I’m often asked by homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers alike, “what does your typical day look like?”. I understand the question, because I’m always curious about what other HSers’ days look like. And I know that non-HSers are curious, too, whether stemming from their own interest in possibly HSing, or just out of plain human curiosity. I’ve read many a blog where a mom has graciously documented a typical day in their life, and now I’m going to do the same. The following could be called a typical HSing day in our lives, but keep in mind that this is an example of a “perfect” typical day. Many days are not “perfect”, and things have to be adjusted accordingly.
This year we’re using ABeka curriculum for both Arithmetic and Language arts (which consists of Phonics, Language, Reading and Spelling). I really like it and it’s good for G. It’s very thorough for giving a solid foundation in these subjects, which is what you want to focus on for the first 3-4 yrs, at least. It is SOLID, almost to a fault (lots of repitition to make sure the basic facts are drilled into their brains. I personally like this; it makes me confident that he’s learning well…and he is!). There are other good curriculum choices, but ABeka seemed to make it very easy, and that’s what I wanted for our first official year of HS. It consists of daily lessons followed by reinforcement worksheets for Mon-Thur, and tests on Fridays. This M-F schedule is nice in some ways, but restrictive in others (like if I need to take a day off)…it’s my only complaint about ABeka, but so far it’s been something I can overlook. I’ll be reassessing this summer whether or not I’ll continue with ABeka for 2nd grade, or try something else that isn’t so rigid on the strict M-F schedule.
Our Days Monday-Thursday look like this:
After breakfast, we start school with a devotion & prayer, the Pledge (some days we skip this), the calendar & weather, and we go over his memory verse for the week. We are at the dining table for this and for all the lesson work. I require him to sit still and pay attention during lesson time. He has to ask permission to get up, because at first, he was just getting up on a whim to do little things. It drove me crazy and disrupted his attention, so until he is older or learns to sit still on his own, he has to ask to get up.
After the opening activities, I start the lessons with G. (During lesson time, Des will sometimes play on his own, and sometimes I’ll sit him at the table and let him draw or color. I’ve started giving him sheets with a letter to color, to get him ready for his preschool lessons that will probably start this fall.)
I start with a short Bible lesson, similar to a Sunday School lesson, only much more brief.
Next, I do his math lesson.
Phonics lesson is next.
Then we go over his spelling list and do either oral combinations or flashcards to practice addition/subtraction.
Then we move from the table and go sit on the loveseat together, and he reads a story out loud from his reader…this is a nice together time.
All of this is his lesson time, the time where I’m either teaching or working with him (in other words, this is the time I have to spend teaching each day). The total time spent doing lessons is usually 1 hour to 1.5 hours.
After this, it’s G’s “seatwork” time. This is where my teaching responsibility is done for the day (other than helping him when he needs it). He goes back to the table and does his worksheets: one for Math, one for Phonics, one for Language, and also usually one for Spelling, and one for Bible. He also has to do a handwriting sheet, which varies from day to day; sometimes it’s copying his weekly memory verse, sometimes it’s spelling words 5x each, sometimes it’s sentences…whatever it is, it almost always fills up one handwriting sheet which is what I aim for. Usually this all takes him 1/2 hour to 1 hour. He has to be finished by lunchtime. If he’s not, then any leftover work is saved for after his nap/rest time, and it cuts into his afternoon free/play time. He’s usually finished by lunchtime with no problems; in fact, on many days, he finishes early enough to go play outside for half an hour before lunch.
(For Des: once G goes back to the table to do his seatwork, I spend a little while reading with Des on the loveseat. He loves it and is usually more than ready for the one-on-on attention at that point.)
After lunch, it’s quiet time from 1:00-3:30 while Des sleeps (and I have time to myself). Actually, once Des is in bed and G finishes lunch, I sometimes take a few minutes to read out loud to G from a more advanced chapter book…I’m aiming to do this daily. But by 1:00, G has to go lay in his bed and rest; he can either read or take a nap (he still naps on many days), but regardless, he has to stay quiet for the duration until 3:30. This Mama loves her chunk of quiet time during the days, and it’s been enforced here since G was just a little baby.
