Things around here are going amazingly well. God has placed some organizational tools in my life that have had a huge impact on our days. Here's a look at how we spend our days and what helps to make it a success.
One of the biggest helps has been to create a daily schedule.
I don't keep my schedule to the minute, but I do try to keep flowing through my day. No matter how many tantrums, fights, or accidents, I do feel like the day goes well if I stay disciplined in carrying out our schedule.
Another huge help has been planning what activities the Littles do during the day. I have a rotation for every day. Before I came up with this rotation, I would be at a loss as to what to do with them all day. This helps tremendously.
I intersperse play time with structured time.
Structured time includes preschool.
We have bible time, sing songs, learn our colors and shapes, and other things.
I love preschool time. It's so much fun. They have already learned so much. Lily and Nathaniel know their colors, shapes, sounds, several songs, and can count to ten. Mae, being only two, has learned a bunch as well. It's a little harder to know what she has learned because her speech is very unclear. I'm pretty sure she has picked up quite a bit.
I love it when my Bigs get involved. Micah took over for me when I had to step away.
So sweet.
Structured time also includes our daily walk.
It also includes a short video before lunch. Right now we have been watching Leap Frog Letter Factory. They have learned all of the letter sounds from this DVD. I love it!
After lunch we play a little more and then take a nap. Nap time is school time with my Bigs. This is the time I read aloud our history and such. Micah is self taught on most other subjects and needs me very little these days. What a blessing! Alex still needs a lot of help from me. We carve out that time from 7-8 in the morning. It has been working beautifully to help him with his work first off. I dread being functional at that hour, but I am amazed at the difference it makes to have an hour of quiet with my boy.
After nap we have a small snack and head back outside. It's been a little more challenging for me to get them outside again. This is an area I need to work on.
Once back in we have a table activity.
I have these planned out as well. Otherwise, we would never get to these activities.
Some of our table activities-
We wrap up our day with a bath, some books, or a few songs with Papa.
I love it when Jon breaks out his guitar. The kids do too.
They love to dance and sing.
Once they are in bed, I crash on the couch. A day never goes exactly how I have portrayed here. We are getting closer to having more good days than frustrating ones. I am grateful for that.
My goal is to stay focused and keep on keeping on.
Love Mae's expression with the Flash Cards
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! It's nice to see how you structure your days. Having five kids...and three preschoolers requires, I think, being organized! I'm so impressed with your schedule! Good job! :-)
ReplyDeleteI LOVED seeing all the pictures. Thanks for sharing!
OK this is awesome!! Cna you tell me what about a couple of the table activities such as the pompom's Also as for the toy rotation, do you jsut have those toys available and not access to other toys throughout the day (as in free raeign?) I am thinking this concept may be exactly what we need. We have 3,4,5 year old within 21 mos and 3 & 4 are just home.
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of my ideas from a blog called 1+1+1=1. In the picture they are working on using tweezers to pick up the pompoms. Other table activities are play doh, coloring, cutting, using stickers and dot paint.
DeleteThe toy rotation is probably the most important thing in keeping my sanity. All toys are locked in the closet. This may sound very controlling, but I cannot have three toddlers pulling out whatever they want. It would be chaos! I pull out a specific toy or activity. They must play with that one. After about 30 min we clean it up and get a new one. They always have access to some books and the baby dolls with strollers. Sometimes it's hard to keep with it. There are days when I want to throw in the towel and let them do whatever they want. I have found, though, that when I give up, the day is so much worse.
Brilliant, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteGreat job! And you are not being too controlling at all. Too many toys at once is just plain overwhelming for kids and breeds boredom. When you give them one toy at a time, you are not only helping them appreciate what they have, but they also are learning to focus, and allowing their imagination to enhance their play.
ReplyDeleteYou are an awesome mom!! Just wondering how is lily and nates eyesight? I was just wondering cause I am a braillist and a lot of the kids I see with albinism learn braille to read. Im in no way saying that all of them need to but they normally qualify for services to start learning at about 3.
ReplyDelete