whelmed

ready for a boring mommy-blog post? around here, i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. i'd love to feel just whelmed. we'll shoot for that next week. ;) although we have a lot of flexibility in our day now that we're up at the butt-crack of dawn, i'm feeling the pressure. academic pressure. seeing gabe and where he is now with all the stuff he knows, i realize that i should probably be dedicating more time to education in our home.

this is not to say gabe is behind...he's doing great in school, but i'm realizing days can go by without anything going on but chores and playdates (which are educational in their own way, but don't exactly teach letters and such).

so in order to feel more in control and focused (a vice of mine) i've created a little schedule of things to teach throughout the week.

monday: reading and writing practice

tuesday: letters and numbers

wednesday: puzzles and drawing

thursday: songs and writing practice

friday: colors and shapes

now i know a lot of these intersect, and my hope is that each day i can plan just a few activities where we can learn and practice and then i won't feel like the whole day was used up making beds and washing dishes. the younger three start preschool next week and i know they'll be getting a lot of this at school, too, but it's not just the school's job to teach my kiddos. so here we go. wish me luck.

a new plan

i read the retro housewife today, which was about spending time with your children and enjoying it. she had some really good points in there. you should check it out.
i DO enjoy my children and spending time with them. don't panic. i do love my children but...
with four under 5 1/2 years old, i am a bit overwhelmed at times with laundry, dishes, making beds, etc, and i often look back over a whole day and wonder, "where did it go?"

i've gotta be more intentional about my time. if i want my kids to know a specific thing or experience certain events or learn about something in particular, i am gonna have to step it up a notch.

this evening i made up a schedule of our day. it goes in 30 minute increments. i won't bore you with the whole thing, but my hope is that i'll follow this schedule (loosely) and maybe get in more teaching moments and new experiences for the boys.

i want to watch plants grow and bake brownies and watch bugs move around and dress up like sad firemen (see above). i want to seize more moments with them instead of being bogged down with chores.
--this is not to say that dishes will go unwashed and laundry undone for longer periods of time, but hopefully a schedule with specific times to do chores will help me to focus a bit more.

i've even made a chore chart so the boys can help me during the week with the little things.
i'll keep you posted if you want and let you know how this goes. if nothing else, it will hopefully make me more aware of how we're spending our time.

here goes...