It's been awhile since I've posted, and that is because I have been pregnant (and still am) and have recently moved as well. But now that things have settled down a bit, we are in a pretty good routine, so I thought I would take a moment to share what we did today.
I love Mondays. I have realized that after the weekend, our house really needs a good cleaning on Mondays. And as boring as that sounds, it has turned our Mondays into really fun & productive days.
Here is an example of what we did today:
Wake up multiple times to use the bathroom (I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant...)
Finally wake up around 7:30am to my kids running into my room, eager to snuggle or make caves/hideouts out of my blankets.
8am- Slowly wake up and get ready for the day, while they play (I'm so thankful they are happy to play on their own in the mornings!)
8:30am- Put bathroom/bedroom trashes by the stairs ready to take out. Get all laundry (including towels & sheets) together and set by the stairs.
Have everyone make their beds & get dressed before going downstairs together for breakfast.
9am- Put in a load of laundry, then make breakfast.
Eat while reading poetry for children (such as by Robert Louis Stevenson) or a story that teaches good values/morals (Tortoise & the Hare, King Midas & the Golden Touch, scripture stories, etc), and have a discussion about the message & how it applies to their lives. I also like to read a non-fiction kids book, such as about thunder/lightening or the Native Americans, or zoo animals if we're about to go to the zoo that day. We also put the weather on our weather chart & see what day it is on our calendar.
9:45am- Everyone helps unload the dishwasher & put their dirty dishes in. (We started banging the pots & serving spoons to the tune of that song in Tarzan, "Shopado...Doo wop, de do..." and parading around the house for about 10 minutes. Then I put on the whole soundtrack (from a playlist I found in youtube) that we listened to while we cleaned.
10am- Clean the downstairs time! This includes wiping down counters in kitchen, cleaning the downstairs bathroom, picking up any toys/books, and sweeping & vacuuming all floors. I give them options of what they want to do (bathroom sink or floor, for example), and they choose the one they feel like doing. We don't do charts anymore, because they never worked very well for us. Instead everyone knows that we all help out to clean up and then we do something fun in the afternoon (which they know about before we start cleaning). We make it totally fun, not like "chores." And no big deal if my 2 year old doesn't feel like doing much that day because he's more interested in doing puzzles or looking at his books. My 5 year old gets distracted at times, with books usually, so I need to refocus him & he usually finishes his jobs with a pretty positive attitude.
11:30am- I am usually still finishing up my jobs while the boys are sitting on the couch looking at picture books together or playing. I try to make my grains for the week during this time as well (big pots of quinoa, buckwheat, and brown rice, that I use in recipes all week long). Then I get started on lunch (green smoothie & sandwich or bagel).
12- lunch (& check on laundry)
After lunch, they started drawing while I put away the food.
1pm- stories (usually library books) on the couch, then rest time (or independent time for my 5 year old, such as art, practicing writing letters or numbers, legos, etc)
(Today we all went upstairs to clean up the playroom & put up our kids decals on the walls, since we haven't done that yet)
3pm- Movie & popcorn (today it was Tarzan, inspired by the music earlier), while I fold the now clean laundry
5-6pm- Ride bikes & scooters outside on our driveway, while I get dinner ready
6:30pm- My husband gets home and we eat dinner
7:30-8:30pm- He gets them ready for bed & plays with them, while I get a few things done on the computer or whatever else I need to do
What did we accomplish?
- Reading aloud & having discussions about morals, science/history, while exposing them to quality literature
- Teaching the importance of working together as a family/team to get a job done, and practical skills about how to clean and care for a house
- Free play time to use their imaginations, practice social skills (learning to get along with siblings), and develop other skills depending on what they choose to do (such as puzzles, art, etc)
- Able to observe them, see how they are developing & what their strengths/weaknesses may be, be available to answer questions that come up, cuddle when needed, and just be able to be in tune with their needs and adjust our schedule accordingly (which I do so often).
- Physical activity outside
- Healthy, homemade food throughout the day (& discussions about the importance of healthy eating)
- Ability to choose activities and subjects that interest them and adjust our schedule to accommodate the moments when they are particularly interested in something (such as looking up how to care for pet turtles online, which we did when my 5 year old expressed a strong desire to have a pet turtle, after reading a poem this morning about one)
So not only did they learn and do probably more than if they were at school (or day care), but we got to spend the day together as a family, and are closer because of that.
Yay for a great day!
