New week - new ideas

We might be watching too much of the news.  Saige made her own mask and wore it around the house most of the day yesterday.  I felt unmotivated.  I have, on occasion, tossed around home school.  We have, on numerous occasions discussed private school options.  I love the idea of my kids getting more out of school than what is offered at public schools.  I have wondered what would happen if they were submersed in a curriculum that taught them history, foreign languages, and maybe found art and music to be more important.  But the truth is, I like our public schools.  My kids have really thrived there.  They have friends, great teachers who genuinely love their students, and have been given a lot of extras like sports and music that have brought great joy into our lives.  We are overall very happy with our kid's school.  I figure if I want my kids to learn certain things, we can do that on our own time.  We have tried really hard to do stuff together as a family.  I think all of them would tell you I have forced them to go to more museums, craft shows, and classes than they would care to admit.  That being said, I don't really want to home school our kids.  I want our house to be a place of safety, a place of fun, a place that they come to unwind and decompress at the end of the day.  Hell, I want that for myself as well.  And so, as we are faced with the reality that we don't have a choice but to finish out this year homeschooling our children, I am trying to find a balance between fun, education, necessity, and not making this time into some sort of a living nightmare for these little people, who I love so very much.  And I admit that yesterday, I felt overwhelmed, and unmotivated.  We skipped out on doing educational things.  We skipped out on having any real sense of order in the day.  We had to go to get dog food, and I picked up a few craft supplies because we genuinely enjoy doing crafts together.  Nobody complained.  Nobody really even noticed as far as I could tell.  We cooked together.  We laughed at some random stuff Preston thinks is hilarious, and we had a nice day of basic nothingness.  I won't apologize, and I won't say we won' t have any more unproductive days.  We are in strange times, and I am winging this junk. 

The older girls and I made lasagna, and Saige made beer bread.  She refused to even try the bread, because she is too young to drink.  She was worried first that she would get drunk, and then worried she would be arrested.  She has too many older siblings. 

Saige spent an unnatural amount of time trying to build an obstacle course out of dominoes. 

Preston "groomed" our dogs.  They love to be brushed.  Ollie has been getting into the trees a lot and has a lot of junk caught up in his fur.  Scissors are needed.  The photo quality is terrible, but I think the dog smiling is hilarious.  I was not amused with the dogs tracking mud all over the carpet I just cleaned though.  Stupid mud. 

I also noticed that our cat Jewwy has the longest fur growing out the bottom of his feet.  Seriously it is like an inch long.  Nothing says I am a lazy, worthless cat more than that!  He is no mouse cat - he is too lazy to even catch a cold.  :)  I am thankful for him though, another distraction from the news.