Morning Time

I've mentioned that we don't have a lot of structured learning time for our preschool this year, but there is one thing I do structure, and that's our morning time. I learned about the concept of "morning time" from Pam Barnhill, and the basic idea of it is that it's a time you have dedicated each day to learning that the whole family does together. I'm only teaching one kid (although Sierra certainly likes to find ways to be part of it!), so I see it as my opportunity to add just a little structured learning time into our day so I do the things that are most important to me.

Our morning time is probably only ten minutes long at the most, which I think is good for this age. I only include things that Rhonda and I both enjoy, so that she's always excited to have morning time. I do usually try to do it in the mornings after breakfast, although we sometimes end up doing it at other times of day. For Rhonda, I think she just views it as a special time that we get to snuggle up and do something together, which we don't always get at other times.

This is what our morning time looks like right now:

1. Primary song. I'm just going through the Primary songbook and singing the ones I know in order, so that I never get bored singing the same one. I used to try to teach Rhonda a song, but she doesn't like to be required to sing, so now I just sing to her.

2. Prayer. I noticed that, like most little kids, she would often say the same things over and over again in prayers, so now before we pray we plan the prayer together. I ask her, "What do you want to say thank you for?" and "Who do you want to say please bless?" She does often say the same things and the same people, but I try to encourage her to think of different things and people sometimes. I give her the chance to say the prayer, and if she doesn't want to then I say what we planned together.

3. Poem. I read the day's poem aloud from A Poem for Every Day of the Year. It's not a kids' collection of poems, but I think it's great for kids to hear beautiful language in poetry even if they don't really understand it. (I think kids' poems can be great too, but I'm personally really enjoying this collection so it's a great daily ritual for me, too!)

4. One page from the Illustrated Stories from the Book of Mormon. I read her one page and then ask her to tell me one thing she remembers from the story. Sometimes she needs a lot of help remembering something, but I try to challenge her to think of just one thing (I don't think it's a problem of memory or attention, just the challenge of putting it into words). Then I'll usually go back and re-tell the part of the story again in my own words. I think she often doesn't understand the stories very well the first time so she likes the repetition.

5. A Spanish word from Spanish At Home. I read out one Spanish word and a phrase with the word in it. I'm not trying very hard to teach Spanish (I'm not willing to dedicate the time or money to that currently), but I'm trying to incorporate it into our day whenever I remember. (Which isn't very often, but at least I'm reading one word a day!) Sometimes Rhonda repeats the word, but I don't require her to.

If Sierra is cooperating, I try to have a half hour of reading time right after morning time. We've been reading Magic Tree House books lately and Rhonda is really into them! I started just reading one chapter a day, but she's been insisting we read several chapters at a time and today we actually ended up reading the entire book because she never wanted me to stop. It's exciting to start being able to read chapter books with her! What are your favorite chapter books for younger kids?

As you can imagine, it can occasionally be challenging to do morning time with a toddler running around. Usually I'll pull out a puzzle or our little keyboard--something that can occupy her for a few minutes of time. I also think consistency has really helped; the more we've done morning time with Sierra around, the better she's become at entertaining herself for a few minutes.

I've experimented with adding other things to our morning time, but this is what works for us right now. I plan to add more in September. It's important to me right now that Rhonda really enjoys our morning time and that we have an opportunity to ease into "school." I've learned that it works best for Rhonda if I don't require her to do very much. My only true requirements are that she listens, and that she's reverent during the prayer. Obviously, this will change as she gets older. She's definitely the sort of child who prefers to observe, and I want to give her space to do this and not make morning time stressful for her. It's a time that we both love and value in our day.

May Highlights

May was a really fun month for us! At the end of April, Mom and Dad came to visit us. We went to see Hamilton, fulfilling a major dream for me. We had lots of other adventures, including a bread and chocolate tour of Dallas and taking the kids to parks, libraries, and bookstores all over town.

After my parents went home, we took a weekend trip to Utah for a family wedding. We also got to visit the Pralls. We loved seeing family and the kids had a great time. Doug got to be a groomsman in the wedding and he gave a great toast and had a lot of fun.

Toward the end of May, it really started feeling like summer! Our neighborhood pool opened, and we also got out the backyard unicorn pool, which the kids have loved.

For Memorial Day, we went out to Tyler State Park with some friends. We swam in the lake and had a potluck lunch. I had a major planning fail and didn't bring swimsuits! I'd assumed that the lake would have a shore, and that the kids would just wade out into it rather than actually swimming. Well, the lake was so high that it went all the way to the sidewalk, and there was no shore to speak of. It was more like a swimming pool. Thankfully, the park had a store nearby and we found swimsuits for us all. It was worth it! Rhonda had so much fun that she didn't want to leave. Sierra didn't really swim (we didn't have a swim diaper for her), but she had a blast running around.

May Cookies! I got to do three different cookies in May:

May Books! 

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman. I really liked this book about marriage and it made me really grateful for the marriage I have.

All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know about Getting and Spending by Laura Vanderkam. I was actually looking for a different book by Vanderkam at the library, but this was the only one they had and it piqued my interest. I liked the way it challenged the advice commonly given by finance experts. This book doesn't really give specific advice; it just offers different ways of looking at money in our lives.

Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire. I didn't enjoy this one much, although I did end up finishing it because it was so short, and I kept expecting it to get better. (The page count you see on Goodreads is misleading; a vast number of pages at the end were dedicated to the list of references. The page count of actual content was under 200.) It took me weeks to finish it, though. I couldn't quite figure out why the book was so boring, but I think I just don't like creativity being analyzed down into discrete categories of the "kind of person" who is creative. Much of the information wasn't really applicable to a creative person. Some of the chapters were just about the kinds of personalities that creative people tend to have--but you can't just change your personality to try to be more creative. Even that does sound like it would be interesting, but it just wasn't. I personally prefer a more mystical approach to creativity, because I think creativity is mystical. As much as these writers tried to convince me that they have creativity down to a science, I don't think modern science understands creativity nearly as much as these authors seem to think.

Emma by Jane Austen. I haven't read this book in years, and I was delighted to find that I still loved it even upon re-reading. However, I was more uncomfortable with certain things. I'm looking forward to discussing this with my book club next month.

No Doubt About It by Sheri Dew. I think Sheri Dew is such an amazing, inspiring person and I loved this book.

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson. This novel about the women who embroidered Elizabeth II's wedding dress is just as wonderful as I hoped it would be. It was also more serious than the subtitle would suggest; it is, after all, a post-World War II novel. But don't let that deter you! It was a great story. However, it is a novel--none of the main characters are based on real people, mainly because we know next to nothing about the real women who embroidered the dress.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I've been meaning to read this book for years and I absolutely loved it. That said, I'm not sure everyone would enjoy it. The story is very sad (for good reason). At times, the culture that Hurston is writing about is hard to understand. But it really made me think about our country and its past. I read it on paper, but if I would recommend to most people to try an audio version. Hurston writes all the dialogue in a strong dialect which was hard for me to get used to reading with my eyes.

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl. I love Ruth Reichl and was eagerly anticipating this memoir of her years as the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. This was such a fascinating read about the way she first completely revamped the magazine, then tried to save it in its final years. Reichl is an amazing writer and the way she tells this story makes me wish very badly that Gourmet were still around and I could subscribe to it. I think I want to be Ruth Reichl when I grow up.

This was a great reading month for me! All the great books I was reading kept up my momentum and I read a lot more than I usually do. Here's hoping I keep up the streak!