A few months ago my oldest told me he wanted to homeschool. I said, “Heck no! You will go!” I’ve waited 16 years for this day! First time all four of my kids are in school full time! 🙂 Happy dance!
And let me just say, “God bless America.” Common core and the million other problems aside – what a country we live in that they take our kids (sometimes even driving them to school for us!) for 7 hours a day for 9 months straight, and they don’t even charge us for babysitting! And if you need special services like a one-on-one aide, well, they got that covered too. Free of charge!
Now some of you may be saying, but wait, children are a blessing! Indeed they are. But when you’re a single, stay at home mom with four kids with food allergies, who could probably use a visit from Super Nanny, and they go off to school and you find yourself with a quiet, empty house with no mouths to feed for the first time in 16 years, it’s cause for a celebration! No guilt trips required!
Granted I spent an hour last night packing 4 lunches, 4 backpacks, and two snacks, and another two hours this morning, making 4 breakfasts and getting 4 kids dressed and out the door to 3 different schools by 8:00am in the pouring rain (totally understand why people homeschool BTW). But at 8:01am, there was silence. Beautiful, peaceful, still, could hear a pin drop, music to my ears (though that may have been the choirs of heaven singing in my head. I’m not sure.), silence.
Now I’ve already gotten the question a few times, “But what will you do all day?” Well, I’ll tell you. First, I did the dishes that were loaded up and cleaned last night while we slept so that I could load up the dirty dishes that we made this morning at breakfast. Then I started picking up because today is the day my cleaning lady comes. Yippee! And yes I’m a stay at home mom and I have a cleaning lady! BEST. MONEY. EVER. SPENT! If I had to get a job at McDonald’s to pay for my cleaning lady, I would do it! Without hesitation! I have a phobia of toilets! Never cleaned one. Never will. It’s just gross. I can’t do it. I also don’t do floors, bathtubs, showers, bathrooms, make beds…so yeah, pretty much everything. In college, my roommate cleaned, and I bought groceries and heated up Spaghettios. We were a perfect match. To my future husband, I am so sorry. I will cook but I will not clean.
I digress. So after my cleaning lady decided to show up an hour early at 8:30am instead of 9:30am, I had to wait while they cleaned my shower. At first I was mad because I had big plans today to go to the gym and wanted to be ready to go when they got here. Change of plans. So, I checked e-mails, responded to messages, and perused Facebook. Responded to texts from my high schooler about his schedule which still hasn’t been fixed. Called the high school to try to get a hold of his guidance counselor again. No luck. Asked my son if he’d been offered drugs yet (it’s his first time in public school). Nope. Taught him via text (is there any other way to talk to your teenager?) what he needed to know to survive public high school which he’s missed out on being in a Christian school his whole life: “Just say no.” I think he got it.
Took a call from my daughter’s middle school principal. Yes! Nothing better than a call from the principal on your kid’s first day of school. Third call this week from them regarding the SAME problem. Missing a form which I mailed to the district a month ago, told them twice now that I mailed it, but they still don’t have it and my daughter can’t attend without it. They called the district and called me back saying they do in fact have it. She can stay in school. Phew. Crisis averted.
Folded 3 baskets of laundry. THEN I took a shower. Put on my makeup, dried my hair, and curled it all in the same hour! Thought about working out but then decided to write this blog post first. It’s now 1:00pm, lunch time right? Wait. Hold up. I get to eat lunch?! All by myself?! No leftovers? A real meal? Sitting down? At a table? With no one climbing on me, stealing my food, or whining to get them something? I could gain 10 pounds if this keeps up! OK…I’ll be back. This is too good to pass up.
OK, lunch was carrots and hummus and leftover garlic lime chicken from last night’s dinner. I don’t want to waste precious alone time cooking! Back to my blog post.
But in all seriousness, what will I normally be doing with my day now that my kids are all in school? Well, I’ll still be doing my fair share of cooking and grocery shopping. But I’ll also be scheduling time to write! Had plans to have my second book published by this summer, but that got side-railed when I took on the Treating ADHD Naturally Conference in Chicago. The conference was a great success and I was asked to put it on again next year in Colorado Springs, CO in collaboration with AutismOne. For more info, check out our web site here. I can’t wait! So, I’ll be planning that over the next few months, and working on my next book, “Living Dye Free in a Cotton Candy World,” a part II to my first book. To see the table of contents, go here (scroll down to the bottom).
I’m hoping to have the book out by January, 2017. Fingers crossed! Ya gotta have a goal right? If I put it in writing, it might happen. I’ll also be putting out more blog posts! I have about 5 promised blog posts in the bull pen! So sorry to all of you who are waiting!
And…I’ll now be offering ADHD Diet and Biomed Coaching! I’ve already started talking to parents and helping them figure out their kids and how to best help them. I’d love to help you as well! See here for details. I have an introductory special rate of $75 for a one-hour consult/Q&A, or $35 for single parents.
And if you’re offended by this post, I apologize in advance! But I’m going to guess that you either don’t have 4 kids, you don’t have to cook all their meals from scratch every day, you’re not a single parent, or your oldest kid just started Kindergarten today. No worries. Your emancipation day will one day come as well and only then will you truly appreciate the joyousness of this blessed day. Until then, please just let me celebrate. And for new moms, enjoy those precious babies. For one day, they’ll grow up to be teenagers. :0 I’m sure I’ll miss these busy days a few years from now when my kids start going off to college, but for today I’m going to enjoy every last minute of it.
And now my timer’s going off that it’s 2:00pm and it’s time to make dinner, then leave at 2:45pm to pick up the kids. Take one to play practice, then to youth group, make a second dinner, pack lunches for tomorrow, baths, and then do it all over again tomorrow!
And when my kids come home today and ask me, “What did you do all day?” I’m gonna say, “I cleaned. What does it look like?” 🙂
And maybe tomorrow I’ll get to the gym! 🙂
Written by Sheri Fortes - Visit Website
Author of "All Natural Mom's Guide to the Feingold Diet"
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The Treating ADHD Naturally Conference is coming back to Chicago May 23, 2018! More details coming soon at www.mothersdetermined.com.
