Fitting it all into our day

Our school days start fairly predictably: after breakfast, I tidy up while John starts math reviews. I do a math lesson with him, then tutor Anna in her math lesson while John does a practice page of math independently. We play math games, then move into the living room for read alouds about history and science, followed by narration (which counts as oral composition). By now, Matthew has joined us and is making things interesting. We move back into the dining room, do some handwriting, spelling, and grammar, and have now covered, more or less, the three Rs as well as science and history. Most of this gets done everyday.

Formal art lessons, however, rarely get done. We can't do them with the baby up because he is too needy and when the baby is down we need to do the basics. By mid-afternoon, I'm working on dinner, laundry, maintaining the house, and trying to get a short quiet adult-time. Art lessons fall by the wayside.

I finally found a solution. The perfect solution for us.

Daddy travels. A lot. By 7 pm on days he is out of town, I'm ready to crash but the kids aren't. While he was away a few weekends ago, I did an art lesson as soon as dinner was cleaned up and the baby was asleep. Last night, when Dan told me he'd be gone for dinner for work, I knew just what to do.

I told the kids we could do a drawing lesson once the baby was asleep, the kitchen was clean, their bedroom was clean, and they were tooth-brushed and ready for bed. All these (except the baby sleeping) happened lightening-fast. I haven't seen their room that clean for a month! No nagging or help was required from me because the incentives were perfect.

They got ready so fast that I had to read to them for about a quarter hour while the baby fell asleep.

Then, we did the art lesson. We got out the special paper and the special markers. I showed them the sample I had made earlier in the week, and I walked them through the lesson. They were quiet and happy. I got to relax and draw, too. I let them stay up forty minutes past their bedtime so that they would have enough time to color their designs. Even so, I didn't feel like I was crashing.

We finally found a place for art.