July 7, 2010 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
7:20am: Scripture Study. (sing, pray, read, sing, pray)
8-9am: Cleaning Time. (Mommy works on her chores. Giant works on his jobs. Ettin helps.)
This morning the house was a bit nippy. My boys wanted to wear shorts and tee-shirts:
And hoodies. And long socks.
Whatever đ
Giant needed his job list. So he helped himself to my external brain. AKA my binder.
And he did a great job reading what was on his list and figuring out what he hadn’t done.
I find this list is a great re-director for cleaning time. If boys are acting crazy or whining at me while I’m busy cleaning, I ask Giant if he has done everything on his list (praising stuff he has done, encouraging him to work on the other stuff). So far it hasn’t become onerous, so I like it.
Here is Ettin sweeping.
As a certified Montessori preschool teacher, I know how to teach children to sweep properly. Its one of the first skills kids learn so they can be independent explorers of their world and still be able to clean up afterwards. I know how to turn sweeping into an orderly learning activity with several different steps the child should be able to master.
Thus, in my house, my goal is to sweep faster than Ettin can push my pile into the wall with his broom. Â Or under the bench. Or through his brother. Sometimes I step on his broom bristles just so I can get my pile together for the 6th time.
No, this is not perfect practice. This is my life.
9am: Gathering Time. (We greet each other, clap for good work, pray, study a gospel picture, and read the morning message)
We learn about Jesus and the fishermen, and talk about how the fishermen had faith to fish again even though they’d been working all day and hadn’t caught anything. Then we talked about how we can be fishers of men, helping to find people to learn the gospel so they can be happy and live with Heavenly Father again.
Surprisingly, Ettin joined us for a bit instead of playing with trains.
Not surprisingly, Giant chewed his fingernails.
Then we had our message. This is what our message looked like earlier this morning:
Isn’t it sweet? Daddy wrote it. And he even wrote something about caterpillars. Because that’s what we were learning about last week.
This week we are looking at circus stuff.
As the control freak in me started to twitch, I told Daddy how sweet it was of him to write the message. He smiled, and said he just wanted to see what I would do. And that he’d knew I would change it.
The control freak was relieved:
I wrote in the message I had planned for the day, and life continued:
9:30am: Independent Play. (Boys play without mommy)
Look! Look! They are doing it! Playing without mommy!
Taking advantage of Independent Play going well and the cool morning weather, I start to make some bread.
Which means that Giant decides he needs to invent a new plug for the bathroom sink. I won’t show you the picture. Â Just imagine what a wad of tissue paper looks like stuffed down a sink drain.
Okay, it was toilet paper. “Tissue paper” doesn’t sound quite so yucky. We get it out and talk about how putting paper down drains can stop the water from draining permanently.
I wash my hands and return to bread making.
Then Ettin decides he needs to be my honey taster. Thus my perfect moment of independent play is interrupted (Yes, Ettin is eating honey out of a cup in my sink. And yes, that is a basket of laundry on the floor. I have kids. Laundry is an ever constant in my life.):
10:30am: Snack/Lesson Time. (Have snack and a lesson, and then work on a project together)
Okay. We had the coolest snack today!
It wasn’t even some variant on fruit or toast!!
Could you believe, POPCORN?!
Because its what people eat at the circus, of course!
In my totally safe set up (bread rising on one stove burner, butter melting on the most child accessible burner, Â popcorn popper on a third, bowl of popcorn on a fourth, and popcorn container in the middle) we get the popcorn popping:
While my boys eat fallen seeds off the floor, and hail starts to fall from the sky, the popper starts to make some funny noises. The smell of plastic and hazy smoke soon join the festivities (I debated covering my garden, but the hail only lasted for a couple of minutes):
Hmmm. We finish with making the popcorn. And then throw out our cheap  popper.
Giant and I write labels for our bags:
We take some to share with daddy (who was home sick). We watched a youtube video about the circus, and sang the Animal Fair song a couple of times. The boys slowly finished their snack in various positions around the dining room (was it the popcorn? or more likely my distracted brain trying to make bread and teach at the same time? They really don’t eat lying down on the floor. Well, not too often anyway):
Then we move on to our project. Paper bag Clowns!
Giant carefully cut out a pie for his clown, while Ettin strategically glued paper onto the puppet. I have such an amazing 1.5 year old. He will sit for hours working on fine motor skills work.
Ha!
He glued stuff for about a minute. Then he played with the three breakable things I have in the house:
And came back to hang on my neck for a bit:
11am: Independent Play.
