Spring Break - Day 1
Today was the first day of Spring Break: four kids at home all day, instead of one or two, twice as many kids to keep entertained all day, twice the mess. Today actually wasn't all that bad.
Last night I made a list of all the things I could think of that the kids could clean, wipe, dust, organize, sweep or wipe in the public areas of the house and then cut the list up into strips. I ended up with over forty items; most things could be done in five to ten minutes. Then I consolidated all the candy in the house to one large jar.
This morning during breakfast I explained what we were going to do. From 8 until 9 the kids could pull job strips from the bucket and do them. At the end of the hour, they could trade in their completed job strips (I had checked them for completion as they did them) for candy. I had intended to do some of the job strips myself, but ended up doing things that weren't on the strips, helping Joshua do his job strips and checking and instructing Hannah and John as they did their strips. At the end of the hour, Hannah got 10 candies, John got 6, and Joshua got 3. I gave Peter a few little candies for helping Joshua push the vacuum in the livingroom. The house looked pretty clean, and there are plenty of strips left for the rest of the week.
Once the work was done, I let the kids play. They watched SpongeBob movies most of the morning. By lunch time we were ready to do something fun, and we were going to go to the park for a picnic lunch when my visiting teacher called and reminded me that she was coming over in an hour. So we had a picnic on the lawn in front of the house instead. The kids didn't seem too disappointed. Hannah pretended the blanket was a raft.
I enjoyed the hour that my visiting teacher was here. She brought four of her own kids and all the kids played happily. While we sat in the living room talking, I watched as Hannah pulled the cushions off the couch, spread blankets on the floor, and otherwise messed up the room which had stayed pretty clean for almost five hours. Oh well. We'll clean it up again tomorrow.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in a flurry of giving my kids permission to be on the computer or go to friends houses, having friends come over here, helping Hannah make peanut butter cookies for dessert after FHE tonight, making dinner, and trying to watch a movie.
Steven had to work late tonight, so we ate dinner without him. He'll be home in time to eat his own dinner alone and join us for FHE before the kids' bedtime.
As I said, today wasn't bad, but am I going to be able to keep them entertained for the rest of the week?
Last night I made a list of all the things I could think of that the kids could clean, wipe, dust, organize, sweep or wipe in the public areas of the house and then cut the list up into strips. I ended up with over forty items; most things could be done in five to ten minutes. Then I consolidated all the candy in the house to one large jar.
This morning during breakfast I explained what we were going to do. From 8 until 9 the kids could pull job strips from the bucket and do them. At the end of the hour, they could trade in their completed job strips (I had checked them for completion as they did them) for candy. I had intended to do some of the job strips myself, but ended up doing things that weren't on the strips, helping Joshua do his job strips and checking and instructing Hannah and John as they did their strips. At the end of the hour, Hannah got 10 candies, John got 6, and Joshua got 3. I gave Peter a few little candies for helping Joshua push the vacuum in the livingroom. The house looked pretty clean, and there are plenty of strips left for the rest of the week.
Once the work was done, I let the kids play. They watched SpongeBob movies most of the morning. By lunch time we were ready to do something fun, and we were going to go to the park for a picnic lunch when my visiting teacher called and reminded me that she was coming over in an hour. So we had a picnic on the lawn in front of the house instead. The kids didn't seem too disappointed. Hannah pretended the blanket was a raft.
I enjoyed the hour that my visiting teacher was here. She brought four of her own kids and all the kids played happily. While we sat in the living room talking, I watched as Hannah pulled the cushions off the couch, spread blankets on the floor, and otherwise messed up the room which had stayed pretty clean for almost five hours. Oh well. We'll clean it up again tomorrow.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in a flurry of giving my kids permission to be on the computer or go to friends houses, having friends come over here, helping Hannah make peanut butter cookies for dessert after FHE tonight, making dinner, and trying to watch a movie.
Steven had to work late tonight, so we ate dinner without him. He'll be home in time to eat his own dinner alone and join us for FHE before the kids' bedtime.
As I said, today wasn't bad, but am I going to be able to keep them entertained for the rest of the week?
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