Hanson's Ridge
It's hard to believe we are already into February, especially since I keep putting 2016 as the year on my billing hours for work. Oops! Maybe this month I'll finally remember what year it is. I had a couple of New Year's Resolutions. They are little things that are intended to improve my life, rather than "self-improvement." Here they are: 1. Go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 6am (which is revised to 7am depending on how well I sleep that night). I'm not a night owl. I don't feel good the next day. And going to bed early enough to wake up at 6am gives me a little bit of lead time on the kiddos in the morning, which is key to peaceful and positive parenting for me. 2. Read for pleasure 15 minutes per day. I'm happier when I read books, and self-care is important. I'm up and down on this one so far, but keeping it on my daily to-do list has definitely made it more of a priority in my day. 3. Read aloud to the kids every day. Sometimes it doesn't happen, and that's ok, but it's also always on the list. 4. Make my bed and empty the dishwasher. It's funny, for years I fell in the "why make the bed" camp. After all, I'm barely in my room during the day, and at the end of the day, I just fall in. But now, AW and I cuddle on the bed for bedtime stories, and it's much nicer to come into a tidy bed for that activity. Plus, it is easier to get into a made bed than a messy one. And it does help me feel like I accomplished ONE thing for the day. It's hard to do it when I'm the first one out of bed because I don't always come back to our room, but I try to get to it before bedtime. Granted, I don't make it very tidy--I just straighten everything up. And emptying the dishwasher isn't just for me: Himself's love language is Acts of Service, and when I asked him what one thing I could do for him every day, he asked me to unload the dishwasher so he wouldn't have to do it when he does dishes in the evening. It's an easy enough thing to do--in fact, many times this month he beat me to it. Either way, the dishwasher is unloaded before we eat dinner. There are a few other habits I'm working on, using a habit tracking sheet, but those are the biggies. Now, onto school: I mentioned in a previous post that our theme this month was winter and hibernation. We made Hibearnation Cupcakes. AW made a yellow cake batter and then layered teddy grahams inside the cupcakes like they were hiding inside the cave. She made green and white icing for the top, so some would be grassy and some would be snowy. DC helped by taste testing. We also made graham cracker bear dens, and used vegetable shortening to explore how fat keeps animals warm in cold environments. We read a lot of books about hibernation, including how some animals store nuts for the winter, and turned nut sorting into a math activity. At the science center this month, the kids made "snow" out of polymers. We also did some art projects, visited the science center, and played with friends. We've joined up with a preschool outdoor group called the Traveling Acorns, which gets us outside every other Monday. (I think I've mentioned them before). It's a great chance for DC to hang out with a crowd of little boys his age. You can also see AW and DC working on little books: we started out making hibernation books, but then they got into the idea of making books and just drew pictures in their own little books. They did a little bit of letter work this month, at AW's request. She is begging to start kindergarten, so we throw in a little bit of workbook activity here and there. In math this month, we rolled dice and counted Legos to build structures. Counting has become a favorite activity for both kids, and you can tell they love to practice because they are getting really good at it! I've started to think about what I want the next school year to look like, and talking to AW about what she wants too. We have to file paperwork with the district for the first time this summer, and we are deferring kindergarten status for a year. This gives us flexibility if we ever decide to put her into public school. But we will likely call next year "kindergarten" for her, because she's itching to start and technically old enough. She really wants to learn to read, so I'm weighing the pros and cons of starting a more formal reading program with her. Even though I was a teacher, basic phonics instruction is not my strength, so I don't feel up to doing it from scratch. Plus, there's going to be a new baby in the mix. She has a lot of the building blocks already, so I'm leaning towards moving forwards with a formal program in the fall. I'm looking at a couple that are engaging and fun, as well as solid educationally.
I'm envisioning more time at home, actually, especially in the mornings. DC needs more break times at home so he doesn't get too over stimulated with other kids, and we need time to sit down and be a family as well as do school. I think a lot of that will happen naturally as we incorporate a new infant into our lives, with a brand new (and often changing!) sleep schedule. We've also talked about when to end "formal" instruction for this school year. It looks like I'll go as close as I can to having this baby (late April, early May) and then we will take it easy. Himself will take the kids to the science center while he's on paternity leave, but I think mostly we will just adapt to being a family of five instead of a family of four.
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AuthorHi! I'm Stephanie Hanson. I live with my husband, Himself, on Hanson's Ridge in Virginia. Archives
September 2017
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