The only requirement for the rest of G’s day is that he reads independently from a book I approve of (i.e., not comics or silly things) for at least a 30-minute block. This is usually done during the aforementioned quiet time, but if not, then it’s done afterward.
Once Des is up at 3:30, quiet time is over (for sure! haha), they have a snack, and G is free for the rest of the day assuming all his seatwork got done, and assuming there are no chores for him to do—if there is seatwork or chores left after quiet time, then it gets done immediately after his snack. For instance, on days I’ve done laundry, G has to fold it all during the afternoon, but he gets it done quickly now that he’s learned that if he doesn’t, it cuts into his free time.
For G’s free time, usually he goes outside, but some days he stays in and draws, writes, or watches TV. If he watches TV, I let him watch whatever he wants, as long as it is young-kid-friendly (none of the Nick/Disney tweener shows are allowed, for example). Of course, he has to get his TV-watching in before Glenn Beck comes on at 4:00, because that is my TV time! I do make sure that on any day it’s not raining, he gets at least a half hour outside, even if he doesn’t really want to go out, because he needs the sunlight & exercise. Usually Philip is finished with his work by late afternoon, and he spends time outside with both G and Des, so that works out great.
Our schedule on Fridays is lighter:
There are no lessons on Fridays.
After breakfast, we do the usual opening activities, and then I give him his tests. First Math, then Phonics/Spelling. He also has to recite his memory verse for the week, plus all the other verses he’s learned already. All of this takes maybe up to 1/2 hour, but usually much less. Then he has easy review worksheets to do for Math & Phonics/Language, while I grade his tests. If he makes A’s on everything, he gets to go out with Daddy that evening or on Saturday morning and choose any sweet treat he wants at the store (usually an ice cream cone). This is a great incentive; he takes it very seriously and tries to make A’s every week—so far he’s only made 2 B’s and the rest have been A’s.
So as I said, we don’t do any lessons on Fridays, just tests and then he has three review worksheets. If he is going to do any structured art, this is the day we do it. The rest of the day goes the same as Monday-Thursday, just with a lot more free time since we only spend an hour max on schoolwork for Fridays.
On days where I have to be somewhere, or for whatever reason am not able to devote the usual time to lessons, I’m able to amend the day by jumping in and doing just the Math and Phonics lessons, and I can leave him to do the corresponding worksheets while I go get ready. These are days in which I choose to get the core subjects done, and the rest can be skipped. And if there is something going on where I don’t have time to devote to even those two core lessons on a particular morning, I’ll either skip it and try to get the lessons in during the afternoon after quiet time, or I’ll skip it altogether and catch up the next day by doubling up on lessons. Sometimes, I just skip a day and then make up the missed lessons by adding them after Friday’s tests, or, as we did a couple of weeks ago (due to my Granny’s funeral), I catch him up on Saturday (horror! Or so G said. lol!). Either way, it always gets done, and it’s not that hard to make sure that it does get done at some point, so as to keep us on the strict M-F schedule (now you see why I have issues with that).
He is not officially doing any other subjects this year. I felt slightly unsure about how to go about official homeschooling last summer, so I decided to just focus on the basic, core subjects this year for 1st grade. I wanted to feel my way through a year before adding other subjects.
With all that said, I do “unofficially” make sure he gets some science every week via his magazines and books. The same goes with history, either via books or his Bible lessons; also, sometimes his official readers have some history, or he gets it via studying whatever holiday is going on that month (I always add in a little lesson during weeks where there is a holiday. Sometimes we check out related books at the library, too).
For art, I will occasionally go through a huge art book that I have, letting him pick the paintings that catch his eye and we talk about them. I teach him some basic concepts (e.g., the difference between portraits, landscapes, and still life). Occasionally, I’ll give him an art assignment based on a concept we learn together, but nothing regular enough to consider it an official subject this year.
For music, we are waiting anxiously to get our piano from my parents. They are giving me their piano; we just have to get it moved from there to here. Once we have that, I’ll start giving him lessons. We’re both looking forward to that. In the meantime, he already listens to tons of good music—the kid has excellent musical tastes (need I mention that there is NO “kiddie” music in this house? Ugh).
