A little more concentration

That's how I'm feeling about our school schedule and our life right now. Things almost seem busier than normal, and I'm trying to figure out why and how. So here's the skinny on our past week.

It seemed this past week that there was a little more fighting about the school work. I don't like to have those conversations because I feel like my kids know how important the work is. We did have a couple of unexpected trips this week, but still. Wednesday, hubby met me at dance to get something out of the van. He took the kids and they had lunch downtown by the duck pond. We had eaten a little late that morning so they weren't that hungry, and the boy fed most of his cheeseburger to the fish. It took more to get the kids focused after he left than normal.

We had veggie co-op this week as well. I had the kids take their work with strict instructions that their work was to be done before they played. The woman who runs the co-op is also a homeschooling mom and my kids love to play with her kids. After I was done packing orders and helping people locate and bag their stuff, it was time to go. I asked the boy if he got all his work done since I had seen him playing Risk. "I forgot a pencil, so no." was his response. It was all I could do to not pull over and whoop his butt right then. Instead, my response was,"That is a poor excuse. We have pencils in the van and they also homeschool. I'm sure you could have found a pencil." The big girl didn't finish her math either. Oh, the drama in the van.

Hubby called on our way from the co-op to the library and asked if his new cell phone was in my van and could I meet him. It was his new work phone and he needed it right away. We had nothing else on our agenda and the kids had plenty to keep them busy, so sure, I could meet him. I ended up driving all the way to the little town where he works, which is about 45 minutes away from where I was, and we had lunch. We had good company and good food, what could be better? The kids finishing their school work, that's what. We get home and it's still not done. Oh, the words that could have come out of my mouth, but I kept it clean.

Tonight, I was grading the stuff that I just have not gotten to. The first thing I picked up was the big girl's math. She didn't finish half of what she had to do for math on Thursday, which was veggie co-op day. What she did finish was not right and she ended up with a 64 for a grade. I get to the boy's stuff, and he has still not followed the directions in his language arts. Who has taken my kids and why did they leave these crazy versions of them? They can have them back now. The saving grace was, of all things, the baby. She not only finished her stuff, but did extra work, and got it all right. Your 5 year old sister just outperformed you. How do you like that?

We had a giant discussion tonight about responsibilty and how important school is. They were informed that unless the behavior and attentiveness to their school work did not improve, we would forgo fun and exciting things like dance and park day. No work equals no fun. They were not happy, but I don't care. We are going to try to stream line our days and activities. JAM is ending, and our big dance day will be Wednesday. That actually gives us extra time in the evening for school work and questions. We will start fresh on Monday and will discuss what things are working in our day, and what is not.

I don't like weeks like this, but I will take some of the blame. There were a couple of projects that I had to get done and did not supervise as closely as I should have. Now I know better. We'll see how the new week goes and hopefully all will be well. Or at least better than it was last week.

Have a great day!