Homeschooling with Babies and Toddlers Around

Every time I read a post about how to homeschool with babies and toddlers around, I take issue with some of the suggestions.  Older babies and toddlers need movement and exploration.  When we have to confine them, it should be in as large a space as possible--such as a whole room.  If we put them in one container after another just so the older children can have uninterrupted schooling, we will pay later.  Our precious little ones won't develop to their fullest potential.  The months between six and eighteen are crucial for intellectual development.  If they are wasted, we can't ever get the same window of opportunity back.

Why are their needs not just as important?  They too need daily schooling--which for them is movement and exploration.  I'm all for playpens when they're needed for safety, such as during Mom's quick trip to the bathroom or during cooking.

Suggestions that don't involve confining babies and toddlers:

- Go over mistakes in daily work at night, when Dad is home.  It doesn't have to be more than half an hour.  Use the time for a writing conference, or to explain new concepts in math or English.

- School year round so you can stretch out your year.  When babies are learning to crawl or walk, stick to just reading, writing and arithmetic.  Later that same year, work on just social studies and science.

- Finish school in a couple hours a day.  Remember that children are also learning while pursuing their interests.  While school-aged kids are busy building structures, or running a pretend restaurant, or putting together a play, mom can provide stimulation for babies and toddlers and preschoolers.

- If you choose a curriculum that requires a lot of planning time, or a lot of material gathering, or a lot of teacher-directed lessons, you'll most likely be asking your baby to stay put too often.  This isn't a problem for a younger baby in a sling--but later, that same sling will prevent necessary exercise and exploration.

- There will be plenty of time in upper-elementary, middle-school, and in the high-school years for you to use your ideal curriculum--whatever that might be.  When you have babies and toddlers along with primary students (no one over eight or nine), consider yourself successful if your primary kids are reading and writing and doing arithmetic every day.  Throw in the other stuff by reading lots of library books at night or during nap time, and by going on family field trips with your husband on the weekends (somehow between naps).

- If you want to use baby/toddler naptimes to teach your older kids, then try training your oldest child to shuffle laundry for you throughout the day (not fold, just load and switch from washer to dryer).   That way,  when naptime arrives, you won't be temped to shuffle laundry instead of teach.

- Plan art or messy projects on the weekends when hubby is home to play with the babies and toddlers.

- Older kids can take turns supervising a baby or toddler in a playroom--ideally one that is visible from the teaching area, or one that includes a baby monitor.  Train them carefully and post safety rules.  Go over what age-appropriate things they might work on with baby (i.e. stacking blocks, looking at object-naming books, putting things in a container).  Limit unsupervised sessions like this to twenty minutes or so, depending on maturity.  See Managers of Their Homes, by Steve and Terri Maxwell, for an extended discussion on this practice.  I don't like all their suggestions for babies and toddlers, but their discussion on this practice is excellent.

- If you live in a state requiring sample work, consider buying a textbook/workbook curriculum, or do lots of Charlotte Mason-style reading, dictating, journaling and questioning, but make sure you have time to document your learning.  Documentation takes time and planning!  You don't want to be scrambling for samples right before your yearly meeting (or monthly meeting, depending on your state).

- If you abhor textbooks and workbooks, use them only on the days you haven't put something more interesting together.  There will be plenty of days like that.  Diapers and potty training are time sucks, believe me.

- Kids need steady work.  The fewer days off per year, the better.  Have a back-up plan to keep them plowing forward, regardless of what you're doing.  You aren't going to over work them in two hours per day.  Those two hours are more beneficial year-round, than the traditional schooling practice of four hours per day, with extended summer and holiday breaks. Steadiness leads to proficiency (and even to excellence).

-When weather is nice in the summer, school one hour in the morning and one in the late afternoon.

- Do Saturday school for two hours if you need a free errand day during the week--with Dad home, this could make for an easy day.

feeling stressed?

