It is a fresh start to a beautiful month! I am super excited for all of the holiday festivities to get underway!! While I try to *patiently wait* until baby boy makes his arrival, I decided to take a look at a few areas in my life where I needed to re-visit and work on.
I made some awhile back, but truth be told, we have eaten a lot of them! My goal is to whip up a few more this month. If I can stash away more than 5, that'd be awesome, but I just love having them in the freezer so I can have an easy and healthy dinner ready for my family. We really don't go out to eat much and Joe comes home for lunch quite often, so we eat A LOT all the time.
After my last mommy meet up (which was interesting!) I really was inspired to start doing more "schooling" with Brooke. Her attention span is so small, but she really is a sponge and any sort of time I spend creating activities for us to do, she does seem to enjoy, briefly, but still I believe she is learning.
{she is currently 22 months}
My ultimate goal is to host a meet up where I invite other mamas to bring their kiddos (and we can eventually rotate) 2 days a week. That's how one mama does it. 2 days a week, about 2 hours. It's very kid-run. They sing, play, snack, read, do a craft. It's all about socialization and exposure at this young of an age. I believe there is power in being around other mommies and kiddos though; I don't want to send Brooke off to a school quite yet, but I want keep exposing her to new experiences.
I'll be perfectly honest, I have no dang clue what I am doing. But, like anything, I get an idea and I run with it…I put my all into it, I become somewhat obsessed and a little cray, but I believe it's because I am so passionate. I just remember how much I loved loved loved the holidays growing up and obviously I love learning/teaching, which is why I became a teacher. So I just spent some time on google and starting using our printer, bought some supplies at the dollar tree, and voila. I now have a dedicated November basket I am filling with teachable ideas.
Here we were talking about BIG and small turkeys. She is so active, I can place them around and she can hop on them. We count them. She makes turkey sounds. Stuff like that. At this age, everything is play. I just think she is a bit sick of her toys, and with Christmas and her birthday still to come, I can use these as fillers for our days!
I also created our November sensory bin. Not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed about the lack of Thanksgiving decor at the Dollar Tree! Hardly any turkeys! I stocked up on Christmas goodies, but that's not the point.
Another goal for myself is to check my spending. I think it's very easy to fall into the, "oh that's cute, I need it!" And I end up getting books, scarves, aka junk…stuff I don't need!! So I am really making conscious purchases. Obviously, if I find Christmas gifts, educational materials for Brooke, food, clothing ---like she still needs a winter coat---stuff for the nursery, but I'm talking about the random stops for a snack out to eat, or things that I can live without. Like super cute winter leggings, that won't fit me til next year anyway.
I made some awhile back, but truth be told, we have eaten a lot of them! My goal is to whip up a few more this month. If I can stash away more than 5, that'd be awesome, but I just love having them in the freezer so I can have an easy and healthy dinner ready for my family. We really don't go out to eat much and Joe comes home for lunch quite often, so we eat A LOT all the time.
After my last mommy meet up (which was interesting!) I really was inspired to start doing more "schooling" with Brooke. Her attention span is so small, but she really is a sponge and any sort of time I spend creating activities for us to do, she does seem to enjoy, briefly, but still I believe she is learning.
{she is currently 22 months}
My ultimate goal is to host a meet up where I invite other mamas to bring their kiddos (and we can eventually rotate) 2 days a week. That's how one mama does it. 2 days a week, about 2 hours. It's very kid-run. They sing, play, snack, read, do a craft. It's all about socialization and exposure at this young of an age. I believe there is power in being around other mommies and kiddos though; I don't want to send Brooke off to a school quite yet, but I want keep exposing her to new experiences.
I'll be perfectly honest, I have no dang clue what I am doing. But, like anything, I get an idea and I run with it…I put my all into it, I become somewhat obsessed and a little cray, but I believe it's because I am so passionate. I just remember how much I loved loved loved the holidays growing up and obviously I love learning/teaching, which is why I became a teacher. So I just spent some time on google and starting using our printer, bought some supplies at the dollar tree, and voila. I now have a dedicated November basket I am filling with teachable ideas.
What's in said basket? Well, I found some really cute printable packs and glued them to card stock and used contact paper/packing tape to kind of "laminate" the ones I wanted to make sure we didn't completely ruin or rip. My hope is that I save all of this for next year, and we can build on it. I can also use it again with Brad!
Just GOOGLE toddler fall activities pack!! Tons of stuff out there mammas!
Here we were talking about BIG and small turkeys. She is so active, I can place them around and she can hop on them. We count them. She makes turkey sounds. Stuff like that. At this age, everything is play. I just think she is a bit sick of her toys, and with Christmas and her birthday still to come, I can use these as fillers for our days!
The concepts are small, but still a little tricky for her! Here is a simple "sorting" game. We talk about the leaves and the apples (both words she knows) and then I build on the colors and we try to group them accordingly.
Since my education background is 7th grade English and up, it's definitely taken some adjusting on my part. A lot of this seems to be more for me; what can I do to occupy her time and not use the TV as a crutch so much. I have to "show" her or do things for her…like reading a book. Sometimes she listens, other times she's running around and I am probably just reading to my dog. No really, she's still gaining something from it, I am sure!
I am working on a "lesson plan" each week. Basic ideas I want to cover, but again, it's like very very basic. I don't expect my child to learn to read or be some genius; I just love being creative and seeing her little brain working!
I am hoping to share more as I get more familiar with this homeschooling process; it's very much like a Montesorri pre-school…but I am struggling with adequate space and organization to keep all of this! None of it can be within her reach 24/7 otherwise she'll be into all the time and I will have even bigger messes!
I also created our November sensory bin. Not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed about the lack of Thanksgiving decor at the Dollar Tree! Hardly any turkeys! I stocked up on Christmas goodies, but that's not the point.
Another goal for myself is to check my spending. I think it's very easy to fall into the, "oh that's cute, I need it!" And I end up getting books, scarves, aka junk…stuff I don't need!! So I am really making conscious purchases. Obviously, if I find Christmas gifts, educational materials for Brooke, food, clothing ---like she still needs a winter coat---stuff for the nursery, but I'm talking about the random stops for a snack out to eat, or things that I can live without. Like super cute winter leggings, that won't fit me til next year anyway.
I also want to organize my front coat/shoe closet because that is a disaster and frustrates me every time I open it.
I may also start packing my hospital bag, but we have a good 10 weeks before we need that!
What do you plan on working on this November? Do you dive into projects like me? Have you tried homeschooling with toddlers?
These sound like great goals for this month!
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