Monday, April 28, 2008

If You Give a Child a Worksheet

. . . or One Morning in Florida.


If you give a child an alphabet worksheet to color, he'll want a clipboard to go with it.

When he sees the clipboard, he'll want to take it outside.



Once he gets outside and has his baby sister settled near him, he'll notice that the neighbor's sprinklers are on. Of course, he has to get his head wet!



When he head is thoroughly soaked, he'll remember that the scooter is dirty. After washing the scooter, he'll see that riding it back and forth makes trails like the letter X. He'll write in the road for a while.



Sister gets all wet, too, and when she realizes that her towel looks "just like" the bride's dress from Saturday, they have to play wedding for a few minutes.



Then, the neighbor will come out, so the child takes her dog for a walk, while the neighbor holds the baby.



When he comes back from his walk, everyone will discover that a bird is building a nest in the oak. It's a Great Crested Flycatcher, which is new to all of us, so we have to read about it.



Seeing the bird bringing sticks makes the child want to play with one of his own. He finds a really big one, and since it has a nail poking out of it, Baba brings a hammer.



They work with the hammer for a long time, without success, and then switch to a screwdriver. Once they finally make progress there, the muddy clothes from the sprinklers are washed. Since the all-important pants were in there, and they have to be dry by naptime, Baba and the bride take the laundry to a friend's dryer.



The friend is the mother of Saturday's bride, so she donates a real veil! Now the wedding play moves to the backyard, where the child sees a butterfly.



That reminds him to check on his caterpillar. When you all run through the house to do that, you see that it's 10:00, so you put the baby down for a nap, and grab a snack. While the children are eating the snack, Baba gives them a bucket, and asks them to pick the rest of the little grapefruit for juice.



At this point, the camera battery runs out, but you keep going. As you supervise the grapefruit picking, you see that the kumquat tree is in desperate need of water, so you turn the water on for it.

That leads to more water and dirt play. When Grandda invites the children to run an errand with him, you quickly change their clothes and shoes and send them off.

By the time they get back, you're ready for lunch. As you bring them in, you hear, "But Mama, I wanted to color my letters!"


And all that is a very good representation of what a typical preschool morning is like in our family!

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

And, that is GREAT!! Love y'all! Baba Julie

Cindi said...

I love it! I don't comment often, but love reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

I loved the story! It's amazing how the time gets by, when all you set out to do was a worksheet!! I guess that's the way with most things.

Laura T. :)

Anonymous said...

And that demonstrates exactly why I consider you the most excellent mother!

Much love....

Sarah said...

Oh my! That was the cutest blog I have seen yet!!! I love it. You definitely captured the life of a preschooler rather well. =)

We are getting quite excited to see that the Hunsucker's are in Ukraine! Our children are counting down with you. They tell me it's okay if we don't adopt because we can still go to Ukraine to visit the Hunsuckers! :O)

Anonymous said...

what a fantastic post. loved it. Maya and i are thinking of you guys as you make the big move.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your mom: You are "the most excellent mother"! And, thanks, too, for introducing me to new birds! I just looked at the Yellow Crested Flycatcher. Love it! Love y'all and anxious to see you again! Baba Julie

Mrs said...

What fun! The girls and I read and laughed, remembering our preschool days.

Kelly says, "Whenever I see Raia, I just want to get right down and play with her!"

:-)

Barb said...

This is wonderful and I would love to include it in the next CM carnival!

I have not read your blog in awhile and I was surprised to see you in FL! What a change for your family and your children.

Excellent, excellent.

Could you follow this link and submit it at the carnival site?
Thanks so much.
Barb

http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_2378.html

Leslie Noelani Laurio said...

Great post! I've linked it from my blog.

Meredith said...

So true!

I love these sweet rabbit trails with little ones.

Found you via Tim's Mom.

Anonymous said...

That is a great story! I've been reading your blog, and unfolding story. So glad you are back where you want to be.

Quiltmama from the shed.

Anonymous said...

What a fun day! I want to come spend the day at your house! :o)

Sherry

Spookygirl said...

That was GREAT!! And so like I want our life to be more like ;)

Anonymous said...

Too cute! And great learning, even if the worksheet did or didn't get done!

Jennifer Hoots said...

Thanks for sharing! What a fun time you all are having.
Jenn

Jessica said...

LOL, absolutely adorable. Sounds like a fun and crazy day as per normal I'm sure:)
Jessica

Jamie {See Jamie blog} said...

Loved your account of a fun and crazy day in the life of a homeschooler. Thanks for sharing!

Melissa said...

Oh, that almost sounds like our homeschool, except I have a 11 and 9 year old student! I could rewrite that filling in all sorts of nature study distractions! Oh and the little sister toddler distractions too. Thanks for a great giggle in reality! And the great thing is, they're learning lots!

Blessings,
Melissa
www.homeschoolblogger.com/melissal89

Gerky said...

And that is what homeschooling is all about! Excellent day!

Jenny B. said...

I loved your story. That's what homeschooling is all about!