We spent longer on the popcorn and puppet making than planned. So, just before lunch we put on a puppet show for daddy. Giant and I kneel behind a bench (hmm, there is a bit of height difference between my son and me. And Yes, I am usually wearing some sort of apron (its a handy spot for a camera đ Â ):
Giant’s puppet throws pie:
The other clowns eat it and become happy:
Unquestionably Academy Award material.
The end.
July 4, 2010 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
My oldest son is not yet eligible for preschool and I’ve already tried and tossed several methods of day/lesson planning.
What hasn’t worked
Methods I know and love. When you plan for teaching large amounts of older children, being planned down to the minutes is nice. It keeps you on track. You feel like you accomplish so much.
This doesn’t work with my family.
Instead of feeling in control and effective, I just get behinder and behinder. A bathroom accident wipes out my plans for 9:45-9:55. A ouchie needs kissing and a sad boy needs comforting, there goes another 5-10 minutes. Laundry, Dishes, Messes, Walks, Naps. And I will be adding a whole lot of nursing soon. These are constant to-dos that just don’t fit in the minute-to-minute schedule.
Fine.
Then I went with the more flexible, try a different subject on a specific day of the week. Planning for different days spent on different subjects. Such as: Monday is Math Day, Tuesday is Language Arts, Wednesday is Science, etc. Especially cool because you could, potentially, if I was brave enough, invite another family over for science or art or something.
No workie.
It wasn’t planned enough! I’d have an activity to do (or really, an idea of an activity), but somehow we never really got around to it. Or, we’d be out one day of the week, so, for example, “Math” wouldn’t get done. Not doing math for 2 weeks (as I’d only planned for it one day of the week) didn’t sit right in my teacher brain.
What is working (for now)
The current approach. I have three big “teaching-times” where specifics are taught: Scripture Study, Gathering Time, and Snack/Lesson Time. And other times where skills are learned: Cleaning Time and Independent Play.
Here is an outline:
7:20am: Scripture Study. (sing, pray, read, sing, pray)
8-9am: Cleaning Time. (Mommy works on her chores. Giant works on his jobs. Ettin helps.)
9am: Gathering Time. (We greet each other, clap for good work, pray, study a gospel picture, and read the morning message)
9:30am: Independent Play. (Boys play without mommy)
10:30am: Snack/Lesson Time. (Have snack and a lesson, and then work on a project together)
11am: Independent Play.
I keep wanting to share more details, like other things we often do. But I think the reason this works so well for me is because it is not jammed full of details. I can make them up as I like!
Planning In Action
The actual planning goes like this: I grab some lined paper, the Gospel Art Kit, and an Early Childhood Themes Throughout the Year book. The ECT book is for inspiration for activities, but I don’t use very much from it (ie, it’s days are not my days. But it has some cute pictures and poems and snack ideas).
I write the days of the week on 5 different pieces of paper.
I start with filling in the blanks (scripture study, cleaning time, etc).
I hit: Story of Jesus. I write a short summary of what I want to focus on for the GAK picture that is next in sequence, and then write a short question or something to ponder. This keeps me on track for a coherent gospel teaching moment at a time when my brain is busy with morning mayhem.
I hit: Morning Message. I write a key sentence for that day and think of a pattern.(We start with “Good morning boys! Today is (day of the week). Key sentence. Pattern. Love mommy (heart). I leave some blanks (maybe 5?) for Giant to fill in letters/sounds/pattern shapes. This planned message can be changed at will.
Going along.
I hit: Snack. I fill in an idea for a snack for the day (usually a varient of fruit and cheese or peanut butter, or toast with toppings).
I hit: Lesson. This is done during snack time. I might read a story or tell a poem or ask questions related to the project we will be doing. I hit: Project. This is the craft/science experiement/dramatic play/ big thing I’ve planned. Afterward we try and celebrate the good work done by using it or displaying it somehow. Its what Giant will get (if he hasn’t dismantled it yet) to show daddy when daddy asks him what he did today.
Thats it.
Gathering Time takes about 10-20 minutes, depending on how many diapers or time outs I need to take care of.
Snack/Lesson Time takes about 20-40 minutes (or more) depending on how slow the boys eat or how complicated mommy made the project or how much fun it is to play with after we are done.
Since these times are not for very long, I don’t feel too bad about ignoring the phone or avoiding other interuptions. I also try and stay focused (like, not checking facebook or reading during project time) and work with Giant and Ettin.
