Sweet Doodle

Well, thanks for asking! LOL!

It’s actually going really, really well, but the reason I haven’t written this post before now is because it’s taken us until very recently to find our groove. (The flu might have played a part in that taking even longer than I expected.)

We actually made some pretty drastic changes this month to the way we spend our day, and those have made a huge difference. Now, we get up, do morning chores and eat breakfast, and then we head straight upstairs to the loft/playroom and spend the morning up there. I had Sean build a makeshift table when I first came up with the idea, so we read on the couch and then move to the table for our workbooks.

Benefits of doing it this way:

:: The downstairs living area stays clean and straight! YAY!

:: Sweet Doodle can easily move between sitting at the table with us and playing with toys, so she’s not nearly as disruptive, which means I can pay attention to Monkey Doodle AND Pumpkin Doodle so that neither feels left out. (It helps that they both have started taking a much more independent approach to their workbooks where they don’t want as much help.)

:: I don’t get distracted by things I need to do around the house during school because we’re “isolated” in the loft.

:: When I put Sunshine Doodle down for a nap downstairs, I don’t have to worry about 3 little hooligans waking her up.

:: The girls can get out new toys and put the old ones away much more easily since they don’t have to drag them up and down the stairs.

:: Did I mention my downstairs stays clean and straight?

Moving upstairs has made our whole day feel more intentional and less chaotic. We still haven’t quite figured out a rhythm for the afternoons, but we’ve been spending our mornings up there for the past week-and-a-half, and it’s had a big impact on everyone’s attitude and our ability to focus on school each day.

As far as the nitty gritty, I’m still having trouble fitting in formal language arts. Pumpkin Doodle writes and makes up stories regularly on her own, so I’m not too worried about it, but I would like to incorporate more dictation and copy work, at least a couple times a week.

Overall, I feel good about where we are. We may need to do a little bit of catching up in the New Year since we ended up taking 2 months off, but we’re all enjoying it, and I think that’s what matters most at this point!