January seems to be a time of reflection, & this year was no different. I have been feeling a little frustrated, mostly with myself, feeling like I spend so much time focusing on keeping the house in order (which you can't even tell, so I don't know why I worry about it) & just give my kids "free time" to play during the couple hours we're home in the morning. We've always had a schedule, even since they were infants, but the schedule was pretty vague in some areas. So I decided to do a little revamping of the schedule in hopes that certain parts of our day would become not only a little bit easier but also a little bit more intentional on my part. I had a little bit of inspiration: my friend Jodi started a blog on January 1st called Meaningful Mama (http://www.meaningfulmama.blogspot.com/). Her goal is to help parents be more intentional (aha!) in their parenting, but she also has tips & character training ideas. I only started implementing my own new schedule less than 2 weeks ago, so I haven't had a chance (um...organization is still in process) to try some of her ideas, but I fully intend to. The other piece of inspiration came from my other friend Jody, who a couple of months ago suggested to me that we turn our garage into a playroom. (Apparently the Jodys have it figured out, lol). Anyway, at the time I was trying to visualize how that would look & how I would convince Erik that he didn't really need a garage...so as I was putting my plan together, I decided it would be easier to convince him by showing him rather than telling him.:) So I got to work. The first thing I did was figure out the basics of our schedule & write it out. If it's something we do a majority of days, it goes on the schedule. If it's something we do less often (such as a play date or field trip) it is on green paper to attach temporarily into a certain spot on the schedule (I don't think I have a picture of this, I'll have to add it). I laminated all of these so that I can use dry-erase markers to write who/where we are going that is special. I also put velcro tabs on the schedule next to each part, had the kids decorate an oval with their name on it, & now they move their names along the schedule as we go. This not only provides a visual of our whole day, but it helps them keep track of where we are in the day. I put a few visuals on the schedule, but mostly it is written. To set up the garage, the first thing I did was to move an art table (we have 2, after our neighbor gave us one!) out there. I still have some finishing touches to do on the space, but overall I am pleased with what I have turned it into.:) Eventually I might move more out there, we'll see. What we DO out there now is all of our MESSY art! Yes! And I have a spot set up for our sensory boxes (beans, water, shaving cream, etc.) & also the easel. I found in the past that these activites required too much set up & clean up & I just didn't do them as often as I should have. NOW -- there is a different project waiting for them in the garage every day, & they are SO excited about it!! I frequently hear them saying, "This is so fun!" I also bought a little storage drawer set to hold all the supplies - paint, shaving cream, etc. Then it is accessible & ready to go & it requires less work on my part to get it set up for them. So here are a few pictures to show how it works:
Kellen is playing with one of the 'choices' activities. We have a 'choices' board on the wall for this time (usually in the morning, on the days Annika doesn't go to school) & they stick their name by the activity that they choose (there's a picture of it later on). They are certainly not limited to the 6 activities that I put out, but they generally choose those activities first.:) This also allows me to rotate through toys that otherwise might get overlooked on the closet shelf.
Kaarin is playing in the bean box.:)
Art time -- today's activity was stamps & stamp pads. These were brand new, so they were pretty exciting!:) For now, I have some bamboo mats set up under the table but I plan to get some kind of carpet or carpet squares to make it a little warmer. I do have a heater on the opposite side of the table that I turn on as we are eating breakfast so that it is 'warm' by the time it's choices time. So far, no one has complained about being cold.:)
Here is the choices board: they put their name by the activity that they choose to play with. There are certain activities that only 1 or 2 may play with at a time. I cut pictures out of my Lakeshore catalog to show what the activity choice is, & then laminated them & stuck velcro on the back so that it is really easy to change them out before I go to bed. I need to do a few more with photographs of toys that were not in the catalog but I also have one that is generic for an activity that doesn't have a tag yet.
Look at how nicely they are playing!!:) (They are supposed to have completed their morning 'chores' - getting dressed, brushing their teeth, etc., before making choices, but sometimes they are just too excited & I let it slide a little).:)
Here's our schedule: it's probably a little bit tough to read, but you get the idea. And let me say this: we still don't follow it exactly. For instance, 8:00 Good morning is a stretch most mornings, other than when we have to head out to school, so we typically don't move to choices time until later than what the schedule says. (As you can see on this day, only 2 of the kids were actually up - one was still at 'good night') So we don't usually have a morning snack or do a morning art project (other than what's set out for their choices art) because I just don't need to break up the time as much as it appears. However, it gives me the flexibility if I do need to.:) And our outside/movement time could be a music CD (Hap Palmer & Greg & Steve have some excellent 'indoor' motion songs that are super helpful during these long winter months when it is cold & raining - though we do still go out in that weather!). I am aiming at being more intentional about moving our bodies, as I had let this slide a bit.
Shaving cream.:)
I also hung a rope across the garage as a way to hang up art to dry. It works great! Kellen & Kaarin were actually riding their bikes in the garage.:)
Kellen is playing with one of the 'choices' activities. We have a 'choices' board on the wall for this time (usually in the morning, on the days Annika doesn't go to school) & they stick their name by the activity that they choose (there's a picture of it later on). They are certainly not limited to the 6 activities that I put out, but they generally choose those activities first.:) This also allows me to rotate through toys that otherwise might get overlooked on the closet shelf.
Kaarin is playing in the bean box.:)
Art time -- today's activity was stamps & stamp pads. These were brand new, so they were pretty exciting!:) For now, I have some bamboo mats set up under the table but I plan to get some kind of carpet or carpet squares to make it a little warmer. I do have a heater on the opposite side of the table that I turn on as we are eating breakfast so that it is 'warm' by the time it's choices time. So far, no one has complained about being cold.:)
Here is the choices board: they put their name by the activity that they choose to play with. There are certain activities that only 1 or 2 may play with at a time. I cut pictures out of my Lakeshore catalog to show what the activity choice is, & then laminated them & stuck velcro on the back so that it is really easy to change them out before I go to bed. I need to do a few more with photographs of toys that were not in the catalog but I also have one that is generic for an activity that doesn't have a tag yet.
Look at how nicely they are playing!!:) (They are supposed to have completed their morning 'chores' - getting dressed, brushing their teeth, etc., before making choices, but sometimes they are just too excited & I let it slide a little).:)
Here's our schedule: it's probably a little bit tough to read, but you get the idea. And let me say this: we still don't follow it exactly. For instance, 8:00 Good morning is a stretch most mornings, other than when we have to head out to school, so we typically don't move to choices time until later than what the schedule says. (As you can see on this day, only 2 of the kids were actually up - one was still at 'good night') So we don't usually have a morning snack or do a morning art project (other than what's set out for their choices art) because I just don't need to break up the time as much as it appears. However, it gives me the flexibility if I do need to.:) And our outside/movement time could be a music CD (Hap Palmer & Greg & Steve have some excellent 'indoor' motion songs that are super helpful during these long winter months when it is cold & raining - though we do still go out in that weather!). I am aiming at being more intentional about moving our bodies, as I had let this slide a bit.
Shaving cream.:)
I also hung a rope across the garage as a way to hang up art to dry. It works great! Kellen & Kaarin were actually riding their bikes in the garage.:) 
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