Daily Routine

Another thing that has been on our mind is the schedule! I have realized there is a significant difference between Jonathan and myself. Jonathan could play Legos for hours growing up. He would get lost in his room and build magnificent structures. He has thousands of Legos. When Jonathan is at home he can spend so much time sitting on the boys' floor putting together their Geo Trax train or building a castle with their blocks.

And then there is me. I would probably have been labeled with ADD if not ADHD as a child because unless I was sitting down reading or watching tv I had to be on the go. I would be at the grocery store with my mom as a small child and she would say can't you stand still for at least a few seconds? I am someone who likes to go! And as a parent of small children you would think I would be entertained by running around after them. It isn't that I'm not it's just I'm not entertained by building a train or putting Legos together. And I think maybe entertained isn't the right word. I feel like I don't have that piece Jonathan has where he can visualize this whole creation and then do it. He loves to buy more and more tracks to the Geotrax because Jonathan can build it bigger and bigger. When I start to build it, I always end up with the track not meeting up or my eldest son telling me I'm not doing it right.

Lately as we're trying to reduce our grocery budget and get a better handle on life, spirituality, budgeting, health, etc. I've realized that if we don't have a playdate or something then in the morning the boys tend to be in front of the tv and me in front of the computer. I am trying so hard to be more active outside BUT (and I find this amazing) if I don't get us out on a walk then I take us all to a store because of a need to get out of the house. And really it is so much easier to go on a walk, I mean who wants to drag 3 kids into a store? That is a recipe for annoyance and disaster but instead of getting my boys on their bikes and my daughter into the stroller I drag them across town to Target to buy those 2 things I forgot but then end up adding 8 more things to the cart and before you know it I've spent too much and have kids who are whining and annoyed.

I'm finding that getting into a good regimented routine is not an easy task when you're a stay at home parent. When the kids get up at 6:30 or 7, it's easy to just turn on the TV so that I can do e-mail, make breakfast, shower. Then I realize it's 9 or so and they've been parked in front of the TV for two hours. So I'm looking for recommendations on what non-TV watching parents do with their kids. How they keep them entertained in the AM.

I am hoping to have my days work like this:

Get up - maybe have the TV on for 1 or 2 Disney AM shows while I wake up, make them breakfast and shower but I want to reduce my waking up time so that it is 8ish when I'm ready to go!

Then go out for a walk, I feel unless it is raining or we have somewhere to be we need to be out taking advantage of our CA sunshine for at least an hour or 2. We moved to this big community that has 2 parks within walking distance. We can get in a good 2 mile bike ride/walk and play at one of the parks.

Come home and some days try to have some pre-planned thing for the boys to do either an art project, coloring, drawing etc and then on the other days even though I feel like I'm next to useless at it, help them put together their train or help them build a Lego structure.

Then lunch....

Then nap/quiet time so I can have a little bit of me time.

The later afternoons are hard because my eldest doesn't nap but my middle son and daughter do. So my eldest is by that point getting pretty tired/cranky and my middle son is rearing to go! I need again to figure out something that burns some of middle son's steam without feeling like I'm over exhausting my eldest. I would love ideas! We don't have a backyard at the moment but we have a nice organized garage so I will move the car out so the boys can ride their bikes or kick around a soccer ball in there.

Whoever thinks parenting and being a stay at home parent is easy or just a cake job has obviously never done it!

I know if I want to even consider any sort of homeschooling program I have to be on the ball more. I have plenty of excuses to why I'm not, I do have a 5 month old who thinks waking up every 2 or so hours at night is exciting so I'm sleep deprived and it's easy to use that as a crutch. But if I want my life to really head in the direction I see, I need to get over it! Easier said then done but mind over matter right?

Homeschooling

I am contemplating homeschooling and feeling very weird about it. I have a 4 1/2 year old boy, a 3 year old boy and a 5 month old girl. I just put my 4 1/2 year old into a 3 hour 3 times a week preschool/pre Kindergarten class in January. All ready I'm not liking the attitude changes I'm seeing in him. I NEVER thought I would consider homeschooling and I know we should never say never. Life throws us curve balls all of the time therefore saying never can just make you feel silly later on!

I know part of my problem is the natural hardness of this transition. Most parents put their kids into public or private school and I'm sure this transition can be naturally difficult. For the last year I've been a full time stay at home mom and before that I was a part time stay at home mom. I would think for parents who have a stay at home parent sending your kid off to school is hard. Suddenly the control you had is out of your hands and into a stranger's hands for 6+ hours a day. And with the current state of a lot of our school systems, not only is your child with the teacher but 20 to 30 other kids are too! I'm having a hard time accepting this as something I want for my kids. I want them to have someone who cares about them individually. Now before I go on I want to say 2 things. I don't think just because a household has both parents who work that it means there isn't a hard transition for those parents having their children start school. Secondly, I have nothing but respect for teachers. I think they are underpaid and under appreciated. They do so much for all of us. All of us have had teachers and I am amazed at my friends who have the patience to be teachers also. My problem is more specific to the fact that our schools are over crowded and underfunded and unless my son gets into a Charter program I don't know that I want to deal with the public school system.

So here I am ruminating. It amazes me how many of my friends do homeschool but on the other hand I have a lot of friends who send their kids off to school and have no issues. I know it's a very individual and personal decision making but I think opinions from others are always helpful. To know others' experiences can give you an idea of what you're own may look like. But everyone's kids are so different and my temperament is different from others so I think you don't know until you try. As I think about this feel free to share your thoughts, I would appreciate them!