Last year I nearly went into shock when I went from 2 kids in school to 4 kids in school.
(Yes, I had twins enter kindergarten.)
With 1 left at home, I thought life *might* be easier...but didn't expect it.
It wasn't. I was different and nice for her, but not easier....
Because every afternoon around 3pm the HURRICANE of papers and hungry whiny gripes came through the door. Then, as the madness settled, I would find a paper that didn't clearly say which class (or even grade) it pertained too. OR I would get 4 of the same sheet to fill out, someone wouldn't hand theirs to me and later after the other 3 had turned in papers, I would find a blank sheet and no one could remember who the blank paper belonged to. Plus various other paper confusions...
Well, this year I'm ready!
I saw some filing system on pinterest (didn't bother to pin it and didn't bother to try to find it again) - I just put together from last year's disorganized memories what I would need....I think!
I'm hoping to teach them to file it as the pull it from their folders, then I can work on one child's papers at a time once they're into their homework and the 3-year-old bottomless pit has a snack for entertainment.
So far, so good - and I have a place to those "hold on to for a while" papers - rather than a pile by the computer with the bills, etc.
She was moving during that school year to a new state where her daughter (same age as my son) would meet the kindergarten age requirements. So, to prepare her to join in mid-year, she needed to homeschool her the first few months so she would be at the right level mid-school-year.
I checked it out from the library, and loved it!
It was easy - no preparation (other than knowing how to read yourself!)
And he learned.
By the time we started, he was 5 1/2 years old and he finished the summer before kindergarten.
(What's the point if he was going to learn the next year anyways?)
Well, besides me wanted to do everything, I didn't have to worry about making sure he got that important base amidst a class of who knows how many. He had that already - and he pretty much was a grade ahead the entire year. (Probably still is, but their scaling is so confusing??)
I tried it with my next daughter (who was 3 when she took those oh-so-lovely pictures of my oldest son and me 5 years ago) :)
I had trouble with consistency - We started when she was 4 and she got it,, but my twins were about 2 at the time and oh boy! But after my last baby was born when she turned 5, we found the time and she also learned that year.
And she has been far ahead of grade level also.
(It makes that first year so much easier for me - and I enjoy teaching them.)
*Her brother brought home the 'witch finger' from 1st grade they had used for following their words, so we tried it out. She wasn't wild about it. But it's a cute idea anyways.
As an added benefit - she is already a leader ("bossy", according to her siblings) and she was able to help other students in her kindergarten class (and later) as the teacher could use her as a peer helper.
{She was 5 1/2 here and at the end of the book so her fluency was great}
My twins started asking earlier to learn to read, so a few days before their 4th birthday, we started. I decided I would start the first couple lessons together since they are so simple and one wouldn't give away the 'answers' before the other had a turn and then we'd split and do separate reading lessons.
They ended up getting off schedule from each other because sometimes one wouldn't be interested (I encouraged, but I didn't push - I want them to WANT to read).
My younger/smaller twin decided about half way through that she wanted to wait until she was older (like 6 she said), so I said okay. (She ended up starting again when she turned 5 and we just backed it up a few lessons for review.)
The older twin finished between 4 1/2 and 5 years old. (fall of 4k year) The younger finished a few months after she turned 5. (spring of 4k year)
They are both excellent readers now like their older siblings. In fact, they are good spellers too - my younger twin (reading over my shoulder told me I spelled "ok" wrong. It's "okay".) :)
I never took a video/picture of them reading this book :( but I do have a video of the older twin reading another book about a month before we finished. She was 4 1/2 years old here.
{age 4 1/2, before finishing the reading book, transitioning to regular letters without helping symbols}
My next adventure starts this fall. My youngest child, who will be 4 in November asked all last spring "What letters starts...?", so we talked about letters a lot. And over the summer, I asked her "What rhymes with....?" and we started really easy and have been working towards understanding the concept of rhyming...because I could see it coming - and sure enough she asked me a few weeks ago, "Mommy, can you teach me how to read?"
