June 29, 2022

Practice Makes Progress

I've mentioned before that Kip has a stubborn perfectionist streak which has made it difficult for us to get him interested in gaining/advancing in "academic" skills at home. Because of his resistance, we took a very hands off approach with him and did not force him to attempt to learn the basics under our instruction. Some kids and moms are cut out for homeschooling, others are not. Although I never expected Kip to be a genius, I was very worried at the start of this school year that he would struggle with the classroom environment. He started this school year without being able to consistently recognize all his letters or numbers and was unable to write his name or willingly draw. 

On the first day of school, I remember there was a piece of paper in front of each child and they were asked to write their name and draw a picture of their favorite thing to do with their family. Kip practically froze, he gets easily overwhelmed with any kind of expectation. I ended up holding his hand to help write his name and he made some scribbly marks for the drawing. It was hard for me not to notice that some of the other kids at the table completed the task without effort, one of them drew an elaborate scene.

As much as I did not want Kip to feel defeated by first day expectations, I didn't want to feel that either. I reminded myself that each kid is different and each kid learns at their own pace and in their own unique way. Preschool sets the foundation for learning and that's what we were there for. Square one was the exact right place for Kip to start. The classroom environment and a supportive and playful teacher ended up being just what Kip needed. He learned SO much this year and can do everything he could not do on that first day. 

Kip's school used Tools of the Mind curriculum and one of the elements of that is Play Planning. Here is the definition of that: 

In Play Planning, children plan their play before playing in centers. A Play Plan typically describes the role and actions a child will engage in during the first few minutes of intentional make-believe play. This initial plan helps children act purposefully–-the first step to becoming self-regulated learners.

Play Plans also support children’s literacy development. As children plan their play, they draw a picture of their plan that helps them remember what they are going to do. Drawing is an important precursor to writing. These drawings gradually become more representational as children use their pictures to review previous plans, and discuss their plans with other children. As children learn more about literacy, they begin to represent their intentions using the Tools approach to writing: Scaffolded Writing.

Sorry, that's so granular but I didn't know how to describe it any better.

In the classroom, every day, the kids would pick the color of the center they wanted to go to and use that color marker to write their name and draw a picture of what they planned to do. Throughout the year I saved all of the Play Planning papers that got sent home each week. The progress is undeniable, in just this small sample I'll show here:




It might not seem that impressive, but Kip could not even hold a pencil on the first day of school without it falling out of his hand. He refused to attempt to draw a figure and did not know how to write the alphabet consistently.

For pre-writing skills, they started by drawing small dashes for each word in their play plan sentence. So something like ____ _____ ______ _____ _____ _____ for "I am going to play dolls." Then gradually they started adding letters as they learned to sound words out. By mid-year Kip could write "I am going to" easily and then he would sound out the first letter in each word of his play plan. By the end of the year he was writing full sentences.

Does Kip still struggle with perfectionism? HECK YES! That's a lifelong thorn, but we tell him all the time that "practice makes progress" and there are many occasions when we show him how that progress pays off. Just look at this!

June 27, 2022

Weekending it

Knocking summer out of the park with this first partial week of summer break!

On Friday night Mandy and I took the kids to a local church carnival in a neighboring town. Kip's little friend from the neighborhood invited us so we met them there. Kip had a blast with his little buddy but us adults were way overstimulated. I haven't been to something so overcrowded in years. It was a bit much, but you do it for the kids, right?









This weekend packed some summer heat so we went to our community pool for the first time on Saturday. It was already so much easier than last year with even just a little swim confidence from Kip. Ivy did well too in her little life jacket. Mandy, Dan, and I tag-teamed but of course all the kids in the pool gravitated to Dan. Kip's friend was there and another girl he knew from school was there so it was fun. 



That night Kip wanted to have a cheeseburger picnic for dinner so we sat outside as long as we could before the mosquitos drove us back inside.


On Sunday we invited friends over for water-play in the driveway. 
 
 
Ivy has gotten so painfully shy in the last month and we are really trying hard to get her more socialized and comfortable. She is so attached to Kip she gets very jealous of other kids that come to play with him.
 


 
We are so grateful for our little slice of outdoor space and how versatile it is for the kids. Mandy has worked so hard to make the flowers and exterior beautiful as well which just makes being outside all the more better.
 

