All in a Day's Work

I know you've been hankering for a toddler antics story.  Well, here you are: 

All these events happened while Silas and I were playing ONE round of the game, Zingo (right next to the kitchen where all the dirty work occurred, mind you):

Judah got a hold of my empty mug, ripped open and spilled the contents of two teabags.

He then pulled a footstool over to the pantry and opened a container of baby food.

Spilled baby food all over the floor.

Went to the laundry room and got a couple towels and cleaned up the baby food.

Returned to the pantry and proceeded to move a bunch of canned goods over to the counter where he then stacked them into a tower.

Am I exaggerating when I say I have a busy kid?

Brotherly Love

Little did I know how fitting those costumes were...

In this evening's post on Myopenfridge.com, I may have mentioned that I was tempted to put my kids in a sled (seeing as we're supposed to have snow overnight tonight) and give them a hearty push down the street to see how far they make it.  Before you judge me, please know that in recent days, I do believe I have been pushed to my limit and not without just cause. 

Case in point:
Last Thursday.

I thought it would be nice to treat the boys to lunch out after my Bible study and before we ran a few errands.  I was wrong.  It was a terrible idea.  In the hour that we were there, I had four interactions with complete strangers where I was asked/told these things:


"Do you need any help?"
"Do you have this much patience at home?  Because you have a lot of patience right now!"
"I know what you're going through, I had four of my own."
and
"My, you really have your hands full!!!"


All the while, my elder son asking me: "Am I being the good one right now, Mom? Am I?  Am I?"


The next night, we had needed to make a quick trip to Target and the boys really wanted to sit in one of those extra-large, beasts of a cart that has the two little plastic seats on a platform in between the handles and the basket of the cart.  The Little One started grabbing the Elder by the face, dug in with his little dinosaur claws (how is it that kids' nails grow so quickly?) and fiercely holding on which caused Older Brother to start shrieking at the top of his lungs and making a scene. 


I don't have children, I think somehow I managed to give birth to wild animals. 


We spent the remainder of our Target trip with me hunched over the handle bar of the cart, forcing each kid back in his respective corner and hissing "Keep your hands to yourselves.  Hands to yourselves!!!"


I'm sure everyone who has siblings has plenty of stories of the trouble they have caused each other.  I have a feeling with my children, the sibling fun has just begun.

Dressed himself today and I had to capture it in all its glory...

Today was a good day! 

I felt like a good mom almost the whole day and that is a pretty big accomplishment these days!

We started a new curriculum, My Father's World (I seriously needed something that would S-P-E-L-L things out for me, step-by-step so there would not be such mental wandering that has been going on round these here parts), and Day 1 went very smoothly! 

After we had covered the stuff provided, we were on such a roll that we added some math work pages (this was partly to make up for the fact that the majority of October has been "Unofficial Fall Break"). 

We also made use of the GIANT World map we had put up on our loft wall.  Since we reviewed the letters A, B and C in our reading work, we located all the countries that begin with those three letters.  It was very educational, even for a "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego-loving kid" such as myself (and a bit of a joy to see my son share my love for Geography!).  I challenge you, too, to look up where Armenia, Benin and Bhutan are located. 

Then, we made homemade play dough and finished our day playing at the park.  My house is a mess, but these are the days I need to use to remind myself of why we're doing what we're doing. 

I'm Back, perhaps?

A little "music appreciation"

For the one person who reads this (I'm looking at you, Julie! ; ), I have been inspired to write some more.  I had taken a bit of a break because I would say I have been in a bit of a season of discouragement with the whole homeschooling thing for the last couple weeks (when your season of discouragement happens to encompass almost 50% of your entire homeschooling history, I don't think that's a good sign).

So, I took a break.  I took a break from blogging about it, I took a break from actually doing it.  I did not seem to take a break from thinking or stressing about it (therefore, it wasn't like it was much of a "vacation").  Regardless, I didn't want this to turn into a place where all I did was complain all the time. 

Let's be honest.  I started out with the intention of recording my experiences homeschooling and pretty all I've done so far is list all the ways my toddler prevents me from homeschooling (and although they're pretty funny stories--always in hindsight, sometimes during the actual event).  That said, it's not his fault I've been such a homeschooling slacker, I think I've just felt completely and totally overwhelmed. 

This week (just in time for when my family comes to visit so we'll be having a more unstructured week anyway), I actually felt re-energized and so yesterday we really "hit the books" hard.  It was really exciting.  I got to see him have a few "lightbulb moments" as he was catching on to some new math concepts and we had some really great time together.