I'd love to!
In case you go looking for this book at a bookstore, there is a newer cover version that looks like this:
I know she can learn intellectually, but her maturity in following directions is still developing (that's a nice way of saying she's my hardest child to manage!) So we'll see if she's mature enough for cooperating.
The book begins with simple (I thought, obvious) rhyming, so I thought having a head start on rhyming (which is what my 4 year old twins struggled with in beginning the book) would help us be ready. We shall see - and I will update!
Tips if you choose to try this book:
Make a plan/schedule. (For my oldest two, it was during younger sisters' afternoon nap. For my twins it was right after school drop off - even before we did morning chores.)
Don't try to read other "easy to read" books until you're nearly done - at least lesson 80. Most "easy to read" books are not easy to read. And not having the symbols is confusing until they're ready to drop them.
Remove all distractions (for us, that meant not opening the blinds during reading time - squirrels and cars passing can be so fascinating! Little sibling are worse.)
Areas I cheated in:
I didn't do the letter writing part with most of mine. One chose on her own to write letters she had been reading. I probably should have, but well, I just didn't.
I usually didn't make them read the story a second time when the stories got long - as long as they read more fluidly and understood as they read, once was enough.
not a cheat but a change, when the final "e" (for making vowels long, such as in "bike"), I explained the concept of that "e" being a helper to make the other letter say its name instead of how the book teaches it. Similar, but different.
From past experience, I know that things dropped off at the front office at school either need a tag/label whose it is and where it's supposed to go (they'll write it down, but will it stay together? will it get delivered?)
I have had things not delivered before I had to go and pick up later (after I went to the trouble to drop it off...and then I had to pay for the lunch they gave him because the lunch box never got delivered...grr)
Anyways - I don't trust them to get it to them without a label and I don't like to write it down over and over again (I've had 2 in school for a few years, so I just knew having 4 in school last year would double my "I forgot" drop offs!)
Yes, they should remember, but they don't sometimes.
And we have rules/organization to help them remember, but we all forget things sometimes - call my cell sometime - probably won't answer because I probably left it at home...again.
Like these?
Me too - I made more for this year - here's how...
They're easy to make. You need:
cardstock (or poster board or piece of cereal box...or anything with some weight to it)
clear packaging tape
ribbon
velcro or snap
hole puncher
I printed mine on cardstock. They survived the year. (I might make my son's out of posterboard...his looked a little rough...but doesn't everything of his?)
You could write it on paper and glue it to a cardboard rectangle cut out from a cereal box if you don't have heavy paper.
Punch a hole in the corner.
Cover with clear packaging tape (front/back/ all around). Re-punch hole through same place. (It's just hard to punch it through once, so I do it before I tape it, but you may not need to.)
Thread ribbon through the hole. (Yes, before you add snap/velcro.) Cut, leaving enough length on each end to put on snap/velcro.
Attach snap to each end.
(I have kamsnaps - love them! and snap pliers, but you could sew on velcro if you don't have that or use a metal snap...anything that can attach and unattach - assuming you want to take this off.)
Done
*Alternately, you could just sew the ribbon ends together if you wanted it permanent. We didn't. (The kids didn't.)
I have realized that I barely keep up with the blog during the school year...
during the summer? yeah right :)
But we haven't been sitting around doing nothing...we also haven't gotten done my wonderful, well planned and thought out summer plans for fun.
Here's a sneak peak into some of our summer stuff this month:
To make hairstyle choices easier, I printed picture of hairstyles to make a "menu" with a $1 photo album.
(We don't do fancy hair every day - most days it's a pony tail, but when I have time/energy, they love to pick one from the book or request a new one from their own head or online.)
My youngest wanted to make butterflies to hang from her ceiling. (At 3, I was impressed she could come up with her own idea for crafting. But in the end, we found cute butterflies at the dollar tree and hung those.)
