I got up early this morning after a night full of contractions. Some of them were strong enough to wake me. I even had a bad dream related to… my cervix. (I won’t share the details.)

I felt tired and grumpy and looked like a train wreck. Ruby woke up too early and was a fussbudget. Needless to say, I wasn’t very positive about how our first day back to home school was going to go.

First Day Back to Home School, 2012

Left: Sadie, 6, and 1st grade Math. Middle: Mama with large (12 days overdue!) baby bump and instructor text for First Language Lessons For the Well Trained Mind, Level 4. Right: Ilana, 9, with 4th grade Math.

But … things actually went surprisingly well.

To make things a little easier on myself, I decided that just for today, we would split up the day into 2 sessions. The girls would go first, then the boys would do their work in the afternoon.

By 9:30 we had eaten breakfast, done our morning chores, and the girls had completed their math and language lessons. The boys didn’t begin their work until 2, but we had wrapped up at 4:45. Dinner was bubbling on the stove and we ate promptly at 5:15.

I gave everyone a high five at the end of the day. I was so proud of them!

Am I In Early Labor?

Did I mention that I had contractions all day? Not the usual Braxton-Hicks either. The kind that you feel yanking at your cervix. Here’s hoping it leads to something. At the very least, I know I’m dilating. Because that’s what it feels like.

I can’t figure out whether this baby is really laid back, just chillin’ in there, hangin’ in the old baby bag… or if s/he is determined to make a statement.

You know, like, “I’ll show YOU mom. You thought you had this whole pregnancy gig figured out. You thought you were going to start home school when I was 3 weeks old. Ha! I’m not like all the others.”

Dealing With Many Requests for Help

I can see that I need to develop some type of system when a child needs help working through a math problem. It’s too frustrating to have one of them calling me every 60 seconds, or interrupting when I am working with their sibling.

How do you handle this in your home school? Have them skip it and go on to the next problem? Raise a hand? Or what?

Having them work through to the end of the page seems like a bad idea, since they may make too many mistakes they’ll have to go through and correct. (My philosophy is that it’s better to do fewer problems perfectly than a ton of them incorrectly.)

Suggestions welcome!

The Two Year Old Needs Her Own Schoolwork

Ruby played on her own a lot, and sometimes hung out in my lap while my attention was taken up with school. However, it’s clear to me that she also wants some “schoolwork” of her own to do. I’m thinking of buying her some Kumon workbooks or something.

She already knows all of her letters, her ABCs, and her colors.

She is more advanced in this way than my other kids, and it’s really astounding to me, because I didn’t do anything special or different with her. She “reads” her favorite books to me (and to herself) by heart, and I have little doubt she’ll be reading for real very, very early.

Do you have any suggestions for “schoolwork” for a 2 year old?!

How did your first day back to home school go?