Day 2 of our "new" routine...

The morning routine went fairly well; we are taking pictures to document our routine in a scrapbook, so they were very cooperative.

Our activity today was walking Papa to work; he was surprised at how quickly we walk. We then went to the park near his office, but the playground was tiny and the park didn't feel "safe" (it is recessed and not visible from the road), so we walked home. I tried to throw some skipping and balancing into the mix. Once home I suggested spinning; I can see it is something we need to work on.

The boys had each eaten a banana on the walk, so we skipped snack and moved into our main lesson. I might not do that in the future.

Today we started our main lesson by lighting our candle and saying this verse (leftover from Oak Meadow kindy):

Morning has come
Night is away
We rise with the sun
to welcome the day

I'd like a new verse, but it is overwhelming to come up with verses for all of the transitions of the day, and of course they are quite attached to this one. We may end up using it until next fall.

Our first task was to review our language arts MLBs, pausing to review the stories we told and placing special emphasis on the vowels sounds we learned. Then Boy #1 and I read the verses he wrote in March.

After that we reread the story of "The Laziest Man", with me pausing at times to allow them to recall the story. I was going to do straight recall, but Boy #1 asked to hear the story again. This leaves me wondering if we should get more than one telling in before moving to recall. We then drew a scene from the story. I have separated the drawing from writing because I think we need to pay attention to careful drawing, and because they often got too fatigued to draw and write during the same hour. Boy #2 still struggles with perfectionism and the desire to have me complete parts of his picture so they will be "right", so I spent a lot of time reassuring him that whatever he sees in his mind is fine. Boy #1 took advantage of my being absorbed with Boy #2 and added a light saber to his picture. We had to have a talk about what belongs in main lesson books, and how he can draw light sabers in his journal and on practice paper, but not in the MLB because there are no light sabers in the story.

They went outside to play basketball; mornings may call for creative play, but the clouds were threatening rain and they needed to play outside while they could.

Our clean up transition time went fairly well, in that there was no melt down, but Boy #2 still didn't offer much help. They were happy at lunch and are then had quiet time. I'm not sure how to get them to rest during quiet time. They do sit for some of it, but they always build. It is a "quiet" activity, but really isn't resting their minds.

We cleaned up, and even though I took a picture of their creation we had tears from Boy #2 when we put it away. I would have left it for a bit, but half of it got knocked over, so it was more mess than creation. I see this as part of his extreme reaction to any change.

They didn't agree on snack, so Boy #1 had a grapefruit, while Boy #2 had popcorn. We put on a pot of beans and headed back for our afternoon lesson. I started with a new verse for opening the afternoon, and lit the candle. Then we talked about wool, and touched raw alpaca, plus handled carded fleece, wool yarn, wool felt, a crocheted scarf, a knit hat, and my winter coat, which is made of wool fabric.

They wanted me to read, so we read Sheep in a Shop (wool theme) as well as The Three Little Javalinas (in honor of our trip to the desert yesterday).

They headed outside again, and were out for quite awhile. I did a few things and then sat down to look at a magazine with a cup of tea. Papa came home and they came in. We spent a few minutes tidying their room, then had dinner.

It was cold and still threatening rain, so we didn't go to BMX (they hadn't updated the message and we didn't want to waste the gas to find out if it was cancelled or not). We quickly cleaned the kitchen and headed out for an evening walk, umbrella with us just in case.

Boy #1 ate the last of the citrus at dinner, so we headed up to the independent market to see if they had any local citrus. We were in luck! We only needed enough for tonight/tomorrow, as we buy citrus at the farmer's market each week (last week's oranges were particularly sweet and were devoured at a quicker than normal rate). We also bought bananas, and non-hydrogenated corn tostada shells.

Back home, it was pajama time. I helped Boy #2 without talking about it. My goal is to first get him used to switching from pajamas from clothing without fuss, then to transition him to doing it himself.

I fixed them a snack of GF zucchini bread (the recipe I made Monday - it was a hit!) and headed back to take a quick shower while Papa read to them. By the time I had showered, put on my pajamas, dried my hair a bit, brushed my teeth, and checked my email they were ready for tooth brushing.

At bedtime I now turn out the lights and light a candle. Then I get in bed between them and sing our 3 songs (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Catch a Falling Star, and Oh Bear) before giving hugs, kisses, and "touches" (they touch my hair, something Boy #1 has been fixated on since he was a toddler). Then I blow out the candle, turn on the nightlight, and leave the room. They were asleep in about 20 minutes.

I spent 10 minutes in the kitchen, washing my tea mug, loading their snack plates, starting the dishwasher, and putting on a pot of cornmeal mush for tomorrow's breakfast. Then I settled in and finished the Enki Early Childhood Education Guide. A little surfing, and now I am finishing this journal entry. Next I'll climb into bed and read a bit before turning out the lights.