Grade 4, Lesson 3, Day 2 ~ Mama Needs to Set a Better Example

Papa and I have been watching Bleak House. We are loving it and are so near the end that it is hard to turn off the Blu-ray player and get to bed. Last night we watched 3 episodes and I didn't take my shower. Big mistake!

When I skip the shower/bath in the evening my morning starts off poorly. First off, I don't get dressed when I get out of bed ~ I stay in my pajamas. When I stay in my pajamas I don't feel motivated to do much of anything; it feels like a lazy weekend morning. My chores get thrown off because I need to take my shower; I end up not starting the laundry so that I will have enough water pressure. I sit on my rear and get caught up on the computer. To my credit I did get the breakfast dishes done and made sure T-Guy fed the dogs.

Because of me today's start was even slower than yesterday's. I had to prod the boys to get going on their lessons, which they finally did. When they were nearly ready for me I still hadn't showered. Yikes! My bed wasn't made, the laundry wasn't washed. This is not the example I want to set!

Luckily it is pretty easy to turn a morning around when you are accustomed to being in rhythm. I grabbed a shower while the boys did their 15 minutes of free reading. We did half the grammar lesson and then did the art lesson. I made my bed and started a load of laundry. By the time Papa came home for lunch we had done everything but our guitar lesson and the second half of the grammar lesson. We'll do those after quiet time and then we're going to bake cookies.

J-Baby and I were still grouchy with each other, which makes it surprising that he told Papa he'd had a "great" morning doing his lessons. He showed off his neat printing in his language arts book; I guess he took my praise to heart. The reality is that he's still not feeling well and that carries into his lessons. He just wants to be done. It's time to hit his and Papa's coughs with something; I'll be going out later for some Delsym. They both coughed all night long and I know that they aren't well-rested.

Papa and I were talking last night about how smoothly the boys have transitioned to focused lessons. I really expected to have hit a road block by now, at least with J-Baby. And now that we are settling in I can see that the learning that happens all the time is still there; my fears were unfounded. I suppose that learning is a lifestyle and one that can't be shaken by adding a few hours of structured work to our weekdays.