Day 12

20 October 2021

Mum! The Stove!

This is how I woke this morning.

Adrenaline shot through me & I leapt out of bed, flashing the neighbours as I tore towards the kitchen.

Lincoln was using the stove to cook me breakfast. (Not allowed to use the stove without a parent present!)

He was making me tofu scramble as a make up for sneaking my laptop earlier that morning.

(So, come to think of it, this was the second time I woke up & it was not yet 6.30am. 😴😴)

He had used so much oil in the pan it was making me feel ill.

I went back to bed.

Maybe 10 minutes later I hear, “Pepe! Pepe! No Pepe!!”

I jump up again and Pepe has taken off with half a packet of tofu and is chomping into it at a furious rate on the carpet.

I cleaned it up and went back to bed.

The oily breakfast with soggy toast was delivered to me with love & pride and I reluctantly ate it, like a good mama.

(He was such a sweetheart about it, checking my face to see if I was happy.)

Lincoln smiled & trotted off.

There was no fooling Mila though. She saw it in my eyes.

She went off to make me pancakes, unbeknownst to me.

I heard a fuss & went out to check….there was an unsuccessful flip & pancake was splattered across the stove and floor. 😫

“I love a good challenge first thing in the morning!”

Fortnite Monopoly

I cooked the pancakes and we sat at the table together watching Teen Titans.

Then Lincoln says, “Hey, let’s play Fortnite Monopoly!”

Urgh. Fortnite Monopoly. What is happening!

“Ok, great!” I say.

Fortnite Monopoly
I want to like this game, I really do. I hid my boredom well I thought.

Reading.

Counting.

Teamwork.

Patience.

Winning/loosing gracefully.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick!

I got out first and went for a bath. (You can do that when you home school. Baths are on, any time of the day!)

The kids had an argument about who came first, and Mila stormed off and Lincoln came in to hijack my bath.

When I got out, little Mila girl had done all her maths without being asked and was getting some dog time on the floor.

Sweetheart.

Mila & Pepe
Sometimes your dog makes it all better.

Our 40 Minutes

I had to rally and get this train back on track.

We had plans to meet friends at the pump track & I used this to leverage some momentum to get our core done.

I set Mila up with handwriting and Linc & I got stuck into Language/Arts.

Mila handwriting
Mila could not hold a pencil correctly before a few weeks ago. Every year I tell the teacher & every year nothing changes. Home school rules!
Fresh fruit
Everything gets better with food….so I used it.
Lincoln's beetle
Lincoln’s drawing of a beetle from his writing book from The Good & The Beautiful. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Good%20&%20Beautiful)

Puppuccino!

I don’t know what it was with today, but everything was just a little bit hard.

A parallel universe. The B side.

Lincoln put maximum laziness into his English & Maths work. I didn’t have it in me to argue, & I realised today was not going to be a great learning day.

I decided we all needed to get out of the house and go for coffee. The new café up the road advertises a puppuccino and I thought now was as good a time as any to find out what that was.

“Let’s take Pepe for a puppuccino!” I said.

This went down very well.

The mood picked up and we were out the door.

Along the way we wondered what a puppuccino was.

Was it foamed milk with one of those doggy pops on the side?

Hmmmm.

Watch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u0AFKe0GRE

One, very happy hound.
Puppuccino Board
Made with warmed goat’s milk.
Lincoln & Pepe at the cafe
First, they gave it to us in a take away container. We made it work for a while.
Mama and Pepe
So much Pepe love!
Pepe & his Puppuccino
I don’t think he has ever had goat milk before. It went down a treat.

Take the time to smell the roses…

As we walked back home, we came across some gorgeous roses out in full bloom.

I said, hey kids let’s stop a minute to smell these wonderful roses. (Yes, I explained the cheesy expression & what it meant.)

It was the sweetest, most beautiful scent. It was like the whole world in one inhale. We all had a turn and then sniffed some other flowers too.

The rose was something special though, and we all agreed.

Mila smelling a rose.
A little piece of heaven right there on our walk home.
Lincoln smelling roses
When was the last time you stopped to do this? It’s Spring & it’s waiting for you right now.

Play Money

When we got home Mila wanted to play canteen again. They have really picked this up well.

They are so fast at counting the change.

Mila said, “I love maths!”

And for reasons I don’t know why, my heart felt happy.

Who cares if she likes maths or not, right? Why should this matter?

Still, it made me happy. 😀

Lincoln & Mila with play money
It ended up in a smiley face and that’s ok too.

The Big Map

I know, I know! I should have left it, but I want that blasted big map finished so we can put in the states and start plotting cool things on it.

Mila knows where Prague is thanks to getting Czech Republic in our Universal Yums box (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Universal%20Yums) last week, but a few days ago she said the Great Australian Bite was in QLD!

I set up the big map silently, like a ninja, and then he let him discover it.

He did this for around 45 seconds, just long enough for me to take this pic and then said, “I don’t want to do this” & wandered off.

Urgh. 😞

Lincoln & The Big Map
We will finish the ‘big map’ if it’s the last thing we do!

Physics

I called them for lunch and casually got out my ‘solar system’ poster & put it on the table.

And you know what?

I HAD A WIN!!

They were so interested in the solar system.

They leaned in, they read, they asked loads of questions, it was physics heaven!

Mila was reading about the sun & she said, “What’s nuclear fusion?”

“Let’s find out!” I cried, and we watched this cool video. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/Nuclear%20Fusion)

Solar system poster
Engaged in the planets.
Moons poster
So many moons.

The Final Blow

We called it a day and jumped in the car to meet out friends at the pump track.

The sun was shinning and we thought we might have an hour before the rain hit.

Wrong.

Rain on the car window
Really? We drove 20 minutes for this!

Forrest Gump Said

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

(Or was it his mum?)

Anyway, I think it’s true.

And you just gotta go with it.

The Challenge: Home school for 1 year while not losing sanity or love for children and/or husband.
Contenders: Mila 8yrs, Lincoln 10 yrs, Me (Mum), Liam (Dad), Pepe (dog)
Home School Days: 200

This blog was inspired by the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep & Amy Adams.

Julie decides she will take her love of cooking to the next level by cooking every recipe in Julia Childs French cookbook, in one year! 500 & something fancy, technical recipes!! While working full time!

Julie writes a daily blog about her time in the kitchen for herself & other amateur cooks who may, or may not be, reading along. You gotta watch it (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/about/).  Or read it here. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/book)

I loved that she wrote every day. I loved hearing about her small everyday frustrations, with the recipes & with life. It really inspired me to throw myself into something.

The timing was perfect as we have just decided to homeschool our children as a lifestyle choice and I thought…Cool! A daily blog will be perfect!

There must be other families out there wondering if there’s another way to live? Another way to do ‘family life’?

If you’re here, then hello & welcome aboard! Please feel free to sit back & watch it all unfold. Put the kettle on & check in with us each night to see what went down and how we all got over the line. I’m sure we’ll find our rhythm, right?

Are you a homeschool family? If you’re watching the wheels fall off this thing, I’m open to your emails or comments any time. I would love them! I am very friendly, & I could use the help.

Ok, come hell or high water….I’m in. A daily blog, for 12 months. I’ll be right, here.

Kindly, Lisa x

Can we be friends?!

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