Planning Preparations
I try for quieter times, like nap times or night times or daddy is home and can take care of boys times. But often my planning table has a boy or two at or on it. Sometimes I can plan a whole week in advance. Sometimes it is just for the next day or two. I put the GAK picture  and any other reproducibles needed for the day in a file folder for the week. I write down needed supplies in the margin of the paper. The night before (or in independent play that day),  I gather bigger items (craft supplies, etc). Thus we are semi-prepared for the day before us.
Conclusion
Seems to be working okay for now. We have some troubles if we have something happen in the morning, just because I’m not very good at catching up in the afternoon.
My planning session (back to front, left to right: GAK, ECT, lined paper. Ettin eating a felt pen, (on)my binder, week of GAKs, Giant playing with not distracting enough bats. ECT ideas, GAK upside down with summary showing. Stapler, scissors, pens and pencils strewn about) :
Did I mention my life is chaos? And that I love it?!
July 3, 2010 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
This is the view out of our dining room window:
Here it is from another chair’s viewpoint:
And another view:
Its really nothing spectacular. No soaring eagles and vast mountains, open prairies or lively garden. Just some overgrown pine trees and a lilac, some shrubbery, our neighbourhood. Dirty fingerprints.
Yet our family often spends our eating time gazing out this window as we talk with each other. We watch the bees and other insects buzz around. We learn about the life cycle of plants. We watch kids playing outside. We see the results of hard work. We learn about life in real-time. I think too often TV gives us the stop-motion/time-lapse/quick-view (you get the idea) of life. Problems are solved in under half an hour (or less, depending on how many commercials are run). Families can be raised in an hour. Relationships can undergo several drastic changes in a short amount of time. Which leaves little time to address the realities of life…all the things that take up time and aren’t exciting enough for TV, but which are in fact, real life. We (not just our kids) learn to seek out quick fixes (like that turning on the TV will make us happy). Shows are also geared to entice and mesmerize our brains (and our kids’ brains)Â into a state of…zombiness? Media is flashed at us with just the right amount of light and sound and change that it is difficult to actually look away, let alone have a conversation. Our window is interesting, but not so engaging that we can’t value the people around us and hold conversation with them.
Also in the “Why we don’t have a TV” category:
“Mike Teavee…”
(from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
“The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television setâ
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all the shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sinkâ
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINKâHE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY…USED…TO…READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic takes
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. TiggyâWinkle andâ
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How The Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Moleâ
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticksâ
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they startâoh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
…
Yes, life is so much easier when the kids are “occupied.” But they learn too much from TV, and not enough from life! And I am just referring to the “safe” kid friendly shows and movies. Even the “educational” ones. They learn to be entertained, and not to entertain themselves. They learn to consume, not to create. They become dissatisfied with the real work involved in real life.
Is it okay for us as parents to ban this very common source of media (an other types like it) from our homes? I leave you with this quote:
âMovies, magazines, television, videos, the Internet, and other media are there as guests and should only be welcomed when they are appropriate for family enjoyment. Make your home a haven of peace and righteousness. Don’t allow evil influences to contaminate your own special spiritual environment.â (Ensign)
It is up to us to decide what our homes and environments are like. We have been blessed with this very special privilege and freedom, and we need to seek out our right to fortify our homes and families. Just because it is something “everybody else” has or does, does not mean that we are entitled to it, or even that we must want it (despite what TV has taught us đ )
July 3, 2010 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
7:20am: Scripture Study. (sing, pray, read, sing, pray)
Usually. However, today we all slept in until about 8:15am.
Canada Day celebrations until midnight last night might have done us in. Daddy was on the ball and got ready for work. Mommy was trying to sleep in as long as possible. Boys were wasted.
When we were all finally up and fed (daddy had cooked some oatmeal for us before he left), it was 9:30:
Ouch for my schedule.
I debated what we should do. Write off the day as a recovery day? Comfort a sick Ettin who woke up several times last night? Take pictures of my looming stomach and ponder on things to come (I think giant is trying to button up his pants, and Ettin is feeling fully dressed in his socks):
Giant had an idea of how he’d like to spend the day:
I decided to push our schedule back an hour and carry on as best we could. Though watching movies was VERY tempting.
8-9am 9:30-10:30: Cleaning Time. (Mommy works on her chores. Giant works on his jobs. Ettin helps.)
I couldn’t really cut this time down. Since I didn’t do laundry yesterday, I had some catching up to do. And there was still breakfast to clean up after and a house to tidy and boys to get ready. Really, its usually a challenge to stop cleaning time, which is why I put in a time restriction.
As I was cleaning up the kitchen Ettin brought in the chalkboard. I’m not sure if it was because he wanted us to start our morning work, or if he was hoping I might distract his brother from playing with the trains Ettin loves.
