My Ideal Homeschool Day

I wish I would have known how things just don't go perfectly smooth for ALL the work to get done. I have to say I had no idea how very hard homeschooling was going to be.

My children are. 6, 4, 3, 1 and one on the way. My oldest went to public school last year and is now being homeschooled for first grade. I knew public school was right for us right from the first week but wasn't able to start at that point. So I planed and I researched and I planned and ...
I had a vision in my head as to how well it was all going to go. LOL! I could see my younger children playing happily while the older ones were doing their work, me doing laundry while dictating writing practice, and so on. Then we would have field trips often and go to play dates. hmmmm Doesn't that sound good?
It has been hectic from the start! The curriculum I bought doesn't work for us. The children are fighting all the time. The van has broken down(AGAIN!), so no play dates or field trips(plus we have to have someone help us all get to church) because we don't have another vehicle that can get us all in it. Add in that I am a terribly inconsistent person. It has been kinda crazy.
I have only figured out today that I should schedule all the appointments in the afternoons if I want to do the majority of our lessons in the first half of the day. All this and we've only been trying to get this on a roll for the last month. We have been sporadically getting lessons done. I have to figure out how to keep the younger children occupied while I am working with my oldest. Then I have to figure out how to keep the house clean and meals cooked while doing all the rest and still have some sanity.
I know this is the way Heavenly Father has shown us we need to go. So I know I will keep trying and maybe one day it will just fall into place better. I love doing the lessons with my daughter and will begin teaching my 4 year old to read very soon. I just haven't started that yet because she learns so very differently than my oldest daughter. I also have got to become more consistent and form some sort of schedule. I think that will help us a lot.