Tag: mom life

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.

Weekly Workouts

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, training

Sunday OFF

Monday- dirty 30 (21 day fix beachbody workout) and 2 miles

Tuesday- Yoga and extra stretching

Wednesday – upper body workout and stretching

Thursday – Pilates and 2 miles

Friday – lower body strength workout

Saturday – 1.75 mile walk ‘hike’ with the kids. Our first of many, hopefully, this season. This is mostly to get the kids used to it again. My toddler walked about half of it and my baby walked about 1/3

Total miles – 5.75 miles

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!

Weekly Workouts

by Ariana Peters, posted in healthy lifestyle, training

Sunday- Easter, we were at my in-laws all day

Monday- off letting my back rest after tweaking it

Tuesday- upper body workout and ran 1.3 miles

Wednesday- Pilates

Thursday- stretching and ran 3.13 miles

Friday- Off

Saturday- ran 2 miles to meet the family at the park then when they left I ran 2 miles home for a total of 4 miles

Totally milage this week- 8.43 miles.

2023 life update

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby
Easter 2023

My little man is now 2.25 years old and my little girl is 11.5 months old. Life is crazy over here. Wonderful and exhausting all at once.

We just finished having back to back stomach bugs and colds. But my daughter’s sleep is still super screwed up and my husband and I are TIRED! But, I just tell myself ‘it won’t be like this for long’, and ‘you’re gonna miss this’. Both of those are songs lol, pull them up I YouTube when you feel overwhelmed, I do.

We are full swing into muddy spring days over here and go through 2+ outfits a day hahaha. I am currently nap trapped under a baby and love it so I thought I’d update you. More soon!!

Our first week homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

This week we are focusing on the Ocean

Monday

We started off with this documentary while we did his bottle and played a little.
Then we read one BOB book (we have already been doing this for a few weeks) and we read this book about ocean animals
On our walk we (and by we I mean I talked and pointed things out to him hahahah) talked about seeds (each of those brown things are the seed from a tree) and how they grt knocked off the tree and can fly away and make new trees

I also pointed our blackberries and talked about how they also have seeds that help them grow after they drop to the ground. 

Lastly, we read a poem from a book called Songs of the seasons which has about 60 poems going through the seasons of the year.

Tuesday

We had the same basic morning. Finished the oceans documentary and read the ocean life book and the next in our BOB book set.

In the afternoon I tried a simple sensory bin with things around the house……he hated it hahahahahahaha. He was angry that I wouldn’t let him eat the beads.

We also looked at this weeks suggested painting from our exploring nature course.

Wednesday

We started drain the seas on national geographic and read the next BOB book. In the afternoon we practiced our ABCs

Thursday

Same morning routine. Then in the afternoon we went to a new park for a playdate.

We were also supposed to read a Magic Treehouse book about Pirates but Amazon had delayed it indefinitely.

Friday

We watched drain the seas and took 2 walks and practiced counting from 1-10.

Our public library was closed for renovations and was supposed to reopen on Tuesday but due to the increase in the delta varient they did not. They just announced that they will be starting curbside pickup again so i am going to try and get that set up for us to do.

Saturday

We are finishing the week by reading the poem from our exploring nature course.

On a side note i started the movie Finding Nemo and turned it off within 15 min. I HATED it. First the mom and all the siblings die then Nemo gets kidnapped!!! Sorry if that was a spoiler. I know I watched this movie years ago but clearly that was before I was a mother.

So that was our very basic first week. We haven’t perfected this by any means. I’ll bring you along for another week next month.

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.