Next year we’ll officially add science and history/social studies. It will likely be science one day a week and history two days a week; it will probably add a half hour of teaching time to my 1-1.5 hours per day. So I don’t expect to ever spend more than 2 hours per day on teaching, and most days I won’t even spend that long.
So in a nutshell, HSing is not a huge, all-consuming commitment, like many (most?) non-HSers erroneously think it is. I honestly probably spend the same amount of time teaching him each day as a public-school mom spends getting her kid(s) ready for school, fixing lunches, shuttling them to and from school, and working through homework (the left-over work that PS teachers don’t manage to get done in 6+ hours per day—not so much their fault, but the fault of the typical beaurocracy and heavy focus on social engineering that bog down the typical PS-system). And you know what? He’s learning, and he’s learning well. Truthfully, I believe he’s actually learning better than he would anywhere else, which is why I believe so much in HSing.
So with HSing, I’m able to get my “duty” done all at once in the morning, and by lunchtime, we’re both free to do as we please with the rest of the day. This is an amazing freedom for both of us! And all this doesn’t even touch on issues like not having to get up early (we get up between 8:00 and 8:30 each day), no one having to “get ready” beyond face-washing, teeth-brushing, and getting dressed, and not having to spend money on school clothes. G is able to have a very small wardrobe, which saves lots of money. I also don’t have to be sure G is in bed early since he doesn’t have to get up early. His bedtime is 8:30 each night, right after Des is in bed at 8:15. And I stay up as late as I feel like staying up, since I don’t have to be up early. I do spend around 10 minutes, on average, each night looking over his lessons for the next day, and making sure I have any special materials ready.
There you go. A day in our life. Plus a few good reasons to consider homeschooling your child(ren)!
Do you hear the Patriots’ voices, Mr. Narcissist-in-chief?!? Are you listening?!?
More to come in November–we will be taking back our Republic! Can you tell I am thrilled tonight? This is the answer to many prayers for the rescue of our country! If you are not informed and active in politics…wake up and get yourself informed before we lose everything to the marxist progressive movement. C’mon, even MASSACHUSETTS is wising up!
I’ve never been to this site before today, but it looks like a wonderful resource for HS, and I’ve added it to my reader. If you homeschool, be sure to register for the giveaway.
Have a great 2010, and I promise to be back soon with some pics from OUR homeschool classroom! Which we both have enjoyed greatly this year. I’m thankful for our new home every day, and for the opportunity to teach my son.
I can hardly believe my little G is now halfway through FIRST GRADE. How did that happen? And his little brother will be starting pre-K (homeschool, of course) later this year; mind you, it will be very basic stuff like beginning writing, letter sounds, basic numbers, etc. I can’t wait—but then again, I can. I’m enjoying every moment of every stage with my boys right now, because it’s become blatantly apparent to me that they are both growing up so very quickly. Motherhood is a bittersweet journey.
A fellow blogger wrote this post today. I recommend reading it if you’re a Christian parent with school-aged children. Just read it. With an open mind.
It’s something all Christian parents should think about regarding their choices for their children’s education. I commented on the blog, and brought up a point that she didn’t address, but that I think is important.
I think the choice to homeschool or not is something a Christian parent should approach with much prayer, and with an open mind and heart.
I’m going to post those aforementioned pictures soon of our homeschool area in our home. When I get some free time. Haha! Yeah, funny.