Feeling stressed?  This article includes a list of foods that help combat stress.

hello there

It has been a week already.  Missed ya'll.  No, the organizing and purging project is not yet complete.  My baby has awakened numerous times this week, making my evening progress slow.  Who knew molars took so much time to fully come in?  Apparently, her problem is that every time she teethes, it's several teeth at once.

That Water Thing
Should you ever get the lofty idea that your kids should only drink water, think again.  Please.  I gave this no-juice, no Country-Time Lemonade thing serious discipline.  Any pediatrician would be proud of me.

And yet, for two nights I have been in heart-wrenching mommy pain watching my three-year-old battle constipation.  I hope we've seen the last of it.  Our family doesn't suffer from this, as a rule.  It was the decreased liquid she was taking in.  What an unpleasant experience!

I'm defeated.  It just isn't worth it.  Remembering that I didn't become an avid water drinker until my thirties, I'm realizing that this isn't something worth pursuing with young persnickety kids.

Whole Food Journey
Other aspects of our whole food journey are going well.  (Yes, Jess, I would like the granola recipe.  Thank you!)  I'm actually enjoying all the extra cooking, and I'm learning a ton!  We no longer buy anything boxed or jarred that's pre-made or pre-mixed (like pancake mix or cake mix--we make our own), and the only cans we buy are primarily those needed to whip up our own spaghetti sauce (I don't own canning supplies).

I've encountered a few problem areas, requiring more investigating at other stores:
- ketchup (most have high fructose corn syrup, and/or other additives)

- jelly (most have high fructose corn syrup, and/or other additives--paying more doesn't change this.  I need to learn to make my own.)

- peanut butter (high fructose corn syrup, and/or other additives)

- 100% whole wheat bread (I am paying more money for less bread, to get rid of additives!  Hoping to find a bread machine when garage sales start up.)

We'll see how it goes at a fancier grocery store, like Giant Eagle.  Maybe I'll find some healthier alternatives without breaking the bank.  It's no wonder that poverty and obesity are linked, by the way.  Healthy food can be expensive!

Culinary Lessons
I tried a new recipe the other day--scrumptious sweet potato soup.  If you click on the link, you'll notice that it calls for 1.5 cups of cooked sweet potatoes.  Folks, that isn't enough potato for a soup.  I knew it when I read it, so I slightly more than doubled the amount of potatoes.  Still, it came out watery and lacking flavor.  So, I kept putting another potato in the microwave to puree for the soup--three more times.  Finally, I came up with scrumptious soup, after also tweaking the spices and sugar amounts.

The thing is, I didn't get upset!   Something didn't work out initially in the kitchen, and I didn't get upset!  I used to feel like crying, or actually cry, when a recipe didn't work out.  For me it was confirmation that I'm lousy in the domesticity department.  This time, I blamed the recipe.  Poorly written recipes are not uncommon; it isn't always my failings.  In my humble, non-culinary-artist opinion, a recipe should never use cups to specify how much of a fruit or vegetable is needed.  Better to specify 6 medium sweet potatoes, or 5 medium apples.

A Good Read
I wanted to share a piece I read today from the Pursuing Titus 2 blog.  It's about this: to be an effective parent who leaves a powerful legacy, we have to be nice to our kids.  Simple.  Many other things are important too, but how often do we discount the importance of just being nice?  How often do we get annoyed about a muddy floor, or about another pair of dirty socks left lying around.......and then take out the irritation on our kids--lecturing them yet again?  I found her post to be very convicting on many levels.  It's worth reading.

Weighty Unemployment News
It's been a year since my husband first applied for unemployment compensation.  The weekly amount is based on the prior 15 months' earnings (two highest earning months are used).  When he reapplied this March, we found out that he'll be getting a much reduced amount, putting the house payment in serious jeopardy.  Because he works part-time, most weeks he won't get any unemployment.  The amount is small anyway and they subtract some when you work part-time.

