The Pirate’s Life For Us

Many a documentary have been produced about pirates and how they live(d).  Blockbuster movies have tried to capture their essence.  Rides at Disney World have attempted to portray the mystery.  And still we wonder about them.  Our curiosity peaks at their mention.  Who are pirates and what do they do all day?

Well, wonder no longer people!  In honor of…

 

…I’m going to share a-day-in-the-life-of-home-schooling-pirates.  Buckle your seatbelts…this is bound to be a bumpy ride!

Here’s what happened on…

5:30 AM

My alarm on my cell phone goes off.  I press snooze four times.  By 5:55, I’m up and stumbling into the kitchen.  I see Big D ironing a shirt for work, and I have a momentary wave of guilt wash over me for not having the foresight to get that done myself.  I assuage this feeling by putting together a lunch for him.  He’s already started the coffee, so I go take a shower while the stimulants continue to brew.

When I’m finished and dressed, Big D is sitting at the table reading…

I make myself a L-A-R-G-E cup of coffee and disappear upstairs to read e-mail, catch up on the news and blog.

7:00AM

Both older kids are up now, and they make themselves cereal and get dressed.  I finish up blogging just in time because Jack Henry is awake now and ready to be fed.

I get him dressed and employ Harrison to entertain him for a few minutes so that I can make my bed and do a couple of other things downstairs.

While I nurse the baby, I use my laptop one-handed to surf facebook and read some blogs.  The kids get started on some independent work downstairs at the kitchen table.

8:15AM

The baby is fed, and we’re ready to start for real.  I strap Jack Henry into his highchair and sprinkle a handful of Gerber puffs on the tray to keep him busy for a while.

My stomach growls, and I realize that I forgot to eat breakfast myself.  I fix a quick bowl of Kashi with fresh blueberries and down it.  Jack Henry is totally happy with his puffs, and the older kids seem busy, so I decide to go do my make-up and hair since Annaleigh has a tutorial class today and we’ll be out and about.  While I am in my bathroom, Annaleigh and Harrison have some kind of wild, knock-down-drag-out fight.  I come in to referee, yell my head off at them, threaten them with expulsion from TaeKwonDo if they ever lay a finger on one another again, and then, a little hoarse from this episode, proceed to finish my hair and make-up.

When I come back, I read our Bible passage to much more subdued kids, and we pray together.

9:00AM

I go over a to-do list of assignments with each kid and make sure they have it all written down in their planners.  I begin a language arts lesson with Harrison by copying some sentences to classify on our chalkboard.

He finishes that while I feed Jack Henry some cereal and fruit.  Annaleigh packs up for her tutorial science class, and Harrison gathers some things that he can do in the car, like his math lesson and a reader.  I realize that I have something on the front of my shirt, so I quickly change it.

9:35AM

We’re out the door and on our way to Annaleigh’s science class.

We drop her off at 9:45.  I try to take a picture of her going into the back of the church, but she’s embarrassed because some of her friends are standing around.  Eight graders!  I take it anyway…

Sometimes the boys and I just sit in the parking lot in the van and do school and listen to the radio and read since the class in only an hour and fifteen minutes, but today I go to Target.  They have diapers on sale, and I have a coupon.  I also have to fill up my van.

I also pick up a few more items that are on sale and that I have coupons for, and I marvel that I saved $14….ch-ching!

This Target has a Starbucks inside, so do I reward my frugality with a $2 coffee?

Oh yes, I do!

11:10AM

We pick Annaleigh up from class, and she is thrilled that I am still taking pictures of her.

In the backseat, the boys work on math and a bottle of juice.

We stop off at Kroger.  It’s highly unusual for me to do this during the week (except for milk runs), let alone during the school day, but Harrison had a baseball tournament all weekend long, and this is the first chance I’ve had to get to the store.  If I don’t go now, we will have to eat half a box of crackers, 12 grapes, and chocolate pudding for dinner.

12:15PM

We arrive home.  Jack Henry is passed out cold, so I leave him in his carseat and put groceries away.

Annaleigh makes lunch for herself and Harrison.  They choose HotPockets, which I just bought on-sale and with a coupon. (I saved $23 dollars at Kroger….that’s $37 for the day!!!)

I love that they still use their Princess and Star Wars plates.

While they eat, I get up a groggy Jack Henry, determine he is too tired to sit at the table to eat lunch, so I nurse him and put him down for his Round One nap.  I come back downstairs and warm up some leftovers of meatloaf and mashed potatoes for my lunch.  Jack Henry is in his crib all of about fifteen minutes before he starts howling.  I bring him down and feed him lunch.

He likes it.  I promise.

He then goes down for Round Two nap.  He fusses for about ten minutes and then passes out.

1:30PM

The big kids are back at the table, working on more math, vocabulary, and spelling.

While they finish up, I sit on the sofa and read aloud a chapter from each of these…

…and scratch Clara’s ears because she insists on being in my face the entire time.

After I read, we all kinda go our separate ways.  Harrison plays Lord of the Rings on the computer.  Annaleigh reads over her drama script.  I start some laundry, clean up the kitchen a little and veg on the couch with my laptop.

4:00PM

Jack Henry wakes up.  I nurse him again.  Then I start dinner prep.  I already have some chicken in the crockpot, so I put some rice in the steamer and make a salad.  Annaleigh and Harrison entertain Jack Henry on the back porch with some bubbles.

5:20PM

I realize all of sudden that I forgot to take Harrison to his TaeKwonDo class, which started at 5:10.  Oh well.  He can go on Thursday.  Big D gets home, changes clothes and plays a little catch with Harrison in the backyard for a little while.

While I make final dinner preparations, the kids unload the dishwasher, and Jack Henry spends some time in his playpen.

6:00PM

We finally sit down for dinner.

After we eat, Big D feeds Jack Henry his favorite food:  a Yo-Baby banana yogurt.  I clean up the kitchen, and then help Annaleigh with a nagging math problem, while Harrison finishes labeling his map of Alabama for geopraphy.

7:15PM

Big D and Harrison go to the garage so that Harrison can work on his pitching with the backstop a little bit.  I take Jack Henry upstairs and get him cleaned up and in his jammies.  Annaleigh checks her e-mail and facebook.  Jack Henry and I watch a Praise Baby DVD and read (and chew on) some books.

 

8:15PM

I nurse Jack Henry for the final time and put him to bed.  Meanwhile, the kids take turns getting showers.  They brush their teeth, read for a while, and both are settled by 9:30.  Big D and I also get ready for bed.

10:00PM

Big D is at the kitchen table working on his laptop.  I join him and read a chapter of Crazy Love.  I read aloud a Psalm.  We decide to log into Annaleigh’s facebook account just to make sure she doesn’t have a secret boyfriend or something.  She doesn’t.  Big D changes her profile picture to a goofy shot he had taken over the weekend.  I tell him that Annaleigh will die a thousand deaths when she sees it.  He leaves it on there and logs out.

I go upstairs to begin loading the 2, 542 pictures that I took today.

11:15PM

I look at the time and gasp.  I had meant to be in bed by 10:45.  Big D is in bed but is still awake.  We talk for a while and he rubs a knot I’ve developed throughout the day in my neck.  I check to make sure the baby monitor is on, set my alarm for 5:30AM and finally, I go to sleep.

So now you know what pirates really do all day.  Go and tell all your friends.

That was fun, wasn’t it?  I think I’ll do this once a week.

Or not.