We have been doing a five day school schedule in the past, and somehow I have muddled through all the other stuff, and we have managed to finish by the time public schools end.  We also start earlier than they do, and this year we would have finished earlier than they, but we had four weeks off to go to Scotland in the spring.

We took the day off today, partly because we have guests coming tonight, and partly because I just felt overwhelmed, and need a day off.  I was thinking about the fact that we did four days of school this week, and the rest of the time I drove myself frantic trying to keep up with housework and meals, and by Thursday afternoon, I was exhausted, and my house is dirty!  And my laundry is NOT done!  I went to bed at 10:00 last night, fully expecting to do school today, and somehow get the house clean, the laundry done, and salads made by 6:00 this evening.  By this morning, I had reduced school to a half day and was still wondering how to get everything done.  After breakfast I had an overwhelming urge to just go back to bed for a while.  I am so tired.

So on my mind right now (if any of you have managed to read this far) is the thought of just moving to a four-day school week.  That would give me a day to do errands, appointments, laundry, and deeper cleaning than I can ordinarily do during the year.  It may also give me some time to sew!  The way our schedule has run in the past is that we have just taken a half day or a day off to do whatever we needed to do.  We don't have long schedule breaks unless we are going away.  We don't follow the Holiday breaks that most folks do, so that doesn't matter to me  I think we might have to go a bit longer in the summer, but I am not sure.  I haven't done the math.

I have two main concerns.  The first is just the fact that we live in a small town, and if the children are out when others are in school, that may invite questions.  We don't make a practice of letting them run around, but we could be out at odd hours.  The second is about school itself.  If you are running a four-day week, when do you have time to do electives, like art or music?  If any of you have any advice or comments, I would appreciate it very much.