{photos by Julie Lynem}
Let’s dive right back into school this week with a little “Day in the Life” inspiration from one of our Track B families! Julie will introduce her family and give us a peek into one of their home days:
Welcome to the Ferguson house. Our close-knit family of four consists of Skylar, who is 4 going on 24, Garrett, 7, mom (Julie) and dad (Kevin). Oh, and I forgot to mention our four desert tortoises: Mo, Achilles, Marvin and Echo. We’ve been part of the SLOCA family since Garrett entered Mrs. Knudson’s kindergarten class. He’s now in Ms. Fragasso’s second-grade class (I can’t believe he will be in third-grade next school year!). Skylar followed her big brother and is now in Mrs. Turner’s junior kindergarten class. She’s excited to move up in the fall.
6 a.m.
It’s wake-up time for mom and dad. We usually take this moment of freedom to exercise, but we are exhausted from a Sunday training run on the Bob Jones Trail and decide to have a coffee chat instead.
6:30 a.m.
We check and respond to email, and I do another check of the grids for the day.
6:45 a.m
Here comes Garrett bounding into the kitchen for his morning cup of milk. He and his dad catch up on school, sports and debate the finer points of “Star Wars.”
7 a.m.
Skylar hears the conversation and joins us for her usual bowl of cereal. Cheerios, Shredded Wheat or Honey Bunches of Oats? Oh, wait. She wants hot oatmeal with cinnamon instead.
7:35 a.m.
It’s clean up time, and then everyone hits the bath. Dad says goodbye to the kids and heads off to work at the hospital.
8:30 a.m.
We’re refreshed and ready to tackle the day. The family heads over to the schoolroom above the garage to begin the math lesson. Skylar protests and asks for more playtime.
9 a.m.
Babysitter and Cal Poly student Britney Luoma arrives, just in time. She helps with Skylar while I teach Garrett and attempt to write an article for the local newspaper. In my spare time, I am a part-time reporter/editor for The Tribune.
9:30 a.m.
After listening to her assigned book for the week and discussing it with Britney, Skylar needs a break. Britney takes her outside to gather flowers to bring to school for an arrangement. I take a minute for a phone call.
10:30 a.m.
It’s snack time for the kids and tortoises. The children replenish the water and feed them veggies. Yum. If only the kiddos would eat their veggies, too!
11 a.m.
Garrett and I hit the books again. We make it through spelling and grammar.
Noon
Lunch time.
12:30 p.m.
After lunch, Garrett relaxes with his map of the world puzzle. He loses Brazil, but we find it hiding on the top bookshelf. Whew.
1:45 p.m.
Schoolwork is finished, with not a moment to spare.
2:00 p.m.
Britney leaves and we jump in the car. We head to SLOCA for Ultimate Frisbee practice.
2:30 p.m.
Garrett runs to the field to join his classmates. Skylar and I run to Albertsons to do some grocery shopping. We’re pretty much out of, well, everything.
3:30 p.m.
We return to the field. Skylar wants to play until her brother wraps up.
4 p.m.
Practice is over and we drive back to Arroyo Grande.
5 p.m.
Time to prepare dinner. Kids have playtime outside. I attempt to work, cook and break up a sibling squabble at the same time.
6 p.m.
The hour is late. Whoops. Dinner is still not on the table. Yay! Dad is home early to help finish up these quesadillas. This is a treat for all of us!
6:30 p.m.
We’re finally eating.
7 p.m.
Garrett wants to read to his little sister. It’s “Wacky Wednesday” on a wacky Monday.
7:30 p.m.
It’s bath time and time to unwind.
8 p.m.
I grab those lunch boxes out of the kitchen cabinet and start making lunch for tomorrow.
8:30 p.m.
Mom and dad catch up, review the family calendar, emails and try to de-stress after a long day.
9:30 p.m.
There’s that basket of laundry I forgot to put away.
10 p.m.
Finally, there’s some down time. I spy the New York Times articles I’ve wanted to read for the past few days. I manage to get through two of them before dozing off.
10:30 p.m.
Good night.
Thanks for sharing this, Julie! We know you were squeezing in these notes and taking photos along with all the other busy tasks of a working and homeschooling mom that day! We love hearing from our families, and relating to the all the ups and downs of doing this SLOCA life together. It’s encouraging to see how families make it work, and to connect in this way!
