Year Four.

Welp, for a girl who said that she would never, ever homeschool her children because homeschoolers were "weird,".... here we are at year number four.

Woulda' ever thunk it?
Surely not me.
But, I would never have thunk a lot of things, and I've now done just about every single one of those things that I said I would never ever do.

So, now I shall proclaim from the rooftops:

I shall never ever be a millionaire.
I shall never ever vacation in Hawaii, or Tahiti, or Jamaica.
I shall never ever be 100 pounds.
And my children shall never ever be perfect angels all the live long day.

Let's see how those statements work out for me....

This year, however, I just found out that I'm not Superwoman.

I kind of thought I was for awhile there...but either the move, or the fourth child, or just this year entering my "late thirties," or maybe a combination of all three happened...and I now know that I cannot conquer the world....or even Rome in a day, for that matter.

And I'm a little bit okay with that.
Just a little.
Oh, my aching, bruised pride...
I had to break it to myself gently.

Anyway, in light of this new realization of mine, I have decided to become part of a Homeschooling co-op that meets all day every Friday.  I figure that if my kids learn nothing from me this year, they will at least get chapel, physical education, sign language, music, art, literature, and a little bit of history.

 And Ransom will learn his letters.

And good gracious me, those kids will finally get "socialized."  Phew.
Maybe now they can be a little more "normal."

I jest.
I actually really do jest.

I find myself having to saying no to invites for my kids to play just so that I can justify a full day's worth of school.  Socialization is honestly the least of my concerns.  I've got bigger fish to fry.  Like making sure I live through the day.  Just kidding.  I do like a shower every now and then, though.  And it's nice to feed my kids real meals.  I try to get them bathed once in awhile, too...  But, quite honestly, that's quite a bit further down on my list of priorities.

Just keeping it real.

 But, for Monday thru Thursday, Mama's the Big Cheese Teach.

And since we moved our entire house into an upstairs addition of a home, our three bedrooms all double as something else.  Our room doubles as an office space.  Ransom and London's room doubles as a guest room.  And the big boys' room also doubles as the schoolroom.

It works.
It also helps that the the closet is the size of a small bedroom; so that doubles nicely as their school supply room, as well.

And my boys kind of love the fact that sometimes they can do school on their beds.
Not gonna' lie...it looks kind of cozy.
I might even lay on the bottom bunk sometimes when I read them some of their Literature.

 And so....

Thankfully, school is getting accomplished each day.
Lessons are getting learned.
Love tanks are getting filled.
My nerves are staying in tact.
And for the most part, we're all pretty happy doing it together.

It's not as perfect or as structured as I would always like it to be.
And every single day of my life I wish that I had about six more arms and hands...and heads...so that I could attend to all four kids at once.  It's often interrupted by London needing to be changed. Or fed.  And by Ransom needing help on the potty.  Or by Jesse proclaiming his full and utter boredom at having to write the Letter B "six WHOLE times!"

But,.at least he knows that B says:  "B as in butt and booger."

My Dad's a teacher.  Chalkboards are being traded out for computers at his school, so I got this big daddy!

I'll take it.
Last year, he would have said:  "B as in.....chicken??"
So, we've made a lot of progress already...

And so here you have it.
Year number four.
It's going to be good.

Some days it will take place on one last frayed nerve.
Some days it will happen on the bed.
Some days we'll be in our jammies with remnants of last night's waittressing shift still upon me.
Some days will be great.
Some days will be Epic fails.

But, we'll walk it together.
And we'll bathe it in grace.

And I'd trade in my cape for new mercies every morning any day.
Because it's His strength that's perfect...