Staying Sane & Having Fun

The weather here is cold. Very, very, cold. There is snow on the ground still from storms we had a month ago. We are stuck inside like little hermits. I have preschool for Emmett twice a week and we got a membership at the Treehouse Museum up in Ogden (which has been the best investment of $80 we've ever made, by the way), but still. Most of the time we are just stuck indoors.

About a month ago I made a decision to start doing a sort of "informal" learning experiment with Emmett. It was mostly just to keep him occupied so that I'd have a break from eating "baked" pears, carrots, and apples all day and so that Bethany might have a break from getting her toys stolen all day.

It's been surprisingly, amazingly, wonderfully successful so far. Everyone is happier with a bit more routine, and I have more patience and feel better about myself as well. For everything I did, I've borrowed heavily from this blog. I'd never be able to think of all this stuff on my own. I'm just not naturally creative or fun, so I have to copy other people who are.

I made a little calendar for Emmett's room. It's not completely finished yet as I still haven't made any "Question of the Day" cards or laminated the weather cards. Every morning after we're dressed and our beds are made (but before breakfast) we go into Emmett's room. We move the turtle charm to the correct date, update the "yesterday, today, tomorrow" sticks, and discuss the weather. Then we sing the "Days of the Week" and "Months of the Year" song while Bethany dances. We read a scripture together and then Emmett says his morning prayers. In the evenings we update our "Phase of the Moon"cards. Emmett loves outer space.

After we eat breakfast, we go into the living room and do "Circle Time". I don't know why we call it that because we don't sit in a circle, but whatever. We sing a couple of songs (the Hokey Pokey is the highlight of Bethany's day) and then we do a few little stretches, jump, wiggle, stand on one leg, etc. The exercises led by Emmett are usually the most interesting and fun. Everyone jumps up onto the rocking loveseat, snuggles up under the "reading blanket" (an old blanket Debbie gave me before I went to my first year of college) and we read a couple of stories for Bethany and a couple for Emmett, including a book about whatever it is we are "studying".

This is Emmett's "Exploring Space" box. I'm ridiculously proud of it. It's filled with black sand, marbles and balls (planets), sparkly beads (stars) that I broke off of a strand of cheap Christmas decorations, cute little erasers with images of astronauts and space ships on them, a star slinky, a few polished rocks (meteors/asteroids), a toy rocket ship that I nabbed out of our toy bin, a squishy ball of the earth, glow in the dark stars, a few numbers (for a countdown), and some crumpled up balls of tin foil.  Oh yes, and a cheap plastic ice cream scoop. It kept Emmett busy and away from Bethany for anywhere from a half hour to an hour every day in January. BEST. IDEA. EVER.

I gave Emmett a small, hand held broom and dustpan. When he was finished "exploring space" he would put the lid on, take the box back to where it belongs, and then sweep up any sand he spilled on the table. His sweeping skills could use some work, it's true, but I loved watching him try so hard to be responsible.

When he saw me take the camera out he informed me, "Mom, I'm really busy, so I can't say 'cheese' right now."

Emmett also got to practice with some "practical" life skills this month, like scooping "planets", cutting straight lines with safety scissors, and pouring milk from a small measuring pitcher into a plastic cup with a rag to wipe up spills. I also tried to plan something artistic each week, but that's a little harder for me because, well, it's a mess and a bit of a chore and I prefer to be lazy. Emmett loves it when we do art, however, so I'm trying to include it in our activities more often.

The "planets" are marbles of course, but to Emmett's imagination it didn't matter.

He is so proud that he can use scissors now. It's pretty tricky and it scares me a little now and then, but for the most part he is very careful. No one's been cut yet, at least.

Experimenting with sponge dots as a new medium for painting.

About halfway through the month, Emmett rediscovered his lab coat from a couple of Halloween's ago. He now takes his studies VERY seriously and calls himself, "Professor Emmett". I love it!

Professor Emmett hard at work studying several newly discovered planets.

In the afternoons we have mostly unstructured time. Sometimes we cook, sometimes we clean, and sometimes just act silly together.

"I'm Neptune. I'm cold, dark and mysterious. I'm really stormy, so bring an umbrella. I'm serious!"(see this link to understand what we're doing here)

Wearing Emmett's backpack.

Cleaning bathrooms.

Bethany's very first time cooking with us. We made banana bread.

Today we started a new "unit" or theme about rocks. It was a huge hit! That meant we took our space box apart and filled it with a ton of rocks and stones instead.

The cheap little magnifying lens I found has been a lot of fun. Emmett feels very important and official when using it.

Bethany gets to join in the fun this time by examining the larger rocks. Emmett is very sweet and hands her a new rock whenever she asks, while putting away the ones she is finished with.

In February we'll be practicing sharpening pencils...

Building shapes with colored popsicle sticks that have velcro attached at the ends. (I only gave him enough sticks of each color for specific shapes)

And hanging out in his own little "house"studying/playing with the face cards I found that have pictures and names of rocks and minerals on them instead of the traditional cards.

Bethany mostly spends her time playing with me, but occasionally gets to join in the fun also. Today she enjoyed playing with goldfish and popsicle sticks.

In order to keep "school" fun, I never let the kids play with any of the stuff I make for it in the evenings or on weekends. I've found that it's a good way to keep it special and exciting and interesting for them. And so far, it's been working out really well.