Ah, the impression that stay at home moms kick back, sip coffee and watch endless daytime tv, interspersed with doing cutsie crafts with the kiddos, knitting pencil sharpener cozies and talking on the phone. Where do people get these ideas ?

A friend asked me today in email how I could stay home and stay sane because she would go nuts with so little to do. I chuckled and said you find ways. She replied that daytime TV is so boring, what else is there to do. I just said things come up.

 So, once and for all, revealed to the world , the behind the scenes look at a day in the life of a homeschooling stay at home mom. Let’s call this Too Busy to be Desperate Housewives. Actual events from an actual day, most events repeated by any other stay at home homeschooling mom at any given day of the week

 5 am- get up, pack DH lunch and breakfast, noticing the normal lunch tote is a little funky, so put it on the side to wash later and use alternative case to pack. Make mental note of what dinner is and if it is an early defrost or not. Meantime notice there are two slices of bread left so must make this morning.

 5:10- begin morning devotions and a cup of coffee in solitude. Glance at today’s school itinerary and assemble necessary materials. Do personal studies for the day

6:30- Son is up and DH is ready to leave for work. Go over days  errands, appointments and listen to son's questions about everything under the sun.

 7:00 – make bread and observe that flour is getting low, so stop begin shopping list for next pass. Remember that Aldis is having a temporary sale on 3 tiered baking racks, and something else. Hunt down flyer and note a few other things that are holiday must haves and add to the list.

 7:10- email , breakfast ( remembering to take supplements) and shower. Learn that the condition of the daughter of a friend is worst than estimated so include her in prayer chain. Clean bathroom, shag son in to pick up his room and get dressed. Water plants and remind self of plan to move the grandma tree for last three days. Determine it would be best done by myself. Really begin bread.

 8 :00- begin school. First subject is Bible studies. He is in a grumbly mood and decides writing the answers is torture. Quick mental juggling and I realize that the specific chapter/book covered today is a Veggie Tales show. Suggest we watch the DVD and do an oral exam instead. Son thrilled , all goes well till I asked him who inspired Joshua to take the actions he did in the battle of Jerico. ( answer is God). Blank stares, suggestions, prompts- 20 minutes later I give up and tell him the answer is God. He said “thank you mom !” and I tell him for future use if a question comes up about something in the bible , dealing with inspiration , ideas or messages, the answer 99 percent of the time is God. Realize that this child is going to be 18 in 2 ½ years and will have to support himself and make critical decisions…and shudder.

 9:30- bread ready to go into the oven , so I start it baking and we go out for our daily walk. Destination the park where son can wiggle all he wants.  I observe the birds, the changing trees and the fact that one of the trees has suffered from wind damage, with a tree limb precariously hanging.Meanwhile, son gets stuck upside down on the swing and needs my aid to get out.

 10:15- back home, make hot chocolate for son and tea from me. Call the office to report the tree- maintenance will deal with it. Start math class, and today was a refresher of roman numerals. He cannot remember so I write down the “cheat code”. Thus begins the argument that D is not 500, it is D and a letter cannot be a number. Mr Literal has a melt down and I try to be understanding, sympathetic and help him to understand this is a symbolic representation.. Bread is finished and while I am taking it from the oven, Biscuit unscrews every pen on the table to see how they work. I have a disturbing memory of how I wanted to see how turtle shells protected them as a child and I experimented by dropping them out a 4^th floor window.Yes, he is my son but no living things have been harmed. Back to math, then on to language arts (another melt down because he is asked to write the dialog for a cat whose owner is away- so I suggest another topic). Read an interesting short narrative about a quail, practice cursive ( will he ever learn !), and then on to Microsoft Word Lesson and Spanish lesson. Great fun learning how to say I need to go to the bathroom, I don’t want to go to the bank. I blow his mind and throw in the word for play, and he says “Hey ! You Know hat ! You are a smart little mama !” Get son to help move the tree and then we break for lunch. Notice tree has dropped a lot of leaves since it was placed there so out comes the Dust buster and vacuum cleaner for an unscheduled pass.

 11:45 lunch break. “Please, please please please make macaroni and cheese !” So I do so. Start pan of water on stove and the burner is acting funny- then suddenly the space between the burner and the oven is on fire. Pull everything off and remember it has been about 6 months since I cleaned there, so emergency clean. Pilot got clogged as well, so surgery on the range before making lunch. Note to self- oven MUST be cleaned before it catches fire as well…but when. Meanwhile, door to door trade person knocks, and comments that they are only looking for Spanish speaking people. Son asks what is this yucky stuff, and discover he is trying to help clean the range , and knocks out the pilot lights.

Only 12:15 here- lots more school to go , household stuff and personal things. Not a bad day or a good one- just an average slice of life for a homeschooling mom.