I am sure I am not the only one that gets this way since many of you are of the same mindset. I feel like I spend so much time and energy figuring out what to teach my daughter and what programs to use. I have to remind myself to relax and enjoy her. I need to find a better balance. Right now I am the planner and educator and daddy is the fun buddy. I guess I feel like the window of learning is short for so many things. I just found out about right brain learning and she is almost 2 1/2. Everyday feels like a cram session: LM, LR, LChinese, Tweedlewinks, and some Spanish DVD (reading amigo, little pim, or Speeke). When the day is done I feel guilty because I don’t know if we got enough physical activity in, or art, or music/pitch. Then when she goes to bed I am researching what to do with her next. I think I must be nuts!!!
I feel like my head is going to spin off!!! Any of you have any suggestions on finding more balance? How do you schedule your day to get it all in and still have some play time?
QueenKMommy,
That is exactly what on my mind these days… I can totally sign under your post.
I am working on creating our schedule… I will share when I have it.
I know exactly how you feel.It took me very long time to get to understand things about right brain education. My first language is not english so that slows everything down, then looking for the right material , there is nothing available here in my country so I had to make material myself. To be honest I am tired now of making things and also there is no way I can keep up with the speed my dd is learning. I also study myself so my free time is limited. Now I understand that I won’t be able to try all of the programs I wish to do.
When she was younger we had it all nicely set. Flash lessons in bed and LR,LM in living room before breakfast,some lessons in between and LR,LM before bed in the evening. Then we added another language and she is older and wants to do her things as well .Now there is no schedule I just do it when I see it could be the right time.
I am sure I will cover all of the areas other parents do but not all at the same time. I have put languages,reading ,art and math above other subjects like music (we sing and listen to music a lot but not classical :mellow: ) and encyclopedic knowledge for now. I started a blog and there I can see things I do with my dd and I know some people go and visit that blog so that inspires me to do things. We used to go swimming twice then once a week but now we changed it to first gymnastic class and she really enjoys it very much . So now I just make sure she is exposed to some sport activities once a week and also free children play with her friends once a week.We also eat healthy so everyday fresh cooking takes lot of time.
I don’t know how other parents fit it all in one day and I really hope you get lot of replies as I want to know myself lol .
I wish aangeles would answer how she does it as she is a huge inspiration to many of us. :yes:
Lelask,
I am so glad you mentioned that once they get older they want to do their own thing. That is exactly right. She wants to do the exact opposite of everything I want her to do. Everytime I try to do something with her she says, “Not today mommy!” That used to be funny but now it drives me nuts.
I find I can do a better job of educating when we stay home the whole day. That is tough because I organize a weekly playgroup and we do gymnastics, dance, and a kids music class. I feel like we need to do structured activities outside the home to make sure she has lots of social interaction. I also think it will get much easier when they are a bit older and don’t sleep as much. She still sleeps 12 hours at night with a 2-3 hour nap. That is great for giving me a little time but makes it even harder to get in all our activities.
Nadia,
I need to get a schedule. I will be glad to see what you post. I am going to try to get Soft Mozart added in each day but I have no idea when that will fit in.
I need to relax more and try to have some fun with all of this. It is nice to know that others have the same worries!
I know I can do it! I just need to organize us better.
Most of days we are at home, just go outside for an hour in the morning to the playground at our local park.
These trips to the park help us a lot as I have DD 2.4 and DS 9 month. I will definitely keep them.
The rest I need to think really good about… SM takes us about 5-15 min a day, so that one I will be able squeeze in.
The rest I am still thinking…
I will definitely post our schedule once it is done.
You guys are doing a lot for your children while I feel like I am not doing enough.
I only do 2 sessions of learning with my son. I do it before his nap and bed time. We sit together on his bed, and watch LR-English-Thai-French-EK, Reading Bear, and Math and repeat the lessons again when he goes to bed. We do some coloring and tracing here and there but I don’t really have a fix schedule. I am planning to teach him music. I have all the tools but don’t know how and when to begin.
I wish I could do more but my son also wants to do things he likes.
Sometimes at night when I am awake planning and making learning materials for what I will do the next day with my son I know I should be getting some rest myself. The best advice I got was to always make sure that your child is enjoying themselves and if they are showing signs that they are not interested then wait until they are interested. I have always tried to fix a weekly or even a daily schedule but since we are dealing with young children and not older students that schedule idea has now turned into lists for me. If I do not accomplish everything on the list I just make sure I do accomplish those lessons the next day. I do not have any set times. I just fit any lesson in at the most appropriate time.
I have a daily list of lessons that I want to accomplish everyday. LM, LR, Little Chinese twice a day (I can not wait to add Little Musician & Spanish), Art, Reading Bear (thanks DadDude!) YBCR & etc.
I have two lists for languages Spanish & Chinese which I usually alternate everyday we do lessons.
We do educational apps on his ipad daily.
We attend gymboree once a week and play outside depending on the weather.
My son can not get enough of flashcards and books. I have 6 brillkids binders in his reach and we go through all of them atleast three times a day it would be more but towards the end of the day I put them away because he wants to do them back to back and over and over again. We do one set of MonkiSee and one set of YBCR flashcards each day. He also plays with his flashcards alot on his own. He makes me read to him alot everyday. I get worried a little that he is not playing with his toys enough to gain other skills and isolate him from flashcards and books at times. The other day he was in his playroom and ran to the bedroom laughing I followed curious to see what was so funny before I turned the corner he was in the hallway carrying a BrillKid binder.
I do feel that I need more structure for music and can not wait for Little Musician and will start Soft Mozart when he turns two.
I have always tried to make his lessons fun and interesting but I think that Readeez(thanks Michael!) is the reason my son loves words like he does. My parents were shocked the other day at the mall we passed a sign and my son started getting mad until I went back, pointed (yes he makes me point under all words) and read the sign.
.Now there is no schedule I just do it when I see it could be the right time.