Category: kids

A week of homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in homeschooling, kids, life, school/studying

Wednesday –

AM – 3 worksheets done and 1 book read

Then gymnastics and the library

Thursday – AM

Two worksheets and 1 spread in ‘things to spot’ as he ran around the house hahaha

Then into the stroller the kids went for a 2 mile run. Then some time to run around the backyard.

Back inside we ‘worked’ on a puzzle, which means I put the pieces in place and he stomped them down hahaha. But I do try and get him to point out 1 or 2 things to me each time and I name the continents and oceans.

We also played with the bunny boo game. It works on spacial awareness and directionality

PM – I read to them for 15 min

Friday AM – 3 worksheets

Saturday – OFF

Sunday – OFF some Sundays we will do a little bit but today we went to visit the grandparents

Monday AM

4 worksheets and 1 spread in our ocean math workbook

After this he had a lovely toddler meltdown compete with ear splitting screaming.

After he calmed down I loaded the kids in the stroller and went for a 3 mile run then we did some exploring and gardening in the backyard.

Tuesday – AM

Got 2 worksheets done, and even that was like pulling teeth lol.

And that is a wrap! That is a week of homeschooling with us. Some weeks we get more done and some less. This month we are really busy with swim lessons so each week we have 1 gymnastics class and 2 swim lessons. Since we are so busy I am pushing school a little less.

Because it is preschool level and he is only 2.5 I try and keep it light and not make him do things he isn’t feeling that day or time, I want to foster a love for learning not destroy it.

Thanks for joining us!!!

Homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, life, school/studying

Homeschooling a 2.5 yr old can be challenging, very trying on my patience, frustrating and so very rewarding. Watching him progress and take leaps and bounds forward is wonderful.

Butterfly grow kit
This was a good introduction to life cycles

The nice thing about homeschooling is that I can tailor our days to the kids. On days he is having a hard time we can do no schooling or just 1 or 2 things. On days he is doing well we can bust the work out.

This morning was sort of a good morning. The baby woke up early (not the good part hahahaha) and my husband got up with her after I fed her. I stayed in bed but realized I wasn’t going to fall back asleep easily and figured 30 extra min of sleep would probably end up making me more tired so I got up and went for a run.

We then had a slow morning of watching some cartoons and relaxing. After breakfast we busted the work out cause he was focused.

Baby colored while we worked.

I also read aloud to them for 10min from a magic treehouse book.

Every day is different, what we do and what we get done is different.

The next day was a good morning and we busted it out again. He had some excess energy to burn so he would run a lap around the house and I’d stop him to answer a school question then he’d take another lap. We got through 4 workbook pages and a spread in our things to spot book this way and he laughed the whole time.

Homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids, school/studying, Uncategorized

My children are not school aged so I am not doing any formal schooling yet. But I am trying to foster a love for learning and put as many learning opportunities in our lives as possible.

We love to read

I bought a nature study curriculum called exploring nature with children that I am currently dipping in and out of for inspiration. When we are playing in our yard or taking walks I mention the seasons and ask about flower colors and flower bulbs and on and on.

The other curriculum I was introduced to by my friend Stephanie is by a company called Timberdoodle. So far I love, love, love it. They have curriculum for kids from 0 years old to a senior in high school. I don’t know how long I will homschool for but the state of public education in this country is scaring me more and more.

Farmland math
Working dates, seasons and weather

I picked and chose what I liked and wanted to start with. We don’t touch on everything every week but i try and hit 1-2 things a day m-f. The weekends are just bonuses if we manage anything because our schedule is different.

Threading is great for dexterity and motor skills
He LOVES these smart workbooks
Puzzles are still a work in progress hahaha
These 2 are more advanced and not quite as ‘fun’ as the smart workbooks so he’s less into them right now.
Bunny boo. He is supposed to recreate the example on the card. Eventually he gets it but currently needs a lot of prompting.
We also count chicken eggs and fruits and vegetables when they are growing. My 2 yr old helps me in the kitchen sometimes. I’m basically just trying for a wellrounded introduction to life and education hahaha.

