The Day I Left My Children Alone

Week 6 - Day One

On Monday of this week, I left my children alone. After waking up and getting their breakfast, we started our morning cleaning routine, complete with work cards, and spent a little while at it. For some reason, Monday mornings are rough cleaning days, although goodness knows why - half the weekend is spent at church, it seems, but somehow - they always are. 

Then, I left my children alone. I dove into the abyss that is school materials, determined to clean out, rearrange, and reorganize. There were still things that needed to go on the shelves, Buddy Boy needed new theme trays, and it had to get done. Immediately. We had choir that afternoon for LM, and still had to fit lunch in before that. I faintly heard LM say she was going to start with the multiplication checkerboard as I began to move my couch away from my hidden, built in shelving. 

About halfway through, this is what I found the kids doing.

Miss Priss did this puzzle of the states - three times. In a row. The third time, she figured out how to slide it on a cookie sheet and flip it over to see the flags and facts about each state that is on the back side of the puzzle. 


Hoss got upset over something - I've got no earthly idea what -  and decided it was his job to personally test out every new tray that I was putting out for Buddy Boy and Bug. 
size sequencing

 matching number/picture cards

 fine motor

All trays were beneath him, but somehow it was appealing to be the 'tray tester'.

After multiplication from LM and pattern making from Bug (no pictures, but she showed me several different patterns with the unifix blocks), they apparently started building. I'm pretty sure there was some kind of elaborate pattern scheme they were working on - I overheard LM telling Bug to get a certain type of pattern for the next row of blocks in their castle/tower.



(please ignore the mess that is the kitchen floor - it doesn't manage to stay clean for very long. Oh, and the need to re-paint. That's another issue all together.... :/ )


Buddy Boy worked for at least 30 minutes making pictures with our pattern blocks, eventually inviting Hoss to work with him.


By the time they finished their own, unprompted, unsupervised work period, it was time for a quick lunch which was made by LM and off to choir. 

Moral of the story:
Be a *present* parent - and while doing it, learn to be *present* in the background. It's good for them to just occupy themselves, and they might surprise you sometimes! 



Comments

  1. Gentle JoySeptember 17, 2014 at 9:20 AM

    Our kids have a thirst for learning.... even when they don't realize that it what they are doing... they think they are just "playing". :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy @ No Greater HonorsSeptember 17, 2014 at 11:12 PM

      It's wonderful, isn't it? I love all the learning tricks that I am able to sneak in to our days, and love even more the learning that sneaks in on it's own :)

      Delete
  2. Cherine MuirheadSeptember 19, 2014 at 9:24 PM

    Awesome work! We have the same pattern blocks and Ava is in love with them!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amy @ No Greater HonorsSeptember 20, 2014 at 1:58 PM

      My kiddos love them! We used to have the magnetic ones that actually went with the M&D set, but they didn't like them as much, preferring these wooden ones that someone gave us. I can't tell you how often I see every one of the pentagons set up to look like a honeycomb, or some other kind of mancala-style art, set up in the floor of whatever room they are in.

      Delete

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