Wednesday, August 27, 2014

THAT wasn’t on the lesson plan!


I don’t think I’ve ever given the impression that we have a perfect little homeschool.  I hope I’ve never made anyone feel that we have our act all together.  BUT…Just in case you’ve ever gotten that impression, let me set your mind at ease:

We. Have. Crazy. Days.

Take this one for example.  The day started out great!  We got started according to plan, gathered in the living room to sing some fun songs together, got Max & Jensyn settled in to some fun activities, and did Alex’s history and science lessons.  Sounds good, right?

Alex’s history lesson was about George Washington and his men crossing the icy Delaware River in the darkness of Christmas night.  His science lesson/dramatic play involved filling a pan with water and ice.  You then use a toy boat and a plastic figure to re-enact the George Washington’s adventure.

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This was great fun!  All the kids sat on stools to give it a try!  I snapped a few pictures, watched the children re-enact the story, and THEN…the phone rang.

It was a lady from the apple orchard returning my call about a field trip we are planning for our co-op group.  Silly me, I decided to go around the corner so that I could converse without loud squeals in the background.  You know, let the children continue their re-enacting while I talked on the phone…OUT. OF. SIGHT.

You know this isn’t going to end well, right? 

So…exactly 4 minutes later, I returned to the kitchen just in time to see a great big WOOSH of water.  They’d been using the (almost silent) reverse osmosis faucet on our kitchen sink to fill the “Delaware River” to the top.  In doing so, they’d puddled a great deal of water on the counter, which had been dripping over the edge.  As I rounded the corner, a child tipped the “river” and caused a great big flood.

I’m not even sure how much water they’d spilled before I came into the kitchen.  All I know is that water was pouring down the counters.  It was puddling in the silverware drawer.  It was draining from every crack on the dishwasher door.  It was oozing out from under the kitchen cabinets.

(This is a picture of the aftermath.  There was no time to take pictures during the flood!)
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After soaking up all the puddles with bath towels, we dried out the silverware drawer and the cabinet under the sink.  Water was still oozing out from under the cabinets and dishwasher.  I ended up unscrewing the dishwasher mounts, pulling it out, and using the shop vac to clean underneath.  I lifted the pipe covers inside the cabinet and set up a fan to blow under the cabinets to help dry it out underneath.  Keith, who I called at work, suggested using the shop vac to suck out any water from under the cabinets.  I spent well over an hour trying to dry it out, and I occasionally went back throughout the afternoon to run the shop vac a few more times.

That night, the dishwasher wouldn’t run.  Too much water had gotten into the panel inside of the door.  Keith had to take apart the dishwasher door to dry out everything inside, and THANKFULLY, the dishwasher worked after that.

Our family will FOREVER remember George Washington’s icy and dangerous trip across the Delaware River. 

*I* will FOREVER remember that it is a TERRIBLE idea to leave my children with a ‘river’ of water while taking a phone call!

YOU can walk away from this post knowing that, if you have crazy days in your homeschool, you are SO. NOT. ALONE!

Hopefully you got a good laugh for the day…I can laugh now that the mess is cleaned up and all is well! Smile

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