Days Like This

One of my favorite songs of all time is Van Morrison’s Days Like This. Do you know the song? I just love the lyrics:

When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this.
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this.
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch.
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this.

Isn’t it wonderful when you have one of those days? One of those days when the stars are aligned and everyone seems happier than normal and more cooperative? One of those days when things, for whatever reason, seem to run smoothly?

Do you know how you look online and see all the amazing homeschool mamas pulling off fantastic unit studies and nature exploration and inventions and field trips, and how sometimes you look at yourself in your pajamas at 12:36 pm and realize you haven’t eaten breakfast or finished your coffee and you have absolutely nothing to show for your sad, unshowered, homeschooling self?

Yeah, I’ve been there too.

It can be incredibly hard to do all the things.

I try to keep it real over here. I post about our struggles, about second-guessing, about the seemingly endless whining here on My Little Poppies, and I share our daily life in all its chaotic, messy, beautiful glory over on Instagram.

The reality is, most days…

My kids bicker at breakfast,

and I spend too much energy asking one child to put on his pants,

and the laundry piles up,

and the to-do list is never finished,

and I spend more time dancing in my kitchen than actually cooking in it.

I would horrify Martha Stewart, but it is what it is.

What I’m trying to say is that homeschooling can be hard. 

I don’t want you, for even one split second, to think that the day I’m about to describe is normal for us.

Because it is not.

But, sometimes, you are blessed with one of the days that Van Morrison sang about, a homeschooling version of Days Like This.

And the homeschooling version of Days Like This makes you feel hopeful. Hopeful that they will become a regular thing, hopeful that you’re doing it right, just… hopeful.

And that hopeful part is why I’m sharing this post today.

The other day, I had a chance to experience a homeschooling version of Days Like This. Here’s how it happened…

Homeschooling Version of Days Like This

It started just like any other day. Our morning was filled with top-volume, high-energy kids and chaos and coffee and bickering, but then something magical happened.

The thing is, I didn’t even realize that something magical was happening.

I was too busy trying to do all the things… and, of course, caffeinate. Because caffeinating helps you to do all the things.

Anyway, the magical moment happened at precisely 10:30 in the morning.

It was, at this moment, that I asked my children to bring me their notebooks. You see, the kids had been fooling around and- during a momentary break in the volume- I asked them when they planned on completing their homeschool must-dos.

When I said this, they happily proclaimed that they were done. And so I looked at the clock and, seeing that it was only 10:30, asked them to bring me their notebooks*.

*In our house, each child has his or her own composition notebook. Each evening, I write down a short list of “must-dos” with boxes they can check off when completed, in addition to “bonus” items- these are fun extras that we can do when the must-dos are done. I got this idea from Sarah MacKenzie of Amongst Lovely Things. This simple strategy revolutionized our homeschool when I first read about it last year. It is a fantastic way to keep kids focused and on track. It cuts down on parental harping, as you can just say, “It’s in your notebook!” I also ask my two big kids to record the book titles that they read aloud to each other each day. It serves as a homeschool journal of sorts and is a wonderful addition to our year-end portfolio!

Well, they were right. Each child had completed his or her must-dos by 10:30 am. I hadn’t even finished my coffee yet!

I need you to know something:

THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE.  

And, if we are being honest, it may never happen again.

But, on this day, the homeschool stars were aligned. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, it just happened.

Once my not-yet-fully-caffeinated brain had processed this exciting bit of homeschooling wonder, we danced in the kitchen to Zac Brown Band. Because that’s how we celebrate around these parts.

Then, I asked the kids what they wanted to do with the rest of the day.

And, because the stars were aligned and the homeschooling gods were shining down upon us, they all agreed on the same thing: they wanted to help make dinner and then learn about the human body.

So that is exactly what we did. We picked a recipe from our favorite cookbook and got to work.

