I think I got about 4 hours of sleep last night.  I should have tried harder to go back to bed, instead of getting engrossed in a book.  I had a much better morning than I deserve under the circumstances.  At 9.30 I was woken by the sound of the dishwasher being emptied.  Soon there followed the rattle of dominoes – that is what Antonia uses to do her multiplication practice.  After that things went quiet.  When I woke up again, I was handed a cup of coffee.  After a while, I thought I had better turn up downstairs.  I found a pristine, brilliantly neat (and illustrated) writing exercise sitting on the table.  What a wonderful kid!  After that she did some maths and piano practice, while I swallowed coffee.  Practically all I had to do is shake myself awake enough for the parts of our reading that I read aloud.

One of the highlights of homeschooling for me right now is Antonia reading me some of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.  It’s nice to be hearing something that has some literary value and something that’s new to me (yes, I somehow missed out on these when I was a kid).  I’m enjoying the way Kipling plays with words.  These stories are just the right level for Antonia.  A few longish words that are new to her, but not so many that she loses the flow.  From now on, I’m going to try to make an effort to see that the books she reads to me are worth hearing.  She can read as much kiddie-lit as likes in her own time.

Now, she’s gone off swimming with her Dad.  Boy, you can really hear the silence.  She is brimming over with intellectualism and fine words just now.  The other day she said “This talking process is just becoming more and more interesting”!  I thought that was wonderful – but it’s a bit intense for a poor old mother who was up to the early hours.  Right now, I am supposed to be finishing off some translation work, catching up on a week’s worth of housework, and preparing for an intense weekend of socialisation, starting this evening.  In reality, I am sitting in a daze.  I have been wondering vaguely for 15 minutes whether more coffee would be a good idea, but I can’t make up my mind as the thought won’t hang around for long enough.

NB:  It would seem that I can write something vaguely resembling a sentence without engaging any long range though processes, wouldn’t it!?  Ah, the joys of automated skills.

P.S.  I managed a thought, and it is this:  routines work better for some people than other perhaps, but in this case, at this time, a routine empowered a small child to pretty much get through her day by herself.