Just Another Day in the Life...

August 20, 2024

Recently, I attended a homeschool event where a new homeschool parent asked me how I created a smooth workflow throughout the day. I had to be honest that while I try to design an existence of sunshine and rainbows for the perfect educational environment, it doesn't always happen. We live in the real world and real things happen. I can simply show my kids how to learn among occasional distractions, embrace the chaos and find joy in our time on this earth.

To provide an example of one of those not-so-perfect days, I will describe our Wednesday.

5am: I awake to a dark and quiet house. This is my favorite time of day as it is the calmest. I grab a cup of coffee and utilize this time to complete computer work without interruptions. This includes personal and business financials, correspondence with customers, marketing activities, website updates and homeschool lesson planning.

~Sunrise: Wake up the kids and have a quick family meeting. This meeting is used to clarify the day's activities as these often vary. We also utilize this time to assign the morning chores.

I returned to the computer to finish some work. We have a field trip planned for the next day to the Kentucky State Fair so we had to rearrange our schedule regarding the animal rotations.

The hubby had work to complete in the barn and honestly, I wasn't really listening very well when he described it because I had my own list and needed to leave the house by 11am. Sometimes my brain just runs in all directions. The boys were in charge of animal rotation today. The girls were assigned to the indoor chores and helping with the toddler.

I was just getting my mind reset to the computer when I received a call on the walkie talkie

***Pause for explanation***

We recently implemented walkie talkie communication tools for the farm. This has helped to decrease the amount of redundancy and confusion that would sometimes occur when we were scattered over the property. Now, everyone carries one during their morning activities and they have become an invaluable tool for us.

Back to the story:

I received a call on the walkie talkie, "Abby Rabbit escaped her pen, and the dogs are chasing her!". So much for computer work.

Luckily for both Abby Rabbit and me, the rabbit was rescued and returned to her cage quickly and without incident. Her fur was matted, and she was scared but it was a much better outcome than I expected. We gave her some lavender leaves mixed in her food in hopes to provide some calming effect and left her alone to rethink her life choices.

I gave up on the computer and instead headed to the garage. We have a custom order and some other signs that needed some work. While the hubby and my son do the majority of the woodworking projects, I am the one that completes the finishing touches with paint, sealant, etc.

The girls helped me to package some freeze dried jolly ranchers and prepare the trays for skittles.

Next, I headed outside to work on the garden. One girl was cooking breakfast, and another was teaching the toddler how we take out the trash. The morning was moving along.

Nothing was heard from the hubby, so I assumed his work was progressing.

The boys were making progress with the animals. They had moved fences, shelters and ushered the goats and rams onto new pasture. This was followed by moving the chicken tractor, feed and water into the recently vacated lot. The chickens and ducks are happy to move to new ground and explore the land recently abandoned by their hoofed neighbors.

After the animals were settled in their new locations, my oldest began helping me with some trellising issues that I was having with my tomatoes. We heard "Caspian is out.....oh, and so are all the sheep and goats". Caspian is our Pygmy goat.

He was our first goat and quite the attention seeker. He will test every boundary but whenever he escapes, his first inclination is to find his human friends. He will find you anywhere on the property or by peeking through a window. On this occasion, he was followed by a trail of sheep and baby goats. Luckily, they respond well to a feed bucket and were rewarded nicely when they followed the hubby, in a single file line, right back into their assigned pen.

It turns out that we may have an issue with mischievous trolls or even Sasquatch because no one wanted to take credit for the area of uncharged fence that was simply lying on the ground. The goat easily stepped over the netting and led his comrades on an adventure. If it happens again, we may be forced to set up a wildlife camera to catch this miscreant that is obviously undoing the work that was completed by our sons. I'll share the photos later if we catch anything interesting.

I give up on the garden work for the day.

~10am: We eat breakfast. The kids finish up any unfinished tasks and rest. I take a much-needed shower and prepare to leave. The hubby checks on the ewes and prepares to start working on his "real job".

~11am: My daughter and I leave.

The kids that are remaining at the house are given their school assignments for the day and will alternate between watching their baby sister and completing their work. We usually set the timer to 45-minute increments to fairly break up the time for each kid. The hubby logs into the computer to work his 8-hour shift.

12pm: My daughter and I pick up milk. We participate in a herd share to obtain the raw milk that we enjoy consuming for both superior quality and health purposes. This milk must be picked up directly from the farm. We pack them tightly in coolers to keep them cold until we get home.

1230pm: My daughter participates in her horse lessons at Riding with Rhythm. Ms. Shirley is the best and we love the opportunity to work with her.

I call home and ask someone to start the bread maker. I was really craving a "mater sandwich" and realized that we didn't have any bread. Maybe I should have eaten a larger breakfast!!

~230pm: We return home.

We unpack the milk, and the daughter takes a shower.

The toddler is taking a nap and the house is quiet.

I grab a snack and start my one-on-one schoolwork with each of the kids. This involves reviewing with them the independent work that they have already completed and a few lessons that require more instruction (usually math and reading).

~5pm: We complete the evening chores and do a sweeping cleanup around the house. The toddler is awake and tends to undo a lot of the cleanup but at least we tried!

I remove and package the freeze dried skittles and start a batch of taffy.

The hubby takes his lunch break from his "real job" and works on an unknown project in the barn. I really should start paying more attention to his projects, but my brain is simply full today.

We prepare for our field trip tomorrow by packing up some necessary items and one of the kids starts preparing supper.

6pm: The hubby returns to the office for work.

My other daughter has an event at church, so we are back on the road. She enjoys the program that they have prepared for her age group called Young Disciples. I take the time while she is in this event to set up a chair in the shade and catch up on some reading.

One of the kids has volunteered to cook supper for the evening. They are becoming great culinary artists, and I am happy to support their efforts by eating all of their food!

8pm: The hubby logs off of work.

My daughter and I return home.

We prepare plates and have dinner. I know that there are many people that cherish their evening meal at the table with their family. One day we may return to that habit. However, we eat very late at night. We are usually very tired, and the more introverted members of the family simply need some downtime. We choose to combine eating dinner with a family television show. This prevents the more extroverted members from talking incessantly and allows us to wind down a bit for the evening.

9pm: The hubby takes the toddler for a quick bath and prepares for bedtime.

We clean up from supper. I prepare for bed and the kids take this time to watch a show, play a video game, shower, etc.

1030pm: I hear that everyone is in bed by this time of the evening but to be completely honest, I am usually fast asleep before anyone else.

As you can probably guess by the multiple escaped animals, we are running a bit crazy during this time of year. Operating a farm business, homeschooling and all of the other activities of life definitely keep us busy. We have been overlooking some basic things that are resulting in more emergencies than normal. We realized that if we are going to continue to participate in these outside activities that we need to be more organized at home. This is an ongoing issue for us as we make adjustments to the farm, experience changes in family dynamics as the kids grow older and deal with issues of growing the business. We are making some internal changes and hope to see the benefits soon. In the meantime, we will keep plugging along while learning and living life together as a family.

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