Need more hours!

I'm seriously short on hours every day at the moment. It doesn't seem to matter how I prioritise, or how much I try and delegate, I've just got too much to do!

Thursday I found myself in quite a bit of pain and a lot of discomfort again, with some "tightenings" (not allowed to call them contractions!) which I think may have been triggered by a mild kidney infection. So I promised myself to take it easy on Friday...

However, Friday was our latest Science Workshop, with our lovely SEA taking a session on energy. The children got to build a "vehicle" that was powered by an elastic band. 11 kids took part, whilst a few younger siblings got on with some Christmas related worksheets/art at the end of the room. Once again, our SEA was very impressed with both the children and the adults, and with the attention and interest that everyone showed.

Unfortunately, it meant a mad dash around in the morning trying to get some "home" stuff done, as well as getting everything ready. In the end Roarke sat in on the workshop and I pottered off home for a while to rest up with Grace, whilst Toni and William had a chance to play without their older siblings around.

My brother called over with baby Thomas, which was really nice. Then we were delighted to be able to welcome back to ours (after the workshop) some new HE friends with their two children. Kids and adults all got along brilliantly and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Once everyone had gone however, there was still no rest! We recently decided to take on one of our home based businesses as a project for the boys. Running the business will not only teach them some sound business skills but also involves a lot of "academic" learning such as the maths involved in processing customer orders, working out commissions etc.

Samuel in particular has been after us to do this for over a year and was thrilled that we had got started. However, this meant I spent FOUR HOURS placing address labels on over 1,200 catalogues and order forms, ready for distribution! Not exactly relaxing (though at least I was sitting down). Samuel helped his Dad to get the first hundred catalogues out before he went to bed, which made him happy.

Joshua and William helped with some of the packing up and labelling, and during those four hours we had some brilliant conversations, covering marketing, production, distribution, the concept of "stamina" (lacking I feel in most of today's societ), logic, hand eye coordination... I love the way that these conversations contain so much "education" and in such a natural setting.

Roarke and I finally stopped at 10.15 and went to bed early, ready for another busy day!