I've noticed I have a tendency to take on a bit more than I can chew. Yet, when I'm feeling like a go-getter, I have no desire to back off of all my big plans!
It started a few weeks ago when I began thinking that maybe I'd like to do cloth diapers again with the next baby. This feeling was soon followed by a related feeling, which was that I'd like to make all the cloth diapers. Since I made Sariah's Easter dress, I've been on a sewing high. Maybe making several dozen cloth diapers in several sizes will bring me crashing down from that high? I also hope to make another heirloom newborn outfit in the next few months.
Shortly after I started feeling "crunchy" enough to make cloth diapers, I also started feeling like I wanted to explore homeschooling again. Now, before you think I'm really ambitious, it's just preschool! And this particular preschool will be pretty laidback and not at all academic. It will be more about developing a routine and rhythm for our days, and throwing in lots of stories, music, art, nature, and movement. I'm really excited! The curriculum is called Oak Meadow and it's based on Waldorf Education, which is a philosophy I've long been interested in. (Maybe sometime in the near future I'll write a post about Waldorf.) I have a few concerns about Waldorf, but there are also many things I like, and with homeschooling, I could do things my own way and make sure it fit my beliefs. This wouldn't be happening until fall, but I'm so excited right now that I want to start tomorrow! (Yeah, not a good idea...)
School gets out in about six weeks, and after a great deal of thought, I've decided that we need to severely limit TV for the summer. And I do mean severely. Right now I'm thinking of allowing it maybe one day a week. I'm sure you can imagine how well that idea is going to be received by certain members of this family! I'm really nervous about making this change myself, especially since I know Dallin will insist that I stay off the computer if he can't watch TV. (And he's right. Sigh.) But I am really curious to see how this will help the behavior in our household. I know TV is not having a good impact on my kids. Behavior is one area, but I also worry about Dallin's seeming inability to entertain himself. I want that to change!
So in order to make the no-TV thing work, I'm planning to spend a lot of time the next few weeks coming up with easy ideas for other things he can do when he's bored. I want to write the ideas of slips of paper and put them in envelopes, ready to be chosen when the need arises. One of my links on my sidebar, The Artful Parent, has lots of great art projects.
In addition to TV-Detox we will also be starting Sugar Detox. That scares me even more than the TV! I'm reading a book called Little Sugar Addicts, and the things the author is describing in sugar sensitive children are exactly what I'm seeing played out in my home every day. Unfortunately, the author stresses that whatever you're expecting from your kids, you have to be willing to live yourself, and we all know that the biggest little sugar addict in this house is ME. We'll be taking baby steps every few weeks, but I'm the one who gets to start first.
And then there's the really cool chore chart that we learned about in Enrichment a few weeks ago. I think it's just what our family needs, since I've been feeling like the maid for awhile now. So my goal is for that to begin when school gets out too. I think my kids will actually respond pretty well to it, it's just that I get to take the time to make the cute little chart.
In between all this stuff that I want to do is all the stuff that I have to do. Like work on our adoption website. And plan/carry out a stake Primary activity day, or at least my part of it. And teach a few Relief Society lessons. And help out with 11-year-old Scout Daycamp. And take Dallin to swimming lessons and soccer. And plant more plants in my front yard. (And then manage to keep them watered so they don't die like so many of the others I've planted.)
And did I mention that we're going to plant a garden this year? Our first-ever garden. Which means I need to install drip irrigation. (We've had the tubing sitting in our garage for 3 years now.)
Oh boy. What am I thinking???
It started a few weeks ago when I began thinking that maybe I'd like to do cloth diapers again with the next baby. This feeling was soon followed by a related feeling, which was that I'd like to make all the cloth diapers. Since I made Sariah's Easter dress, I've been on a sewing high. Maybe making several dozen cloth diapers in several sizes will bring me crashing down from that high? I also hope to make another heirloom newborn outfit in the next few months.
Shortly after I started feeling "crunchy" enough to make cloth diapers, I also started feeling like I wanted to explore homeschooling again. Now, before you think I'm really ambitious, it's just preschool! And this particular preschool will be pretty laidback and not at all academic. It will be more about developing a routine and rhythm for our days, and throwing in lots of stories, music, art, nature, and movement. I'm really excited! The curriculum is called Oak Meadow and it's based on Waldorf Education, which is a philosophy I've long been interested in. (Maybe sometime in the near future I'll write a post about Waldorf.) I have a few concerns about Waldorf, but there are also many things I like, and with homeschooling, I could do things my own way and make sure it fit my beliefs. This wouldn't be happening until fall, but I'm so excited right now that I want to start tomorrow! (Yeah, not a good idea...)
School gets out in about six weeks, and after a great deal of thought, I've decided that we need to severely limit TV for the summer. And I do mean severely. Right now I'm thinking of allowing it maybe one day a week. I'm sure you can imagine how well that idea is going to be received by certain members of this family! I'm really nervous about making this change myself, especially since I know Dallin will insist that I stay off the computer if he can't watch TV. (And he's right. Sigh.) But I am really curious to see how this will help the behavior in our household. I know TV is not having a good impact on my kids. Behavior is one area, but I also worry about Dallin's seeming inability to entertain himself. I want that to change!
So in order to make the no-TV thing work, I'm planning to spend a lot of time the next few weeks coming up with easy ideas for other things he can do when he's bored. I want to write the ideas of slips of paper and put them in envelopes, ready to be chosen when the need arises. One of my links on my sidebar, The Artful Parent, has lots of great art projects.
In addition to TV-Detox we will also be starting Sugar Detox. That scares me even more than the TV! I'm reading a book called Little Sugar Addicts, and the things the author is describing in sugar sensitive children are exactly what I'm seeing played out in my home every day. Unfortunately, the author stresses that whatever you're expecting from your kids, you have to be willing to live yourself, and we all know that the biggest little sugar addict in this house is ME. We'll be taking baby steps every few weeks, but I'm the one who gets to start first.
And then there's the really cool chore chart that we learned about in Enrichment a few weeks ago. I think it's just what our family needs, since I've been feeling like the maid for awhile now. So my goal is for that to begin when school gets out too. I think my kids will actually respond pretty well to it, it's just that I get to take the time to make the cute little chart.
In between all this stuff that I want to do is all the stuff that I have to do. Like work on our adoption website. And plan/carry out a stake Primary activity day, or at least my part of it. And teach a few Relief Society lessons. And help out with 11-year-old Scout Daycamp. And take Dallin to swimming lessons and soccer. And plant more plants in my front yard. (And then manage to keep them watered so they don't die like so many of the others I've planted.)
And did I mention that we're going to plant a garden this year? Our first-ever garden. Which means I need to install drip irrigation. (We've had the tubing sitting in our garage for 3 years now.)
Oh boy. What am I thinking???
Comments
I would love to see your chore chart. Ours is just pictures that I laminated and put magnets on. It is working great right now, but I am always on the prowl for another idea!
The sugar detox is scaring me too! But at least it's done very gradually. The author says her aim is to heal the addiction, not just stop the sugar.