First Day of School

I've hardly been on the computer at all the last few days. I'm still here, just busy and tired. :) Several days in a row of 3-5 hours of sleep per night with multiple wakings just doesn't cut it. Good news, though; the baby is starting to sleep better.

I think I'm finally starting to make a bit of progress on getting the housework under control. Maintaining things is so much less overwhelming than doing damage-control after the fact.

Last night I started reading a book my mom gave me several years ago called Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. It's nicely complimentary to FlyLady's system. The book is encouraging in the attitude and mentality of housekeeping as an important part of creating a home where people can be safe, loved, comfortable and productive. It also has a huge wealth of practical information--how to unplug a drain, choose a piano tuner, build a fire, remove stains from laundry, set up an emergency kit, and much more. It even deals with FTC rules, internet safety and licensing laws. There's almost nothing it doesn't cover, and it's written in a warm, readable style.

I'm still barely fluttering, but am starting to feel a bit of hope that I can actually get a workable routine going and keep things fairly maintained. We're still buried under piles of clutter, but at least the dishes and laundry are getting done, and bits of other things here and there. Our home is making progress in tiny steps.

We had our first day of school today and I think it went well.


DH and I looked at all our options Sunday night and decided not to use the Weaver curriculum. We're using some phonics and math workbooks, a unit study based on children's books called Before 5 in a Row, a book of weekly activities (preparing for school) from birth through age 5 called Slow and Steady Get Me Ready, and a few other things.

This morning we got up and got dressed. I dressed up a bit in my favorite Hanna Andersson skirt & jacket (purchased at the outlet sale far below retail, of course) and even applied lipstick. The girls said I looked "like a teacher". I felt like a teacher, and ready to go to work.

We had breakfast and did the dishes, and then I taught the girls how to make their beds. AJ was excited about bed-making and enjoyed making it neat and pretty; MM wasn't interested.

The best part of the day's lessons ended up being our conversation during breakfast. While I ate, I read today's installment in the One Year Bible (arranged to read the entire Bible in a year--there's a passage from the Old and New Testaments plus a section from Psalms and a verse from Proverbs each day). I read aloud the Psalm and Proverb for the day, then the NT passage from Ephesians 4:17-32

As we were reading, I paid attention to their questions and responses. Then I picked out the two verses that they seemed to be the most interested in, and we discussed those more in-depth. I wrote them out on colored paper and hung them on the wall. We worked on memorizing them.

Eph. 4:25 Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves.

Eph. 4:32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.

To my surprise, the girls were really eager to talk about lying. It's an issue we've been trying to deal with, as is common at this stage of development. I think it was really good to be able to discuss lying and truthfulness in a teachable moment when we weren't actively dealing with the issue. Without the tension of having an actual lie we were dealing with, it was much easier to have a conversation about it.

We repeated the verse a few times and talked about what it meant. The girls are well on their way to having it memorized already.

Then we played a game about lies and truth. I would make a statement, and they would tell me whether it was a truth or a lie. Then I made groups of three statements and they picked out the one that was not true.

After playing that for a while, AJ asked if we had a book about lying and the truth that we could read. So I told them Aesop's fable of the boy who cried wolf. Twice in a row, at their request ("again!"), with more "audience participation" the second time around.

They really loved that entire lesson, and it all took place while we were eating breakfast. When DH got home they told him (with some help) the Bible verse we are learning and (without help) the story of the boy who cried wolf.

AJ is really making good progress in reading and writing. She read us a story (the first half of Ben Bug) and wrote some words today. She also grasped the concept of rhyming and identified sets of pictures that rhymed. MM did a very good job of identifying the letters A and B and picking them out of groups of other letters, and played some matching games.

In math, AJ finally "clicked" on the concept of twenty, thirty, etc. and learned to look at the first number in a two-digit number to find out which set of ten it belongs to. Then she correctly identified every numeral I gave her. M knows the numerals 1-3 and can count to about 20 quite well, but needs more work on recognizing written numerals.

I felt a bit uncertain and disorganized, and it was more intense and constant work than I expected. I can't get them started on an activity and then have a couple of minutes free to do something else like I thought. By the time I'm done explaining an activity to one girl, the other needs help or is ready to start something new, if the baby doesn't need something. :) I was getting pretty tired halfway through the things I'd intended to cover.

I told DH that teaching school is going to be my full-time job for quite a few years. I think I'll enjoy it a lot, though, and the girls will too. It's a challenging and fulfilling job.

It's fun to watch the girls enjoy learning. I'm identifying what areas we need to work on and what methods work for us; I expect it will start to feel more natural as we get used to it.