Intentional Living
Yesterday the girls had a full and happy day. They played inside and out, picked up the playroom with me, learned how to fold blankets together (that was their favorite activity of the day!) and then we went through the schoolbooks on our shelf, trying activities in different books to see what level the girls are at and what they enjoy.
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We had a lot of fun going through the schoolbooks. M&M read the first three lessons in the McGuffey's eclectic primer with great eagerness: words like boy, top, hen, rat, cat. AJ added letters to sequences on a worksheet, they both worked on their handwriting and coloring skills, M&M requested to do math (and proceeded to whip through 5 pages in her textbook), and we listened to the first lesson of a Spanish curriculum together.
After that I let the girls play with rubber stamps and paper, with washable ink pads. They really loved that.
A little later they helped me work on teaching Baby E the concepts "in" and "out" by putting toys in and out of a basket while saying "in" and "out" All three girls thought that was hilarious good fun, and we laughed until our bellies ached.
We've been pretty sporadic this year with schoolwork, along with everything else. I think the girls have missed the activity and structure. They play well together and do lots of coloring, building train tracks, etc. but, frankly, they're bored.
I've noticed that we have a lot more bickering, power struggles and grumpiness when they aren't busy with things that occupy their minds and energy enough. The other benefit of school is that it involves giving them my full attention and spending time with them, which also makes life more pleasant for all of us. The kids are so much happier and our home is so much more peaceful when we plan out activities and do them together.
Now that we're getting ourselves onto a flexible schedule, I am reminded of how well my kids do with predictability and structure. We are all happier, kinder, more clear-thinking and ready to learn when we have had enough sleep and are being a little more purposeful about how we spend our days.
The days when I get up on time (even if I'm exhausted) and basically keep to the loose structure we've set up for our days are the days when I have the time and impetus to do activities with the girls, get basic household tasks done, and then have a few minutes to spend time reading a book and/or having quiet time with God. The days when I allow everything to be chaotic are the days when I'm on edge, stressed and irritable and the kids follow suit. Those are the days we're frantically busy and yet get nothing accomplished all day, or we go through the day in a fog just trying to survive until DH gets home.
Structure and organization don't come easily to me, but they feel right to me when they're in place. And my kids seem to have an innate need for it--maybe they got that from my husband. Either way, I'm glad we're adding more of it into our lives.
I'm looking forward to getting a basic structure and curriculum plan laid out for this coming year. I don't plan to be rigid about it (I don't think I could be with my personality even if I wanted to), but we will plan ahead for the next few days or weeks, and have basic routines, lesson plans, structure, and times we do things. Hopefully I'll be able to make it work well in a way that best meets our family's needs.
##########
We had a lot of fun going through the schoolbooks. M&M read the first three lessons in the McGuffey's eclectic primer with great eagerness: words like boy, top, hen, rat, cat. AJ added letters to sequences on a worksheet, they both worked on their handwriting and coloring skills, M&M requested to do math (and proceeded to whip through 5 pages in her textbook), and we listened to the first lesson of a Spanish curriculum together.
After that I let the girls play with rubber stamps and paper, with washable ink pads. They really loved that.
A little later they helped me work on teaching Baby E the concepts "in" and "out" by putting toys in and out of a basket while saying "in" and "out" All three girls thought that was hilarious good fun, and we laughed until our bellies ached.
We've been pretty sporadic this year with schoolwork, along with everything else. I think the girls have missed the activity and structure. They play well together and do lots of coloring, building train tracks, etc. but, frankly, they're bored.
I've noticed that we have a lot more bickering, power struggles and grumpiness when they aren't busy with things that occupy their minds and energy enough. The other benefit of school is that it involves giving them my full attention and spending time with them, which also makes life more pleasant for all of us. The kids are so much happier and our home is so much more peaceful when we plan out activities and do them together.
Now that we're getting ourselves onto a flexible schedule, I am reminded of how well my kids do with predictability and structure. We are all happier, kinder, more clear-thinking and ready to learn when we have had enough sleep and are being a little more purposeful about how we spend our days.
The days when I get up on time (even if I'm exhausted) and basically keep to the loose structure we've set up for our days are the days when I have the time and impetus to do activities with the girls, get basic household tasks done, and then have a few minutes to spend time reading a book and/or having quiet time with God. The days when I allow everything to be chaotic are the days when I'm on edge, stressed and irritable and the kids follow suit. Those are the days we're frantically busy and yet get nothing accomplished all day, or we go through the day in a fog just trying to survive until DH gets home.
Structure and organization don't come easily to me, but they feel right to me when they're in place. And my kids seem to have an innate need for it--maybe they got that from my husband. Either way, I'm glad we're adding more of it into our lives.
I'm looking forward to getting a basic structure and curriculum plan laid out for this coming year. I don't plan to be rigid about it (I don't think I could be with my personality even if I wanted to), but we will plan ahead for the next few days or weeks, and have basic routines, lesson plans, structure, and times we do things. Hopefully I'll be able to make it work well in a way that best meets our family's needs.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 12:08 PM[Permanent link]
3 Comments:
This was a post I needed to read today. I've been in quite the slump and this is just the encouragement I need to get back to routines--for all of my household's sakes! ;)
P-K, there was a set of children's Spanish Language tapes that a friend of mine who taught PreK used. The program was called "Salsa", and taught kids Spanish by using fairy tales. They were very lively, and all the kids enjoyed them immensely. I'll see if I can track down a web address for you, if you're interested.
Here's a link to the main site:
http://168.28.132.151/peachstar/salsa/english/homepg.htm
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