Homeschool Preschool

So, I've started a very relaxed, very low key PRE-preschool with Dominic. The fact is that we were totally not being productive (this we means me :() and we were watching too much SpongeBob (this we means the boys...I was usually reading or something else not actively engaging all the time). So I needed some direction, a little bit of a schedule.

[caption id="attachment_662" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is our schedule, I write it out each week (week 2 right now)[/caption]

This is not to say that we always follow it, or that it has our time blocked out. We spend about 10-15 minutes doing each task, and we don't do them in the order they're written necessarily. Basically it's a few ideas for us to direct our day.  This was where we started with our first week:

Week 1
Color: blue
Stack all blue toys
Color with blue crayons and chalk
Find blue items
Letters: D and C
Find things that start with D and C
Learn sounds
Draw the letters
Numbers: 1-5
Counting toys, snacks
Shapes: Circle
Find all circle toys
Draw circles
Body Parts: Arms
Go over parts
Color pictures
Religion: Sign of the cross
Practice before all prayers
Go to Church and practice
Animals: Duck
Find all ducks
Noise

I was going to write this up new every week, but basically I am just changing the color, the letters, body parts, animals and religion aspect each week, so I will keep this as sort of our template. Then I spread out these tasks during the day/week.

[caption id="attachment_668" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our wall in the "school room" (dining area)[/caption]

When the boys do something like coloring, I put it up on our wall, and they've actually enjoyed going over to look at it later. :) Actually Dominic's obsessed with his this week and he wants to hold it a lot.

[caption id="attachment_666" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Can you guess why he loves it? Yes, I drew SpongeBob for him[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_664" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Christopher doesn't really do much yet, but he loves coloring[/caption]

Our animal this week is the frog and the color is yellow; our letters this week are S & P. If my choice of letters seems odd and random, well it is. Last week I chose D & C  because that's the boys' initials and we say their names a lot in the day. Obviously Dominic is not going to be reading at the end of our preschool year so I wanted to do something that was pre-phonics that would help him. We're focusing a lot on sounds and what words begin with those sounds. S & P I chose because, as I mentioned before, SpongeBob is a big deal in our house. And Patrick is his best friend. Today we were talking about 's' sounds and trying to find toys that started with those sounds. I was finding the SpongeBob and Patrick toys, really emphasizing the "sssss" and "puhpuhpuh" noises, and Dominic came over and asked for Squidward. It might be they just connect for him, but he doesn't have a Squidward toy anymore and we don't talk about him a lot. So, I think maybe he was making a connection??

[caption id="attachment_667" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Practicing Hail Mary this week[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_663" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Advent calendar[/caption]

Our religion this week is about the Hail Mary. I have the book My Jesus and I for the boys and I read the Hail Mary to Dominic while we looked at the pictures. We read through it twice and then I wrote it out in four parts to practice with. I wrote it on the yellow paper of course. And put up one of the prayer cards we have of Our Lady of Grace. We will continue to practice things like the Sign of the Cross, which he seems to try doing before meal prayers but sort of looks like he's dancing. It's obviously very adorable. :-D

Then in the midst of these tasks I have some chores listed for us to do. "Daily" chores a couple of times a day and one "weekly" chore. Sometimes Dominic helps me, and other times he just plays. He likes helping with the dishes, and both boys really like sweeping. But other things they haven't caught on to yet.

So, this is how we're doing preschool. Do you do anything specific with your kiddos?

Learning About My Own Weaknesses

I could come up with various excuses for why I haven't blogged lately, but the truth is that I've been terribly lazy. This laziness seems to have leeched into every facet of my being and I've allowed myself to get comfortable with being slothful. This is, of course, a bigger problem than just that our house is perpetually messy with crunchy things being stepped on with every step in the living room. It's bigger than the fact that dinner is rarely planned, and the dishes only done when either a) Jason does them or b) I'm fed up with not having a clean knife. It is even bigger than my laziness in child rearing and resorting to SpongeBob because it's easier. Being slothful is damaging to my soul.

There, I've said it. It isn't so much the act of being lazy that is sinful. It is what that affects. The boys, our house, doing things for my husband. Those things are my vocation. Taking time to engage, play with, cuddle or sing to the boys is so important in my role as momma. Well...maybe not the singing because if I'm being really honest, I'm not a good singer. ;-) Granted, the boys are extremely happy and playful. But when Dominic asks for SpongeBob when he wakes up then it's a serious issue. Making our home welcoming and clean is important too, it is where we spend most of our time and we should be comfortable and happy. Definitely not disgusted by crunchy things under our feet. I have become so caught up in various time wasters (videos online, books) that I neglect to give Jason the downtime he needs at night, instead putting everything on his plate. It is unfair and it is time for it to stop.

I'm not perfect, and I've been perfecting this laziness for about 30 years, so I'm sure I'll fall, but I've got a pretty good schedule and routine to get going.

Also, look for this space to get a bit more involved in the coming weeks; I've got some blog posts planned (NFP and TTA-why we don't as well as how our first week of preschool type activities is going!), and I'm pretty excited!

Also, prayers are appreciated as I attempt to correct this part of my behavior.

Play Time vs Clean-up Time

Life at home with these two beautiful, fun boys sure is wonderful. It is so wonderful that sometimes the laundry and the dishes don't get washed for a few days. The floor hasn't been vacuumed in...well...I think Jason did it while I was in the hospital. I do manage to sweep every couple of days in the kitchen. There are toys all over Dominic's play area (read: living room) and the counters need to be cleaned up...again.

But, there is the sound of boy giggles from when Dominic gets you to chase him. There is the new found voice of Christopher when he coos and smiles. There are real words mixed in with Dominic's babble that make your heart melt. Words like "thank you" and "Iyou" (I love you). There is the smell of cocoa banana bread baking in the oven, and if you stop by later, you will smell the roast simmering in the crock pot. There is happiness and love emanating from inside this messy home.

And I'm happy with that. :)

Knowing Where to Start

So, being a house wife (as anyone who reads this knows already) is pretty hard. I mean, just keeping a house looking nice is hard enough, but then add in some kids (or in my case ONE kid) and it becomes overwhelming.

Our house isn't dirty as in it's gross by any means. I have kept up on dishes and there isn't old food sitting around (that I know of anyway! ;-)), but it's definitely messy. People try to be nice and they say 'lived in', but really it's just cluttery and messy. I wasn't able to do a good deep cleaning before Dominic was born because, well, I was 9 months pregnant and it was over 100 degrees most days and I was so tired! And now, while I'm figuring out I can clean or do other things while he naps, I don't know where to begin.

So I've enlisted the help of my amazing husband; he has agreed to help me do a thorough cleaning this weekend so that it's easier for me to keep up with. Now I won't have an excuse to not have the house spic and span, or at the very least, picked up.

How do you keep your house clean? Do you have a routine?