Is it feet off the floor time yet?

Early pregnancy has me, well, taxed. Is that the right word? I really feel as good as is possible in the situation and am accustomed to the morning sickness at this point. I am 10 weeks along now. I have lost my early mornings to sleep and that is when I usually blog. Sleep that I very much need in order to make it through the day well with my little people around here. I rise at 7 am (5:30am was the norm) very often these days and I quite enjoy it too. I thought I would be frustrated to not get a jump on the day before the little ones start to manage the day for me, but, that has not happened. I think pregnancy has a way of bringing peace when you may think it should be anything but peaceful. Strange. I have also lost my evenings of visiting, catching up and planning with my husband because very often, we both are asleep by 9:15pm and if not asleep, well on our way especially if Tess and boys are already in slumber. So all together, I have gathered up 2-4 extra hours of sleep per day because we still do nap in the afternoons. Yes, there is the nap which accounts for the "-4" part of my extra mentioned.

One hour can mean a lot.

Nap time or better known as Feet Off the Floor time. I have even learned (and they have learned and my mother has helped reinforce this too when they are at her house..thanks Mom!) to keep boys down, on my bed after reading to them all, nursing little mama to sleep then telling them we are going to close our eyes for 10 minutes (hoping for that to be at least 30 minutes or more) and do you know, they do it! They stay on my bed because we are having feet off the floor time and that means...your feet are off the floor. For Mr. Win, I have recently added, "and head on a pillow" just to make it clear for him. I do have to swat with my hand gently like swatting at a fly and shush if they get too restless or give them something to do with their hands but I do seem to get a deep cat nap in there and it refreshes me enough for the rest of the day. It may only be 10 - 15 minutes with little interruptions. But, for one hour, they are allowed to play with a quite toy, "read" a book(s), stare at the ceiling, work on a handicraft like the knitting spool ( I need some other little handicraft ideas for this actually....) or...really take a nap! But they must be quiet, not touch each other and not wake the baby. Those are the rules. I recently was given a one hour, hourglass from Pottery Barn (again, thanks Mom!) as a good visual for the boys if they are not sleepy in order to track the time more easily. And they know buddy! Gun informs Win if the sand is not finished and to shush! If I am refreshed and Gun and I are both still awake, we go downstairs and let the little ones continue napping. This is special time for he and I that I know he loves. I should also say, when my husband is home, he appreciates the time too. My little gift of good habit to him.

I should also note and I did not intend to note this last because it is a very important (to me) part of the whole deal. The rest time is without a movie. The time is spent learning to unwind without the blinky box and I like that one. I like cultivating the habit of rest. I do however use movies too but make an effort not to use it at all....a break of a habit that can form easily for a weary mom when I fact ( I believe) they need to learn to just.....be.

I must say, I was not ever as an early new mother this kind of strict nappy scheduling type and I am still not. But, I am a perfectionist. I love routine to my days even if it does not allow me to get to all that I planned..that is another post for later on that subject. The chores, the stress busting/pleasure filled time of sewing, knitting, reading to myself..school things...all that I have planned..you know what I mean...another post. We have many days when I need to go out and shop with the children and nap time for them may be a quickie on the ride to and from as many mamas are familiar. (And it makes me jealous too!...I want a nap too.) But in the routine-ness of our days, "feet off the floor" time is just that...familiar. As normal as grabbing a nap in the car. As normal as lunchtime.

It takes time to develop this special thing. And if you get out of habit of regular rest time, it takes time to reestablish it again but the loving persistence pays off with all bodies happier and refreshed. I think it gets lost as your children get older and nap time becomes devalued. There is even new research showing that children can be more likely obese due to sleep deprivation. They are not doing more video games/tv/reading books, eating too much junk, etc. (sedentary activities) which has long been the perception but rather, due to sleepiness, they are less active during the day and therefore burn less calories and that adds up over time to overweight/obesity...interesting right? Anyway, even if they protest rest (notice I don't call it nap time...it is feet off the floor time!...keep words positive!) even if they protest, in time, they appreciate it. As older, wiser mothers have told me, they will want that time of day to come around when they get to be adolescents and early teens..they need that reading/napping/recharge in quiet time, every day...every single day. In fact, my maturing almost 7 year old already will say on occasion with a pleading tone..."is it feet off the floor time yet??"....love to hear that one. Love it.

Now, having this rest when fun, exuberant friends are visiting for a couple of days? I will let you know how that goes....the mamas have decided to start a mass feet off the floor time..in separate rooms of course! Muellangs time begins tomorrow!..yippee!!

