"It isn't your turn to argue with me"

Yes, that phrase came out of my mouth this morning. While I was finishing up school this morning with Katie, and allowing Mary to lay like a lump on the sofa until she "woke" up, Mary wanted to argue with me about her math assignment for the day. I found myself turning to her with a smile, and an unusual feeling of calmness before I uttered these sweet, sweet words "I still have three hours before I am doing school with you, therefore it isn't your turn to argue with me." I don't know if it was the words or my calmness, but it shut her up quick. What made it even sweeter was at 2:00 Mary pulled out her math assignment and started working on it without a word to me.

In my between time today I was able to finally sort through the bunch of books we have used recently and left piled up here and there in the family room. Wow! What an improvement. I repurposed a small bookshelf and now each of the girls have their own shelf with their current school books & notebooks. Beside the shelf, I have put a plastic storage box I recently emptied and is now home to all our library books. My heart is going pitter-patter to have everything in one space. Did you know we actually have a coffee table?

Now that we have a schedule, we have everything organized and the girls are focused I am actually starting to feel like a homeschooling mom again. We have even been adding people/events to our timeline.

Emily just told me that her art project for tomorrow's art day is to make her own puppet theater. And, she means business; her list includes a box (with an open top), paper bags for the puppets and yarn. Goody... that won't be stressful for anyone.

Peace,

Amy