Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

It is a rainy, blustery day here, which has me sitting inside planning. And thinking. Way to much. My current rumination of choice is how to avoid doing too much.

It is a conscious effort for me this year, avoiding over-scheduling. It isn't easy. Every option out there sounds wonderful! In this week already, I have had to turn down the opportunity to go to two different Halloween activities. Then there are the activities that come through our local homeschooling groups. There are so many! You could literally never be at home. I know, there are weeks when we aren't! Add to all the homeschool activities all the after school and evening activities for school-age kids. I view evenings as family time, so I limit those activities.

So I am being vigilant. But I feel guilty, too. What if I am skipping activities that my kids would find enriching? Are we attending enough activities so that they are making enough social connections? Should I just go to every activity I think my kids might possibly enjoy? What about the other stuff, ya know, like reading and math?

I don't remember there being this many options when I was young! Maybe my parents just did a better job of picking for us. I don't feel like I missed out, either. I didn't attend more than one or two theater productions in my elementary years (and I couldn't tell you what they were! Very memorable, no?) We probably went on two field trips a year. As a family we went to the zoo once or twice a year, maybe. We hit a few other sites, maybe one site a year. I know I have been to Fort Snelling more times in the last year and a half than I had been there in my entire life prior to that. And I did not feel deprived as a child.

Yet...

How do you choose? How do you avoid over-committing, especially when everyone around you seems to be doing so much more?

Let 'em run!

When you live somewhere that is cold in the winter, where snow is a way of life, where cold is sometimes too bitter to have the kids out long enough to wear off enough energy, you start looking for venues to let the kids run. I probably let my kids run in places others might not, but sometimes you just have to!

This weekend, though, they got to run in a space that was designed for it. We went to a paper airplane "fly in." They got to learn about airplanes, how to fold paper airplanes (though Kiddo has so many in his repertoire that he didn't really even stop at that table!), and then play some games with the planes, in addition to flying them about the large field house.

The best part, though, was the space to RUN! And run they did. Kutey seemed to think that the track oval was the best thing ever. She was in her own little world, running lap after lap, and loving every minute of it. All told, we figure she ran well over a half mile. For a not quite four-year-old, that is big!

Water Table Weather

A few years ago, I splurged and bought a Sand and Water table. I rarely buy my kids things like this fresh from the store. I prefer to get them gently used, they are just too expensive otherwise. But I saw this table in an ad and I thought it would be perfect! And it was marked way down at a discount store.

Once we got it set up, we realized that if we put sand in it there would be no way to move it. In addition, if you put sand in one half and water in the other, well, really, you were just going to have wet sand. That was not terribly appealing to me. Besides, I managed to pick up a Little Tikes sandbox for $2 on a garage sale, so we already had the sand part taken care of. Thus we wound up with a water table. Fortunately for me, my children LOVE a good water activity, and a water table is absolutely perfect for them. I am not sure what they would do if there was sand in half of it, to be honest.

It winters in the shed. The kids have been antsy about their summer toys, particularly Kutey, who has asked incessantly since January if Daddy has put up her pool yet. It won't be warm enough for that for a bit yet, but the water table seems to have satisfied both of them for the time being. We got it out yesterday. I haven't seen much of them at all today as they have been happily playing outside in the warm, fresh air, spilling as much water as they like.

As you can see there are many, MANY toys in it. Some of them were intended for the sandbox, and got sidetracked to the water table. Some of them were repurposed for it. Their favorites are the small boats, the water wheels, and the plastic medicine droppers.

Valentine's activities

Here are some links to some fun Valentine's Day activities and crafts!

• Jan Brett's Valentine's selection
• Family Fun's Valentine's section
• Activity Village Valentine's printables and crafts (including this neat origami heart)
• Teacher planet stuff
• Crayola's Valentine's Day offerings
• A Backyardigan's Maze
• DLTK's Valentine's page
• Kaboose's bounty

Here is a bit about the history of Valentine's day (the kid version):

• From Kaboose
• From Teachnet, (with activities)
• From The History Channel

Enjoy!