No Pajama Days

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that if one has no outside engagements, one has the option of spending the entire day in one's pajamas if one so chooses. This week holds no Pajama Days for us!

School kept us busy today until we had to head out for Alex and Michael's basketball practices. While Alex's back seems to be just fine now, Michael's goofiness has yet to wear off. I had to have a talk with him afterwards about his collapsing on the gym floor for no apparent reason...must be the shininess of the cool floor. The other two kids and I got our exercise walking the upstairs track which overlooks the basketball courts. Except for the Princess who sat her duff down on a folding chair on the side of the track and "played" Alex's DS. As for Jacob, he sprinted at least as many laps as I walked. Oh, to possess an ounce of that energy!

Tomorrow is the first day of a new homeschool co-op we just joined. This co-op has the appearances of being completely different from any co-op of which I've been a part in the past. This one is organized so well that it really is a day of "real" school for the kids. None of this come if I feel like it or let my kid sit out of class with me if he doesn't feel like participating. This is mandatory participation, and the kids are in "real" classes. Alex and Michael are taking Art, Anatomy, and P.E. Jacob is taking Botany and P.E. I've tried to get Audrey all excited about "school" because she has been a little out of sorts lately about going to her class at church. For co-op, I specifically asked to be an assistant in First Grade, knowing how uncomfortable Jacob is with new experiences. When I signed up, I had no idea my littlest one would be going through the same thing. So we shall see how she reacts when I try to shove her through an unfamiliar doorway tomorrow.

Wednesday dawns the beginning of a new semester of AWANA. I'm not a big fan of AWANA. Wait. Let me rephrase that. I'm a big fan of AWANA for my kids. I'm not a big fan of AWANA for me. Thankfully, I have resigned my Director/Teacher position, and while I still feel a bit of guilt over someone else having to pick up the slack, it was best for my sanity. By Wednesday night, I've spent 3 days with my children, usually by myself, and the last thing I want to do is teach 50 other children who belong to someone else. Unfortunately, I am still a verse listener/Kindergarten class discipliner. But baby steps towards relinquishing some responsibility.

Book Club also resumes on Thursday. The kids will be presenting reports on past presidents. Our family will represent the shortest president (in service, not height!), one who gave a very important speech, and one who chased a would-be assassin away with a cane. They've been working hard on their reports, even Jacob, so maybe, just maybe, he'll gain the courage to present.

Thursday afternoon we're going to take a field trip to INK, which is a children's museum set up like a community. There is a vet's office, a grocery store, a restaurant, a doctor's office, a classroom, and a dentist's office, and everything is hands-on. The kids love it, which is a good thing because I purchased a membership to the Atlanta children's museum, and it's reciprocal at INK. My goal for this year, if nothing else, is to wear that membership out in order to completely get my money's worth!

I suppose Friday could be a Pajama Day because we have no planned outings; however, one never knows when Spontaneity will strike on a boring Friday night. So no PJs on Friday. I rarely take advantage of Pajama Days anyhow, but it is nice to know they're an option. And crazy weeks like this one do at least make me that much more thankful to crawl into bed in my PJs at the end of the day!