A Day in the Life

Recently someone on one of my list-serves asked what a typical day looked like for everyone educating at home. So I thought I would share a what a fairly typical day looks like around our house. This is what we did yesterday. It's slightly atypical because we did not work at home, they were very math focused, and my husband and I actually had a date, but otherwise it's a typical schooling day.

7am- I wake up and start a load of laundry after making the pot of coffee that I hope will give me enough energy to make it through the day. Go through all my emails, a quick glance at facebook, turn on the Suzuki piano music (books 2-4 right now) that will play continuously until after dinner, and make today's task list.

8-9 Aiden gets up, makes breakfast (usually either a bowl of cereal or he makes muffins) and talks to me either about his dreams or the things he wants to do today. Today he's convincing me of the importance of having a work day at Panera and something about "redstone wiring" in Minecraft.

9-10 Piano practice for Aiden. Zoë gets up, tells me about the book she stayed up late reading last night and makes her breakfast. She starts packing up her laptop and books for the workday since Aiden had a valid and logical argument we'll get out of the house to work today.

10-11 Zoë practices piano while Aiden gets his things ready to leave. This takes him a while because he's busy sharing his excitement over learning how to make and post tutorial Minecraft videos.

11-11:30 We pack up the car (3 laptops and countless books on nebulas, black holes, Mercury and Pluto) and put the recycling in the trunk. About 5 years ago Zoë wanted our family to recycle so she researched, found where to take it and what we could recycle. She organized a system for us, and now we take the recycling every other week. As we drive we're listening to "Outcast of Redwall" audio book from the library and discussing the book.

11:30-3:00 We take up several tables and Panera with all of our laptops and start working. Aiden is working on getting his Arithmetic Master badge on Khan academy and Zoë is finishing up her weekly Khan goals. We get several strange looks from other patrons when they see the math the kids are doing. Occasionally, one of them will need help with a problem, but for the most part they do their problems while I work on book covers . Both of them do probably close to 200 different problems during this time. Aiden starts reading his book on black holes after he completes his challenge and shares interesting facts with us. Zoë finishes writing a book review and posts it to her website.

3-5:30 The kids play outside in the woods by our house. When the neighbor girl gets home from school around 4:45 she joins the kids outside. During this time I fold the laundry, clean up the kitchen, and get ready to go out for a date night with my husband (the first we've had since New Year's Eve).

5:30-7:30 The kids run across the street to their grandma's (with their laptops in tow) and have dinner with her while Tom and I go out for a much needed dinner alone.

7:30-8:00 We visit with Tom's mom while the kids finish their pudding and get ready to go back home. Apparently while we were gone they have been building a house on their Minecraft server.

8-9 Aiden researches Quasars and black holes and writes his script for the upcoming "channel C newscast" we're making next week about space. Zoë draws pictures, I do a crossword, and Tom catches up on his scrabble turns while we all watch the recorded American Idol episode together.

9-9:30 Everyone gets ready for bed. Zoë looks for a new book to read tonight and Aiden sets up his video to upload while we're asleep.

By 9:30 my brain is exhausted and I'm busy making tomorrow's to do list in my head. No one goes right to sleep, but we are all in our rooms reading or listening to a book on cd by this point.

The Ugly G Word

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the word gifted. The word bothers me. It conjures up images of the bottom of the Christmas tree with all of its perfectly wrapped gifts. Shiny bows and ribbons, matching paper, perfect little boxes waiting to be enjoyed. That feeling of anticipation and beauty, and all the things you love about giving gifts.

For some reason I seldom think of things like the time my mother-in-law gave me clothes for Christmas that were 8 sizes too big. She didn't know what size I was, just that I was bigger than her. That was a wake up call to hit the gym, let me tell you! Or the time I bought my husband a cordless drill for his birthday. Worst gift EVER! We don't let him near power tools (this decided after all the pretty little star patterns surrounding the screws on our deck). Or what about the time when I was about 4, woke up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and went downstairs to sleep on the couch by the tree. I woke up to my parents screaming at me that I could have ruined Christmas "what if something hadn't been wrapped?!" FOR SHAME!!

I guess my point is that I feel like most people are like me when they hear the word gifted. They think of the artfully wrapped Martha Stewart like packages filled with something you really want. They don't understand that when you open those boxes life is a mess! It's more like I opened up a box full of clock parts without instructions on how to put it together.

Sure Zoë can read at a high school level, but it's hard to find things for her to read with subject matter appropriate for a 10 year old, and once you do find a book she reads it in a single day. Yeah Aiden can do geometry, but have you seen how he falls apart if he gets a single problem wrong? Yes, Zoë is excellent at deciphering emotions in people, but have you watched her spirit crumble as she has heard about the genocide in Rwanda, or the victims of Katrina, or Haiti, or any other tragedy? Yes Aiden can beat most people in many games, but have you spent your days listening to him endlessly drone on about them? Have you tried to sit on the couch and relax for just 10 minutes with a child who's brain is just not wired to shut off? Good luck with that gift!

Let me tell you "gifted" just doesn't sum it up! Hopefully some day we'll come up with a term that better describes how these people are wired, preferably one with less stigma and jealousy attached to it. Until then, I'll just keep trying to fit these clock parts together I guess. Oh and I should still remember to hit that gym!