Errands.
It's considered a bad word at our house if you asked the girls.
They strongly dislike the errand running. But alas, that comes with the territory for homeschoolers. Mom can't run and do things while you are in school and then be home smiling with milk and cookies as you walk in the door from school.
But she can run you through the drive through after the library on the way to the post office!
In a few years, the girls will be old enough to stay home by themselves while I run to the store. Especially if my parents are home 3 doors down. But for now, they must come with me unless Grandma and Grandpa are willing to keep them. (Which they really are, but I don't like to take advantage of that AND I happen to think errands are good for them.)
So I told you our schedule a few days ago but I forgot to mention our backwards day. I usually do this on Wednesdays but I forgot yesterday. It's when we start at the bottom of our schedule (the things that ALL too often get left off!) and work our way up. That way, we leave off different things! Just kidding. Kind of.
Well, the girls really like backwards day. It feels good to do things in a different order every now and then. Today, I've decided to REALLY do backwards day. We're going to run our errands first and then do school backwards.
The girls talked me into this. They hate afternoon errands. Here are the reasons they cited:
1. We always get headaches riding in the car. (Sweetheart)
2. We're always tired.
3. We can get the errands out of the way and then stay home the rest of the day.
I pointed out that they will now be tired and get the headache in the middle of school....but Sweetheart said, "Well, at least I'll be at home instead of stuck in the car."
Are you feeling very sorry for them now?
Something inside of me wants this to work, but I'm hesitant. Little Bit asked me just a few weeks ago, when we were off school and therefore running errands in the morning, if we could always run our errands in the mornings. But I'll tell you, afternoon school around here has not been very successful.
Today, we shall try again! I'll let you know how it goes.
How do you handle errands? Do you pack it all in one day? Have certain days assigned for certain things like grocery shopping on Thursdays? Do school in the car while you run? I really would like to know!
And I was just thinking about our life several years ago. Thankful I don't have to go to the laundromat anymore. Thankful I have a car to run errands with. Just wanted to make sure and point out I am thankful for this "dilemma."
errands...I TRY to do errands like drycleaning, bank, post office, some shopping done on Monday mornings. We drop off Dave- get our donut holes to sustain them and are on our way! the kids have for the most part probably 95% of the time had a good attitude about errands. So I rarely get whinyness- I do find that if you feed them often the animals behave better! So maybe a snack in the car- or tutti fruiti as one of the stops!
ReplyDeleteI have always taken my kids- always. Even when we lived AT moms I took my kids! If I have stuff on the weekend or evening for some reason we ALL go! In fact I save some errands for "DAVE" time because I like it. He usually humors me! :) Sometimes he keeps the kids in the car- but I just think of that as daddy/ kid time! We actually get a lot done in afternoon time--- I tend to spread out school day out if we are home all day and do bigger breaks through out the day.....
and again WAY TO GO SUPER BLOGGER! That computer really did it!!!
Yuck. Errands. I generally go grocery shopping in the evening by myself. Other things like going to the post office and places only open during the day, I try to do a bunch all at once and convince my husband to keep an eye on the kids and plop them in front of the teevee (he works from home, but is in phone meetings all the time). Or I try to go during his lunch break.
ReplyDeleteIf he worked in an office, I don't know what I'd do. I hate taking both the kids places - they are bored and whiny and it takes 14 times as long getting everyone in and out of the car...
So! Helpful!
that's a tough one. we live out of state from all family... and our few sitters have grown up and moved for college. i think our last date was when we were visiting family in la. sad, huh?
ReplyDeletei relaxed about feeling guilty for getting little to no schoolwork done on big errand days when one hs mom told me that she skips 'school' once a week to clean house. those are teachable moments, too, right? ;)
i try to spread the errands a bit... like stopping at the dry cleaners when i'm on my way to dance, etc, etc. but sometimes, the errands build up and it wears us 'all' out. headache. check. so i try to go easy on myself for only squeezing math in. just a few things they can do on their own, while mom is getting dinner ready, etc. or an educational tv show. ;)
i much prefer days when we don't have to go anywhere! if i can save the grocery shopping for the weekend when hubs is home, i consider that quality family time. ;)
I do not have a set plan for running errands. I have found though, that to try and do other things first and then school in the afternoon has never worked. Even I don't feel like do anything school related after about 3:00pm! We do however, have backwards days for school subjects probably once a week. For the same reasons as you! : )
ReplyDeleteLittle piddly errands my husband does, he has a fairly mobile job and doesn't mind doing them. He knows I hate talking to strangers and he wouldn't want to stand in any lines with four to six small kids so he willingly does them for me. Grocery shopping and anything else "I" have to do, I do when he is home to watch the kids.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby is home with me here in the States all day long. So I can pick up and go whenever I want to. But he funny thing is, the kids always want to go with me. But when Daddy goes, they all want to stay home. Why do they do that?! Sometimes I'd like to go by myself, ya know? :0)
ReplyDelete