Why We'd Never Survive Homeschooling

Yesterday after lunch, Jay called to inquire as to our well-being (as is typical and kind of him). I told him that Ellie was napping and that Maggie was in the shower. He asked if Ellie had gone down for her nap easily (as if she ever resists) and I had to immediately redirect him: "If you'd like the conversation to turn interesting, you might want to ask about your other daughter - say maybe, 'Why is Maggie in the shower?'"

Okay, why is Maggie in the shower?

Well, she's not just in the shower. She is in the shower in her Ariel swimsuit belting out the chorus of "Tomorrow" from Annie. And she is in the shower because she has to wash the dried glue off of her arms and legs.

Continue...

(A little background... On Mondays and Fridays it's me and the girls - no work, no KinderCare. One of those days, I try to get us out to go on a field trip - maybe lunch in Portland with Jay, maybe a trip to Petco to look at the turtles, parakeets, chinchillas, clown fish, etc...) On the other day, we often stay home. On these days, I try to be a "good" mom. Sometimes, in between our organic breakfast and well-balanced lunch, we'll have music time, outside playtime, cooking time, and - the favorite of all - ART TIME. Art time involves bringing out the "art tablecloth," covering the kitchen table, pulling out various glues, stickers, stamps, construction paper, sparkly dust, yada, yada. Yesterday we had art time, but it came after "pretend play time." Pretend play time had, as you may have guessed, included "pretend swimming" and "singing and dancing on stage/Maggie's bed." (Nothing beats dancing to the Boston Pops Christmas album cranked up as high as it will go.) Now, one cannot pretend swim if one is not properly attired. While I had saved Ellie from Maggie's attempt to strip her of her clothes in favor of a swimsuit, I decided that the easy route/creative mommy approach would be to let Mags wear her Ariel suit.

So, at art time, Maggie was still in her swimsuit. I typically try to "guide" art time by cutting up paper and coming up with a theme for our projects. Yesterday, to greet spring, I had cut up green paper flower stems and leaves, and yellow and orange flower petals. I am very conscious of "over guiding" though - It is not my intent to teach my kids to make perfect construction paper flowers, so when Maggie decided that she'd rather play with glue on the paper than carefully place individual flower petals, I let her. Hence, Maggie, dressed in her swimsuit, with her little arms and legs covered with glue.

The thing of it is that if you are 3 and decide to smear glue all over yourself, Mommy may not respond right away. So, half an hour later, when you are eating your grilled cheese sandwich and complaining as you pick dried up glue off your arm, Mommy's only solution is to finish your lunch and get in the shower. In your Ariel swimsuit, if you want. And listen to how great it sounds when you sing in there.

I have no photos of Maggie covered in glue - honestly it would not have photographed well. Fortunately, I do have photos of the day when we fingerpainted during art time. They illustrate "art time" pretty effectively.