MLK Jr. Day
We do a calendar time every morning with the very exciting pocket calendar that I got, I'm sure I've talked about that before. We talk about the date, season, day of the week, weather, etc. It also has little cards for holidays, and birthdays, and parties. So this month we have my birthday, Ben's birthday, his birthday party, and Martin Luther King Jr. day.
I checked out a couple of books from the library on MLK to read to the kids about him. I read the first one the other day and I had to stop several times because I got choked up. It is such an ugly time in America's history, and I don't like having to tell them about the way that people of their race were treated in many places. We talked about segregation and slavery and some other things too. I think Y kind of understood, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly over Miss M's head.
I hate that that is in our history but I am glad that I can be the one to tell them about it and to be there when they have questions. And glad that they don't have to sit in a classroom full of white people learning about this stuff, know what I mean? I can't imagine how uncomfortable that would be.
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I've been thinking about how to break the news to the kids that we are going to do homeschooling. I haven't told them yet. I'm afraid the C-Monster, aka Mr. Social, may be upset about the idea of not spending 7 hours a day with 20 other kids. Also at the beginning of the year when C started kindergarten Y was really upset about it, and we told Y that in the next year he would go to kindergarten too and C would be in first grade. It appeased him and he was excited about starting kindergarten at school. Welp, that's not gonna happen, I wish we wouldn't have told him that but at the time we did think that was true.
I found a home school group that meets about 8 miles from our house, it's not super close but not terribly far. It sounds pretty cool, they meet on Fridays and have classes like preschool gym, music for all different ages, Legos, wood carving, quilting, etc. Just a variety of classes for a variety of ages. And they eat lunch together and whatnot also. I contacted them and I think the little ones and I are going to start going, and maybe have C stay home from school one Friday to go with us to see what it is like. I need to do a better job of getting out of the house and interacting with other adults.
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Speaking of interacting with other adults - we had our pastor and his wife and young son over for dinner the other night. Oh my goodness, I could NOT talk. It was like I opened my mouth, and one of the kids needed something, or just HAD to talk to the pastor's wife. The entire time it was "Ashley, can you read me this book? Ashley, look at this! Blah blah blah blah." I have noticed that other kids don't do this attention seeking behavior with adults. Like, my friends' kids don't come to me or Brian and ask us for help or try to show us something or sit there and tell us the story of their lives. They might say one or two things to us but they don't sit there and try to monopolize the entire conversation/evening. They go on with their lives and, you know, actually PLAY. With the other kids.
So it is really frustrating for me to be home with kids all day long with NO adult interaction, and then when we are around adults the kids monopolize the conversation and the attention. And it's three of them (C, M and Y) so maybe one isn't doing it the whole time, but as soon as one stops talking then the other starts. I'm not really sure what to do about this but it is kind of soul crushing when you are looking forward to talking to an adult and then you literally can't do it. I am thankful for my husband and I get to talk to him every evening and we spend time together but it would be nice to talk to some women sometimes! I don't really do telephone conversations really well either, that's my own problem I know.
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I should also add Y is doing SO much better on his reading! I think it is starting to make a lot more sense to him and he is getting better at sounding things out. He likes to sound them out in his head more than saying it, I think, and he needs time to process it before he says anything.
And I did give the C monster his first piano lesson last night. Y was so upset and he wants to start too, so I told him we'd give it a try tonight. He's only 4 though, which seems pretty young. He's also pretty musically inclined from what we can tell though, so maybe it will work out. We shall see I guess! If any of the kids could start playing the piano at 4 I'd guess it would be him.
I checked out a couple of books from the library on MLK to read to the kids about him. I read the first one the other day and I had to stop several times because I got choked up. It is such an ugly time in America's history, and I don't like having to tell them about the way that people of their race were treated in many places. We talked about segregation and slavery and some other things too. I think Y kind of understood, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly over Miss M's head.
I hate that that is in our history but I am glad that I can be the one to tell them about it and to be there when they have questions. And glad that they don't have to sit in a classroom full of white people learning about this stuff, know what I mean? I can't imagine how uncomfortable that would be.
_____________________________________
I've been thinking about how to break the news to the kids that we are going to do homeschooling. I haven't told them yet. I'm afraid the C-Monster, aka Mr. Social, may be upset about the idea of not spending 7 hours a day with 20 other kids. Also at the beginning of the year when C started kindergarten Y was really upset about it, and we told Y that in the next year he would go to kindergarten too and C would be in first grade. It appeased him and he was excited about starting kindergarten at school. Welp, that's not gonna happen, I wish we wouldn't have told him that but at the time we did think that was true.
I found a home school group that meets about 8 miles from our house, it's not super close but not terribly far. It sounds pretty cool, they meet on Fridays and have classes like preschool gym, music for all different ages, Legos, wood carving, quilting, etc. Just a variety of classes for a variety of ages. And they eat lunch together and whatnot also. I contacted them and I think the little ones and I are going to start going, and maybe have C stay home from school one Friday to go with us to see what it is like. I need to do a better job of getting out of the house and interacting with other adults.
_______________________________________
Speaking of interacting with other adults - we had our pastor and his wife and young son over for dinner the other night. Oh my goodness, I could NOT talk. It was like I opened my mouth, and one of the kids needed something, or just HAD to talk to the pastor's wife. The entire time it was "Ashley, can you read me this book? Ashley, look at this! Blah blah blah blah." I have noticed that other kids don't do this attention seeking behavior with adults. Like, my friends' kids don't come to me or Brian and ask us for help or try to show us something or sit there and tell us the story of their lives. They might say one or two things to us but they don't sit there and try to monopolize the entire conversation/evening. They go on with their lives and, you know, actually PLAY. With the other kids.
So it is really frustrating for me to be home with kids all day long with NO adult interaction, and then when we are around adults the kids monopolize the conversation and the attention. And it's three of them (C, M and Y) so maybe one isn't doing it the whole time, but as soon as one stops talking then the other starts. I'm not really sure what to do about this but it is kind of soul crushing when you are looking forward to talking to an adult and then you literally can't do it. I am thankful for my husband and I get to talk to him every evening and we spend time together but it would be nice to talk to some women sometimes! I don't really do telephone conversations really well either, that's my own problem I know.
_______________________________________
I should also add Y is doing SO much better on his reading! I think it is starting to make a lot more sense to him and he is getting better at sounding things out. He likes to sound them out in his head more than saying it, I think, and he needs time to process it before he says anything.
And I did give the C monster his first piano lesson last night. Y was so upset and he wants to start too, so I told him we'd give it a try tonight. He's only 4 though, which seems pretty young. He's also pretty musically inclined from what we can tell though, so maybe it will work out. We shall see I guess! If any of the kids could start playing the piano at 4 I'd guess it would be him.
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