 Of course, 30 minutes later, he was driving me crazy again, so it's not like we've entered a land of magical rainbows or anything.  But there was a ray of hope.

Toddler Strikes Again...

I am in the middle of working on a post explaining how I came to the decision to homeschool but it is becoming quite the little novel so since it's been a little drought in the area of stories of how crazy my toddler is, I thought I would share a snippet from today:

I was getting ready in my room next to the loft where my 20 month was supposed to be playing/watching a video with his older brother.  It got quiet (always a bad sign with this one) so I went to seek the toddler out.  I found him downstairs in the laundry room where he had dumped the cat food into the water dish (in the meantime spilling water and food everywhere).  He is sitting in a giant puddle of mushy kibble, stirring the concoction with his TOOTHBRUSH happy as can be.  Ick, ick, ick, ick, ick. 

He was so furious I took away his toothbrush and threw it away that I had to bury it in the bottom of the trashcan because he was trying to go back in after it.  Then, realizing that retrieval was futile, he turned on me and tried to bite a chunk out of my leg (probably with cat food breath, I didn't have the stomach to check and using the toothbrush was out). 

There you have it, a snapshot into my day. 
Prayers are always welcomed/appreciated. 

Imitation (copying) is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I saw this post on my dear friend, Angie's blog and she had found it from another source.  I think it sums things up for Mothers in general pretty well and definitely was fitting for me today.  Be encouraged, Dear Friends, the gift of grace is free and tomorrow is another day!

"Of course, this side of heaven we will not do perfectly. Harsh words will be spoken, patience will wear thin. Frazzled mothers will act frazzled. And when this happens, our own sinfulness does not detract from the power of the gospel, it illustrates why we need it. Do not use your own mistakes as an excuse to wallow about what a bad mother you are. Repent, seek forgiveness, get it right, and move on. Believe. Be forgiven. Extend that forgiveness, that belief, that joy, to your children.

As you go about your daily transformations, set your heart on the truth. Mimic the gospel in what you do. Bring peace, bring order, bring joy, bring laughter. Bring it because it was brought to you. Give, because it was given to you. The gospel is not too big to fit into little situations. It is too big not to."

Rachel Jankovic is a wife, homemaker, and mother. She is the author of "Loving the Little Years" and blogs at Femina. Her husband is Luke, and they have five children: Evangeline (5), Daphne (4), Chloe (2), Titus (2), and Blaire (5 months).  

Options

 Today marks Silas' first day of school at Options--the weekly, all-day program for homeschooled kids'  mommies to have a break enrichment.  I have been very excited for this day to start (and Silas has been too) but starting last night, the worry began to creep in for me:

What if he doesn't like it?
What if he's rude to the teachers?
What if he needs help using the restroom at school?
Will he be the smelly kid? The weird kid? (with a bunch of homeschoolers, that's probably a pretty weird kid!)
Will he be able to figure out the lunch I packed for him (even after an orientation)?
Will he have friends?

I pick him up in an hour and will get to find out the answers to a lot of my questions.  I have to say I have missed the little guy and it makes me that much more excited to get back to working with him tomorrow!  That said, I think I will definitely enjoy my Tuesdays...anyone want to plan a coffee date?
: )

Sunday Night Syndrome

When I was in school, many a Sunday night I would come down with what my mom dubbed "Sunday Night Syndrome."  It usually involved a headache and a dull, growing sense of dread knowing that the weekend was coming to a close and the beginning of a hectic, demanding week was near.  It usually involved the pain of finishing homework that had been allowed to pile up.  Yuck.  I feel like it took me years for that feeling that I was probably missing something or should be preparing to wear off.

Having started homeschooling, I feel like I have developed a mild case of the Sunday Night Syndrome again.  There's something a little overwhelming about thinking of the coming week and knowing that I am responsible for planning for hours of the day with something constructive or entertaining, preferably both.

I don't want to give any false impressions.  I am not much of a planner or very organized (I set the bar low for many of the rest of you).  So probably, I should say that I don't get the dread of Sunday nights because it involves planning, but perhaps feelings of guilt that I should be planning more than I do.

It makes me wonder, can anyone else relate to the "Sunday Night Syndrome" feeling?  Do those of you who send your children off to school get it too (or do you look forward to the week as a mini-vacation like I like to imagine you all do--just kidding, I don't think your week is a mini-vacation.  I can't imagine the craziness of getting kids off to school every morning, that is hard work!)?

Oh, sweet!  I just remembered tomorrow is Labor Day!  Wow.  Now how's that for pointless worrying.  I'll save my "Sunday Night Syndrome" for another week, thankyouverymuch!

