shortened work day for some

Since Tim had to travel for work a few days this week, I had to pack up the kids and animals to go down to the other house and take Will to school. We also came down for 1st Holy Communion/Confirmation practice and Charlie's 1st penance on Sunday at the Cathedral in Portland on Sunday. I didn't want to haul a bunch of stuff like schoolbooks down so I could stuff as much stuff in the van on the return trip (the more I move now the less I have to pay someones else to move later). 

Each child has 2 subjects and piano to work on; Mary: book report and math, Maggie: math and spelling, Charlie: math and reading, Timmy: phonics and math. They have had many hours of free time the past two days to sleep in, play with the neighbors, and run around outside. I, on the other hand, have been getting up at 5:30am to get Will to school, clean the house, and meet with the realtor. My bribery plan seems to be working, if she keeps working hard for another day Mary will have earned a manicure (the piano teacher demanded that she cut her nails short and after I chopped them off I promised her that when she finished the dreaded book report on St. John Masias she could get her nails "done"). Maggie and Charlie aren't too far behind.  I am looking forward to call Miss Lisa and starting riding lessons for the 3 of them both because it means we will have finished school for the year and so I can talk shop with another serious runner.

Knowing that both girls will be joining their brother at Catholic school in the fall has given me a sense of relief at having my days more free as well as dread that I will have to get up every morning as early as I did today to get them all up and out the door by 7:30. Homeschooling gets harder as the children get older because of the amount of material and the sheer number of children to manage and part of me thinks that I'm somehow "cheating" by sending the oldest away to school. I'll still be teaching the two boys and continuing to introduce a preschooler to letters and numbers so I certainly won't be sitting around doing nothing. Tim keeps telling me how this will be a big change in my life, but one in which I think will be beneficial to us all. I just think I'll have to remind myself of that fact over and over on cold dark Maine winter mornings driving the kids to school.