Saturday, November 3, 2012

School days

Heading into November, we are pretty settled into our routine on weekdays. In the mornings it is a mad rush of breakfast, making lunch, dressing, getting to the school bus stop, though we always have time to read a couple of stories before breakfast, which is a nice way to start the day. After A gets on the bus, T goes to work and D and I take the dog for a walk. Then D and I do his timhirt (lesson). I got him a big kindergarten workbook and each day we do a letter and a number, or a letter and a "pre-reading skill." It's nice to do lessons where I don't have the pressure of needing to master an objective by a pre-determined deadline (unlike teaching in a strictly regimented public school). I feel these lessons are really benefiting D. He can name most letters and reliably count up to twelve. His fine motor skills are getting A LOT better. His focus is getting a little better too.

After our lesson we usually go somewhere. We either have a playdate or go to a park or the library or run an errand. I've found the day goes better if a) we are out of the house and b) we're doing an activity focused on D. That means I save cleaning the kitchen, preparing dinner, laundry etc for after lunch, when he doesn't need 100% of my attention.

A little before 3:30 we walk down to the bus stop to meet A. When we get home we have a snack, then the boys ride their bikes for a while, then we do homework. A's homework takes about 45 minutes and he's usually motivated to do it. He is LOVING school and it's very important to him that he does well. After homework there is usually time to go to the park, though now that it's getting dark earlier we've been reading more books instead. Once the time changes next week, it's going to be even more important that the kids get out of the house and get some exercise before homework, because they really, really need that.

T gets home around 6, then it's dinner, video, reading and bed. T does the bedtime routine. I'd like to say I use that time to do something productive for myself, but mostly I'm wiped out and vegging on the couch.

At the beginning of this week, Hurricane Sandy closed the schools and disrupted our routine, and we had challenging behavior on par with June's initial settling-in. Just goes to show how important the routine is.

The battle with Penny continues. Some days are better than others. I may write more about it in another post.

8 comments:

  1. Sitting on the couch IS productive after a full day with kids. It is, in fact, essential to continued productivity. If Penny is saying otherwise, she is lying. (And she is a notorious liar.)

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    1. Thank you for unequivocally shooting Penny down. So glad you get it.

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  2. Routine is so important, for all kids, but especially ours. We've had too many disruptions lately that are out of our control (field trip at school, Halloween party at school), and I can totally see the difference in Ayub's short fuse. Sounds like you've got a good thing going on...keep it up and Penny will eventually catch on that you are a great mom.

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    1. I'm going to be looking to you for suggestions now that we will be indoors more and needing to start on the computer games to keep the kids busy. Any early math games to suggest?

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  3. 15 months in and routine remains SO SO important. It's easily to loosen things up when things are going so "well," only to see the aftermath =) Glad to hear the boys are doing well with school; I love the routines you have w/ D!

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  4. I love these routines, and it sounds like it's working really well--the pending change in weather does present challenges, totally. I'm finding that with so many other things going on with the holiday season, it's hard to keep the routine on some days, but I think our little guy really appreciates it once it is back. Sounds like you all are in a good groove, and tell Penny to take a flying leap if she butts in. :-)

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  5. Kyra - I made a comment directed to you re: the tooth fairy and Christmas holiday stuff on 2+2 Mom's blog site - check it out? Hope we can converse/brainstorm.

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    1. Was it about how to talk about God? I think I was being a little bit sarcastic. I tend to be very honest with my kids, but I do want them to be respectful of others' beliefs, so when it does come up, we'll talk about God the way we do about other mythical figures - it's a story that some people say is true, and that's OK because we are all different, and that's what makes the world interesting.

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