Feathers for Lunch

Image courtesy of ALSC blog

We ready a really cute picture book today, "Feathers for Lunch" by Lois Ehlert.  If you haven't come across it before, I highly recommend checking it out.  It tells the story of a cat who escapes the house and goes through the garden looking for birds to catch.  On each page there is a really cool life size picture of a common North American bird and some interesting facts to learn about each of them.

After reading the book, we felt pretty inspired and ventured outside to look for birds in our neighborhood.  We spotted some little birdies that were not featured in the book (they were blackbirds, although Silas insisted that they were Orioles like the baseball team--it sure must be tough for him to have a teacher-mother who is wrong all the time).  We also enjoyed observing quite a few insects buzzing around, including some really fascinating dragonflies.

Of course, my proud feelings of being very scientific and taking advantage of teachable moments lasted about two minutes before Silas ran back inside to grab his bat and ball.  In his mind, it's always a good time for sports and watching for birds is far too quiet of an activity. 

I am recognizing the potential need to brainstorm how to relate all subjects to a sporting event of some kind...

Teacher, I Ain't

 I've had people say to me that because I have a background in education I am better equipped to teach my child.  Just to let you know, a degree in Secondary Education: History and Economics does not seem to be very helpful to homeschooling my Kindergartener.  Really, since I've become a parent, I find that anything I picked up in my "schooling to school others" has really been thrown out the window. 

If we're being honest, I think my Psychology Major husband has a distinct advantage (with all his experience training computer program lab rats) in this game.

It has been my experience (so far) in parenting that has given me the most insight into how to teach my child at home.  I think the most helpful thing in homeschooling is knowing your child.  Knowing how your child learns and how they respond in situations are going to be the best tools in teaching your child. 

Through Parenting, things I have learned about Silas (and myself):

Lesson 1: It doesn't matter how many warnings are given or attempts are made at making positive transitions, if something fun ends sooner than Silas wants it to, it ends poorly.  It happened when he was a babbling toddler who would throw himself on the ground instead of calmly leaving the park, it happens now when he's a four and a half foot five year old with a wiggly tooth. 
Lesson learned: We can't do anything fun.  Period. 

Lesson 2: I have come to realize I am a much better care taker than I am parent.  I feel quite confidant  in meeting physical needs and helping my children avoid physical harm (Judah combing his hair with Daddy's razor aside--see previous post).  Parenting, however, requires much more logic, planning, reason and strategy.  I am daily afforded the opportunity to be stretched in my parenting skills by having a kid old enough to try talking back, procrastinate, attempt to negotiate and find every single loophole...
Lesson Learned: Homeschooling is stretches your parent muscles much more than building a teacher muscle

Too Busy for Busy Bags

 I met with a group of homeschooling moms from my neighborhood last night over a slice of pie and was sharing how I feel like a real underachiever at homeschooling because I am not crafty. 
"You know what your problem is," one of the (very insightful) moms commented "you read too many blogs."  Guilty.  I have fostered my inferiority complex by seeing blog stalking these amazing mothers with highly successful blogs who talk very offhandedly about how they "just whipped up a busy bag for my toddler and then made a homemade felt board complete with an entire doll family and all accessories."

I am busy bag incompetent.  While I am attempting to work with my Kindergartener, I have a 19 month old who (instead of playing with his toys which I was hoping would be perfectly sufficient) emerges from my bedroom with three toothbrushes (none of them his) in his mouth and combing his hair with Daddy's razor. 

Mom of the Year right here, Folks, Mom of the Year...

Oh, Boy, Here We Go Again...

I can't believe I've just set up another blog...If you happen, you can wander over to my little pet project in cooking and hospitality, Myopenfridge.blogspot.com.

Last night, I was having a hard time falling asleep and I was feeling a prompting that I need to start recording my (mis)adventures in homeschooling.  Seems like a pretty ideal time since I just started homeschooling my oldest for Kindergarten last Monday.

If you care, join me through my successes and failures, meltdowns in my closet and fumbles through this crazy process of educating my children at home.

Quotes from Silas about homeschool (so far):

• "So who else is coming to my homeschool?"
• (Upon finding out it is just me, him and his little brother creating mayhem in the background): "If we find any kids who don't have a school, can they join mine?"
• "Um, why is my classroom not decorated?" (because, my Dear, your mother is craft impaired)
• "Isn't learning about God more important than Reading and Math?" (Touche, kid, I'll see if we can do some more of that)  
• "Tell me again, why do I not get to ride on a bus???"