Yesterday I spent the entire day at home trying to catch up on about everything! I didn't have to do any teaching to the kids, so it was a day where I could clean and they could play to their heart's content!
There were though, a few things that I learned yesterday and some of these may make you laugh. :)
1. I cleaned my master bathroom and master closet. Yikes! Why are there 15+ samples of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, soap, AND plastic shower caps from hotels on Matt's counter? Oh yes, he collected them and they will be great when we go camping. Why are they still out when he hasn't travelled for two months? Who knows!! And why the plastic shower caps? I don't know anybody around here who has uses those, so they went right in the trash!
Correction: I asked Matt about the hair nets this morning and he brought them home because he thought the girls would have fun with them. Yes, he is probably right. :) Go dig them out of the trash then!
I also put away his pile in the master closet that has been sitting there for about two months. Socks, bags, etc. And yes, his suitcase is still sitting outside the attic door waiting to be put away. :)
And while we are talking about my master bathroom, if anybody needs to use the first aid kit to get a bandaid, please don't leave it on my counter along with all the scraps from band-aids!
2. We painted our piano room and living room 3 weeks ago and have yet to get some curtains or shades back on our windows in the front. I don't like having open windows, but I don't want curtains up either.
I found out yesterday that if we ordered some Roman shades from Penney's, it would take 6 weeks to get here! Yikes! I may need to put some up that I don't like before then.
3. My theory with Christian is true. I need to get him outside for at lease a half an hour in order for him to take a nap. It was too hot yesterday and I was busy doing other things, so I didn't get him outside. I put him down for his nap at his regular time and he played in bed for an hour! Usually when I hear, "Mama up, mama up!" I know he's done playing and is not going to take a nap!
4. Oh cookie dough, you are my enemy! I made cookies about a week ago for Courtney's preschool program and I had a little bit of cookie dough left, so I stuck it in the freezer. Well, I found it yesterday and ate it. :) It was soooo good. I kept telling myself, "stop it, put it back" but I just couldn't. Soon the girls were helping me eat it and we were having a great time!
5. Why do I sometimes wait 4-5 days to clean my kitchen? Why do I clean it whenever something starts to smell? I know, bad theory, right! Yesterday it took me about an hour to do the dishes and clean off all the counters! (This was while Christian was supposed to be taking a nap!) If I would just do the dishes every night, I would stay on top of the mess and just keep it clean. But why when I can do them TOMORROW? (I do not do this all the time, sometimes I DO clean my kitchen after meals!)
6. I can tell that the girls are used to me teaching them every afternoon. By about 2 yesterday, they were wondering around looking for something to do. They had played in their playroom all morning and I think they were just used to me calling them downstairs for school about 2. Their playroom has been closed a lot this year (due to them not cleaning it- see a pattern here between mother and daughters and cleaning??), but I thought they would spend all day in there since it was actually open on the weekend! Finally I had Courtney go get a 300 piece puzzle and we did that together (Which we didn't finish yet and it still on our kitchen table, which meant we ate supper on table trays last night in front of the TV. Why didn't we eat on the dining room table??? Because it is still covered in books from the bookshelves that were in the living room. The bookshelves are now in the girls' room with their books on it. I need to figure out what to do with all my books now!)
PS Christian thought the puzzle was great fun too! HA! I had to put him in his high chair with the tray on it AND give him something to eat. He was all about messing the puzzle up! He was making Courtney and myself a little mad and wasn't understanding "No" at all!
7. I need to stop looking on the computer and ebay for curriculum next year or I am going to keep adding subjects to do! Yesterday I was debating whether I should add spelling for Megan, she's a pretty good speller, but it probably wouldn't hurt. Courtney will have spelling words in her curriculum, but I might want to add more challenging words. It would really help with their vocabulary and I know they REALLY push vocabulary words in public schools. We're going to think about this one.
I was also debating how to keep working with Courtney on her reading over the summer. Everything I do with her is "boring" and "not fun", but I don't know how to teach reading! I don't want to buy a year long curriculum right now and I don't want anything that I have to do everyday, but I do want something that is heavy on phonics and will teach her to decode words. Even though she is doing excellent on her reading, I want to keep teaching her.
After doing some researching for "phonics rules" online, I came to a curriculum that I think I am going to use to supplement for Megan next year in English. This is called Rod and Staff Publishing and they are very simple and very inexpensive books, but they look really good. They have a set called Phonics and the books are about $5 each plus a set of flashcards with all the sounds on the alphabet, even the combination sounds and all the sounds the vowels make. This is exactly what I am looking for! I might order these and do a lesson here and there and finish it up next year in kindergarten. Her curriculum teaches phonics, but it is not heavy on phonics.
I am also anxious to order all my curriculum for next year, but there is a used homeschool curriculum sale on June 9th here in Omaha. I need to tell myself to just wait until then! There is also another homeschool conference here in Omaha on August 3rd and 4th.
8. Matt is a whole lot better at inspiring our children than me! All year, they have struggled to do their chores and earn their nickels. This week, Matt really wanted them to earn triple nickels (do ALL your chores ALL week), so he encouraged them all week and they did it! We are very proud of them and they have a much cleaner playroom and bedroom because of it! Courtney also cleaned off the dinner table every night and they have had such great attitudes about everything! Hopefully we can keep this up!
9. I am taking Courtney back to see Dr. Mallory on Tuesday to talk to her about her test results. Everything Courtney wanted to eat this weekend was on her list of "do not eat anymore." No ice cream (but she can have the cone!), no peanuts, no peanut butter, no mac n cheese, no cheese sticks, etc. She seemed a little disappointed with it all, but I kept telling her that we will go talk to the doctor on Monday and see what she has to say. She has never had trouble with milk or peanut products before, just the whole grain products, we'll see what the doctor says. We are also going to get Christian tested this week, we need to figure out his trouble so we can have normal poop when we potty train!
Maybe I will learn some more lessons today! Enjoy your Memorial day weekend!
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