Hello, board in my kitchen. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of dishes?:
9am 10:30: Gathering Time. (We greet each other, clap for good work, pray, study a gospel picture, and read the morning message)
We finally start Gathering Time. Ettin is now content to go play with trains (I knew it!) while Giant and I learn about Jesus and John the Baptist. Giant is concerned about how, when he is baptized, he will be able to breath. I’m hoping swimming lessons and life experiences will help quell this fear:
Then we read and fill in our message:
Ettin comes to join us, tell me he needs a new “bum,” and draw on the chalkboard a bit (that’s his little paw):
9:30 11am: Independent Play. (Boys play without mommy)
Today, this did not work. Ettin wasn’t feeling well and basically wanted to be held all day. When I wasn’t holding him, he looked like this:
Okay, really he looked more like this:
because this tummy of mine is starting to take up serious space.
Giant also had a hard time sharing during independent play. Which meant chaos and fighting. Which meant another point in the day where I was about to just put on a movie.
I went to go console myself with watermelon, to find the boys were hungry too (which could explain a few things):
So much for the butterfly themed snack I had planned đ
10:30am: Snack/ 11:30 Lesson Time. (Have snack and a lesson, and then work on a project together)
We retreat to the couch to read a story about butterflies:
A little challenging as this sad little man was wanting to sit in my lap the whole time:
I try to lighten the mood by playing a song game with Giant (okay, I made up a song sentence about butterflies and “sang” it)
Here is Giant (and I holding Ettin)moving around like butterflies:
Then I scrambled for a craft. The plan was to make painted butterfly artwork: We’d put paint on our hands and feet, and make prints to turn into the body and wings of a butterfly. Right. Not with a frazzled mom and sick cranky Ettin.
Upon opening our art cupboard, I spied two pieces of broken dowel (pencils/pens would have worked just as well). Inspiration struck.
We coloured construction paper:
Folded it up fan-like:
Stapled it together and stuck it on the dowel:
Voila! Nifty butterfly craft that was almost doable with a cranky Ettin:
…Man, even food doesn’t fix him. You know that Ettin is sick when not even food will placate his troubled heart (side note: 1 day old “piggy in a blankets,” aka hot dogs in a bun, taste a little like sausage rolls):
11am: Independent Play.
Yay!!!! Daddy’s HOME!!!!!
July 3, 2010 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
We had such a lovely sleep in.
Ettin woke up and played with trains. For a while.
Then he decided it was time to get the morning started.
scrape…scrunk…scrape…scrunk…BAM. The door to our bedroom is pushed open. And we are greeted by this:
I also have a gospel art picture, the one that was on display on our fireplace, flapped in my face.
We cave. It is time to get up and start our morning.
After waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, mommy zooms out the door to take advantage of cool morning weather. I have Cleaning to do! A gardening shed is cleaned, the boys come out and mow the lawn, and some baby plants are finally planted out.
We head in for lunch, and then put boys down to nap. Daddy gets tape up for painting the trim, and our neighbour brings over some amazingly delicious ribs Daddy had drooled over when he was taping. They were scrumptious. We hoovered them up even though we’d just had lunch and didn’t even save some for the boys. I love barbeque!
Daddy came in to work on computer stuff, mommy went out again to finish up outside stuff.
Mommy came in feeling quite broken. Pregnant body broken is different from a non-pregnant body that’s done a lot of hard work. Different muscles and organs are stretched and overused. You don’t just feel sore when you try to get up, you feel like you might just give birth.
Thus supper was hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough.
And thus daddy took the boys down to the town festivities on his own, while mommy had a nap before fireworks started later that night.
And further thus, that is why we have any pictures of Canada Day fun. I love that daddy!
He took Giant to play on the inflatables:
Not something mommy would have done, as I have a policy against letting my kids play on anything I can’t rescue them from:
Seriously, can you see a 9 month pregnant lady climbing through one of these, hauling her 1.5 year old behind her to rescue the 3.5 year old from certain disaster (or at least certain fear and sadness):
That’s what daddys are for (I seriously have a hard time believing Giant braved these structures)!
And Ettin sized fun was also available:
Goats!(Giant was scared of this kind of fun):
I love it!:
Mommy would have stayed here all night, if I’d been able to hike it down the hill. I love petting zoos.
We wrapped up the night by enjoying strawberry shortcake and watching fireworks from our front porch. Then we spent the next hour or so trying to get over-tired (and now sick) boys to bed. Too fun!