We should have known this was coming, but didn't.  So many are in the same predicament.  In a normal economy, most people find something within the standard, 26-week unemployment period.  Now, more and more people are into their second year of financial trouble, with all safeguards gone.

The government can't extend unemployment much longer, regardless of the economy.  Our country just doesn't have the money!

Upon learning the somber income news, we just had to look at each other and wonder--what's next God?  There are only very low paying jobs, and sometimes hundreds of people apply for the same ones--many of whom are over-qualified.  I'm sure it will all work out, but we're awfully weary.  He saw a job the other day for a computer tech, paying only $7.00/hr! Very discouraging for us, since that's what he hopes to become, at an entry level.

I strongly suspect that companies are taking advantage of the economy by offering lower wages.  I guess some of them could be genuinely hurting themselves, but much of it is on purpose, since so many desperate people have to take any wage.

Anyhow, I won't be blogging daily anymore.  Too much praying to do!

Take care, and enjoy the beautiful spring weather!  There are always blessings, and plenty of them!  I'm counting them daily.

goodbye for now

Larger families living in smallish homes need to declutter at least half-yearly.  This is no longer something that I should do.  I have to do it, seeing as how my sanity left sometime in early February.  We haven't seen it since--my sanity, that is.

I had a baby in December, 2006 and another in December, 2008.  Non-stop diapers and spills and spit-up and toddler-rescues quickly took over my time.  Every task is a right now task.  All this, coupled with the extra laundry generated by the rain, snow and mud of Northeast Ohio, rendered decluttering a some-day dream.

But no more excuses, real or perceived.  Now I have a plan.  I needed a plan.  Because I rather like my sanity.  We had a good thing going all these years.

Today I moved every container of children's clutter (and some paper clutter) into the living room.  This project will be a clandestine affair.  I will organize and bag up at night, and then load the van with the loot.  By day, I'll shuttle it to Goodwill or to the church nursery.

We'll attempt to keep the children out of this--they were told only that Mommy will be organizing.  One in particular, my Paul, cries and stresses if I throw even a broken toy away.  This reaction is rather recent, so we're thinking it stems from underemployment stress.  He won't miss the things I'm purging, so I don't think we'll have any problems.  Many of them were already taken out of the playroom and stored in the baby's room.  We had to do it this way, when she began ravaging the playroom on a hourly basis.

I should add that we have no garage or basement--two sanity-savers most moms utilize in toy management.

I am treating myself like quite the child in all this.  I won't be blogging again until the job is done.  Blogging is the reward.  Next time you hear from me, my friend sanity will be back.

I hope.

Bless you!

P.S.  I turned 44 yesterday.  Oh, the horror!  While the whole thing proved significantly depressing (no cake or anything--we're too busy with everyday chores to observe much of anything right now) something good did come out of it.  $125 from relatives.  I got my camera!

The other day Beth sat down in a soup pot--looking so cute!  I mourned the loss of the camera so much that day!  It's only a material thing, but one that makes memories live on.  I'm so grateful we could replace it!

what will we do?

I eagerly anticipated Kristin's final Kenya post this morning--even asking the boys to check for it during their computer-math time.  Here it is.  Don't miss it.

She asks us:  Now that we've seen, what will we do?

Here are some ideas:

- If you have a blog, spread the word about Compassion International.

- Sit down with your kids and see how many multiples of $38 (sponsor amount for one child) you can create by cutting unnecessary expenses/luxurious experiences.

- Read Bible verses as a family about caring for orphans.

- Spread the word to family and friends, through letters or e-mails.

This world has enough food, enough clothing, enough shelter, enough money.  It's a matter of us sharing the wealth.  It's that simple.  Yes, governments are corrupt.  But Compassion does their life-saving work despite corruption.  Even North Korea allows humanitarian work to go on in their country--Franklin Graham has been there many times.

One thing is true.


We have to do something.


We will be held accountable now, for our new knowledge.