We made it through the holidays and are now in our baby vacation, although we are still waiting for the baby to arrive. We did regular school work through the second week of December and also managed to do some fun advent-y things like go to the Nutcracker and have a sleepover with friends. It also snowed and we got to play in it! I attempted to do the maple syrup candy activity from Little House, and it was an epic fail. I didn't use the right ingredients and we ended up with sugary snow. The kids still liked it though. We also did a (really cold) zoo day and explored the bug house and the aviary. Caley and Amelia wrote down their observations in their nature journals and earned points at the Nature Exchange and spent their points on prizes (shells, rocks, etc)!
Now that it's January we have moved into baby mode. We did school for two weeks and honestly I thought the baby would be here by now. I didn't plan school for this week. We've been taking it easy. Yesterday they played a lot of educational games (Monopoly Jr, Sight Word Bingo) and played very well with each other, creating elaborate games and make-believe. I also let them dig outside in the dirt, a project they've been working on for Bill.
I read an article recently about the value of play for a child. A lot of it was stuff I already thought but couldn't articulate why it was important. Read the article here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/give-childhood-back-to-children-if-we-want-our-offspring-to-have-happy-productive-and-moral-lives-we-must-allow-more-time-for-play-not-less-are-you-listening-gove-9054433.html
It basically says that we must let our children play if we expect them to be decent adults some day. The rationale is that in play we learn how to interact with one another and problem-solve. Book-learning and worksheet-completing doesn't have the same effect on a child's long-term success. I have struggled with balancing "doing school" with letting kids be kids. I'm not an unschooler, in which there is no structure to which my children must adhere, but it feels wrong to make Caley and Amelia sit all day and complete worksheets in every subject.
This week so far has been an exercise in the value of play and character training. Both for myself and the kids. I can feel Jesus telling me to rest and I want to push through and make my body go into labor if I can, which is just going to be frustrating. Today the three younger kids were playing upstairs very nicely and Caley and I read books on the couch. It was lovely. Then later in the day we did quiet time and I actually rested again. Caley cleaned out the fridge top to bottom and earned 50 cents.
I don't know how many more days we have until baby arrives, but I am trying to treasure this time snuggling with each kiddo without having to juggle an infant. And when he arrives I hope I remember to let the kids rest with him and all of us together before I push them back into "school mode." Because really, they are learning loads more from being together as a family and adapting to a new sibling than I could ever try to teach with a worksheet.