Madeline and highlights of the school week

This record is only a snapshot as I am homeschooling all day long and could not possibly include everything..but here it goes. Our daily routine includes bible history and a Wee Sing song or two. We are currently on Abraham and W2 loves the song 'Father Abraham' in Wee Sing. On Wednesday, the children and I went to a guitar store to take in my sickly guitar that I have had since the third grade. I have noticed on Wee Sing, guitar chords on the bottom of the sing along book soooooo..it is time to fix the guitar and play for my wee ones. I think they will not be too critical of me.

We used Five In A Row again last week to study five subjects using the story of Madeline written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans. Monday was Social Studies/Geography. This is the cover of G5s lapbook. Now, on the subject of lapbooking. That is a post on its own but I can tell you briefly, it is a collection or, a record of our research on the subject at hand. At this point, I lead the layout and the what? part of what we put in G5s lapbooks. However, whenever he wants to jump in...he does it himself. I determine whether or not he is going to get too involved and overly frustrated in the cutting part rather than the learning part so he does some cutting and pasting and sometimes I do it to get to the point of learning. So, moving forward with Five In A Row...he starts by putting a story disk (paper drawing circle to remember the book title)everyday on our world map for Paris, France and talk about the Seine River or other things about France. We noticed that Germany, where Oma and Opa and one uncle live, is quite close to the country of France.






This is an overview of the interior of G5s Madeline lapbook.





G5 made a flag of France in paper for his lapbook you see at upper top left. Again, I cut the three colors of the flag and he noted how to arrange them, then pasted them to the mini book. Below it is a 'Where in the World is France' mini book and inside, he colored super duper inside the lines, the country of France. He is a perfectionist child. I have to encourage him when he gets intimidated and also appreciate his perfectionism. See his perfectly colored little France below? Pretty neat and tidy for a 5 year old? Too much I think. ;-)





On Tueday, Language Arts, we looked at rhyming as a literary device. I was surprised at how he did not at first know what rhyming was until I gave lots of examples from the book. I have always been careful to introduce poetry and Little Golden Books with rhyme but this is the first time I have ever focused on it. So, it was interesting for him and he came up with some on his own for the Rhyme Time book now in his lapbook. He is learning something new! For example: What rhymes with 'door'? He came up with 'snore' and 'boar'. That will work! Each tab held others he came up with on his own too. It was fun.

On Wednesday, we studied my favorite, Art. Specifically, architecture. I was able to introduce him to real buildings in Paris that we found photographs for that matched the illustrated ones in Bemelmans book..through his artistic lens. G5 liked this cutting and matching mini book..see it here. (He did all the cutting himself with pleasure...you just never know!)

All of these structures are in the book. I forgot when we looked at it but I also traveled to France in 1998 and went inside the Eiffel Tower..I don't have pictures to show G5 so that is probably why I forgot to tell him. Oh well....


On Thursday is Math. I cut out 48 girls quickly and then we divided and counted them. G5 made groups of 12, four times. The questions were like this: 'If Miss Clavel wants the girls to go to the sink in groups of three to wash their hands, how many groups do you have?' He did really well with this...maybe he will not inherit my challenges with math afterall! I would have to remind him to use all the girls..all twelve. See the Math pocket on the lapbook interior above. It is yellow with a hat on the center right.


On Friday, Science. In the book, Madeline has her appendix removed. We talked about illness you cannot prevent, like Madeline, but there are things you can do to protect your health. Wash your hands! I say this without thinking. If I could count how many times I have supervised this little task...it would take forever. I did a mini book, in lapbook at far right, and asked questions like 'when is it most important to wash hands?' So glad we talked about it purposely because, it took some leading questions to get him to remember...'after using the bathroom'!! He is learning isn't he?


In closing, my favorite thing G5 did all week was on his own initiative. Of course, it is Art. He made a drawing of Madeline herself and I mounted it in the back of his lapbook. Not bad huh? I love her wild hair.

For next week, I have been looking into including Nature Study and how to use it more intentionally..beyond just messing around in the dirt or the backyard and just gathering bugs, etc. Although, all of that is great too! I have been encouraged this week and see that even though the first couple of weeks were a tough learning curve, I think we are developing a rhythm to this schooling with a purpose thing. I am still working on developing activities on a list that I can put W2 and T1 onto when I am schooling so they are content and engaged in something. It is challenging! Next week, we are reading A Pair of Red Clogs and we are taking a field trip to the Cockrell Butterfly Museum. I look forward to sharing our adventures!