I do have a limit to my how much kid-craft I decorate my house with.
My older girls (8 and 6) did make some of the same style with me (nylon over wire) - like the ones we bought with mostly supplies we already had - I only spent $1 on a pair of pantyhose.
Cute - but they're not hanging from the girls' bedroom ceiling. :) What should we do with them?
(note - If you do this you need REALLY strong craft wire - flimsy wire does not hold its shape very well...hence the reason our nylons are not stretched tight)
In the end, I consider it a success because I learned how to dye tights with food coloring - a useful Halloween skill. :)
I also made an attempt at a swim top. It was also a success (it's cute), but there are a few things I learned in the process that will make next time (yes, there will be a next time) :) a little smoother going.
The minute I hear someone has lice (especially if we've been in close contact with that person/family), my head starts itching! So, if after reading the post title, your head has started itching, don't fear - it's probably nothing....but if you're concerned, here's how we check.
You need a rat tail comb...and some time. And if you find anything, you need stuff for your treatment method of choice....
after Nix and Rid failed us last time around, we tried a home remedy before we went to get a Rx from the doctor or the homeopathic method that cost twice as much...and it worked!
Needed supplies and instructions at end of post!
A few notes:
I think it's easier to check dry hair.
(Dandruff/dry scalp sticks when it's wet, making nits and dandruff harder to tell apart. and light shimmers off of wet hair, making little 'white' reflections or spots...it just takes longer to look)
(I needed my kids to wash the "lice shield" spray out of their hair because it leaves little white dots that make checking for lice take much longer. So two of my kids have wet hair in videos.)
Wash hands well before/after checking anyone's hair and between each head.
Warn others.
After you get over the shock and embarrassment (which is unwarranted but inevitably comes when you find lice in your kid's hair), be nice - tell those you've been with lately so they can check and find it early.
ON WITH THE HOW TO...
If you don't want to watch the video, I have pictures/text below you can read through for the same idea.
(*I didn't have the foresight to take a video when I first discovered the nits - and thanks to my friend that informed me to be on alert we found it so early that I only found 4 nits in 1 child...but after having multiple friends/family ask how to check I decided to make a video/post to help - because explaining over the phone just wasn't helpful.)
PICTURE / TEXT HOW TO
First, section the hair into 4 sections - I have the child hold the part I haven't checked yet and let that hair that I have hang free. Also, I start at the front and work my way around the back and to the other side.
Then, for each section, I hold it up (combing it smooth upward). Then, I run the pick of my rat tail comb about 1/4" up from the bottom (or the last horizontal part made) across behind the "up" hair.
I bring the comb/pick with small amount of hair up to where I'm holding the rest and separate it (gently) and bring the small amount back down to hang loose - checking the new part for anything that looks like lice or nits.
Lice are blackish/grayish/clearish. They move along the hair, trying to get away from light.
Nits are white or whitish/clearish and STICK to the strand of hair. (I have seen one stick to two strands before.) It will not move and won't slide down the hair if you try to move it with fingers. (Fingernails, maybe...but even then, you're more likely to pull out the strand of hair getting it off.)
Our Treatment method:
(I found online over a year ago when my girls got lice for the first time - 2 of the 4 had it)
So, we use:
Listerine (or off-brand orange/yellow mouthwash)
White Vinegar
2 shower caps
2 spray bottles
towels (at least 2)
shampoo
Wrap towel around shoulders.
Using a spray bottle, saturate hair with listerine/mouthwash. Cover with shower cap. Let sit for 2 hours. (We did only 1 1/2 this time and all cleared, but original directions said 2.)
This step kills lice.
(A friend of my mom's uses mayonnaise on her girls' hair - also suffucates them, but has to sit longer and crusty to wash out later. Listerine burns if there are any cuts/scratches in the head though!)
Wash hair with shampoo.
*You can use this next step even after a chemical treatment - like Nix or Rid.
