Self-check, two and a half weeks of the school year down.
Things I appear to still have a handle on.
(1) Planning a reasonable amount of schoolwork to accomplish in a given day. It's all getting done, or close enough.
SURPRISE FACTOR: High — I expected I'd plan too much and have to scale back, as in all previous years.
(2) Planning and preparing meals. We're all eating pretty well. No unplanned restaurant trips or pizza deliveries yet.
SURPRISE FACTOR: Low — I have a high standard for myself in this area.
(3) Minimum housework standards. Granted, I'm not trying to do very much. I am in true "minimum" mode. But the minimum is being met.
SURPRISE FACTOR: Medium. I usually have a hard time with this one. On the other hand, my minimum is really rock bottom, and doesn't entail much more than stopping the house from spiraling out of control. On the other other hand, hey, that's worth something.
(4) Tuesdays and Thursdays co-schooling with my friends' kids — a total of six children on Tuesdays and ten children on Thursdays — has not descended into chaos. We are accomplishing what we set out to do, mostly, and having fun doing it.
SURPRISE FACTOR: Low for well-established Tuesdays, medium for still-figuring-it-out Thursdays.
Things I clearly am not quite on top of:
(1) Keeping "screen time" low for my three-year-old and my kindergartener. I am relying on videos or computer games at least once each day so I can have a chance to work one-on-one with my oldest. I need more ideas for keeping the three-year-old, who does not nap, busy and happy and not interrupting my close work with the oldest. Better-quality videos are part of the answer, but I still want to get the total screen time under an hour a day if I can.
(2) Getting enough rest for my pregnant self. I think I would function better if I could get a catnap somewhere in the middle of the day. Fortunately, Mark is doing most of the evening clean-up, which has reduced my on-my-feet time.
(3) Getting everybody outside in what's left of the nice weather.
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