I just love when they understand something, when they learn something new, and when he tells me something I taught him 5 min ago, 5 hours ago or 5 days ago. I love when she actually communicates something to me bub pointing or bringing something to me.

Come on this crazy journey with me!

my favorite season

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids, mini-farm

Yes, my favorite season in Fall for its beautiful colors and crisp weather.

However, as I now have a baby and and am growing food and raising chickens I find myself looking more and more forward to the end of fall and the beginning of winter.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I am so lucky to be able to grow food and raise chickens and feed my family good, whole food…..but from spring planting through to fall harvesting there aren’t many days where I don’t give up a minimum of 30 minutes to the yard. 30 minutes doesn’t seem like much but when you have a little one 30 minutes out of your day can be a lot.

That 30 minutes doesn’t include the days that I am actually preparing beds, planting, harvesting and preserving; that is just daily maintenance. That takes up a lot more time.

Again, I love pulling out homemade and homegrown food in the middle of winter and early spring when everything in the grocery store is shipped from who knows where and harvested who knows when; so, I am most definitely not complaining, but the slow season of winter is absolutely calling me.

I love watching the rain fall while I drink a cup of coffee before everyone else wakes up. Make it snowfall and I love it even more.

Reality vs. fantasy: Fantasy (or should I say my pre-baby reality) in the slow winter months I read more, slept in more, relaxed more and sort of hibernated. My new reality: I am guessing winter will also have its challenges such as where do I put the baby when it is raining out and I need to change the chickens food and water? What do I do when the baby is grumpy and its raining and this is when we normally go for a walk to settle him down? We live in the Pacific Northwest so rain is a big factor for us in the winter hahahahaha.

We will see how reality and fantasy hammer out this winter.

Home school prep

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids, school/studying

Ok first off, yes, my baby is only 8.5 months old. I fully understand I am not REALLY starting homeschooling him. However, I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom right now so I want to make the most of it. I simply want to make sure that I am giving him opportunities to learn as much as possible. Most of it will all be through play and exploration.

I have done a very rough layout of the next 3 years. Basically I picked a theme each week of the year, with a few no theme more relaxed ‘off weeks’ thrown in. I had a weekly calendar page that i spilt each day into 3 parts. The first section is year 1, its a lot of reading (me to him hahahaha) ABCs, sensory bins, fun on topic movie nights, learning to color things like that. Year 2 builds on that by adding in tracing and more emphasis on counting and matching small adjustments like that. And year 3 we add in more counting/math a few fun basic age appropriate science experiments etc. Here is a basic example

I also purchased ‘Exploring Nature with Children‘ which I am very excited about. Again the first year or two will just be me pointing things out and talking a little more and each year we can build on it. There is also a weekly poem and art piece to look at and study.

I love the BrainQuest workbooks and other items so as he advances we will add some of that in.

I am also looking at The Good and Beautiful curriculum and will slowly order some of that and as he advances ncorporate that. I also want to slowly incorporate lots of farm study material. Those kind of things will be very relevant as he is feeding our chickens and gathering eggs one day. And asking how plants make a lot of the food we eat and things like that.

Tomorrow we start our first week of ‘official’ not official homeschooling hahahah. Our theme is the ocean as well as totally different theme of seeds from the exploring nature curriculum. I am going to document this week and I will update you next weekend with how it went!!

A day in the life on an 8 month old

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids

My baby boy turned 8 months yesterday!!! So crazy!

This is how are days generally go currently.

Woke up at 6am, diaper change.

Today is…. we do the month, date, year, day of the week, season and weather…I made this so it is not perfect ahahahah but it gets the job done.

Bottle time!!!!

