Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Mother's Exhaustion

It is 10 o'clock here. I am so ready to go to bed. I would love to go to bed right now! But it is time to nurse the little one. She is now sitting up on her own and has four little teeth. Precious. The time flies too fast.

Quite literally every second of this day was filled with busyness. A couple of days ago I finished the school work I had to get done with our two oldest. And I'm talking about for last "school year". Yes, we were finishing that. Giving birth to our sixth child and then fighting off my seemingly never-ending skin infection put us behind. When I told our daughters that we had to catch up, they wanted to spend nearly every spare moment they had working on their school work. They worked hard. I worked hard too.

Over the weekend I read up on what I needed to do for my "new" 3rd and 2nd grader. Our 3rd child would also be continuing her kindergarten lessons. When she was four, she started reading on her own and was so zealous to begin school like her sisters that my husband told me to go ahead and start her kindergarten work with her. I wasn't entirely enthused about this because in just a short time from then I would be welcoming child number six into our home. I knew my days would be filled with nursing, diapers, and more nursing. The inevitable break post-childbirth took place, and we got a bit behind. Then I had all the health problems and we got further behind. I told our now five year old that she would have to wait on school until I got her older sisters caught up. She was devastated.

From what my lesson plans said, I would need at least four hours to dedicate to our schooling every day, and that did not include kindergarten. Previously, I had only squeezed in three hours for homeschooling with all my other responsibilities. Panic started to settle in. My schedule was packed full already. And I am always interrupted during the day. Mr. Q had said that if the children got behind again this year, he would send them to public school. Neither I nor the children want that. What was I going to do? I thought of making a blog post with my schedule, asking for your help and ideas.

I silently prayed.

I pleaded with the Lord.

Can I have a 25 hour day?

But no, God in His wisdom decided to give everyone 24 hours, including me.

Then slowly a couple of ideas came to me how I could "make another hour". I don't know how it's going to turn out. I only got to the dirty dishes at one time today--after dinner. But...I have faith that as I work diligently and keep trusting the Lord, He will strengthen me to do the tasks set before me.

Macy's Department Store Employee Janet Steurer's Feet Tired After Selling Imitation Pearls All Day


Today we got through our whole first day of 3rd and 2nd grades, and our 5 year old continued on with the kindergarten she had been doing previously. I think it literally took almost all day. And all afternoon our 5 year old bawled her head off. Do you know why? Because she had already done school for the day, but had not had enough. She wanted to do more. I told her Tomorrow, Dear. Still she continued bawling. Oh, but it is good to have children who love having you teach them so much, I guess.

Yes, I am exhausted. I will be heading to bed very soon.

May God grant you the wisdom to use the time He has given you, well,

14 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs Q, I am praying for you! It is very tiring caring for the home and schooling young children at the same time. A wonderful thing to be doing..but energy can run low at times. May the Lord pour His grace and strength into your body and soul and grant fresh vigour for all your undertakings. May His healing power fill you and His peace surround you as you serve your family as unto the Lord. Many blessings to you in Christ..Trish

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  2. have you thought of a different school curriculum? i only take about 2 hours a day using rod and staff for math, and english and bob jones for history and science.. i am doing 10 yr old Parker, 9 yr old Hannah, 7 yr old Rebekah and 5 yr old Jamison. i pray you will find the answers you seek.

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  3. I am no expert on homeschooling or anything, but may I suggest looking at your curriculum and see if it`s the best for your family.

    I know you have lots on your hand with all of your little one, but if homeschooling take too much time maybe a new curriculum would be beneficial???

    I will continue to pray for you

    Ps make sure to have lots of snack during the day that always helps me keep my energy up!

    Blessing
    Reneeco

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  4. O Emily, God help you. I'll pray for you.

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  5. When our daughter was younger and beginning her schooling, I had returned to school, online, too. Sometimes it was necessary for me to occupy her with something while I did my studies. I found some wonderful educational things for her to do online. Grant it, I was right there in the same location supervising her every move and have all the safe guards in place on the computer. PBS has color matching and letter matching things on Sesame Street. If you are interested in other things to look at, I'd be glad to find the links for you :o).

