Partly cloudy, chance of rain 40%

I originally posted this one year ago. I had the grand plan of posting a "day in the life" in our homeschool. I haven't attempted it since. Maybe someday, maybe not. I decided to post it today for a couple of reasons:
1. After going through our latest bout of flu, I needed to be reminded that although it seems like our schedule will never recover and we have "lost" a whole week of school, life will regain a semblance of sanity again and life's interruptions are actually wonderful learning opportunities.
2. Nan, the Writer Mom, has been having a this kind of day today, and I wanted to express my sympathy. Nan, been there-done that. Praying for you.

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As I was in the school room last night preparing for today, I thought that I would use today’s entry to outline a typical day in our homeschool. Little did I know what I would encounter just moments later.

11:30pm Primo comes downstairs and looks white as a sheet. "Mom, I threw up all over my bed." Get Primo in the shower and go upstairs to ask Frodo to help change her sheets. I should mention at this point that our bedrooms are on the second floor and our only bathroom is on the first floor.

11:43pm Put in a load of laundry.

11:50pm Primo is out of the shower after washing twice and vomiting numerous times. I sit with her to braid her hair (to keep it out of the "line of fire") while she leans over the toilet.

12:00am Primo and Frodo are in bed. I am cleaning the shower and disinfecting everything.

12:30am Finally go to bed.

1:35am Secondo comes in our room. "Mom, I’m going to throw up." I don’t have a bucket and I am still very foggy, so I ask if she can make it to the bathroom. She says yes, so we start downstairs. We make it halfway down. Frodo wakes up and sits with her on the stairs while I gingerly find a safe passage down then clean off the steps.

1:40am Secondo sits in a little chair in front of the toilet while I disinfect the steps. She is amazingly still clean. I braid her hair. Frodo checks on Primo then goes back to bed.

1:55am I begin the search for a second bucket and set up a spot for Secondo on Primo’s bed. It has a plastic cover on the mattress. Put in another load of laundry.

2:15am Secondo finally feels well enough to go back to bed. I disinfect then also go to bed.

2:17am These lyrics begin going through my head as I attempt to sleep (and try to prepare myself for the next "episode"):

I face the dawn with sleepless eyes
No I can't go on
When clouds are pushin' down on me, boy
I can't stop, I can't stop the rain
From fallin

(I have no idea who the artist is... or the last time I heard this song)

3:00am Primo calls from the other room, "Quarto just threw up in his crib!" (I should mention at this point that our children all share one large room a la the nursery in Peter Pan.) Frodo follows me in and asks, "What do you want... kid or crib?" I pick crib. We strip Quarto down to his diaper and Frodo takes him to the tub. I strip the sheets.

3:10am Put in another load of laundry. Change the sheet and disinfect the crib.

3:23am Check on Frodo and Quatro. Frodo tells me to go to bed; he’s going to stay up a bit. I go happily.

4:17am Hear Primo in other room getting sick then going downstairs. "Do you need anything?" "No, just cleaning out my bucket and going to the bathroom."

4:18am I toss and turn for who knows how long.

5:05am Terzo wakes up yelling, "Mom! I’m bleeding!" I go running in to find he has a pretty good bloody nose. We determine that it is not as bad as it looks and that only his pjs and pillow are dirty.

5:10am Tell Quarto to go back to sleep then take Terzo downstairs to finish cleaning up.

5:13am Frodo comes downstairs asking if he should call in sick to work. I tell him it is up to him. I can handle the kids if the girls stay in bed all day, but that if it starts raining frogs, he needs to come home. He agrees and goes back to bed.

5:20am Get Terzo back in his bed and head to my own. Primo sees me and asks sweetly, "I’m sorry to bother you, Mom, but since you’re already up could you wash out my bucket? I threw up a few more times, but I didn’t want to make you go up and down the stairs any more." I happily take the bucket (yes, happily... surprised even myself) and clean it out.

5:24am Collapse into bed.

6:29am Frodo’s alarm goes off.

6:38am Frodo’s alarm goes off.

6:47am Frodo’s alarm goes off.

6:52am Terzo comes in saying it is morning and asks if he can go downstairs. I tell him to go play a video game and that Frodo will put a movie on for him when he comes downstairs. Frodo grumbles something. Terzo leaves, but on his way out asks if I can make biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I suppress laughter (surprise? anger?) and tell him that we will have cereal.

6:56am Frodo’s alarm goes off. Frodo gets up and tries to remember where he left his clothes out.

7:12am Terzo comes upstairs and asks when I am getting up. I tell him he needs to be patient today since everyone is sick and I didn’t get much sleep. He says it is hard to be patient but he’ll try. I assume he goes downstairs and doze off.

7:14am Open my eyes to see Terzo pacing back and forth next to my bed. I ask him to sit and wait for my alarm to go off. He grabs a sewing toy from the floor and perches himself on my sewing box. He asks (optimistically and sheepishly), "Are you sure we can’t have biscuits for breakfast?" I assure him we can’t and go to sleep.

8:30am My alarm goes off. Terzo immediately announces that it is 41.8 degrees outside. I glance at the thermometer in front of the window and confirm that this is the case... and that it is not raining frogs.

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The next day's post was as follows:

Today's Lessons:

1. Differences between antibacterial soap and Germ-X

2. How to disinfect a surface.

3. How germs are spread.

4. Why you should eat bland food when you are nauseous.

5. How to improvise when you run out of sheets.

6. How to do the laundry.

7. How to serve others.

8. How to be patient.

9. God is in control... even when it isn't raining frogs.

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My utmost respect and comrade re to the person(s) who knows where I got the title for this post from. Leave your guess in the comments section. I will post the answer there later.