Going into this year, I had high expectations about the amount of time I would have during the day. I had thought that I would spend a good part of my day working with the kids, having “mommy school”. I dreamed that the kids would be able to work on their activity while I was able to do something needing to be done around the house. I thought I would be able to give them something to do and they could work on it for hours, not seconds. I should have known better!
I’ve read other blogs about what moms are doing with their kids, but sometimes I wonder if it really goes as smooth as they make it sound. My three kiddos require constant attention; no matter how hard I try to use things that I think they can do on their own. They want help, they want to show me what they did, they want what someone else is doing. I really would love to know their secret. Maybe it is the age groups I have? I’m not sure, but I’ll keep trying. I really have great admiration for those who homeschool their kids.
Recently, I tried to put together book sacs for Ian and Eli with stuff they can do on their own. They always ask “What can we do mom?” while I’m trying to clean, organize the shopping list, or what ever else has the top priority spot that day. The plan was to change it out every week, to fight boredom, but they haven’t really had a chance to “play” with everything in the bags yet.
Using ideas I saw online and some modifications to make it work for my kiddos, I made up a few things. First I made matching sheets using stickers. Man, we have collected a lot of stickers! I used bus notepads I’ve had since I taught 5th grade, glued on cardstock. These were made mainly for Eli, I know Ian will breeze through them. They didn’t make the bag because I have to sit down with him and ask him questions like “What colors are the dinosaurs?”. I have them in sheet protectors, which I found out can be written on with the new Crayola dry erase crayons and wiped off. I had a coupon for the crayons, so we tried it and it works.
For both boys I wanted to use the “I Spy” idea that I had saw online. These actually made the bags. On the website, the mom cut out words from newspapers and magazines and then gave the child a magnify glass to find letters on the page. I decided to use index cards and stickers, again, to make a color “I Spy” for Eli.
Yes, the magnify glass works best if it is pressed closely against your eye.
For Ian I used letter stickers to cover one side of the cardstock and then number stickers to cover the other side. I made a spinner on cardstock from a pdf on a site for another idea, then used Word to make and arrow. Ian spins to get the letter he has to find on the page. I haven’t found a circle with all the numbers fill in for me and haven’t had a chance to make one. For now, he just looks and tells me the numbers he finds or I ask him to find a number. I gave him some beans to use as markers when he finds a letter, but I will be rethinking that idea. I keep stepping on beans, not fun.
My next “need to do” is to find things for Makaela to do. That seems to be a down fall in our mommy school because she is always trying to take the boys’ stuff. I think I spend most of the time trying to distract her when they are trying to work on stuff. Again, which doesn’t work when they need help with something or want to show me what they can do. I’m a little hesitant about some of the ideas I’ve seen online, because I’m just not sure how much she can do on her own. I did give her the Connect Four game and let her put them in the slots. I sat her down next to me and let her play with it, while I worked on something else. I gave Ian and Eli their activity. Next thing I know, the boys are trying to “help” Makaela and Makaela is climbing into my lap to get what I’m working on. And I wonder why I get nothing done?!
I guess “mommy’s school” is a constant work in progress.