A New Leaf

It is a well established fact that I am NOT a morning person. Yes, I have six children (eight if you count our "exchange student" and the little boy I babysit). Yes, I homeschool four of my children (while babysitting the aforementioned little boy).  Yes, I have a home-based business, and yes, I have livestock. Unfortunately none of these things have miraculously turned me into a morning person. Rather than adapting to these responsibilities, I have adapt these responsibilities to me.

When my children were young, I introduced them to the joy of snuggling, and as they got older, I taught them how to feed themselves, and admonished them to let sleeping mommies lie! On a typical day, by the time I get up (notice that I did not say wake up, I am often awake and able to shout orders from the command center of my bedroom), my children have fed themselves, clothed themselves, done their chores, and started their schoolwork.

As for my business, there is nothing that can be accomplished before 10:00 am that cannot be accomplished after 10:00 pm. For some reason, my brain goes into overdrive at 10:00 pm. After 10:00 pm, I can solve all of the worlds problems, unfortunately, by the time I accomplish that feat (usually around 1:00 am), my world is asleep, and there is no one to bask in the glory of my omnipotence! (It's lonely after midnight...sigh...)

The only thing that has ever come close to changing my circadian rhythm is my flock of chickens. My what? You heard me, my chickens. (Bad things happen to good chickens when left unattended in the morning!)  I have been known to get up at sunrise just to make sure that everyone is alive and well, but once I train my chickens to behave (or rather once the new birds adapt to the established pecking order), they no longer NEED me until 9 or 10 am (although if I see a kid passing by the doorway of the "command center" before then, I will often holler, "Go let the chickens out!" just to be safe).

As for my new leaf, it really comes down to homeschooling and babysitting.  The little guy whom I babysit arrives at 8:15 each day, which is much better than his summer arrival time, which was the unholy hour of 7:30 am!  Every morning, I would stumble to the front door to let him (and his three sisters!) in, mumble some incoherent drivel to their mother, close the door, and wonder if she was concerned about leaving her children in the care of someone who was barely lucid.  Fortunately, one (or both) of my "early-riser" children would swoop in all bright-eyed and busy-tailed and deliver me from the horror of becoming fully awake at that most unspeakable hour.  (Bless you, Asres and Olivia, you were my salvation!) 

You can only imagine how ecstatic I was when the "other" mother's hours changed, and I did not have to drag myself out of bed until 8:15 am...JOY!  I was so thrilled with this new arrangement, that I actually started setting my alarm for 8:00 am just to pre-wake myself and enjoy that warm, cozy almost awake feeling...you know the one I'm talkin' about...  It's so much better than that just-got-thrown-into-a-freezing-cold-lake-lurching-to-wakefulness experience!  (For the record, when I wake up too early or too quickly, I actually feel physically ill, like I'm going to lose the breakfast that I have not yet eaten...it's kind of a Ghost of Breakfast Past, Present, and Future thing...)  I digress...

Don King

The other major factor contributing to this new leaf "thing" is homeschooling.  I have been a homeschooling momma off and on for more than twelve years, and up until now, I have been able to keep education from interfering with my sleep, but as my kids get older, their subjects are becoming more rigorous and are requiring more of their time...and mine.  And lately, I find that I am spending much of my morning running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and I'm not liking it.  I am frustrated and frazzled.  I am unshowered, unkempt, and quite frankly, I look like Don King!  Enough is enough!

So what, pray tell, is this "new leaf"?  I will be attempting to return to that most unholy hour of 7:30 am...by choice!  (*cue audible gasp*)  No really, don't scoff...I'm serious!  I'm so serious that I have set my alarm for 7:30 for the past two days.  Day one was an epic fail, and I don't really want to talk about it...  But today, today was much better!  I got up at 7:45, and I kind of liked it!  All the livestock was fed by 8:00, and I was able to savor fifteen minutes of silence during which I read my Bible.  I used to think that nothing good could happen before 10:00 am, and I was wrong.  Perhaps I have been wrong about 7:30, too...  Wish me luck...I'm bound to backslide, but today is the first day of the rest of my life...CARPE DIEM!

PS:  I know that it may seem ironic (absurd?) that someone like me would call their blog "Carpe Diem!", as I tend to "sneak up" on the day rather than "seize" it, but I am a work in progress, and "carpe diem" is what I aspire to!

Magnifying...

This semester, the kids and I are studying astronomy, and we're currently working through a chapter on the sun, so yesterday, in the interest of science, we pulled out the ol' magnifying glasses to see what the sun can do.  What started with leaves progressed to cardboard, worms, and army men (I'll spare you the worms and army men...), and I must say that in all my homeschooling years, I have never seen my students so quiet and focused!  Who would have thunk it?!  From now on, when I want peace and quite, I'm just going to pull out the magnifying glasses!

Easy Test Maker

I found the coolest site today, and I just have to share... I finally received our Apologia "Exploring Creation With Astronomy" textbook, but this particular curriculum is really into notebooks, and...well...we're not, which is why I didn't bother to order any. (Actually, Olivia might really dig notebooking, but I'm a no-fluff worksheet gal, so she'll have to get creative on her own time. Don't cry for her, she's used to it!) Anyway, I decided that  in lieu of notebooking, I would like to create worksheets to measure my students' comprehension and reinforce the material covered, but I was too lazy to make them from scratch, and I figured if I can make a cake from a box, why not a worksheet, so I queried my friend Google and discovered the FREE Easy Test Maker...SCORE! (How's that for a run-on sentence?!)

The ETM allows you to create tests, worksheets, and quizzes using multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, short answer, and true/false formats. The ETM also allows you to save the files and download them as Word documents. It will even generate an answer key, and did I mention it's free?! (I haven't been this much in love since I met my husband!) I know that this will probably not appeal to you creative types, but for the "git-er-done" mom like me, this is an answered prayer!

Glorious Day!

Yesterday, a good friend and I took our kids kayaking, and my, oh my, what a glorious day it was!  We launched from Northrup Point and paddled until we found a beach where someone had constructed the framework for a teepee.  On that beach, the kids also found natural clay deposits, and Olivia created a little pinch pot.  The weather was gorgeous, the water was like glass, and in spite of the fact that it was October 1, it was one of the most enjoyable days of my summer!