So how's it REALLY going?

Let me catch you up on our family life. We recently moved to a new town and live in a house that isn't ours. We are the recipients of someone else's grace for this school year. The house is huge and I love it. I once struggled to fit 5 people's stuff into small living quarters; now I struggle to keep 4 bathrooms loaded with toilet paper. Kinley said when she walks to her bedroom, she feels like she's walking to our Fort Smith neighbor's house.
Cade has a lot of fun exploring this place during the daytime--I never know where I'll find him next. I might have to jump over him as he rolls out of a doorway wrapped in a sheet, or watch my head for swinging feet....

(You must be jealous of the multi-colored tile and the stain glassed windows. This house screams 70's.)
Come nightfall, Cade's favorite word for his new dwelling place is "creepy". He doesn't sleep in his room anymore. In fact, he hops from bed to couch to couch several times a week. I'm taking notes to warn his future wife...Cade doesn't sleep in the same place two nights in a row. I hope future Mrs. Cade likes variety and surprises.
Kaci doesn't say much about living here unless she's repeating older brother or sister. She is happy to have more space to spread out more toys. If you look around, it's obvious she has been in every.single.room.

Because we don't know where we'll live next year, we are homeschooling. We plan to send the kids back to school in 2012 as a kindergartener (Kaci), 2nd grader (Cade) , and 4th grader (Kinley). Several have asked how homeschooling is going. Kinley's first poem of the year should give you some perspective:

Ahhh...the power of free expression. Cade loathes being taught by me and has made sure to tell me many times. But we have made great strides and no one has cried in a week. You see, the question is not can I homeschool? I have a B.S.E. in education--surely I will not mess up my kids. The question is: can we enjoy homeschool? We are still working on the fun part and it is a goal I plan for us all to obtain. The kids are every bit as social as their mom and dad, so yes, there is a bit of a struggle. Kinley needs a friend. Please pray for that. The girls really miss their Fort Smith friends. Cade does too, but doesn't express it like the girls.

Last week, I got to start setting up an old office in the house to make an official "school room". It's really an attempt to make myself feel like I have it together.

I've still got to find some teaching material that is packed in the garage, and when I can put everything in its place, we are going to have a lot more fun. It's hard to get a good routine down when you travel as much as we do. But who am I kidding? I've never liked routine anyway. (For instance, I did not know it was normal to have an invisible seating chart at the dinner table. I think musical plates is fun--my husband finds it frustrating. This is what my children have to deal with when they have me 24/7.) But soon, I will find my groove of a somewhat-organized, learn-as-we-go, shell-of-a-routine, spontaneous, teacher that I can be. But an isolated homeschool mom I can not be. I'm changing the system to "roadschooling."