We’ve reached the end of our first week of planned work. Each night I’ve sat down, looked at what we’ve achieved that day, and worked out a plan for the next day. And then I’ve focussed on the mornings, trying to make sure that the children are occupied and busy between 10 and 1.
It’s been a variable success. Turns out that I’m not very good at judging how long it will take to do various things. So some tasks were finished much more quickly than I expected, and others took three to four times the length of time I’d allowed. Also, I need to get more organised and actually have all our resources accessible and on hand, but then that won’t really surprise anyone.
Learning about their learning in fine detail has been interesting too. Small has always seemed very self propelled, but it turns out that this is within extremely strictly defined limits. Move him out of that comfort zone and he needs much more support and guidance than I’d expected. By contrast, Big seems empowered by the framework and was much happier to give things a go than I’d anticipated.
Well, it could never have gone utterly straightforwardly could it?
Even Smallest has responded well to the increased focus on her skills. Her education this week was mainly provided by a BBC toybox magazine I picked up in a supermarket – it had numberjack figures, and stickers, a slinky and a recorder, and all of these things made her very happy. I’ve always done lots of reading with her, and incidental other stuff, but this week I focussed on making sure that she had some skills sessions too – so we did Montessori style cutting (for hours!) and today she’s done crafting, sticking, beading, colouring as well as having various counting activities during the week. She’s lapped it up – once again she’s as different as it’s possible to get from the other two.
One thing that made me laugh this week was when someone on twitter assumed that with no 4 on the way, I must have parenting cracked. As if. All I know is that they are all different, and none of them came with a manual. So I know not to expect too much from myself or from no 4, so if that’s parenting in a nutshell, I guess I am an expert.
Other things outside education? There’s been swimming (lots of), cubs, Big’s first Scout session (huge success, must cancel Guides!), crafting, playing inside and out, and even some gardening. I’m struggling now with housework, even more than usual, as my left hip appears to have given up on me entirely, but I’ve managed to cook decent meals most nights, and we’ve enjoyed our evening time together. Big had another orthodontist session, and now has a chain of elastic bands on her braces, which is causing her some pain and resulted in a rather snappy day today. She has had a bassoon lesson and done some practice this week though, so that’s another positive.
All in all, although I’ve found it exhausting, and it’s left me very little time for my various online projects, structure looks like it is the way forward for all the family, and is obviously something I’m going to have to work on.
So there you go.
Leave a Reply