Finding Beauty in the Chaos

Some days just don't go as planned.

I'm not a strict scheduling homeschool mom. Basically math always comes first thing in the morning. Chores are after breakfast. We're real basic around here. We have a few basic guidelines but everything else falls around those main activities.

I've just learned in these first few homeschooling years that that is how our clan seems to operate best. Lots of moms schedule the whole day out. I've tried that. And bombed. We seem to work best with a basic schedule and list of things to do but beyond that, to stay flexible. Our best days are when I am in touch with how my kiddos are doing.  I learn to watch them, pay attention to where I am at and make decisions based on both. Good days seem to happen when I think through each hour of the day as it happens and ask myself, "What would be best for us to do right now?"

Yesterday was one of those days. Actually today is one of those days too. I have a feeling the whole week will be.

But yesterday. It was chaos. I had my mental list of things to do. It was supposed to be a "normal" day. Normal before the storm. What I didn't realize was that yesterday was to be the beginning of the storm. Funny thing is that I'm pretty sure I caused the storm.

It was all about Pear Ginger Muffins. Silly, huh? My reasoning was pretty logical. We have a pear tree that is ready to be harvested. We have pears coming out our ears. And though I'm pregnant and tired, I feel I can't let them go to waste.

So Pear Ginger Muffins for breakfast it was. Goodness, I had no idea how involved that recipe would be. Yikes! Anyhow, not to bore you about my kitchen escapades. Let's just say these darn muffins took all morning. To make matters worse, I had also decided to make a crock pot soup for dinner. I realized just as I was making it that I forgot to defrost the broth and needed to get some vegetables from the garden.

Chaos. The kitchen was literally piled high. I was in pajamas. The boys were happy as clams playing and Nutmeg was running around in a dress that she found in the "grow into" bin.

But . . . thank God . . . I managed to not lose it for once. I had enough sense to laugh and decide to be super flexible. Ten o'clock rolled around and still no school lessons had commenced. I mostly got the food put together, left ALL the dishes in the kitchen, decided to leave math until LAST, and sat down on the couch with the kids to do the lessons that involved reading aloud. It worked!

It worked, I'm sure because of perspective. I kept it. I saw the mess I was in and just went with it. Well, darn it, in Sarah's words, if its going to messy today, then its going to be a beautiful mess.

Yep, that's was the goal for yesterday. A beautiful mess. Thanks Sarah for the idea! We needed that.

BTW, we did find plenty of beauty. Nutmeg and I had a lovely trip out to the garden and creative times in the kitchen. Oh and the muffins and soup were delish! And we managed to get all our lessons finished. Yeah!

Maybe next week will be neat and beautiful. Or maybe not. One hour at a time.

She snacked on kale all morning! Win! I call that beauty in the chaos.