Wishing I was Wonder-Women

As I sit here tonight, with stuff still to do and feeling so hot I can hardly breath, I am wondering just how some women do it all! It's not been a bad day, but one of those when towards evening I really begin to resent Paul's calling because he has 'committments' that call on his time and energies. School went well again today and the kids definitely like the new system - as do I, but boy is it intense! Can you imagine trying to ensure that all 7 children do each of 12 activities and that each one of them gets to do some stuff with you too - the younger ones more. That's 84 activities a day going on around me!! Couple that with all the ordinary house-hold stuff like making lunch, chivvying kids to do their chores, doing my own chores (Weds = hanging washing out and getting in, endlessly loading dishwasher, hoovering through this rather big house, cleaning down kitchen at the end of day), a million trips to the toilet with a drinking-lots-just-trained toddler, finding the bits of things I forgot to put in the boxes and answering the cry of "Muuuuuum!" to the point of distraction! Even with only 4 help tickets each that's still at least 28 pleas for assistance above and beyond that which I have already assigned them!

And then to boot P is out from 6 on a Weds, so cook tea and clean up after it, put kids to bed after chivvying to shower and tidy rooms (again) before they hit the sack. All this to the whimpers of "It's too hot, I'm too tired, can I do it in the morning?..." (all of which are echoing loudly in my own thoughts as I tell them "no!" - and myself too, knowing that tomorrow is likely to be little different and then there will only be double the workload - never good!).

Now, after blogging, I have to go and stand in a room infested with tiny flies (someone left the window open & light on last night) and think up 84 activities for tomorrow (it's almost midnight now)! I only stood it for a little while last night then felt I was so crawling with flies I gave up, only leaving me even less time this morning to shower and get myself and two small boys dressed etc... (which I eventually managed to do late morning).

I'm thinking that I need to drop to 10 activities a day because, although they are not complaining and the activities are varied enough, some are struggling to complete them all and today they would have been working longer than I really want them to - for my own sanity! I need to think more imaginatively for tiny too - he is so Mummy hungry bless him, but unfortunately so is C. Today I was looking at a book with N, but it was like none of the others could see this; it seemed a grand time to themto ask me a million questions about nothing in particular and it was the moment when E lost all common sense about her own work and when C chose to throw a tantrum about doing a puzzle I knew he could do relatively easily with some thought put into it. Poor N just kept tapping my arm and calling "Muuuum" quite loudly to draw my attention back to him and his book (which he was really trying to enjoy with me). I got quite annoyed with the others tbh, as N really does not get enough time with me and even when I try to make it happen it gets kyboshed and he ends up being a bit sad :( He had a box full of activities to do today, but I only managed to do about 5 of them with him - it was just too hard to concentrate the time on him :( I'm hoping that as E & C get more used to the system they will afford me more time to work with him and he will get used to being part of 'school time' - he is only just 2 afterall.

So - multi-Mums out there - how do you do it all? How do you homeschool several ages, keep a clean and tidy home - not spotless, just respectable - and have happy, thriving-on-your-love kids - and not feel a complete wreck by the end of the day?

Good moments of the day were when E & I realised that she knows all but 3 of the letter sounds of the alphabet now :D & C did a 24 piece puzzle completely unassisted (once he got over the grumbles)! :D