April 13, 2009

I didn't say a typical day because it really isn't a typical day. I'm not sure we really have a "typical" day around here, or that is the way it seems anyway. But today is rainy and dreary so we stayed inside and focused on some preschool tasks. The boys were really focused on playing and having fun but I was focused on some preschool learning:).

We all got up right at 7:00am this morning, which is unusual. Ben usually sleeps 20 to 30 minutes longer than Nick. The first thing I did was to clean Nick's eyes and put drops in them, as he has that cold and eye infection that I had a couple of weeks ago...and the dad had it a couple of weeks before I had it. It is a tricky little infection. Just when you think it is gone, it rears it's ugly head again.

After taking care of Nick's eyes, I helped the boys get dressed. They can take off and put on their pants and underpants now but they sometimes need help with snapping their jeans and also taking on and off their shirts. Then we ate. Today we all had toast with cream cheese/butter and juice.

I cleaned up the kitchen while the boys played. Then I started looking at email but I overheard the boys talking about which is more 3 or 4 (they were debating how long the timer lasts, 3 or 4 minutes; we have two small 3-minute hour glasses that they to take turns when they are both wanting to play with something; we keep one in the living room and one in the library and we sometimes have to take one outside with us; the nice thing is they can do it by themselves, which eliminates a lot of arguments:) so I got the pegs and pegboard so we could play and learn about which is more/less for a while.

After that, I did a couple of chores (made beds, etc.) and they started playing with those little square blocks that have the letters on them. And then, a little later, I overheard them talking about letters and letter sounds so I took the Phonics flash cards with me and went in to play with them again. We reviewed the 9 letter sounds that we have been learning and then went over 9 new letter sounds. Ben was doing so well with this that I got out the book to go over a little letter blending with him. Nick was not very interested. Ben is catching on to this pretty quickly. He was able to blend an, man, in, inn, lam very well and he was so happy about it. Nick wanted to try a little but mostly played while Ben and I worked on it. We did not do blending for very long before Ben had had enough too and wanted to read. I read four books to them and then it was time for snack.

After snack they decided they wanted to "do school". So we sat at the table and they did some mazes from one of the Critical Thinking books (Visual Perception Skill Building Book 1). They are both really doing a good job of holding their pencils correctly these days. After the mazes, they wanted to color for a while so they colored with markers and crayons and also did a bit of cutting. As Nick was cutting, his scissors going open and close, open and close, his mouth was following along, open and close, open and close. It was so cute.

I started fixing lunch while they played with their toys again. While we were eating lunch, we read two of the devotions from their daily devotions book. Each one includes a devotion, a scripture and a prayer. It is a very sweet little book and the boys love it. I would like to get into a routine of doing our devotion at breakfast time. Hopefully I will get this going sometime soon.

After we ate, I cleaned the kitchen while the boys played with their matchbox-size cars and trucks on the back of the couch. After I vacuumed the floor in the kitchen and surrounding areas, it was time to start putting away all of the toys so we could get ready for nap time. The boys did a great job of helping to pick up toys and put them away.

Now I am sitting in their room while they fall asleep. Nick has been asleep for a while and Ben is almost asleep. When they wake up, they will likely watch a 30 minute movie, have a snack and we will either read or play a game or they will possibly go outside to play if it is not raining.

Then it will be time for me to fix dinner. Tonight we are having soft tacos and tostados. These are very popular at our house so everyone is looking forward to dinner. The dad will arrive home around 6ish, he will quickly change clothes, look through the mail and play/talk with the boys a bit. I will finish up dinner and we will sit down to eat around 6:00pm.

Once we are done eating, we will all help to clear the table and I will load the dishwasher and finish cleaning up while the dad and the boys play or read together. When I am done cleaning up, I will likely go to my room for a short break and will probably read more about homeschooling options. (I am taking a look at Singapore Math and considering buying some of their books that are very popular and are going out of print soon.)

Soon it will be time to start getting the boys ready for bed (around 7:30 to 7:45 pm). They will pick out their pajamas and go to the bathroom and we will help change them. The dad will brush their teeth while I close the blinds and clean up a little. They will kiss and hug the dad goodnight, since tonight is my turn to put them to bed. We will go upstairs and they will each pick out a book to read. We will sit in the chair together and I will read the two books they picked out and then we will read two stories from their Bible. After that, we will say prayers, get a small sip of a drink and then go to the bathroom one last time before climbing into bed. I will give them each a big kiss and bear hug and then I will sit in the chair and read, while they start settling down and fall asleep. Around 9:00pm I will head back downstairs to get myself ready for bed.

So, that's pretty much it. That's what we are doing today at the Pisarik house, just in case you were wondering. Ben is asleep now so I am going to go downstairs and make a couple of phone calls. Hope you are having a great day.