Quiet Week

This week I was too busy trying to recover from last week to push forward with school. This was our eighth week because I started early, and we all needed some margin in our work. It's taken this much time for it to sink in with the older girls that they need to work or they will be overwhelmed. Previously our oldest could just skate along, and our second can charm her way out of most things. This year the requirements and the schedule are wearing us all out, but at the same time it is forcing us to be more disciplined. The younger ones are delighting in beating their elders almost every day, but none of us was enjoying the lack of relaxation.
The week was a standstill for every subject but their required reading, mathematics and writing. They have the skills now to keep up, but they needed a chance to catch up. I needed a break too. I was beginning to dread waking up and the immediate necessity of ordering, begging and disciplining the kids to get the extensive demands met. Taking a step back let me reevaluate a number of things and make some decisions--as well as catch up some cleaning--that will hopefully lead to a happier home life for the rest of the year.