10% put away, but I'm in no rush. Kiddo has math club tomorrow, but no other schoolwork is happening this week. 

[Eos]

Tree still up but getting very dry.  I usually leave it up til Twelfth Night, so another few days will be fine.  Dd24 gets a covid test today, she's flying back to Switzerland on Wednesday.  She will quarantine for 10 days, then have her thesis defense a day later.  Ds will drive her to the airport then continue back to college.  Dd16 starts up school today, which feels just right.  She taught herself to darn over the holiday, and is now pulling out beloved old sweaters and doing quite nice darning work.  Older dd has been tatting a shawl for me, a piece of which I received as a teaser Christmas gift, and ds is needle felting. We all feel anxious about dd and ds leaving, telling each other it's going to be ok.

[mom31257]

I'm up. I've already done several things. I'm still not mentally ready. 

This is the first day of ds' last semester of school, so I should be motivated, right? I'm not sad it's almost over because I am excited for our kids to go to college and have a life beyond home. 

I'm a bit apprehensive how life will change. I need to go to work full time. Dh is going to look for a job farther north in our state, so my looking might be on hold until we know if he can find a job elsewhere. 

Christmas decorations are still up. I love them and always want to leave them up as long as we can. 

I start back teaching math classes on Zoom in just a bit. It's all local homeschoolers, but some live as much as 45 minutes away. I don't feel quite ready for that, but I know I'll enjoy it once we get going. 

I would have loved one more week of Christmas break, but it is what it is. 

 

[RootAnn]

Nm

Edited January 9, 2021 by RootAnn

[Carrie12345]

We’re struggling to get on track, lol.

Christmas is put away except for the annually forgotten something or other. (Kitchen towels this year.)
I can hear the boys outside struggling with taking the trash and recycling to the road thanks to yesterday’s snow.
Fridge got mostly cleaned out last night with a double check this morning.
Grocery pick up at 5 because I waited so long to place the order.

The fact that I have to go out to clean off my car and shovel is screwing me up. Procrastinating on that means I’m also procrastinating on showering, starting laundry, cleaning the rest of the kitchen, coaxing everyone to do school work, etc., etc.

[ScoutTN]

Not ready!!

Christmas is partly down, but the tree is still up.This is just not going to be one of those efficient years on undecorating for me.

Ds has today as his last vacation day. He needs the structure of school and the rest of us need him outta here!

Dd, my homeschooler, needs to be up and working, but Wilson Hill math is her only class that meets this week.

Scouts and AHG are back on this week. My tutoring schedule is not quite full, but I do have two students today. Grocery pick up at 9:00 for produce and laundry detergent.

[Not_a_Number]

We actually did a 4 day week last week, because I'm mean like that 😛 . (But we also don't really celebrate Christmas.) 

But today is our first full week since the break! So that should be fun... I hope. 

[fairfarmhand]

I’m ready but I’m likely the only one in the house. I love routine and since my dhs mother got covid, went to the hospital, passed, and then I got covid at her funeral, three has been little routine here. That all started December 1! 
 

lots to do this week though. 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, fairfarmhand said:

I’m ready but I’m likely the only one in the house. I love routine and since my dhs mother got covid, went to the hospital, passed, and then I got covid at her funeral, three has been little routine here. That all started December 1! 
 

lots to do this week though. 

You've had a busy month there...

How's your family doing, COVID-wise? 

[mommyoffive]

Not ready at all.  Not at all.  Normally I make the kids do some school on breaks just to keep up routine and not have a fight when things start back.  Well I didn't do a thing this break.  Tree is still up.  I don't want to start back in the routine.   😞

[Porridge]

Not ready!! But here we go!

 

[SKL]

Nope.  I did enjoy the 3-day weekend, but I didn't get ahead on things like I should have.

We don't put Christmas away until after January 6, so that will wait until the coming weekend.

I have tons of client work, but I guess I'm glad I took a break before diving back in.

I just remembered that it is my duty to log in and look at my kids' online grades, which I really don't want to do.

And I didn't sleep well last night, so that's not a great way to start off ....

 

[JustEm]

Well it looks is 10am, everyone is fed! But half the kids can't find their school stuff. I'm done with today already, ha

[Lady Florida.]

Christmas is not put away! All the indoor and outdoor decorations are down, including the outside lights. The tree though is still up. When it comes down and the ornaments get boxed up, everything will need to go in the attic. That last job goes to dh or ds. 

I have a curbside grocery order to pickup between 12 and 1.

Dinner is planned for today but not for the rest of the week.

I qualify for the vaccine in my county. This morning I managed to get through to the scheduling line. Not to schedule, but to leave my name and number so they can call me back to schedule. That's a huge step because I couldn't even get that far last week. The health dept. booked all their appointments and I couldn't even get through to this other group, so getting this far today was exciting.

Dh is asleep because he worked the midnight to 8am shift so there's not a lot of big (aka noisy) stuff I can do until he gets up. I'm doing small, quiet stuff like meal planning, making phone calls (in a room not close to our bedroom door), and just reading.

[fairfarmhand]

3 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

You've had a busy month there...

How's your family doing, COVID-wise? 

We're pretty much all recovered, though my dh did have a harder time than anyone else. He still has a bit of coughing but no fever for several days. Covid was bad for the grownups in this family! 