In case this isn’t clear from previous posts, we are a homeschooling family. I’m going to be linking myself to some homeschool sites, and therefore, will be trying to do some updates on our HS experience from time to time as time allows—which admittedly, is not that often. But I want to do something to contribute to the HS community and to other moms who might be just like I was last year (and years before), searching for real-life experiences, advice, and tips from the trenches, in order to plan my own homeschooling venture. Browsing through HS sites last year was incredibly helpful to me for planning my future HS space, for researching curriculum choices, and for deciding what kind of schedule might work for us. And just for encouragement. There is much hostility from our public-school-based society toward homeschooling. There is a lot of resentment from other moms who can’t (or won’t) HS. There’s a lot of worry on the part of older parents/grandparents, who don’t know a lot about living outside the system that they were taught to trust during the 20th century. There is just so much that is misunderstood about HS! I hope to demystify it, if possible, for someone who might be considering it, but is nervous because of the kinds of reactions they’re sure to encounter from their family and friends. I want to show you that HS is completely doable, no matter who you are, and that it’s very much a “normal” choice for you and your child(ren).
As for me, I’m a full-time, stay at home mom of two boys, ages 5 and 2. I did a trial of HS back in ‘07 with my then-3-yr-old; we did preschool, which consisted mostly of my teaching him letter sounds, numbers, and shapes, as well as teaching him to write. You can check my homeschool category for links to posts I made back then as we enjoyed that experience. We both loved it. He not only learned all his letter sounds that summer, but he started sounding out his first words. At age three. Then his little brother came along, and I took a year and a half off. He continued to progress, though, and he started officially reading on his own last year, at age four. He’s an excellent reader now at age five, and most importantly, he loves to read anything and everything. He also loves to write! He writes elaborate, original stories that are a wonderful source of entertainment to us. He’s a very intelligent, very talented boy.
So with all that in my mind, I knew that kindergarten would be a wasted year for him. He knew how to read, write, and was starting to add single-digit numbers early this summer. I knew that we were probably looking at him being on at least a first-grade level. So I got to work researching curriculum and grade placement, and after much research and much, much agonizing, I chose ABeka’s first grade curriculum. We’re just doing math and language arts this year, so I bought him the Arithmetic 1 curriculum and their Language Arts 1 curriculum, which consists of Phonics, Language, Spelling, and Reading. He is also doing handwriting, but I didn’t get ABeka’s handwriting course, because they teach cursive in 1st grade. I don’t agree with that, so I just have him practice handwriting each day by writing a few sentences, which come from a variety of sources (which I’ll cover at a later time).
In July, we started the first grade. I started in July because I wanted a head start in case I had more health problems crop up (I had been sick for four months at the time, but was getting better). I’ve since decided that year-round school is the way to go, with random week-long breaks mixed in whenever we decide we’d like a week off. How cool is that? One of the many reasons HS is the way to go! We’ve already tackled the first quarter of first grade, and we took last week off to celebrate. We’re back to the grind this week.
We do schoolwork for about 1.5 hours each day, Monday thru Thursday. Friday is test day; he has a math test, a phonics test, a spelling test, and his memory verse recital each Friday. So far he’s been a star student, with all 100s on his tests every week! He gets to go out with Daddy and get a special treat every week, as a reward for his good grades.
On top of the time we spend together on his lessons, he has daily “seatwork”, which is just worksheets or other little activities that he does independently to reinforce what we learned that day. He usually spends anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour on that. Granted, the actual work is about 20 minutes’ worth of work (if that). He just tends to dawdle, so that’s where the extra time comes in. He’s gotten much better about it lately, though, to his credit. I think he came to realize that it’s his own choice as to whether he wants to spend all afternoon sitting at the table, instead of going outside to play or doing something else fun!
I’ll post again later and go over our daily schedule in more detail. I’ve also been taking pictures of our HS space, which I’ll also be posting at a later date. Is there anything else you’d like to see or know more about?
Haha! Just checkin’! I don’t know why I suddenly feel like posting something, but I just do! I’m likely talking to myself, since I’m pretty sure I’ve been dropped from everyone’s Reader or feed or whatever. I haven’t been back to Ms. Understood in months, but today I stopped by to do some link updating (mostly trashing of unwanted links), spam trashing, and comment approvals. Uh, sorry about your comment that got ignored for 4 months, Donna. ;-P I also wanted to update my links with all my favorite blogs that have never made it up on my links page, but suddenly I’ve lost that motivation, so it may never happen. LOL
I just want to say that I love Facebook and old friends! It’s as simple as that. It’s just so fun to be in touch DAILY with old friends again, as well as current friends. So many meetups have been scheduled and carried out…it’s just a wonderful way to connect with everyone.
