Late, Late Night

I have to stop doing this. I am up way too late again working on stuff for tomorrow. I know I am heading for burnout and I have got to figure out some solution.

The good news is the AC is fixed. Our wallet is a little lighter, but at least we didn't have to replace the whole system. I can work in relative comfort again.

The bad news is that after another trying day with Katie on the schoolwork front I have had to re-address my approach with her. It looks like in keeping with the exact opposite theme to Mary, I have to approach what I do with her totally different than I did Kindergarten with Mary. Katie is going to need a much more traditional, arts & crafts/game kindergarten than Mary needed or wanted. How much more energy/set-up time is that all going to take out of me. The one good thing is that with some tweaking Emily, who wants to be involved should be able to participate with Katie in several of her projects.

I am going to have to do better with my weekends planning out Katie's week so that I don't have to set-up every single night. Combine this with the necessary science projects for Mary and there is a lot of pre-planning to do.

At least Mary seems to be flowing now. There was just something magical about her turning seven and her ability to 'do' schoolwork. I keep reminding myself about that with Katie. Before seven things need to be kept light and child-led, otherwise the kids definetly let me know in very unpleasant ways.

Some very pleasant things I just wanted to share are the amount of books being looked through and read around here lately. My reading phobic child has finally found something that makes her want to just sit and read, well actually two things: Joke Books and some illustrated, abridged classics I found cheap. At this point anything that makes her want to pick up a book. It is a wonderful feeling to walk into a room and see her curled up in a chair with a book. Even better is the feeling when she is following me around the house reading knock-knock jokes to me. Katie has joined in on the fun too. She isn't reading, but the past few days I am finding her curled up flipping through picture books and her collection of ocean life books. This morning I went in to wake the girls up and she was laying awake in her bed looking through "Ocean Biome".

I better get back to my paper plates. I just wanted to stop in and share. If you miss me I'm probably cutting something out or surfing the web for free Kindergarten activity ideas.

Peace,

Amy