The annoying thing about Covd/funeral/recovery is that none of the fun stuff or chores that I wanted to complete over Christmas happened, and we didn't even get to see family, so we're trying to catch up on that too. The chores (like painting my bedroom ceiling) won't get done till spring break. We're going to see my dad and my dhs brothers Friday and Saturday, which would originally wouldve happened over our Christmas break. We we're only going to have a 4 day week this week,

[*Jessica*]

I wasn’t ready, and then I woke up with a horrid headache so I took ibuprofen and acetaminophen and Claritin and Benadryl and put a warm compress on my sinuses.  I promptly fell asleep and woke up at 11:30.  My 9yo had cleaned the living room messes up, done her cursive copy work and math, made herself waffles for breakfast, brushed her teeth!, and was watching educational television.  Oh, and she answered the phone and FaceTime when my grandma and mom called.  I slept through it all.  My 15 and 17yo were also up and doing schoolwork!  
 

We still haven’t put the Christmas stuff away, but we’re planning to take the ornaments off the tree and redecorate it for the rest of the holidays this year, or at least for Valentines Day and Easter.  The twinkly lights are so cheerful and we finally found a place for the tree that keeps it out of the way, so we don’t need it to be taken down.  The rest of the holiday decorations will get put away this weekend.  

[cintinative]

We started back today and it was ugly! Because of my stellar planning abilities, we stopped math the day before my oldest was due for a geometry test. Of course, we had forgotten a lot of theorems and such over the past two weeks of break. So I broke out yet another resource to review the chapter instead.  

We are also due for a Spanish test in two days.  LOL. 

Not feeling my best today but we'll get through.

 

[alisoncooks]

Christmas is put away and the house is tidy. (Indoor only. Outdoor stuff is soaking wet -- I'm going to let things dry a bit.) 

We've done math and reading so far today. I'm struggling with content subjects and extras. Like, terribly, and I'm panicking for my 9th grader.  I've got a plan for moving forward; now to find the...something? Energy? Time?

[wendyroo]

Today is actually going swimmingly.

Christmas was all put away over the weekend...well, the indoor lights are still up, but I am calling those winter décor and savoring the brightness they add to these dull, grey days for a few more weeks.

I finished up school planning and prep last night while watching TV (a new Great Courses series by John McWhorter!)

Grocery shopping happened at 6 this morning, which is later than I like, but the stores are still on reduced Covid hours.

The kids had all been doing a light school/chore schedule over break, so today was not too abrupt a transition.

Elliot got up early and proceeded to smear chocolate frosting over much of the kitchen, but his ABA therapist came shortly thereafter, and he dealt with enforcing clean up...and supervising the large tantrum that Elliot subsequently threw...so neither was too disruptive to the rest of us.

Nobody forgot too much, so other than an extra minute of two of review in some subjects, they were able to carry on from where they left off.

And now Peter is skyping with his Spanish tutor, Elliot is still working on school work due to his rough morning, the younger two are out playing in the snow and sledding down our itty bitty hill, and I just finished prep work for turkey and wild rice soup...which the kids will inevitably strain and sort and poke at suspiciously. 😏

Overall, a promising start to the day and week.

[prairiewindmomma]

Our Monday is rolling along.  Youngest woke up with a headache, so we did abbreviated school with her.  Older dd has been working since 6am.  I worked for a couple of hours before school started at 8.  I think I'll head to bed early tonight, but it feels good to find a familiar rhythm of productivity....even if all of us would rather be reading books and snuggled up under blankets.

[Condessa]

In case anyone was wondering, the week went okay.  My freak out was unnecessary.  My rearranged schedule does work.  It makes for long school days on Tuesdays and Thursdays (for me more than the kids).  But everyone got everything done on my very pared down list.  

I did have issues with a few kids not completing all their independent work on the days with the babysitter, and then being shocked and upset when they had to catch up the next day.  Dd10 was especially outraged that I was forcing her to do twice as much math in one day.  But I think maybe now that we have set the precedent, they know they aren't going to be able to get out of schoolwork that way.

And I'm holding things together much better.  Honestly the days have been so packed since we started back up, I haven't had much time to unravel.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Condessa said:

In case anyone was wondering, the week went okay.  My freak out was unnecessary.  My rearranged schedule does work.  It makes for long school days on Tuesdays and Thursdays (for me more than the kids).  But everyone got everything done on my very pared down list.  

I did have issues with a few kids not completing all their independent work on the days with the babysitter, and then being shocked and upset when they had to catch up the next day.  Dd10 was especially outraged that I was forcing her to do twice as much math in one day.  But I think maybe now that we have set the precedent, they know they aren't going to be able to get out of schoolwork that way.

And I'm holding things together much better.  Honestly the days have been so packed since we started back up, I haven't had much time to unravel.

Glad that it went better than you thought.   I bet the kids will do better this week and the next, now that they know the schedule.  

[Condessa]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

Glad that it went better than you thought.   I bet the kids will do better this week and the next, now that they know the schedule.  

I'm hoping so.  I am so tired after this week, but I'm hoping my home days won't be as long if we're not having to make up things they should have done the day before as well as getting in all of my direct-teaching time.