A is for Apple

I finally completed week one with KM, after a 2 week delay.  I decided to postpone it because she had swimming lessons everyday in the afternoon along with her gymnastics on Tuesdays (we keep her busy) lol.  I didn't want her to get overtired, overstressed, or over anything.  This is suppose to be a fun time for her.

When I decided to do Tot School I knew that I wanted it to be a fun thing.  I wanted to do child directed learning, so that she would always be able to enjoy the new things that she was learning.  She so loves to learn new thing :)

So we have started a rough schedule, if you could even call it that, to include learning time throughout the day.  I have gotten the majority(and all my printables) from 2 sites. 1+1+1=1 and ABC JLM

 

 

 

 

Week 1
Theme: A is for Apple
Letter: A
Number:1
Color: Red
Shape: Circle
Book: The Giving Tree
Bible Story: Day 1 &2 of Creation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is how our first Tot School week went

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gross Motor Skills-  Put out the Fire

 I drew a ladder and fire with chalk.  Set a bucket with a sponge at the bottom.  KM had to "climb the ladder and then squeeze the sponge in order to "put out" the fire. (ABC JLM)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Skills-  Red Circle   I love that this one included not only a fine motor skills activity, but also that it included the color and shape of the week.  I taped the circle on the wall and then she colored it red.  By taping it on the wall it works a different part of there arm then the standard way of coloring.  (ABC JLM)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craft- Coffee Filter Earth         KM loved this and I wish I had gotten pictures of her face.  After we had read the bible store, about the first two days of creation, on Monday ( I read it every morning during the week) we made the land and the water on a coffee filter and then sprayed it with water.  So much fun (ABC JLM)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activity book
I leave the pages in her room with dry erase crayons.  She is able to pull it down whenever she wants and color on them of just look through them.  During dinner prep I would pull out a page and stick it on her easel or have her work on the puzzle or lacing.  It would keep her happy and entertained for the few minutes that I needed to get something cook. ( 1+1+1=1)

 

 

 

 

Sign Language

Since me and J got together, J has been teaching her ASL. I decided to include signs when making the plans for the week because she does enjoy them.  Not only is she learning new signs but also new words ( and I can understand what she is trying to tell me better).  I had it planned out for her to be introduced to 3 new signs a week, of course she wanted to learn more.  So thanks to Google on my phone this week she learned:

• Red
• Circle
• Apple (she already knew this one but I reemphasized it)
• Ant
• Alligator 
• Gymnastics

I was so impressed with how she did, and how much of it was Child-led.  I would suggest things to her once or twice a day and that would keep her attention for like 10 minutes.  Once she figured out the new things that she was learning she would want me to go over them with her all day long.  I figured out how much she had absorbed in only a few short days this morning.  I walked by her circle that was taped on the wall and asked her what it was. "Red circle, mama" I felt proud but that could also been because of the repetitiveness of the week.  Later when we were in the kitchen I asked her to draw me a circle and she did :) Okay it is a 2 years old circle, but heck I can't draw a very good circle myself anyways-- who am I to judge :p

 

 

 

 

 



 Side Note:   Our weeks are different from most, due to split custody.  So TotSchool is done 3 days a week, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Saturday is our snack making day. And Wednesday morning is the review day for the week before she goes to her father's.

Birthdays and Babies

So, tomorrow will be my 23rd birthday.  It is nothing exciting.  While I may do stuff for them, since having kids, my birthday has just become another day.  Their birthdays, the holidays, days that I want to be focused on them.

 I think about how I have spent my birthday the last few years, all baby related:

• 2009, 19th birthday, I was pregnant with ^KL^
• 2010, 20th birthday, TTC ( and didn't know it yet but also pregnant with KM)
• 2011, 21st birthday,  KM was a couple months old
• 2013, 23rd birthday, TTC

Maybe there is just something about the celebration of my birth that makes me want to birth more.  lol.  I would have tons of kids it was that easy.  I love the pregnancy.  I love the bond, the creation of a new life, all the feelings that only someone who has had a child will ever understand.  I crave those feeling.  I remember my pregnancy with ^KL^ so naïve everything was just perfect.  Well yes, the pregnancy was unexpected, but she was so wanted.  Being pregnant with KM was  completely different.  I was happy, she was wanted so much as well, but with the "happy, loving, excited" feelings came the PTSD.  I had so many anxiety attacks so much fear, that only worsened after she was born.  From having KL I knew that have a healthy, full-term baby meant nothing.  ^KL^ was. Nothing wrong.  Got the option to go home early from the hospital cause she was doing so well-- an option that I will never be given again.  I will have to stay the "full-time", if not longer.  Everything has changed since having ^KL^.

I sit back and think.  God I want another baby so bad, hell we are TTC, not the easiest thing for my and J.  I want the happiness of pregnancy and a new life.  I will get that no doubt, but I will also receive the fear.  Something that will never go away.  Something that I will worry about every time that I TTC, every time that I get pregnant, every time that I give birth to that perfect baby.  And something that I will worry about my whole life.  As I watch KM grow, I still worry.  I will worry till the day that I die.  Your children are meant to bury you.  Though it is difficult for them, that is the normal order of life.  I will fear everyday of my life that I may have to bury another one of my children.  I am suppose to be here to teach them what they need to know about life, so they need to be here with me so that I can do that.  ^KL^ has taught me so much about life, and continues to.  KM has done the same.  They have both shown me different views of the world.  I just want to be able to do the same. 

While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”
― Angela Schwindt

 

 

And this has become just another ramble from me....