This Fall

This fall I have kids in three different school buildings.  It means that kidlets leave the house at three different stages in the mornings, and arrive back home from school in three stages in the afternoon.  Actually the staggered effect is working great for me.  I’m up super early with the elementary crew.  Lunches are packed,  and they have been terrific about getting some piano practicing done before the bus comes in the morning.  Right as they are leaving, the resident middle schooler rises on his own pretty much, and because I promised to let him use the iPad in the morning if he got some practicing in as well, he has been fantastic about being responsible about getting stuff done in the morning as well.  (Maybe a bit frustrated about his mother’s insistence of regular showering, but responsible, just the same).  Right as he is getting ready to go out the door, the resident high schooler appears.  She has usually been up for a bit, but doesn’t make her way downstairs until that point.  What this means is that although I might be a bit groggy in the morning, I get to have calm, almost one on one time with kids.  While we don’t discuss how to save the world during that time, and in fact, sometimes I doze off for a bit, it’s just a nice, calm time of the day. If someone needs last minute help with some homework or practicing, I can do that, and it’s not a rush.

There is this golden little bit of time I get to spend with my elementary crew in the afternoon as well.  The Banana and Mr. TOF come home an hour earlier than Mr. SP, and I have this little 30 minute transitional break from my homeschool students to my after school students during that time.  The elementary crew is a mellow duo, and they come in and nicely unpack their lunch boxes without a fuss, check in about the plan for the afternoon, and have a little snack.  Sometimes we sneak in a bit of practicing before that first student and sometimes we get a little bit silly together.

Even though I didn’t do anything special to change anything from previous years, this year the before and after school transitions are just . . . working.

Mr. TOF loves to play outside, and after a day of school that is where he heads directly.  I love that he just goes out and moves around and has fun in the fresh air.  The Banana diligently gets any tasks on her To Do list finished so that she can head out to play with friends.  She loves playing with friends.  If Mr. SP doesn’t have much homework, he often heads to the library for a bit.

Best of all, this fall I have implemented “Cooking Nights.”  We have been working toward this for a while, but it’s really in place and working this year.  Each kid gets one night to cook and plan supper.  They like it.  I love that they like it.  They can get as fancy or simple as they want.  Anything is fine with me as long as it is nutritious.  I changed my teaching schedule around a bit this year so that I teach a little bit later into the early evening, but don’t teach late into the night.  It was a change I could make because of “Cooking Nights” and allows everyone to be a lot less stressed after supper.  We still have to work hard to get all the practicing and homework checking in, but everyone seems to be a lot more mellow.  Of course on Monday the girls rush off to youth symphony rehearsal, and on Wednesday we have AWANA, which hasn’t started yet and always gets a bit hairy, but still, it’s much more relaxed in the evenings.

Overall, our transition to fall this year has gone a bit more smoothly than the past couple of years, and I’m very, very grateful.