We are almost at the end of the month and it is time to check in on those resolutions. How have I done? Have I stuck to them at all?
Get a schedule that works for me…
Well, I didn’t fix my schedule to allow us to continue to be “late” sleepers. I am still determined to get up at six in the morning… maybe…. eventually. So, instead, what I did do is take my printed schedule, as is, and framed it with a glass overlay. I did this because my dry erase marker works wonderfully on glass. Now I can mark through my schedule and rearrange it on the fly without damaging all of my hard work. So if we don’t wake up until 8:30… it’s ok, I can mark through the times and scratch off anything we don’t “need” to do that day.
Now, my schedule still works for me, without me giving up on our early rising goals! (gotta have goals)
Organize our school room – and keep it that way…
Our school room is still a disaster to me because my husband thought he would “help” and now I can’t find anything I want. But…I was able to remove anything that our youngest could harm or be harmful to him. by hanging an over the door shoe rack up on our wall! All of our sharp scissors, colored pencils, tape, glue, playing cards, and other miscellaneous items that would fit are easily placed inside one of the cubbies and he can’t reach anything he shouldn’t have. I know it isn’t “total” organization of our school room, but it is another great step in the right direction.
Allow the kids to do something with the recyclables I keep…
Our recyclables… are still a work in progress. We haven’t had our “create” day for the month. It was on the books for this weekend so we could use our creations for this week’s Wordless Wednesday… but my camera broke so you will have to wait and see what next week’s Wordless Wednesday has in store!
Finish teaching multiplication to my oldest two…
Multiplication…MathTacular appears to be the answer to my prayers but we will have to wait and see!
Stop and listen to what my children have to say…
I think I am getting better at this. I believe the first step to resolving a problem is admitting you have one. After you admit you have one, your senses become so much more aware of how often you are doing “it”; whatever “it” is.
So, this past month, I have become conscious of how often I put my children on hold…. It’s scary. Here are some examples:
“Let Mommy finish these dishes real quick….”
“I’m almost done honey, can you give Mommy one more second?”
“Mommy needs some quiet time right now…”
“Mommy is driving in traffic. Can you give me a few minutes of quiet?”
“I’m laying the baby down…” (Okay, this one deserves a pass on my part, they know better!)
Many of these are common phrases spoken by parents to their children however, does it make it right? Or, is how often I find myself using them right?
If the first step truly is recognizing the problem… then I think I am on the right track toward resolving all of the Resolutions Within Me.
I hear where you’re coming from with needing to listen to my kids more. I think it’s even harder for homeschooling moms since we are around our kids all day long. It can be very demanding to answer every question and to stop and look them in the eyes when they want to talk. But I’m trying to remind myself that I won’t always have this time with them, and I want to take advantage of as many moments as I can.