Play time with some reading basics….and coffee for me

Breakfast!!! Or if you are a hobbit, 2nd breakfast……did i get that reference right? Hahaha

Eggs, avocado and peanut butter toast

Little man hangs out on a blanket while I water the backyard and take care of the chicken coop. During this time he loves watching the dog and the chickens as they waddle all over the yard. It usually takes about 20-25 min to get it all done and he usually lasts that long just watching the dog and chickens but not always.

She is getting more and more used to him

After yard work he runs around in his walker while I try and clean as much as possible. Sometimes he chases the dog, sometimes he chases the robot vacuum hahahahaah how long he lasts varies some days its 15 min and some days its 30+ min.

Once he gets sick of his walker we head into his room to play before his first nap.

Last 30 min before nap is a struggle to keep him happy and entertained hahahah
if he isnt too grumpy we will read a few pages from the chapter book we are reading. currently it is The Hobbit.
I am slowly introducing him to trying to hold writing intraments

Nap time is about 3 hours after he wakes up. We do a diaper change, put him in his sleep sack, drink a bottle and into the crib he goes. Today he was asleep by 8:55ish

During this time I clean or food prep or workout or shower or anything on my list that I need to do that day.

today it was all cleaning and laundry

When he wakes up its another diaper change. Activity for a few minutes then lunch.

It was nice and cool out today so we went for a walk
Lunch was chicken nuggets, broccoli, tomato, pesto pasta and some cheese
Daddy got to say hi during lunch!
Bottle time!
A little independent play time while I hung some pictures
Then more walker time to tire him out before his nap. this kid just wants to be moving around all the time
Afternoon nap on mama.
Another walk because it was sooo nice out
Quesadilla and avocado for dinner
Bath time!

Then daddy does bedtime. He was asleep by 7pm. I relaxed for about 20 min then I head back outside to check the chickens food and water before bed. Currently i do a little bit of homeschool research at night as well and I prep his bottles for the next day before i head to bed. My goal is to be in bed before 10.

To show you the full 24 hours I woke up today at 610 to him chatting to himself. he was content so i got up, warmed his bottle and started my coffee. he was still content so i sat down to enjoy my coffee for a few minutes and he fell back asleep! i will let him sleep until about 730 if he doesn’t wake up on his own. Any later than that and we would have to move his bedtime later.

7.5 month baby update

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids
Cannot believe he is 7.5 months already!!! Time is starting to fly. A little over 4 months to his 1st birthday
We are fully into the baby led weaning world which a little bit of purees mixed in when hes having a hard day. I LOVE watching him eat, it is one of the cutest things ever.
His laugh is so precious

He SOMETIMES holds his own bottle but most of the time he does not.

I love being his mom so much but no lie I do miss being able to have a schedule. We have a basic layout of the day but naps still depend on when he wakes up and how long his first nap is.

We are down to 2 naps a day and bedtime is between 630-730pm depending on the last nap of the day and how our plans have gone that day.

I am starting to look at some very simple homeschool lessons. I am a stay at home mom so obviously we have lost my income from working (not that it was that significant of an income hahaha) but I am trying to look at staying at home as a job and not just a privilege and grest experience. There are days where all I get done is taking care of my son but there are days where everything goes right and we do flashcards and count eggs from the chickens and go for a walk and look at trees and I get to clean. Its all a balance but on the days where I don’t feel like doing anything I think, if this was a job what would you do? And that helps me try and get at least one thing done.

We are smackdab in the middle of his first tooth so this mama is having some long days and nights but I definitely wouldn’t change it for the world.

I miss the freedom of my prebaby life but I couldn’t imagine my life without him. My life is better with my little man in it. If you are in the trenches of baby life it will get better. My post partum anxiety is so much better. I am starting to wean off the medication which is awesome but I am also keeping a close eye on myself in case I need to start them back up.

On that note, my sweet little man just woke up. Talk to you later.

Comment what the best part of being a parent is for you…..and the hardest.