I wonder how much longer blogging can compete. I know that I’ve had zero interest in blogging (until today, apparently) since I started really connecting with friends on FB. I do still read a few blogs daily, and I won’t give those up. But it’s been SO NICE to not feel any pressure to come blog, or to keep this thing updated with any regularity. I still have a dream of starting it back up again once homeschooling is in full swing (as a mostly HS-related blog), but at the same time, I also have many reservations about it.
I want to shout from the rooftops: We are FINALLY in our new home! After months and months (really years, actually) of dreaming and waiting and waiting some more, it was finally finished and we moved in a couple of weeks ago. (pics on FB…of course.) It’s everything I hoped it would be, and even more. It’s the happiest spot on earth! It’s so, so quiet here. No loud neighbors or vehicles. Just quietness. Did I mention no loud neighbors and no loud vehicles??? Just birds chirping, and the sound of wind blowing through the trees. Yes, it’s that quiet. I am in heaven. And beautiful…the view of the woods all around us is so incredibly gorgeous. I got a patio set for Mother’s Day, and I can’t wait till P gets it all assembled so I can sit outside and enjoy the view more often.
Not a whole lot else to say…but I like not feeling obligated anymore to say something here. I’ve seen a lot of blogs close down in the past year or so, for this very reason. Hmm. Off to enjoy that view now.
(Can you name the song that line is from? And the artist? Think 1980s…of course!)
This is my official “goodbye, blogging world” post. My life has undergone many adjustments in recent months—never fear, they’ve all been good ones—and one of the things I’ve committed to doing is managing my time better.
Homeschooling has begun, we’re getting ready for a big move (HURRAY!), and also, I have this 2nd child now who takes up a whole lot of my time (more time than anyone with less than 2 kids could ever imagine! I don’t care what others say: a 2nd child makes for MORE than double the work). We really do have a lot going on right now. Big, exciting changes!
I have things I’d like to blog about, but to do so would be at the expense of family time, or at the expense of my own quiet time—and I’d rather be doing the latter things. Especially when no one is reading my blog. Yes, I know, some people have popped in when I’ve mentioned this before and said, “But, I read!”, and maybe they do, but really, let’s be honest…no one is truly reading. Proof of that is my last post got only one reply! And, I’m not complaining about that. I’m just explaining why it’s not worth the time I spend on it.
And even if I did have a large readership, I’m still not sure it’s worth the time spent. I’m a reader of several blogs where moms faithfully post entries most every day about what their kids are doing, what they’re struggling with, as well as cute pictorials and all kinds of commentaries about motherhood and life in general. Yes, I enjoy reading these blogs, but I always wonder, what were the kids doing while the mom sat blogging about all this? And is it strange that she’s spending all this time writing up these witty, entertaining posts, while her children are growing up right beside her—and is she possibly missing out on living that blessed experience, while she instead sits and writes about it? I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I don’t want to ever make that mistake! I feel like I’ve made it too often already.
Perhaps these moms have it all together and only do their writing during naptime or after bedtime. I could do that, too, but…I don’t want to. Those times are either my times to catch up on housework or other projects, or if not that, then to just sit back and enjoy some down time. To me, blogging isn’t a downtime activity, perhaps because I take writing so seriously and it seems more like a job. Especially if I’m feeling the pressure to blog often, or even regularly. If I didn’t have kids, I’d probably blog daily—but then again, if I didn’t have kids, I’d probably run out of things to blog about real fast!
It boils down to this: I want to get back to doing only things that make me happy and only things that don’t steal time away from my family. Blogging, at least for this season in my life, is neither of those things. So, it’s time to put it aside and focus on those things.
What will I be doing?
Well, I’m going to be homeschooling G and may possibly, in the distant future (read: when Des is old enough to not need near-constant attention during all his waking hours), come back and blog again, but most likely as a homeschooling blog. But only if it doesn’t take up precious time, and only if I find that I truly enjoy it. We’ll see.
