Our Ordinary Days

(Sarah is learning multiplication and we are using the Waldorf Essentials Math Guide.)

Sometimes I wonder if our life is too simple.  There are times when I truly forget what day of the week it is as one day tends to blend into the next.  I think being home based does that to you as we all work and learn right here on our little homestead.

Each day, at least Monday through Saturday, the routine is very similar.  Breakfast, Dishes, Make Bed, Make and Help Younger Children Dress, Pick Up, Bake Bread and/or Other Goodies, More Dishes, Sweep Floors, Help with Some Learning, Try to Stop a Conflict between Two Children from Escalating, Put in  Load of Laundry, Hang Wet Laundry, Fold Dried Laundry, Make Lunch, Get Emmy Down for a Nap, Help with the Business (Packaging, Wood Burning, Computer Work), Do My Darndest to Get Outside to Clean Animal Homes, Plant, Dig, Weed (whatever the season may dictate), Think About Dinner, Begin to Prepare Dinner, Pick Up the House, Do Nightly Animal Chores.....

(Emily peeling crayons.)

In between all the routine I of course, squeeze in knitting, handwork, and growing food.  The beauty of these activities is that I can actually see the progress.

(Abraham asks to do school work.)

But, truly, there are so many other things that happen, much more meaningful things - like Abraham hugging me and telling me he loves me; or Thomas calling many times from college with his first bad sickness away from home (while I felt badly for him, it was neat to still be called upon); like Isaac's face lighting up when he gets one of his rebuilt laptops to work; or Abby building a "cottontail cottage" from found cardboard for her rabbit.

(We celebrate Mike's 47th birthday this evening when they return home.)

Then, every so often something quite unusual breaks up the daily ordinary.  Yesterday Mike brought half the gang down to eastern Massachusetts.  Isaac went to game 1 of the World Series last night with his Poppa. During their visit, they will all get a rush of a different life filled with big stores, lots of people, traffic and maybe from the point of view of some, excitement.  I am glad we get shots of this from time to time because it really helps me to remember that compared to how others live, our life really isn't very ordinary at all.