Jamie over at Simple Homeschool asked for readers to document their homeschool days this week. Below you will find an actual account of our day Tuesday. Times are approximate. Events are accurate. (If you would like to see what “normal” looks like, see this post and this post.)

11 February 2014

5:45 am Alarm goes off.

6:00 am Start coffee. Do eurythmy by candlelight.

6:15 am Turn on lights. See note from husband, “Vet 3:30. Bring poop.” Think of heading back to bed.

6:30 am Have coffee and blog by candlelight.

7:00 am First child up. Grunts morning greeting. Has slight panic that NOAA radio is not coming in clearly. Informs me of impending snowstorm and importance of hourly weather updates.

7:15 am Wake up husband and dog. Hear continued radio static from downstairs.

7:30 Second child up. Sweetly greets me with “Good morning, Mom.” Husband and dog stumble downstairs.

7:45 am Serve delicious whole grain breakfast to self and first child. Second child asks for a plain bagel leftover from the grandparents. Husband finds sausage and French toast in the back of the fridge. Dog eats dog food. Scrounges for crumbs.

8:00 am Take shower. Get dressed. Brush hair. Brush teeth. Moisturize. Moisturize again for good measure. Feeling pretty good.

8:30 am Mix bread to rise. Assess refrigerator for lunch and dinner options. All seems well.

9:00 am See husband out the door. Reminds me of vet appointment and poop sample.

9:30 am Rouse boys to stop playing Legos, get dressed and ready for school.

9:45 am Continue rousing. Louder this time.

10:00 am Give bi-weekly speech about expectations, attitude and responsibility. Put bread to bake.

10:30 am Enter schoolroom to find second child on the floor moaning, “What do I have to do? How long will it take? I’m so tired.” Give him 5 minutes to “Get it together.” Hide in kitchen. Starving! Grab a hunk of cheese and a few crackers. Come back and start lesson with multiplication tables and bean bags. Second child can barely throw hard enough to reach me. First child interrupts, “Mom, where’s your phone so I can time my quarter-mile run?” Dog throws up.

10:45 am Take bread out of oven. Admire crunchy crust. Inhale yeasty aroma. Pat self on back. Continue lesson summarizing Br’er Rabbit tale. Plot out drawings for reader. Second child can barely contribute to lesson. “I’m just so tired.”

11:00 am Second child dismissed. Proceeds to bound up the stairs and shoot 651 consecutive baskets in Nerf basketball hoop. Dog throws up again. Contemplate the statistical probability of dog vomiting exclusively on rugs, when 90% of floors are hardwood.

11:15 am Text BFF: “Remind me again why I homeschool?” Copy, paste and text the same to husband.

11:30 am Starving! Mix up protein powder/chai seed shake. Wonder who invented such things. Wonder why I drink such things.

11:35 am Start main lesson with first child. Sail through eurythmy, cursive practice, report writing. Complete section of business math. Remember why I homeschool. Dog throws up again. Think of vet appointment and wonder, “How much is that going to cost me?”

1:00 pm Second child asks, “Mom, can you buy me a sombrero?” Try very, very hard not to roll eyes. Text brother in San Diego: “Nephew wants sombrero. I want tequila. Send mine first.”

1:15 pm Go in kitchen to start lunch. Glance at table to see detritus of energy bars, potato chips and remnants of freshly baked loaf of bread hacked to bits. Breathe deeply. Make lunch.

1:30 pm Serve lunch. Inquire about bread. “We needed a snack.”

1:50 pm Take dog for a walk. Procure poop sample.

2:00 pm Read two chapters in Anne of the Island for afternoon storytime. Wonder if the Anne/Gilbert storyline is lost on the boys. Decide I don’t care.

2:45 pm Starving! Eat bowl of soup and broccoli from last night.

3:30 pm Arrive at vet with dog and poop sample. Dog pees on floor of exam room. Vet comes in just in time to catch me mopping it up. Asks questions and permission to “check some things.” Wonder for the second time, “How much is that going to cost me?” Multiple attempts to draw blood (from the dog and the vet). Make small talk about whipworm, urinary tract infections, food sensitivities and the impending snowstorm.

4:15 pm Get my answer: $289. Leave with special non puke-inducing food, doggie antibiotic and an appointment for canine dental extraction in 7 days.

4:30 pm Come Home. Make delicious cup of chai. Check email. Boy Scout meeting cancelled due to impending storm. Dog sleeping in little doggy circle. Boys quietly playing upstairs. Think about dinner.

5:30 pm Husband calls to say he’s on his way home. Tell him about the vet bill. Mutters something about whose idea it was to get the dog in the first place.

6:15 pm Blessedly uneventful dinner. Extra glass of wine afterward with husband. Makes me promise we will never, ever get another dog. Admits he has always preferred cats. Feed dog new food and first antibiotic capsule. Both go down (and stay down) easily.

7:30 pm First child puts together emergency preparedness kit for likely power outage due to impending snowstorm. Asks if it is a true emergency, would it be possible to eat new dog food since it is made solely from salmon and potatoes. Reassure him this won’t be necessary. Secretly think husband would eat the dog first.

7:45 pm Husband gets kerosene heater out of shed and begins to read assembly instructions. Decides power outage to be highly unlikely. Gets boys ready for bed instead.

8:00 pm First child checks NOAA weather one last time. 4 – 8 inches of snow predicted. 100% probability. Fills pots with water.

8:15 pm Boys in bed. First flakes begin to fall.

9:00 pm Crawl in bed myself. Don’t bother to set alarm.