We’re getting our house ready to sell (and praying that it sells fast…it’s getting kind of scary) and soon we’ll be moving into our new home! It’s so exciting; I can’t even begin to express how thrilling this is. But it’s a lot of work and a lot of stress, and we’re about to be in the thick of it, as the new home nears completion.
If you want to keep in touch with me, find me on Facebook…I think everyone who has been a reader of my blog is already my FB friend anyway! It’s where I keep all our photos, including the house progress pics. And people, if you’re not on Facebook yet, you need to be. It is so much fun. Philip and I have connected with so many old friends lately, along with many current friends as well. LOTS of friends from high school, which has been so fun—better than a reunion! Lots of nights, after the kids are in bed (that’s my allotted computer time—I’ve cut out computer time during the day except for looking up items for school, info, etc…but I’m doing no socializing or mindless reading during the day. Okay, I do allow myself to read blogs or check FB during lunch, but I time myself), we’re both logged into FB and interacting with friends and family. It’s often fun stuff or even silly, sometimes serious stuff, sometimes lively debate (and with our current marxist “president”, there’s no shortage of material to discuss!)…but it’s always a whole lot of fun.
You have to get on FB and use it to know what I mean. You can share pictures (one of my favorite parts), post items to discuss, share videos, play games, and constantly interact with any number of friends, either individually or as a group. At the same time, there are great privacy features built in, so that you can choose who sees what (or who doesn’t). I’m sure I’ll get bored of it someday, but for now, it’s a nice way to relax in the evenings and to keep in touch with many special people. And okay, maybe it’s a big reason I don’t have time or desire to do much blogging anymore during my down times. As I mentioned earlier, my computer time is very limited, and when I’m online, I find that FB (and reading blogs) is what I’m enjoying most these days.
Catch me there— and if not, then this may be the last you hear from me for a while. At the moment, I have no imminent plans to continue Ms. Understood. But don’t worry— I will no doubt continue to be misunderstood by most everyone on this earth. It’s my lot in life. And, to be honest, it’s not necessarily a bad one.
I only published 36 public posts in 2008. I don’t even remember doing THAT many. What a year 2008 was.
Amidst all the crappy things that happened in 2008, I made some positive changes that I can’t wait to share here! But I’ll save that for later posts. Today, I’ll just do an update on where we are at the moment, and what our immediate plans are looking like. I’ll start with my favorite subject— bragging on my G!
G turned five a few weeks ago, and he is a real reader now. At some point over the fall, he just started reading. Like, for real. All on his own! It’s no surprise, since that’s how both Philip and myself learned to read—each of us also just started reading one day. Philip at 4, and me right when I turned 5. So now Gray is reading, but get this. He’s not so much interested in his kids’ books, and he has plenty of them, plus I get new ones at the library every month or so. He’ll read them, but isn’t thrilled by them. So what is he reading and loving? The Lord of the Rings books! LOL! It’s amazing. He struggles with some of the names/places words and skips some others, but he can read just about anything, and really enjoys doing it. And when it’s not The LOTR, he’s digging up our encyclopedia-style reference books and reading them, or any instruction manual he can find. Like one day recently, we were driving to town, and he got the truck manual out from the glove compartment. He spent the entire drive reading the seat belt instructions out loud to me. And HE LOVED IT!
Here he is reading a Curious George book I brought him from the library when he was sick last week:
What I would really love is to get a set of encyclopedias for him. Both Philip and I had those in our homes growing up, and we each have fond memories of the many, many hours spent sitting around reading through a random volume, about whatever caught our fancy. I’ve been scanning eBay for an affordable World Book set that’s not too out of date, and there are some decent deals. I wish we could buy them now, but he may have to wait until next Christmas or his birthday…maybe we can talk the grandparents into chipping in.
As for homeschooling, I’m not going to focus on grade levels, because he’s all over the place. The beauty of HSing is that you can do this, and it’s best for the child to work on every subject at his own level. Like with reading, he’s way ahead, obviously. But with math, he’s probably at 1st grade level. He has a good grasp of numbers and can count indefinitely. And he can tell time, y’all! He also learned to do that almost completely on his own— I have NO IDEA how he grasped it, but he did. He’s always been very interested in and attuned to time, I assume because we’re schedule people and are always looking at the clock and talking about the time.
