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Glimpse: Tuesday- airplanes and slides

 See Monday here.

Tuesday of our glimpse into a week of homeschooling:

Today is our Homeschool group day. We planned a field trip for today to the home of a local man who has built [and flies] his own airplane as well as many model airplanes. The older kids are finishing up a course in aeronautics and this is the wrap up.
We had a switcheroo yesterday evening. Dear friends of ours, who also homeschool and are in our homeschool group, helped cut wood at my parents’ yesterday evening. Their oldest child happens to be Maiden’s very bestest friend and their 3^rd child is very good friends with Sassafras. So Sass went home with our friends and their oldest came home with Maiden. The two girls camped out on the living room floor and watched a movie before finally falling asleep around midnight.

7:40 am: Momma wakes up, has prayer and devotions before setting foot out of bed. I quickly shower (and pray some more) and then coax Mr. Conductor from his warm blanket cocoon. He didn’t care for having the bedroom all to himself last night and missed “the sissies” as he calls them. I put him in the living room with the girls and he snuggles in, content to just lay there with them. They, the girls, are still out.
8:15 am: Coffee! I’ve got cinnamon rolls in the oven (menu change due to guest) and a bowl of grapes, strawberries and banana slices ready and waiting. I get on the computer to send out a weekly email to the youth in my youth group plus a couple of other needed to do’s for my job as director of youth ministries.
8:35 am: I’ve got a couple of emails that need immediate attention and I’m a bit flustered by one. I wake the girls up and hustle them to the shower. Mr. C comes and sits on my lap while I type.
8:50 am: Mr. C goes off to get dressed and the girls are making a lot of noise in the bathroom. I’ve answered one email but am totally unsure about the 2^nd one. I pray.
9 am: The girls are dressed and taking the rolls out of the oven for me. They ask to pop in a short cartoon and I let them. Neither our friends nor our family are big on TV watching (neither of us has reg. TV access- no antennas, no cable, no satellites yet we survive!) so this is a special treat.
9:30 am: I’ve finally finished on the computer and realize that I didn’t make our sack lunches for today. I enlist the girls help in assembly line sandwich prep only to find that we have no bread thawed but the nasty stuff with the seeds in it that we got for free that none of us like to eat . . . . we make sandwiches out of hotdog buns and dub them silly-wiches.
9:45 am: We are suppose to be leaving for the field trip but are still finishing lunch prep.
9:55 am: We’ve packed the car and are finally on the road- we are suppose to be at the airplane hanger at 10 am- it is about a 10 minute drive. We will be late- again. Maiden’s dear friend points out that we’re always late and so not to worry- everyone will expect it. Gee, thanks.
10:06 am: I have passed the driveway to the hanger and back up. I count cars- hooray! We are not the last ones here. Sigh. I’ve got to do better than this. Nobody is worried that we’re 6 minutes late and I am sure that Maiden’s friend is right- its expected. The kids are divided into two groups. While group one tours the hanger, group 2 meets with the owner’s wife and she tells them the most amazing story of God’s intervention when they had a horrific plan crash in the mid-80s. Not only do we get to see up close a  really cool homemade airplane but we are blessed with a story of God’s love and care of us. Too cool for words.

11:20 am: The homeschool gang is on the road and heading for my home. I live 5 blocks from the park the group has planned on going to for lunch and play. The park does not have a bathroom; I have two. I pray that we left things respectable enough and that the toilets are all flushed.
11:45 am: We’re heading for the park after 20-some people have used our two bathrooms. One of the few times I’ve been thankful for city sewer hook-up.
11:50 am to 1:40 pm: We play at the park, eat lunch, walk the boardwalk along the St. Joseph River and generally laugh, visit and have fun. Mr. C stops to dump about 4 pounds of pebbles out of his shoes before he hops in the car, tired, dirty and happy- ready to go (for once). I am thankful he kicked off the shoes before getting in the car.
1:45 pm: We are home. A quick clean up with washcloths and everyone is grabbing a book and laying down to rest. Ahh. The girls are both reading school books- working ahead.

Working ahead is good because I just found out that we’ve got to cram two days of school into one tomorrow. I had to make an appointment for the car for Thursday morning. We have no air conditioning. We are going south on vacation in 2.5 weeks. I drive a black car and it was 78 degrees today. My mechanic, a.k.a. my brother-in-law, is pretty sure he just needs to recharge the a/c. My sister offers to meet me at the shop and take me out for coffee while he does this. I call my mom and she agrees to take the kiddos for the morning but wants to be outside exploring and such, not inside doing school. Hence the need to cram two days into one.
This wasn’t in my plan when I decided this was the week to give everyone a glimpse into our homeschooling but these things do happen and one needs to be flexible. It is the end of the school year and their schedule is a bit more relaxed right now than say a month or so ago so it really won’t be that big a deal to combine two days.
And so another homeschooling day comes to a close.

I enjoy reading about your days :)

5:20 PM, 2008-Apr-23 .. Posted by lancelotacres

Hi Amy, I just wanted to let you know that I am enjoying your 'week of homeschooling', and look forward to the rest of the week.

Hugs,
Lisa

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5:23 PM, 2008-Apr-23 .. Posted by marys4littlelambs

It sounds like you have an awesome homeschool group! I am hoping to find a good one this fall, but I'm a little apprehensive about joining a new group it's always hard...I just love hearing about your days at school! Can't wait for the rest! Blessings, Mary