Several Saturday mornings ago, I watched our family go about its day, laptop in tow. We are prime candidates for an unplugged makeover, largely because of our jobs and the kids’ interaction with the missionaries they met last summer. As I watched, I couldn’t help but think about how our day might look–from the laptop’s perspective.
Morning to you! I don’t know what goes on around your home, but this hops from sun-up to sundown—at least that’s how I see it.
After a few hours’ sleep in the parents’ room, the day starts early. Dad wakes up the roosters, and I’m up with him, checking his mail, seeing what the weather looks like today, and laughing with him at a few gossip sites. Mom’s just starting to stir. She’ll need to log a few grades in before the kids wake up, and she might stop a blog or two of her friends before school starts. Some mornings when she’s up waaaaaaaaaaaaayyy before the kids, we get out to preview a video or two as a part of the kids’ school days, or we might get in a blog entry! Between the two of them, I’ve already made my first trip from upstairs to downstairs.
Okay, so now with the kids are up. She’s so busy getting them going until I’ll get some more sleep. That is, as long as the oldest girl doesn’t need Algebra help, or it isn’t her day for Biology class, or the youngest girl isn’t checking out some science video or game. I wasn’t always so busy during school, but Mom sat in on a conference regarding online learning and downloaded this great toolbar (at least, she thinks it’s great):
http://homeschoolresource.ourtoolbar.com/
It already contains a number of educational sites and links, and it’s updated periodically even! Now, we get everywhere in a school day—China’s Silk Road, the Fertile Crescent, inside our bodies, the homes of the ancient gods—everywhere!
While the kids have lunch, Mom needs me in class; students might have a question, somebody needs to share why their work is late, or she might get around to a few e-mails. I’ll sleep a little more this afternoon.
Well, school’s out, and now it’s time to get busy. Mom’s setting up for a long day into the night, so I’ll travel back upstairs, or maybe by a printer if needed. Dad’s gonna check the personal e-mail again (he can’t do that on his work computer), and the son is always looking for an opportunity to build his comic book superhero file. (He’s got a 200-page notebook with every superhero listed with a color picture—GEESH!) Anyway, I’ll be in classes with Mom most of the night, but if she gets up, someone else will pounce, and man, I could be everywhere—Orange Shark, Tom Joyner, Belize (via Live Messenger), Wikipedia, IMDB, Disney, Nickelodeon—you name it!
Well, once Mom’s taken care of dinner, laundry, dishes, dance taxi-ing, and whatever else life has brought her way, it’s back to class. Of course, she’s got about six tabs open, so she’s also answering business e-mails, shopping (or rather, wish-listing—LOL), twittering, and getting a slow headache because she’s tired and not focused. After several hours, we’ll lay down—her on the bed, me on the floor next to her. Dad will grab me up and take me downstairs in the morning; he’s so considerate of her need to get a little extra sleep.
Good night to you, too.