While the kids were chopping onions, I ran from room to room in search of anything and everything related to the human body. I managed to find heaps of material because I have a serious book addiction thanks to the fact that I am both an Usborne consultant and a Barefoot Books Ambassador and because last year I purchased a Groupon for the Magic School Bus Science Club. Plus, my husband is a physician and folks tend to give doctors’ kids a lot of medical-related reads.

You might call it the laziest-most-last-minute-yet-extremely-fun-unit-study ever.

Basically, I found everything I could on the human body, dumped in on our family room floor, and let the kids have at it. We read heaps of books, I answered a bazillion questions, we did a couple of experiments, and even created a stethoscope!

I did not plan this, I did not prepare, and it went beautifully.

Once again, I witnessed that learning happens all the time when you relax and let it! 

And, just to keep things in perspective…

That evening, my sleep was interrupted several times. And the next day I woke up, for the day, at 4:00 am because I wasn’t feeling so hot. And I told myself I’d feel better if I rallied… if I got out of my Christmas jammies and showered and made an effort.

(Well, I didn’t. I was headachy and crabby and needed coffee.)

The kids picked up on my mood and they played off of it. There was a lot of bickering and silly business and not a lot of work getting done.

And I thought to myself, again, that I should just shower. Get out of my Christmas jammies and restart the day.

(But I didn’t, because I was crabby and I wanted the kids to start on their homeschooling must-dos.)

Before I knew it, it was lunch time and I was still wearing Christmas jammies. Yes, the must-dos were nearing completion but I thought to myself, “What if someone comes to the door?”

I live in a swing state and there have been waaaaaay too many people coming to my door recently. And I didn’t want to deflect political peeps in my Christmas jammies… at noon… in January.

(But then my son spilled his milk all over the place and I needed to mop it up.)

And then… you guessed it… the doorbell rang.

I peeked through the peephole and it was not someone I could ignore. It was a neighbor, a neighbor whom I have never met, with my bear of a dog who had somehow escaped from our backyard to join her on her afternoon walk.

I took a deep breath.

I straightened those Christmas jammies and smoothed my bed head.

I put on a smile.

And I answered the door to retrieve my drooling dog and thank the woman for her kindness.

As I did, my little cherubs put on a very loud, very wild performance. One of those cherubs was dressed like a parrot.

Let’s just say, it was not our finest moment.

I am sure she thought we were Those Crazy Homeschoolers.

And, do you know what? Sometimes we are.

It just goes to show you that you must savor every last drop of that homeschooling version of Days Like This because it can be gone in a blink.

If you have kids obsessed with the human body, here are the books we used for the laziest-most-last-minute-yet-extremely-fun-unit-study ever:

Discovery Kids The Amazing Human Body Factivity

Quick Study Anatomy Fact Cards

Reader’s Digest Pathfinders The Human Body

The Human Body Coloring Book

The Magic School Bus: A Journey Into the Human Body the Human Body (science kit)

The Magic School Bus Fights Germs

The Magic School Bus Has a Heart

The Way We Work by David Macaulay

Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body

Usborne Flip Flaps How Do Your Senses Work?

Usborne See Inside Your Body

Usborne Understanding Your Brain: Lifting the Lid on What’s Inside Your Head

Now, it’s your turn. Tell me: When was the last time you experienced a homeschool version of Days Like This? Share here!

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When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this.
When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this.
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch.
Well, my mama told me there’ll be days like this.

When you don’t need to worry there’ll be days like this.
When no one’s in a hurry there’ll be days like this.
When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss.
Oh, my mama told me there’ll be days like this.

When you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this.
When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this.
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit,
Then I must remember there’ll be days like this.

When everyone is up front and they’re not playing tricks.
When you don’t have no freeloaders out to get their kicks.
When it’s nobody’s business the way that you wanna live.
I just have to remember there’ll be days like this.

When no one steps on my dreams there’ll be days like this.
When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this.
When you ring out the changes of how everything is,
Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this.

Oh my mama told me
There’ll be days like this.

~ Van Morrison, Days Like This

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