How do you homeschool five/six kids in a tiny camper? That's the million dollar question of the week.
We got back into the books on Monday, and Monday was a disaster. We were stumbling all over each other, tripping over stacks of books and papers, and rearranging our mess all day long. I couldn't remember where we left off in several subjects. I had no game plan. The kids were out of routine since we hadn't homeschooled since the end of March. It was terrible!
By Tuesday I decided we had to go somewhere else to be effective. So, we spent the morning at the park. I worked with Andrew and Ben at the picnic tables covering high school government while the younger guys played at the playground. At lunchtime we came home and ate. After lunch, we went to the library. The older kids found quiet corners to work in while I took a table to work with Joseph and Jonny alternately. While I worked with one, the other could watch a movie picked off the shelf, then they would switch.
Worked like a charm!
However, on Wednesday we had to stay in the camper again. Laundry had to get done!
Thursday I wanted to resume my park/library plan because it worked so well the first time. We found a different park to try in the morning, came back to the camper for lunch, then headed off to the library again.
However...
We never actually made it into the library. That day, the parking lot was completely full. There was not a single parking space to be found. As I circled around the parking lot, I accidentally clipped the back end of another car and took off their rear bumper. It was completely my fault since I was in the moving vehicle and that car was parked, but it didn't help that the other car wasn't in a designated parking space but rather was parallel parked along the interior curb of the parking lot, making the turn from one row to the other too tight for me to maneuver in my big 15 passenger van.
I left a note on the windshield, then came back home again. I didn't want to talk to them if they called until I had talked with Steve first. Well, I couldn't get ahold of Steve for several hours. In the meantime they called me, but since I didn't answer their call, they contacted the military police. Then I was getting phone calls from the MP's! Still,I didn't want to discuss anything until I informed Steve first. So for a few hours I was a fugitive of the law, and it was making me a nervous wreck!
When Steve finally got home and I told him everything, I just broke down in uncontrollable tears. (Geez! What's wrong with me lately? All this crying recently! I feel like such a ninny!)
And my wonderful husband made all the return calls for me, met with the other people to swap insurance information, and took care of it for me while I called my mommy and licked my wounds. *Rolling my eyes at myself*
Needless to say, no more homeschooling was accomplished that day.
On Friday, we stayed in the camper in the morning, but returned to the library in the afternoon - accident free.
Now here it is a new week. Yesterday (Monday) we did the park in the morning and camper in the afternoon. And since we are in a pattern now, I have to say that I had one of our best sessions EVER with Joseph. He is intellectually disabled, but yesterday he read an entire page out of his beginner reader, did an entire reading workbook page, did all his math flash cards (he's finally cementing his math facts into his head!), and practiced writing the capital letter "L" (he has extremely delayed fine motor skills). He rocked it yesterday!
So now it is 7:30 in the morning. Time to start again. Off to the park this morning, then to the library this afternoon, and hopefully we'll have another good day!
