I have been trying to get as much school work done as we possibly could before Han Solo was born, but of course we didn't finish the year. Since Han Solo has been home we've done easy school, but still working hard. It's not exactly easy considering I'm seriously lacking in sleep (I totally forgot what it was like to have to get up at night with a baby-NOT fun) and Han Solo requires so much attention. Sadly he's not quite as easy a baby as Indy was and needs much more holding and face time. Because of all this, our school days have changed. Indy doesn't seem to mind though. Our days have been starting later because after Han Solo eats around 6 or 7am, he goes back to sleep and so do I. Indy gets up and plays in his room with Legos or his Indiana Jones action figures and usually fixes his own breakfast (man, I love that kid). I'm usually up by 9:30 and I'll give Indy some independent work to do while I hop on the treadmill (not every day, but I'm working on it) and shower. Han Solo is generally up by the time I'm done and ready for a bottle. Indy LOVES to give him his bottle, so I set them up with the Boppy pillow (I sit next to them) and read to Indy. Once Han Solo is done eating, I take him and burp him (Indy really wants to burp him, but I won't allow that) and then Indy reads to me. HE reads to ME! He's reading level 4 readers, which is amazing considering he could barely read at all this time last year. After we're done reading, I usually try to do some work that requires my assistance while Han Solo dozes in my arms. This is hard! Once he's asleep though, I can lay him down for a nap and Indy and I can get to the meat of his work before a late lunch (around 1pm). After lunch Indy does his math (which is on the computer and does not require me!) and then we're done for the day. We don't do quite as much as we did pre-Han Solo, but since we pushed so much before and it's nearly the end of our school year I'm not all that concerned. In fact, last week we read about the Renaissance and Indy was so intrigued by Leonardo da Vinci (we read Leonardo's Horse, which is a great, short book). that we took the week off from our regular studies to spend this week reading about him. Indy's working on a (FREE) lapbook from homeschoolshare.com on Leonardo's Horse (it includes other stuff about the Renaisance too) and today experimented with writing backwards. He thought this was loads of fun.
So, homeschooling with a new baby is challenging, but totally doable. We'll see how doable it is when Han Solo is a toddler. ;)
