...we got back into a bit of curriculum work (Matthew) and ABC review work (Seth and Lizzie). We're inching forward and having some fun while we're at it. On Friday, none of us really felt like doing school, so I changed it up a little. We made waffles and strawberries together for breakfast, did some tidying up, and then did a little school at the kitchen table rather than down in our h/school classroom. The kids got restless pretty quickly though, so I suggested that we put the school books away. The kids all got out some craft stuff that they wanted to work on and spread it out all over the kitchen table. I gave each kid one of those tiny boxes of smarties, along with bowls of almonds and pistachios, and they crafted and munched while I read out loud to them and sipped on a cup of tea. Although the younger kids said that they didn't really feel like having me read aloud, I could tell that they got into the book and were understanding pretty good amounts of it, so I just kept going. Well over an hour later, when I quite reading, both boys expressed a longing for me to read more; Lizzie just said "Finally. I'm done with that Mommy!"
Places we went and people we saw...
...we went on a terrific little field trip about the prairies and about our five senses; revisiting what the kids know about their senses was a great reinforcement and pretty fun for them.
...my niece had a day off of school yesterday and invited Seth and Lizzie over for part of the afternoon while Matthew was in Art class. That was an unexpected, and very welcome, bit of time for me. I contemplated sitting for two hours in a Starbucks with a coffee and a book, but I just couldn't relax about the idea, knowing that it had been a busy week and that I had a huge number of errands to get done (post office, dollar store, a couple of returns, birthday presents to buy, stops at Chapters and Superstore, a drop-off at Goodwill). It's been a very long time since I've run errands by myself and I was astonished that I got all eight errands on my list done in just under two hours...amazing!!
...my niece had a day off of school yesterday and invited Seth and Lizzie over for part of the afternoon while Matthew was in Art class. That was an unexpected, and very welcome, bit of time for me. I contemplated sitting for two hours in a Starbucks with a coffee and a book, but I just couldn't relax about the idea, knowing that it had been a busy week and that I had a huge number of errands to get done (post office, dollar store, a couple of returns, birthday presents to buy, stops at Chapters and Superstore, a drop-off at Goodwill). It's been a very long time since I've run errands by myself and I was astonished that I got all eight errands on my list done in just under two hours...amazing!!
My favourite thing this week was...
...it's a little thing, but I really loved sitting at the kitchen table with the kids yesterday and reading to them while they crafted and munched on nuts and smarties.
What's working for us...
...when the kids went to their third mid-week evening church program (Awana, for anyone familiar with that) Geoff and I got our third consecutive Wednesday night out together. It's awesome, man! For almost 90 minutes we sat at a restaurant table and just chatted and ate. We can hardly believe that after having only one date night in the past sixteen months (maybe two, but I'm trying to remember what that second one might have been), we've suddenly had three date nights in three weeks. May Awana reign forever!
...in a complete (and welcome) reversal of things just a few weeks ago, my kids basically got along great this week. I actually shortened school every day this week simply so that the kids (often along with me) could play together. They played inside and outside, built forts and tents, crafted and listened to audio books, continued to take apart a couple of old bikes that we pulled out of a neighbour's garbage some time ago, drew a ton of pictures that now grace the doors of their bedrooms, and on and on. It is such a change from the state I never thought we'd get out of a few weeks ago - it was a good reinforcer for me that even during the hard weeks I can know that eventually things will turn around.
What's not working for us...
...well, Geoff was away for a few nights and that's always hard on me and on the kids. I had to cancel plans with a friend on my usual Thursday night out because Geoff ended up being away last minute...that sucked, and meant that I had to miss my night out. :(
Things I'm working on...
...a few weeks ago, I found online (at Home Depot, of all places) a large tree trunk decal; I ordered it. I also ordered (from Amazon) a bunch of leaf decals that I hope coordinate at least somewhat with the tree trunk I chose. Wonder where this is going? Well, sometime in the next number of weeks, as I finish re-organizing our school room, that tree trunk decal is going to cover one of the walls. I got the idea from my friend Kathie about putting up a reading tree. For every chapter book that the kids hear read aloud (either by me or via audio book) we're going to write the name and author of that book on a leaf and the kids will get to attach the leaf to the tree. I love that idea and I think the kids will too. I thought long and hard about whether to also put up a leaf for every storybook we read, because I do read those aloud a lot, too - especially to the younger kids. In the end, however, I decided that the leaves will be exclusively for the completion of chapter books - the little kids are starting to enjoy me reading longer books a little more, and I think this will give them an extra motivation to hear them; also, I think the reading tree would get filled with leaves a little too quickly if a leaf went up for every short story we read aloud!
I'm grateful for...
...it's been a good week. Busy, but good. That in itself is much to be grateful for!
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