I counsel a lot of homeschool moms who worry about getting every i dotted and t crossed.  I thought that this week's experiences would be a good example to share with others about the freedom to be flexible!  Flexibility is actually a balancing act in the educating process of a young mind.  Whether teaching other people's kids or my own, I have seen over the years that consistency is the key to successful learning.  Yet the reality of life pops up when we least expect it.  For many of us, it can be tempting to conquer the lesson plan, instead of embracing the opportunity and experiencing a different game plan.  However, how to balance life's realities with the need for consistency?  This is the very question I have had to ask myself recently.

     This week are the ceremonies for my husband's retirement.  Today was the luncheon, tomorrow his family flies in, Friday is the ceremony, and Sat we have a monthly commitment to sing at the nursing home.  My son will be participating in the local homeschool geography bee and spelling bee (hoping to continue on for the national competitions) in the next two weeks.  All of this after a 2 week holiday (and illness).  

     I belong to a yahoo group for IEW and one of the moms posted earlier this week this humorous, yet realistic subject line, "Christmas break sucked out my kids' brain."  I think all of us educators can relate!  For the first time ever, we did not have this problem...we did a little bit of school over the holidays.  gasp  However it honestly paid off!  Despite some illness, we still had fun family time over the holidays, and the kids slipped right back into full schedule this week with unusual perkiness!  Yea!!  Because they forget their writing skills easier than any other subject, I had them work on their American Revolution/Texan Revolution research paper over the holidays.  

     Today was crazy so I flip flopped our entire schedule.  We did our history Socratic discussion in the morning instead of the afternoon.  We had to get that discussion done so we could move on.  The other subjects would be easier to flex.  By the time we were done with discussion, it was time to drive nearly an hour to where my husband works for his retirement luncheon.   Then some errands after that and we were home by 2pm.  My daughter and I did her Rhetoric (high school) literature, government and philosophy discussion. Then they had recess, followed by my reading aloud from the current GA Henty book while they worked on crafts.  I have been encouraged that reading aloud from these books are something beneficial enough to keep in the schedule as much as possible.

     After dinner and chores we settled down to do a KWO for the final paragraph of their research paper.  I wasn't sure at this point how it would turn out.  I didn't know if the kids could actually find the information I had sketched out.  I was beginning to think it was too broad and off topic.  Besides I found out my in-laws may be late arriving from the icy north, if they can come at all.  Flights have been tenuous at best. Tomorrow was looking increasingly crazier! While I flip flopped options in my head, the kids tried to find necessary Texas information in our resource books, but found little.  Suddenly we heard an explosion and the power went out in the neighborhood. 

     Well, that sort of sealed the deal.  My decision was made for me.  The kids were worried about having time to write their rough draft for this paragraph amidst all of the upcoming events.  I assured them that due to recent events, this paragraph was now canceled!  I had a new plan!  This week they have to write the introduction and conclusion paragraphs, join their previous paragraphs and write transitional sentences between paragraphs.  We have a unit celebration coming up and we'll use this research paper as the basis for the presentation.   The kids will each choose a side, American or Texan, and write their note cards from their research paper.  Then we'll look up photos on-line to prepare power point presentations for the unit celebration in a couple of weeks!  Next week is the next Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip, so they will do a writing assignment next week based on that. (My son is really looking forward to this one.  He's already previewed the video.) The week after that we need to whip out 2 weeks of TOG topics and prepare for the unit celebration for the 24th.  Whew!  The other subjects (math, Latin and science) will be worked in as it is possible.  Our focus will be history and literature the next few weeks. 

     The way I decide where to remain consistant when the realities of life sneak in, is by looking at the weakest area.  For my kids it is writing.  They have gained so much this year, I don't want them to lose that.  Then the history topics we have to keep up with, since they go by weekly topics.  There are 36 topics in the curriculum, which means 36 weeks in the school year.  On top of that we are doing Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips once a month.  The EFTs are a wonderful break to keep us fresh for the TOG work.  Before we used to get worn down.  But this year we have been energized by the monthly EFT's.  Since we'd like to be done by the end of May, we make sure the history and literature gets done on schedule, whereas the other subjects are easier to flex and catch up with.   

     As for the rest of our darkened evening, we went downstairs and I pulled out a stash of candles that we lit.  Still we could barely see a thing.  I told the kids this was a history lesson...they were experiencing life before electricity!  We pulled out Uno and played several rounds of that.  I livened things up by telling Lafayette and John Laurens stories.  The kids kept giggling that I had a new story for every round, but I thought they'd enjoy a few things I had read last night that made me laugh!  In the process, I'd get distracted in the card game and didn't always lay down the right cards.  It made the evening fun and helped it go by rather quickly, when we were pleasantly surprised by power!    

     So there you have it!  Make the most of every opportunity!  Use the lesson plans as a guideline, but don't let it become your master.  Try to keep some consistency in the weaker areas and focus on the most important stuff.  That way, everything else can fall into place!