Working part time has been tricky so far. I feel like I spend a lot of time running back and forth between my school in town and home, which is on the opposite side. Brooke was in a morning pre-school class that she attended with my sitter H. who also runs a preschool in her home. It was a great set-up and Brooke attended pre-school there last year and loved it. A few weeks ago, however, H. told me that she would no longer be able to watch any babies under 1. This caused me a lot of stress until I found L. my new sitter. She is a friend who was just interested in watching a few kids to make some extra money. L. has a child that is exactly Brooke's age as well as a younger child about a year older than Porter. We have been going to L's for 2 week now and so far, so good. Both kids have really adjusted well to their new sitter. Luckily, H. had an afternoon pre-school class that I was able to switch Brooke into. Un-luckily, I did that for a week and realized it was not working. It was way too much running back and forth from my school to the sitters to pick up the kids, home and lunch for the kids, 45 minutes later we we were back in the car driving back into town for Brooke's preschool. Back home for 2 hours so Porter could nap. Wake up Porter from his nap and head back into town to pick up Brooke. NOT FUN! And Brooke still naps, so 3 days a week she wasn't napping and super cranky by the end of the night. As much as I love H. and her preschool, I had to call it quits for the sake of my sanity. I am determined, though, to keep up on Brooke's skills. I pinned a ton of preschool ideas on pinterest and just recently waded through all the websites to find the best ones. I thought maybe some of you might like these, so here they are:
Daily Preschool Learning Notebook: it's 80 pages but you put the pages in protectors (or laminate) and use them over and over. You talk about the months, days of the week, numbers, shapes, letters, and the weather everyday.
Over The Big Moon preschool packs. The packs are pretty much the same skills over and over (following lines, matching pictures, puzzles, cutting practice, beginning sounds, numbers), but with different picture themes. I printed the autumn fairy, halloween, thanksgiving, and winter kits to get us through the end of the year. It is definitely worth to read the "how to use these packets" article. She gives great tips on how to store them so they can be used over and over. In January, I plan to jump over to Homeschool Creations and print some of her themed units.
My goal is to work on skills for a little each day, do a letter of the week craft, read a book to go along with that letter, read a book that teaches character traits, and play some games like matching pictures, candyland, or some of the games I have on my ipad. I think I also want to incorporate Starfall into it a little each day. I still feel very unorganized but am really motivated to do this and just need to jump in. Not only will it help Brooke's skills, but I think the mommy/daughter time will be good. I am already gone half the day, she doesn't need to be gone for 2 more hours in the afternoon.
My friend gave me this tip when trying to teach your own children: She said when she taught her daughter piano lessons, she would make her daughter go out the back door and around to the front door and ring the doorbell. My friend would answer the door as "the teacher" not mom. She would invite her daughter inside and even ask about her questions about her family. I thought this was so cute and am going to try this with Brooke. I will let you know how it goes!
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