Wrap towel around shoulders.
Using another spray bottle, saturate hair with vinegar. Cover with shower cap. Let sit for a while. (Original said 2 hours again, we did 1 this time and it worked just the same...not sure how low you can go with the time on this one?)
This step breaks down the "glue" with which lice attach the eggs to the hair strand.
Wash hair with shampoo. Comb through hair (regular tooth comb is fine). Fine tooth is great, but we can't get ours through the hair without ripping out the hair - nit or not!
Use checking method above for going through hair.
Remove any nits found - they will slide right out now that the "glue" is gone.
(Suggestion - style hair back into braids or other tight style to keep it from flowing freely until you're sure you got them all!)
For the next few days (or weeks depending on how diligent/paranoid/still in shock you are): Keep checking!! If you find more bugs, you'll want to re-treat because you missed a nit and it hatched. If you find more nits...get them out (of course), but you can choose whether to re-treat or keep checking.
TIPS:
We keep our "infected" children quarantined in 1 room until they have been lice/nit free for 2 days and we replace bedding everytime we find anything!
(Plus a bunch of other stuff!)
Other stuff:
Starting in the bedrooms - we wash all bedding. (Comforters or things that are hard to wash - dryer for 20 minutes on high heat.)
In fact, we also wash all other blankets lying around the house and usually everyone's bedding, not just infected person.
All stuffed animals in dryer for 20 minutes on high heat.
Dolls with hair that might not survive that get bagged for 4 weeks.
All hair accessories, brushes, combs, etc. get 1 of 3 treatments: Bagged for 4 weeks, soaked in bleach water, or put through dryer for 20 minutes on high heat. (I try to use little disposable elastics - pack of 500 from Dollar Tree - during treatment/checking until they are cleared for a few days.)
All carpets vacuumed. If you can vacuum the couches/chairs, do. We also don't sit on any upholstered furniture for a few days until we're in the clear.
PREVENTION
We used lice shield shampoo and/or leave in spray for a while after 2 of my girls got lice last year, but everyone hated the way it smelled and it's $7 a bottle for either!
A friend of mine uses tea tree oil drops in the shampoo regularly to protect against lice, but I didn't want to have to remember to add drops to some shampoo when I used it.
Then, I read coconut oils work also. So, I had been buying a conditioner with coconut oil in it (smelled good, $5/bottle, but conditioner use is slower).
When I discovered my oldest daughter had nits, I thought, well, I guess that coconut oil idea is false...but then I realized, of the 3 girls that have a significant amount of hair, she was the only one not using it. So is it coincidence she didn't pass it on to the others? I don't know....but for her, I think after 2 rounds of lice-fighting, I think I'll insist she use the stinky expensive shampoo.
When I was little, I used to have a hooded towel (and so did most of my brothers). My oldest son got one from one of the baby showers I had for him. I wanted towels for my girls as they each grew too big for the baby towels.
My mom made one for my first daughter, but then I had two more, so it was time to figure it out. I mean, it's just some towels sewn together - how hard can it be?
Turns out, it's not hard.
And it's an easy present to make that doesn't cost much, but will get years of use.
My mom lines the hood, but I prefer it unlined.
(If they grab it wrong the hood separates from the lining, making it look like 2 hoods sewn shut at the opening...so confusing, especially for my kids. But it does hide the seam in the hood.)
You can do it either way - but you have to figure out lined on your own b/c I'm not showing it today. :)
You'll need:
1 bath towel
1 hand towel
thread (to match towel)
ribbon, rickrack, or other decoration to cover a seam (at least as long as the longest side of the bath towel)
Because I have an embroidery machine, might as well make use of it!
I do that first.
(When embroidering on terrycloth, use water soluble stabilizer on TOP of where you're going to embroider. or else your stitches will get lost in the loops of the towel fabric and it won't look as crisp. I don't bother with any other stabilizer. The towel's got enough stiffness as it is - try cramming it in a hoop.)
