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Our Very First Day Of Homeschooling


Today was officially our very first day of homeschooling.

I'm not sure how to describe today. I knew it would be challenging transitioning the boys from mainstream school to home but I guess I hoped the first day would be, at the very least, positive.

We began our homeschooling day around 8am with our morning boards. This was fine until disaster struck in the form of a disgruntled 2 year old who wondered where HIS morning board was.


Who would've thought this act of graffitti could be so devastating to 6yo? Well, it was. A fight soon broke out.

I took a deep breath and looked for something to get the whiteboard marker off the walls. After two attempts I gave up. I'll get around to it some other time.

We all piled in the car for a trip to the library. Apparently we were too early and the library didn't open until 9:30. Thank God for the playground around the corner! The weather was chilly but not freezing so the boys were happy playing for half an hour. 6yo received lots of stares from other parents. They must have been wondering why an obviously happy, healthy child wasn't at school.

Well, unless they ask they'll just have to keep wondering!

At the library I taught 6yo to use the library catalogue. He quickly got the hang of it but this meant that we went home with a fairly limited repertoire of books - mainly Star Wars related.


At home, we discussed our reading challenge which I designed to motivate 6yo to continue with daily reading. He LOVES reading but his reading ability doesn't match his comprehension. He is capable of reading pretty much anything these days but can't always answer questions about what he's just read.  I knew this was something we needed to work on so we needed a motivating tool.

Thankfully, he loved the idea.

One thing I didn't anticipate was that 6yo is used to a strict routine. At 5 minutes past 12 he was asking me why lunch wasn't ready as we were supposed to have lunch at 12.

After lunch we sat down to do some maths games. This was fun until DS2 decided to tip out every single container of maths manipulatives on the floor. Following me telling him off he had a tantrum that lasted for 25 minutes (this isn't unusual). Thankfully, DS6 is actually quite good at tuning his brothers out so he was able to continue while I yelled instructions over the screaming.

It took me over 10 minutes to clean up the mess.

Finally, the last planned lesson of the day was music. Piano practice went well but where was all the stuff I'd put together last night for theory? It was nowhere to be seen. To top it off, all the magnets were missing off our music whiteboard.

It took a WHOLE hour of all of us looking for the magnets to only come up with 3 (of 10). By then I'd turned into a raving lunatic and cancelled music. 4yo was furious as he had been looking forward to it... so in an act of revenge he filled the toilet with star wars figurines.

I think this is what they call de-schooling.

I anticipated a period of adjustment but today felt like a rebellion.

I decided the boys needed to go outside for a while so I could have a break. They did. I even heard DS4 say to his brother, "Mum's pretty mad. I think we should make her a coffee!". Coffee indeed.

The day was truly chaotic and stressful.

As I write this, I'm staring at a floor filled with papers because DS2 decided to empty the filing cabinet out while I was feeding the baby.

It's 8:30pm. Hubby is away for work. I haven't had my dinner yet. I'm hungry.

I'm going to take a deep breath.

Tomorrow is a new day.







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