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  6. Mrs. Q,

    Your story truly touched my heart. I will continue to keep you in my prayers dear sweet woman. I just worry that you are "over-working" yourself. I will pray that the Lord will help you to pace yourself throughout your days.

    Blessings and Friendship,

    -Lady Rose

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  7. Dear ladies,

    Thank you for all your kind words and concern and your ideas. I wish it was really more simple. My husband would probably laugh at the idea of switching curriculum since we have no money for such a thing, and since we spent a fair amount on what we have! The children and I also find it very enjoyable, and I am pleased with what they are learning. My husband also wants them to be "advanced" in their schooling, and never behind. He wants them to learn Spanish this year.
    So in our schedule is Bible, Handwriting, Spelling, English, Math Drill, Math, Geography, Book Basket, Science, Reading, Art/Music, Spanish, Read Aloud, and a study on animals they can pretty much do on their own. Wow, that seems like a lot doesn't it?
    The Book Basket & Reading times can be independent reading times for them, in which I do kindergarten with our 5 year old, but I have to listen to them read aloud some times. I am sure if I get stuck with no time left, there are some things I can leave out :)

    Thank you, Sharon, but it's not so much just occupying her, she wants to do the things she saw her sisters doing I think when they did kindergarten.

    Well, I haven't figured it all out yet. I am going to have to really rework my schedule and see how to fix this over the next few days.

    Love to you~
    Mrs. Q

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  8. Mrs. Q,

    I know how difficult it can be. It does get easier, however. If your oldest child is 8 or 9, they may be able to assist the younger ones in some basic and simple math problems and drills. I began asking my older children to help out with school this year. What a blessing.

    I have a 9 year old girl who helps her 5 and 8 year old sisters with basic Math and drills. She also helps me tend to some simple duties with the baby. This has freed me up tremendously to concentrate on the more difficult tasks. My older boy now helps with school as well.

    I guess my point is that whatever you decide, please know it does get easier. We have seasons in our lives - some are very busy and include sleepless nights, but there are other times where we rest and our days are easy. As your girls get older, they will be a tremendous blessing to you.

    Praying for sweet rest. Much love.

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  9. these info might help you http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/eyguide/

    and this curriculum is absolutely free!!!!

    http://www.amblesideonline.org/index.shtml

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  10. Thank you for these ideas, Jasmine. That is one thing I had not thought of--having one of the older ones help with some of the school. My oldest is 8.

    Mrs. Stam~I will look at those. Thanks so much!

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  11. Once the children can read well, they should be able to do much of their schoolwork on their own. We do a Unit Study together, where I assign each child a project based on their age level. Math, LA, handwriting, health and reading is done on their own. This is how I am able to school 7 (this year) and still keep my sanity. I work closely with those in phonics (K-3 of which I have 2 right now), but by grade 4, they do most of it on their own (though those who struggle in any area do receive extra help). As Jasmine said, it really does get easier the older they get. Hope you can find the balance for now. :)

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  12. @Treasures I don't have any 4th graders yet and I do have some independent work they can do, but there is still some teaching I have to do. I try to get some chores done while they're working but it usually doesn't happen because I then have to help/teach one of the other children. :O
    Hopefully I will figure it out & become more efficient. The curriculum we use is very nice in that 2nd grade-8th grade can all be studying the same thing (except diff. math, english, spelling). It still takes some time though.

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  13. My heart goes out to you... I know JUST what you are talking about! We homeschool 9...I have 7, and babysit 2 more...we do "toddler school", preschool, Kinder, 3rd and 5th grades...we have 1 toddler, 3 preschool, 2 kinder, 2 3rd, and 1 5th...the days are long, but simply the best. Hang in there...and do as much of "your work" as you can before the day starts...I get up at 4:30, and do all my chores that I can and devotions...etc...until about 7:00...then it's all mommy and teacher until after dinner...then I do some more chores while Daddy plays with the kids...,maybe that would work?? I'll pray for you!

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  14. Kim~my goodness 4:30! I have a hard time staying up when I get up at 5:30 :)
    May I ask when you go to bed? I guess it must be early. I like the idea of getting lots of chores done before the kids get up, but I can't make much noise in the mornings or I'll disturb my husband's sleep.
    Thank you for your prayers.

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