If you have room for some prayers, please keep my mom in mind. She has bacterial pneumonia from a cold she caught while traveling (fortunately not Covid). She is in ICU right now being treated with antibiotics. Please pray for improvement and energy for my dad caring for her. We are approaching the one year anniversary of Dan's dad's illness and passing so the arrival of July feels tight with emotions and worry about relatives.

June 24, 2022

Helping

Ivy is truly our picky eater. She scoffs at new foods and throws huge tantrums if you attempt to get her to try something. The girl would like to live off of yogurt and Popsicles if we let her. 

Recently she has started expressing an interest in the kitchen. She will try to drag over the learning tower and say "helping, helping" to tell us she wants to help. When we first started this we noticed, quite by surprise, that she will actually try foods she would NEVER even touch if we put it on her plate. And even when the food she helped prepare is on her plate she has no interest. But, she ate a handful of salad the other night after helping put it together and ate a bite of a sandwich the other day!!!


 

Any interaction with new foods, even just being willing to touch it is good exposure for picky kids (or so "they" say). We'll see how this changes her habits over time. Plus, it is cute to see her "helping."

June 22, 2022

Last Day of School

Schools out for Summer!! YAY. Unfortunately, today is gloomy and cold and decidedly un-summer like. Oh well, at least yesterday was beautiful as Kip said goodbye to his first year of school.

This cute photo only cost me 6 sour patch kids before 8 am, but I'll take it!


As class mom, I performed my final duties of the year and helped host the class party. My partner class mom wasn't able to assist and it was stressful to manage on my own. I dropped off the games and end of the year favors the day before. Mandy helped me assemble some really epic summer sand pails for the kids, filled with lot of good stuff. We went overboard because I feel like I might never get to do class mom again, and you're only in Pre-k once, and there was just too much fun stuff to add!!


The morning before the party I went to pick-up pizza. I had called ahead to make sure they could have the pies for me before 11 am. When I showed up they acted like they had no clue and I near panicked to think I wouldn't be able to give the kids the pizza party they were waiting for. Fortunately the pizza place pulled it together and I was only 5 minutes late, running down the block with hot pies. The kids ate, did some crafts, and then we played games which everyone fought over. It was so chaotic I hardly took any photos.

Nothing was really going well or according to plan. It was obviously a sensory overload for the kids with some hidden emotions at play as well. Kip was very sad to leave his teacher and it's confusing for little kids to see their classroom packed away for summer. Somehow, during all the chaos I got each of the kids to sign their names to a picture mattes to give to their teachers. I was happy about that success at least.
 

There was no time for hugs or sweet goodbyes before everyone was pushed out the door. Maybe that's for the best. Rip the bandaid so to speak and leave the parents with the summer meltdowns. HA!

Dan and I took the kids for ice cream in the afternoon to perk everyone up. It didn't work much.


It will probably take Kip a day or two to regulate to the summer groove and the rest of us to regulate back to having both kids home all day, every day.

While it feels like the rest of the country has been on summer break for months now, we're just getting started with lots of fun planned ahead and only distant thoughts of Kindergarten in the fall.

June 21, 2022

Weekending it

Today is Kip's last half day of school before summer break but we've already started in on the summer fun with a packed Father's Day weekend.

On Friday afternoon (I get off early from work for summer Fridays), Mandy and I took the kids to check-out a splash pad about a 10 minute drive away. It was free, fully enclosed, chlorinated, and had an area with minimal splashing for little kids and a full soak area for the adventurers. Mandy and I were impressed with how safe and clean it felt and it made for a really lovely stress-free and fun afternoon for all of us. We will for sure be going back there more this summer.






On Saturday, Kip had swim lessons in the morning and he is really improving and getting SO CLOSE to an independent back float and I even saw him jump into the pool and get his whole head wet.


In the afternoon we went to the local Food Truck Festival. We all agreed there is no comparison to the Brooklyn Smorgasbord, but this was pretty cute for being local. Maybe next year there will be a few more options.



On Father's Day Sunday, Dan got to sleep in, have breakfast in bed, and open gifts. In the afternoon we all went back to Whippany, NJ to ride the Father's Day train. We got to ride in the caboose and then climb into the steam engine and pull the whistle. 


















It was a great weekend and now we are in the mad-dash-only-hours-left countdown to the end of the school year. I'm doing the class party solo and I'm excited for the prep and stress to be done. Onward to summer!!!!