The Week We Didn't Start School.....
Well, my plans were to start school, like so many public and homeschoolers were all over. I was so excited to get back to normal, we weren't going to have a very busy week - just hopefully get back in to the school room, maybe do some rearranging together, and have some fun. I was still working in my Well Planned Day planner, trying to map out what I needed to remember to do over the next few months. That's when I ran in to the only problem with the planner - it didn't tell me I would be sick this week!
Monday brought on a horrible week of me being sick, that ended with me getting strep throat after all other flu like symptoms were gone. So we didn't get in the school room this week. I was almost discouraged, thinking this was a horrible start to a new school year. I'd like to take a minute though, and share why Montessori Practical Life can be very important.
Before we were 'Montessori inspired' in name, there were many things I did normally that I did not think of as a Montessori *thing*, and still don't - I call them training. Don't shrink under that word - it's not a bad one. I decided when Little Mama had yet to show her face in this world that, by the Grace of God, I would train her and all others after her, how to be part of the home. How to help - how to take care of things that she (and they) could do, and to hold their weight in the responsibilities. I didn't know then that I would have five children, but now it's impossible to do everything by myself - they have to help just to make our house run as smoothly as possible. So when I got sick, it seemed it couldn't have been at a worse time, right after the holidays, when laundry was going on for miles in our laundry area, and there was so much to do. Thankfully, all the years of teaching them to do the dishes, help cook in the kitchen, be able to get their own dishes out and put them up easily, put their own laundry up - it pays off. Long before they leave home! Monday I began to feel bad, and by that night I couldn't imagine getting out of bed. Little Mama took over 70% of my workload, sometimes more, and for two days she did all the cooking and meal prep, she and the others did all the cleaning, taking Buddy to the bathroom, baths and making sure everyone was dressed in the morning and ready for bed at night time. My husband was here - he didn't disappear, but he has been working many looooooong days and so there was a good deal of time when he wasn't here, and I couldn't do even half of what I normally do. Even when I started to recover a little, I needed more help in so many things. Because they have the practical life skills that were already in them, the help I got from them was tremendous!
Hopefully next week, despite a birthday coming in and my husband still very busy at work, we will get back to school. But this week - we had some serious practical life school, and it was not a waste! If you have littles, whether there be 1 or several, don't give up trying to train them! Get that practical life in there, in the most practical ways you can - teach them to sort laundry and to wash their dishes, and make it fun now when they are little - you will be amazed what they can do when they get a little older!
I hope this was a blessing to someone!
Monday brought on a horrible week of me being sick, that ended with me getting strep throat after all other flu like symptoms were gone. So we didn't get in the school room this week. I was almost discouraged, thinking this was a horrible start to a new school year. I'd like to take a minute though, and share why Montessori Practical Life can be very important.
Before we were 'Montessori inspired' in name, there were many things I did normally that I did not think of as a Montessori *thing*, and still don't - I call them training. Don't shrink under that word - it's not a bad one. I decided when Little Mama had yet to show her face in this world that, by the Grace of God, I would train her and all others after her, how to be part of the home. How to help - how to take care of things that she (and they) could do, and to hold their weight in the responsibilities. I didn't know then that I would have five children, but now it's impossible to do everything by myself - they have to help just to make our house run as smoothly as possible. So when I got sick, it seemed it couldn't have been at a worse time, right after the holidays, when laundry was going on for miles in our laundry area, and there was so much to do. Thankfully, all the years of teaching them to do the dishes, help cook in the kitchen, be able to get their own dishes out and put them up easily, put their own laundry up - it pays off. Long before they leave home! Monday I began to feel bad, and by that night I couldn't imagine getting out of bed. Little Mama took over 70% of my workload, sometimes more, and for two days she did all the cooking and meal prep, she and the others did all the cleaning, taking Buddy to the bathroom, baths and making sure everyone was dressed in the morning and ready for bed at night time. My husband was here - he didn't disappear, but he has been working many looooooong days and so there was a good deal of time when he wasn't here, and I couldn't do even half of what I normally do. Even when I started to recover a little, I needed more help in so many things. Because they have the practical life skills that were already in them, the help I got from them was tremendous!
Hopefully next week, despite a birthday coming in and my husband still very busy at work, we will get back to school. But this week - we had some serious practical life school, and it was not a waste! If you have littles, whether there be 1 or several, don't give up trying to train them! Get that practical life in there, in the most practical ways you can - teach them to sort laundry and to wash their dishes, and make it fun now when they are little - you will be amazed what they can do when they get a little older!
I hope this was a blessing to someone!
I hope that you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you! I am feeling much better, thankfully, and (Lord willing) all the children will stay better so we can finally get back to what used to be routine!
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