You'll want to trim the stabilizer as close as you can to the design and then put the towel through the washer/dryer (which hopefully you did before you started this project also).
If you leave the stabilizer all on there, it turns into a sticky globby mess that just can't all wash off and you will do more work trying to get it off than if you just trimmed it to begin with!
Now, let's start cutting/sewing.
Then, I cut my hand towel down smaller (it will be your hood).
First fold it in half (hamburger style).
then, trim off some from the side and some from the open end (opposite the fold).
The amount depends on how big a head you're going to put in this towel.
(You only need the top right piece. The others are shown so you can see how much I cut off.)
I found a guide once that suggested how much to cut off of each side. It used the band (the lines going across the hand towel that I cut along) - and told how much of the band to cut off depending on baby, toddler, child. And suggested 4" off the side.
I cut closer to 5 1/2" off the side since this is for a 1 year old and because even my 6 year olds still have head space left in their towels (which I cut at 4"). I think the 10 year old finally fills up his hood.
You only need about 1/2" for seams.
Now, toss those other two pieces (or save them for something else).
If you can tell which is the front/back, fold it right sides together.
Stitch along the side (left cut side shown in picture above)
If you have a serger, use that. Otherwise, do a straight and a zig zag stitch.
Now, open out your hood so the seam is going vertical and facing the table and lay it on top of one of the long edges of the bath towel, overlapping about a 1/2" (more or less - doesn't matter)
NOTES:
The hood and bath towel should both be wrong sides facing the table.
The hood should be ON TOP of the bath towel.
The center seam of the hood should be aligned with the center of the bath towel -
The hood seam should be perpendicular to the long side of the bath towel (perpendicular means it makes a T).
PIN IN PLACE
Sew hood onto bath towel, keeping the overlap amount constant.
I sew along the bottom edge of the hood.
Then I flip it over and sew along the top edge of the bath towel (so there are two *mostly* parallel seams keeping the hood attached to the towel).
See? Now you just need to cover the rough edge of the hood
I sewed rick rack onto this one, but I have also used grosgrain ribbon. You could even used a strip of fabric with the two long raw edges turned under.
Be sure to turn under the ends of whatever trim you use so they don't fray at the edges of the towel (or wrap it around to the other side of the towel at each end and sew in place.)
*This is obviously not being modeled by the 1 year old I made it for, but I had to take a picture before I gave it to him at the party. Clearly, it will grow with him. :)
Last note - if you don't like the point at the top of the hood, you can (from the inside or wrong side), flatten the point into a triangle and sew across the base. (If you've ever boxed the corners of a bag - same concept.) Then either leave the triangle or zig zag/serge along the seam and trim off the triangle.) I kind of like the point...but just giving options.
I promised I would show the before/after playroom re-do, but I haven't gotten around to it. (I was hoping to just copy the post from our family blog without the added work of re-posting here, but I couldn't figure that out.)
So, finally, here it is -
THE BEFORE
I did clean up before I took those pictures - the flash hides all the marks on the walls and the stains on the carpet - and about half the toys were put into the storage unit (we were on the market for these pictures).
I really think it looks better, even with more stuff in the room, being decorated and coordinated!
What do you think....?
And THE AFTER
no more smudged rub marks and 'murals' - just nice scrub-able paint and a place for art...the only problem is keeping the art to a reasonable amount!
I am going to add another shelf at table height to hold the drawers/crayons that stay low...and that dora table - that might get redone soon - who needs dora? :)
What? You don't keep a plastic doll crib in your office? Well, we don't either anymore - now there's a horse there! Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's as close as it's going to get for now.
The messiest toys are in the closet (too bad the door is a pocket door and difficult to shut - otherwise, I'd just shut it every day so I don't have to look at the mess until the weekly major closet cleaning).
My attempt at panoramas for the two longest walls:
(Please disregard the inconsistencies in moulding, etc :) it's not the room - it's the photographer!