But back to math: he doesn’t really know how to add or subtract. He’s just starting to grasp some addition concepts, and can add small numbers using his fingers. So, first grade level is where we’ll start. I haven’t fully decided on what math curriculum we’re using, but I’m almost sold on Math-U-See. I have their introduction DVD and am impressed with it.
For reading/phonics, I’m doing Alpha-Phonics. He’s technically beyond it, but since he did learn to read on his own, I want to go through the program anyway, so that he learns the basics and the “whys” of phonics. I want him to understand why letters and words sound the way they do, to give him a firm foundation in phonics and language. Props to my mom, for buying us the Alpha-Phonics book for Christmas!
That’s all we’ll be doing for HS this year, as far as dedicated curriculum. I figure we’ll spend a year getting a strong grasp of reading & phonics, and establishing a basic understanding of simple math concepts. After that, we’ll start doing formal science and social studies curricula, as well. Of course, during this year, I’ll be “assigning” him a book from the library each week, on subjects that cover science and social studies topics, so we will actually be doing some informal coverage of those things. I also want to devote a little time each week to something art- or music-related, and we’ll be doing a Biblical study each week, as well.
As for little Des, he’s 15.5 months old and is just growing and changing all the time. He’s still nursing 3x a day, but once he’s feeling better (he has his very first cold this week!), I’m going to drop another feeding, and soon after, I’ll drop yet another. My plan is to have him down to just his before-bed nursing by the time he’s 18 months, and I’ll see what I want to do then. Part of me just wants to wean him at that point, but I doubt I’ll still feel that way when I get there.
He’s been slow to walk, which didn’t worry me in the least, but had his pedi concerned. However, he took his first real walking steps on New Year’s Day, and now, 5 days later, he’s “walking” all over the house. I would definitely call it “toddling”, actually! It’s adorable, and I love watching him. All too soon, he’ll be zipping around like a pro, so I cherish the shaky, goofy, toddler I have right now today. A quick video of him once he started taking off with his silly walk:
The home-building has officially started. Not much to say about that at the moment, but I can’t wait to see some real progress. I’ll be posting pics on FB as it happens.
I’m about to start my get-serious plan to lose weight. I have 25 pounds to lose. I gained most of it since this summer, with all the stress we went through, as well as the 9-month phenomenon. That’s what I call it— when a nursing babe reaches 9 months, they’re eating more solids and nursing way less. And that month was the exact month, with both my boys, that I started piling on the pounds! I had just decided to get serious about losing the weight back in October, but was so stressed about the election hoopla, and later, the subsequent “end of all things”, that I ditched that plan and took a vacation instead. LOL! (That reminds me, I’ve got lots to say about the terribly unfortunate election of The Messiah…that’s coming, too, but not just yet. I have more important things to do at the moment!) So then after the vacation (which was lovely and wonderful, thank you very much), I was way off track with eating and exercising, which led me right into the holidays, which is no time to be embarking on a weight-loss adventure. So here I am! Fat once again, and ready to change it for good. Once I put my mind to it, I’ll lose it, and I am ready now to put my mind to it. I’m ready to give it 100%. So hopefully soon, I’ll be talking about results, and on my way back to my skinny, oh-so-sexy self.
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After Nov. 1, you’ll still get an automatic $5 cash back on your first purchase. But $10 is better, so hurry!
I’ve shopped through them for over a year now, and I recommend it. Free money! Who couldn’t use some of that?
Our Typical Day
I do make sure that on any day it’s not raining, he gets at least a half hour outside, even if he doesn’t really want to go out, because he needs the sunlight & exercise. Usually Philip is finished with his work by late afternoon, and he spends time outside with both G and Des, so that works out great.
He’s gotten much better about it lately, though, to his credit. I think he came to realize that it’s his own choice as to whether he wants to spend all afternoon sitting at the table, instead of going outside to play or doing something else fun!