Excerpt from a Homeschool Log

10:00 am              Start Time

10:01 am              Give puppy chew toy. Put puppy in the kitchen and lock baby gate.

10:02 am              Put Truck Tunes on TV and Mighty Machines on computer for toddler. 

Also place a dozen of toddler’s favorite toys strategically around the living room.

10:05 am              Tell schooler to finish with morning chores and sit down at the table.

10:06 am              Empty dishwasher.

10:07 am              Toddler wants a snack. Get toddler milk and graham crackers.

10:12 am              Finish emptying dishwasher. Start folding laundry.

10:16 am              Check on schooler. Schooler informs me she needs to use the restroom.

10:21 am              Folding laundry. Smell something coming from the kitchen. Clean puppy pee and poop. Put puppy outside.

10:31 am              Toddler needs milk refill.

10:36 am              Where the heck is schooler? Find schooler engrossed in a book on the commode. Give schooler 4 minute ultimatum. Set timer.

10:40 am              Begin schooling. Review homonyms.

10:48 am              Notice smell emitting from living room. Change toddler’s diaper. Yell from the changing table to have schooler start on handwriting book.

10:51 am              Realize puppy is unusually quiet. Check on puppy. Puppy has dug a hole the size of a basketball in the middle of the lawn. Feel sick to my stomach. Let it go.

10:53 am              Check on schooler. Work through mistakes.

11:00 am              Money puzzles.

11:03 am              Toddler is afraid of trucks- wants cuddles. Bribe toddler with alphabet cookies and new video.

11:05 am              Check on puppy. Puppy is chewing on unidentified mushroom. Run to the neighbor’s house to borrow Hydrogen Peroxide.

11:10 am              Administer Hydrogen Peroxide to puppy. Move homeschooling outside. Draw food webs in chalk on the patio while puppy vomits the contents of her stomach.

11:32 am              Puppy has finished vomiting. Clean remaining vomitus. Crate puppy.

11:37 am              Back inside. Write short captions for each of schooler’s drawings from the night before.

11:40 am              Hear toddler in the bathroom. Find toddler playing with favorite toys in the toilet.

11:42 am              Bathe toddler.

11:43 am              Instruct schooler to just do some pages in her mazes and puzzle book.

11:58 am              Dry and clothe toddler. Add bleach to tub. Throw toys in tub.

11:59 am              Reconsider going back to work full-time.

12:00 pm              Lunch!