That's how long it took to get to the first meltdown on our first day of school.

Yesterday started out really well.  Alex was up extra early, (warning sign #1) and was very excited to start school.

Chris woke groggily and said he was "shaky like Frankenstein" and when I checked his blood glucose it was only 56.  We quickly got him something to eat and a glass of OJ and let him rest for a bit before beginning our lessons.

 

That's how long it took to get to the first meltdown on our first day of school.

Yesterday started out really well.  Alex was up extra early, (warning sign #1) and was very excited to start school.

Chris woke groggily and said he was "shaky like Frankenstein" and when I checked his blood glucose it was only 56.  We quickly got him something to eat and a glass of OJ and let him rest for a bit before beginning our lessons.

8:30 AM and things were going great!  The boys were attentive and obedient!  We opened our lessons with a short devotional and prayer and a discussion about the character trait "stewardship,” which will be the focus of our next 10 weeks (no boys, we’re not talking about the lady on an airplane that serves you drinks and soft blankets but who is there for your safety, not comfort.  She’s a Flight Attendant – don’t ever call him or her ‘Stewardess!’).

9:00 AM – Much to Chris’s delight we started with math.  Alex’s math required a ton of writing of numbers (warning sign #2); reviewing odd, even, counting by 2’s, 10’s, 100’s....

10:00 AM:  We read a book about the Earth's water cycle and did an experiment to make "rain."  The boys had fun with that but, OOPS; my bad, I should have known that after the experience of making rain in our own kitchen, moving on to phonograms would be a real downer.  (Warning #3 and you know, it only takes 3.)

When I asked Alex to explain to me the different elements of our experiment, he was obviously having trouble recalling that the pot of hot water over the stove was the warm Earth and the pan of ice water balanced above it was the atmosphere.  When I offered to explain it to him again, he just replied "yeah, yeah, I know," and started to walk away.  Big mistake Buddy, and it was only 11:00  AM.

I said "Young man, you do not treat your other teachers with such disrespect and you will not disrespect your mother!"

This sent his tender-and-always-obedient-heart into a fit of contrition causing him to drop to his knees tearfully begging forgiveness between uncontrollable sobbing.  “I’m so sorry mamma!  I didn’t mean to be disrespectful!  I didn’t get enough sleep, that’s why I’m misbehaving!”

“My goodness, Alex; I accept your apology, but you wouldn’t carry on like this in public school, would you?  (This was the closest reference to the “I’ll have you on that school bus tomorrow!” monologue I usually deliver sometime later in the year.)  Just get up, go to your room and compose yourself.”  Then I walked over and gave him a hug to make him feel better.

After Alex got settled in his room to calm down, Chris announced that he wanted to paint a picture of Smokey the Bear.  We had read about the famous steward of our National Forests, Smokey,  that morning.  I got out the paper, paints and brushes and loaded a palette for him with the primary colors.  He said he wanted to paint Smokey brown (of course) so I showed him how to mix brown out of red, yellow and green.  I though all was good until a few minutes later I heard Chris’s distraught shrieking from the kitchen and when I ran in to check on him, found out that the cause of his devastation was that he mixed a little black with the brown and now the paint was too dark for him to use on Smokey. 

Oh, brother, I thought.  Not another one.  This morning was offering more intense daytime drama than the Lifetime Movie Network.  11:30 AM, is it time for lunch?

“Just add a little white!”  I advised.

“I can’t,” he wailed, “I ruined it!  I don’t know how to paint!  I’m never going to paint again!  Don’t come near me!  Don’t even talk to me!”

“Chris…”

“I’m tired.  I didn’t get enough sleep!  I just want to rest!”  He sobbed.

“Sweetie, it’s okay.  We can fix it.  Just go lie down and compose yourself.”

I made lunch and thankfully the boys had calmed down and our language arts lessons went very smoothly.  The End.

Day One, Week One; only 36 weeks in the school calendar….