Reality

I had a plan before Drew arrived about how I would get homeschooling accomplished while juggling a newborn. I promised an update as to how far off my ideal schedule was. Where to begin? :)

Here is the ideal schedule with reality inserted in italics where it differs from the ideal:

6am-I wake up and get dressed. I can not drag myself out of bed before the baby has to get up.
6:30am-Baby wakes up and nurses, dress and change diaper
7am-big kids all wake up, dress themselves, eat breakfast, unload dishwasher (I finish getting dressed or with the baby and do the girls' hair.) Since I have not been able to get up before the baby, we have not been going to daily Mass yet. So, I have been letting the big kids sleep until 7:30/8am. I get dressed and ready.
7:40am big kids get shoes on
7:50am driving out of garage (Baby falls asleep peacefully in the car seat.)
8-8:30am Mass (Baby sleeping) Big kids dressed and eat breakfast on their own. I do the girls' hair.
9am (home from Mass, baby still sleeping) Isaac heads to room time for one hour and girls start Math. At 8:30am, Hannah is practicing piano. Then I do the girls' Grammar and Math lesson.
9:30am Baby wakes and nurses while I watch the girls do Handwriting and Spelling practice
10am Isaac does his lessons while the girls read aloud to each other (Baby is awake and happy to watch and listen)
10:30am I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed
10:45am On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the girls will do History, and on Mondays and Wednesdays they will do Science (I may have Isaac watch an educational video here or let him join in or give him free time) I haven't had him watch a video yet. I think it would cause problems with Genna right now if she thought she was missing out on a TV show while doing work. He has been doing his activity boxes or writing with dry-erase marker on the easel.
11:45am I make lunch while one of the girls reads aloud to me (Free play together for the other two kids)
12:00pm eat lunch
12:30pm Baby miraculously wakes up at the right time, change diaper, and I nurse him while the kids finish up eating. I usually have to wake him up at this time.
12:45pm I read to, pray with, and sing to Isaac (possibly while finishing up nursing) so he can wind down for his nap. Sometimes this is a little bit later.
1pm Isaac is napping, the girls both go to rest time in separate rooms with timers set for 30 minutes for free reading then they can play quietly and independently (Hannah will sometimes do her German work on the computer) and I get alone time with my baby boy. Drew never makes it awake long enough for me to have alone time with him. This is his sleepiest time of day.
1:30pm I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed
1:45pm Baby is sleeping like an angel and I get some free time, probably to nap
3pm All three big kids get up from nap/out of rest time for Religion on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Art on Mondays and Wednesdays. We have put Art lessons on hold and try to do one formal Religion lesson a week so far.
3:30pm Baby wakes up right on schedule, diaper change, nursing (Kids get free play all together.) Drew wakes at 3pm very regularly for this nap.
4:30pm I do the nap time routine with the baby, diaper check, and put him to bed and start to wonder if I am in the Twilight zone, just repeating the same thing over and over all day, everyday.
4:45pm Baby is sleeping and I am cooking dinner, big kids are still playing (May allow 30 minutes of their favorite TV show here some days.)
5/5:30pm eat dinner as a family
5:30pm Baby wakes up right on schedule, diaper change, nursing while I eat dinner
6pm big kids do their chores and check off chore charts, I clean the kitchen up
6:30pm I get the baby ready for bed with a bath and jammies (Big kids may bathe/shower at same time)
6:45pm I/husband do the bedtime routine with the baby while the kids head up stairs to get ready for bed. Brian has been doing the bedtime routine for Drew at 7:30pm, but this varies from day to day since he has a hard time at this time.
7pm Baby is sleeping and big kids get stories, prayers, and songs I nurse the baby again somewhere in here.
7:30pm All kids in bed and off to dream land (I may do a cluster feed here for the baby and put him straight back to bed) Kids have been in bed closer to 8pm lately.
10pm I nurse the baby (called a dreamfeed) while he still sleeps and put him back down.
10:30pm I fall into bed exhausted, praying that he sleeps through the night, only to start this whole crazy and idealistic life over again at 6am Drew is not sleeping through the night, but I do go to sleep praying that he will soon.


Whew! Writing that down makes me feel better about where we are. That doesn't seem like we are as far from our goals as I thought we were. This schedule was written before we were signed up for extracurricular activities. Hannah has piano and CCD on Mondays and AHG twice a month on Thursdays. Both girls have soccer (which is almost over) on the weekends and their Best Friends of Jesus club once a month too. The big improvement I want to make to our schedule is to make it to Mass once a week in November and, hopefully, move it to twice a week in December for Advent. I would also like to add back in the Art lessons once the weather gets colder. Right now I am encouraging them to get outside in the afternoon while they still can.