Four parents, seven children

Hello dear friends,

Many things have happened in the last few months but as you might have noticed, very little time to blog around.

The kids are finally off school. Which means no more school work, just as we were finally getting into a healthy routine. Our first month of confinement was a disaster. We had no schedule, we were waking up late, the kids were playing computer games the whole day, I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to go for walks (in theory yes, but nobody was outside, and there was the whole “stay home” thing, it was weird), we would eat at no hours. It was a mess.

Then online schooling started. At first, I was under the illusion that I would be able to work on editing (the most time consuming part of the audiobook production) while the kids were quietly doing their homework. How wrong was I ! I was being interrupted every 5 minutes: the kids either needed help, would start fighting, or I would need to check on them because nothing would get done if left to their own devices… I was getting increasingly exasperated and stressed because I couldn’t concentrate on my own job. After the first week, I realized that it was not a good plan, I had to accept not to be able to work on my editing during daytime. I needed to establish some kind of schedule to keep everyone sane:

• No more computer in the morning for the kids.
• In the morning, they breakfast on their own (cereals or toast), then read, draw or play lego. I usually wake after them, so I just pray they don’t fight too loud before I slowly emerge from my slumber.
• We go for a walk at least once a day, late morning or in the afternoon. (Our family walks are in the evening now from 7 to 9pm because the sun is still up and the temperatures are more pleasant).
• Homework from 2pm to 4pm.
• At 4pm, I give them a snack and tell them to go play at the park behind the house for one hour. They have a watch, they stay together, and I can see them (or hear them) from the kitchen window, or my office window. It’s pretty safe.
• When they come back, they can finally go play on the computer downstairs. It’s usually quiet. I can get some work done then too, but I usually wait until everyone is sleeping. I go to bed very late myself (2 or 3am).

I don’t know why it took me so long to organize a schedule. It’s how I worked best when I was a student when I had to balance my time between classes, practice, rehearsals and work. It was what kept me sane as a new mom when the twins were infants (and in the following years with 3 very active little boys of about the same age). When some kind of structure is established, I find it relaxing because it gives me direction and I know that I will get things done. Each thing has its own time slot !

Two months later than initially planned, I’ve finally finished my latest audio book project (Au nom des pères)! The author didn’t seem bothered by the delay. He was understanding and praised the quality of my work regularly. I will write about it again later when the book is out in the audio world. It was a fantastic story. 😎

But now, no more homeschooling during the day, no more audio book project at night : what am I going to do with all my free time ??? (a rhetorical question: I have plenty of other things to do — writing in this blog for example 😉 )

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