This Week: Goods and Bads

  We play a game most nights during dinner called "Goods and Bads".  Each person (right now it's just me, D, and Sky- the other two don't have much to add yet!) takes a turn to share something good and bad that happened during their day.  D and I started doing this earlier in the year to help us curb the constant corrections that come with teaching small children to eat and to encourage dinner conversation that was actually a conversation.  Sky loves telling us what she did at school and it's been really good opportunity for her to process through her day.  I like that it teaches the kids to take turns listening and gives them a chance to hear about what D and I do during the day.
 Since it's working out so well at home, I thought I'd give a weekly version of  Goods and Bads a try here.  Like Sky, maybe it will help me process the highs and lows in my week- let me relive the goods and think about how to do the bads better next time.  Without further ado, let Our Charmed Life : Goods and Bads begin!

 
 
Goods
 
   Sky and I are back to homeschooling after taking a Christmas break.  We both needed one since she was getting frustrated with the work and I was getting frustrated with feeling like I was teaching her the same thing over and over.  We've started back into it this week and it's going great.  I'm going to go easier on the teaching part and trying to do a better job of planning things to keep it fun.  We've also instituted "shake breaks" where we both get up from the table and shake like crazy people.  The housekeeper thinks we are actually crazy people but it's working.
 
 
This boy is EATING!  Not just that, he's eating baby food that I made myself and he's loving it.  He eats two to three tablespoonfuls at every feeding is already trying to grab the spoon.  So far we've tried yellow and orange sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocado, blueberry puree (with rice cereal), carrots, and black beans.  The carrots upset his tummy but everything else has been a hit.  Last night I cooked up and froze and a bunch more food including some new things to try: acorn squash, cauliflower, peas, mangoes, and peaches.  Hurray for eating healthy and saving money!
 
 
Bads
No cute pictures for this one, just a mama-fail to admit to.  Both the kids and I had trouble with the days off in the middle of the week thanks to the holidays but since I'm the grown up, I should have handled it better.  I won't go into the details but there screaming and tantrums on both sides.  Next year, there will be less TV, more scheduled family time, and pre-arranged playdates.  A failure is only a failure if you don't learn from it, right?
 
 
How was your week?  Any big successes already this year?  Or did something happen that you wish you could differently, like me?
 
 
 
 
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Comments

  1. Your family is so beautiful! I am also making my own baby food and we are having such a great time- I can't get over all the things these babies will eat- it makes me so happy. This week I'm planning on making swiss chard, parsnips and pears. You're giving me some excellent ideas from this post :)

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    1. Thanks Jessy. It makes me ridiculously happy too when the baby eats the food I make- he was happy-screaming over peaches last night :)
      I checked out your blog and I'm going to stop back over today. I want to see how you make spinach and see what else you do that I haven't started yet.
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I'm way past the baby food stage (my daughter is 14) but I wanted to comment on your bad list. We have always been somewhat flexible with our homeschooling. I do understand the less TV thing, but the way we have always worked "inconvenient" school weeks is to put my daughter either listening to audio books, or playing educational games online. That way she still gets to learn, but she also gets to have fun, and it keeps us from getting too far off track. We like Learning Games for Kids for all kinds of educational games. Games also present a different way of reviewing so that you don't feel like you are teaching the same thing over and over. If you don't like online games, try making up same games like the bean-bag toss game, or hopping on one foot while practicing spelling or math facts. It changes things up a bit and keeps it fun! Best of luck homeschooling!

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    1. Thanks for the tips, Linda. I'll check out the learning games. Sky loves to break up school with things like that. We've tried "Teach Your Monster to Read" but it was a little to easy for her. I need to find one that works on sight words and sound blending. Audio books are a great idea too- I bet Sky would love those, especially if they were on my tablet.

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  3. Thanks for linking up with #MommyReality! I learned -through trial and error and just plain experience - how important it is that I plan playdates or activities for my kids over the Winter Break. Otherwise, we are usually fighting and picking on each other by New Year's simply out of boredom and lack of routine! And, even though they are now 11 and 8 and I plan lots of stuff to do, we STILL fall back into fighting. So we're not perfect. But we do better each year. By college, I'll have it down! :)

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    1. This happens every time we get off our schedule- you would think I would know by now but every time we have crazy kids on a day off it surprises me! Maybe now that I've written about it, I'll remember to plan ahead?
      Thanks for sharing- it's nice to know I'm not the only one!

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  4. Thank you for posting to Motivation Monday!

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