As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I am soliciting the help of our "village" and sending out a plea for parenting help and/or suggestions. Some of you know, we have been trying (unsuccessfully) to potty train the crowned princess of the House of Cockrell for months now... I'm not sure where we are going wrong; maybe I tried to start too early or maybe she's just a stubborn rat. Either way, Mark and I are getting desperate to figure out a way to potty train this girl. I think the last straw lately has been when she decides to take off her diaper and poop in the floor but screams and kicks us when we try to put her on the "big potty," or when she poops in the diaper, but then takes it off, lays it in the floor and pees on top of it. (This post probably will not put us in a great light as parents, but I'm laying it all out there so you know and understand the truth and gravity of the situation; to us this is serious people!!) You are probably wondering where I am when all this pooping and peeing is going on and I have to admit, I don't know! Maybe cooking dinner or switching laundry, getting a snack ready or unloading the dishes? Let me tell you, this girl is sneaky like a cat and she KNOWS when I am otherwise engaged and I truly believe she chooses the opportune (for her) moment to do her business and lately, try to get rid of the evidence (for example, trying to wipe the poop out of the floor with one of her brother's t-shirts...yes, that happened). I do not like to change diapers per say. However, I further dislike having to pick up a two-year-old's smeared poop out of my floor. I'd like to think the problem does not lie with us as parents, but I am afraid it might be so. So let me tell you what we've tried. We have tried Pull-Ups, she takes them off. We have tried putting her exclusively in pretty pink flowered panties, she also takes them off or pees and poops in them and then takes them off. We have tried offering rewards and clapping and literally having a small party in the bathroom when she does actually go on the toilet (once or twice a month). We have tried bribing her with getting to put on makeup if she goes on the potty (sad but true). We have tried simply watching her and rushing her to the potty when we know she has to go (this is usually when she kicks and screams). Our last good idea is to try to find a super-blingy potty chair, you know, the kind that play music and light up when you go in them... We are desperate people, depressingly willing to pay $30 for such a frivolous and outrageous parenting tool. But in our defense, would anyone enjoy cleaning up human poop out of their floor?? Anyway, to make a long and whiny story short, we are asking all of you to please let us know if you have an idea we haven't tried. The blingy potty is being bought this weekend and given to the princess at her birthday party Sunday (Oh, did I mention I tried telling her that all the real princesses used the potty??). Maybe it will work. Maybe she's just not ready. But I am pleading with the potty gods to please not make me clean up poop smeared with a t-shirt all over a wood floor, ever again.
On another note, we're also in the process of serious consideration of curriculum materials for our little scholar. He will be old enough for Kindergarten in the fall, but we aren't sure where exactly to begin with curriculum since we used a K curriculum for preschool this year... He has done so incredibly well with it. He is reading CVC words very well and sounding out many other words. We will finish our last chapter of the third book in the Mary Poppins series tonight and he is contemplating either having me read Harry Potter or reread the Ralph S. Mouse series next. He really excels in math and asks for extra math every day. Science is also his thing and nothing gives him more pleasure than to hunt for "nature" things to study and observe. He often does drawings of birds and animals he's seen in the yard or hiking at Mammy's. He has a pretty good rock collection started, not to mention his other collections, which include feathers, bugs, moths, clover, shells, bird nests.... You get the picture? So, our dilemma is this: we have an incredibly intelligent four-going-on-five-year-old who will not technically be old enough for Kindergarten until fall, but who is already reading and adding...but who also is still learning to share and take turns, who sometimes has to work hard at listening and minding and remembering to do his chores. He's a perfectly normal boy in other words who happens to be academically advanced and have reasoning and problem solving skills beyond his years. Our search is for a curriculum that meets his academic and intellectual interests and needs but is still at a level that holds his attention and is patient while he masters following directions and hones his fine motor skills... Our tentative plan right now is to try some diagnostic and placement tools to give us a more accurate picture of his abilities and grade level so we know where to begin with him next year. We are hoping to find curriculum that is hands-on, slightly advanced but not frustrating, and that gives us freedom to teach things not normally taught in kindergarten but that interest our scholar deeply such as the artwork of Claude Monet or the biography of Barnum Brown (the paleontologist who discovered T-Rex). We want to keep these things incorporated in his school to peak his interest and so he will understand that school isn't about worksheets or textbooks but about learning. And learning never stops. We don't learn to add numbers only because our textbooks says it's time to do so, but because how else will you know how many bones are in a T-Rex vertebrae if you can't add them up?? If you want to become a Park Ranger when you grow up (like he does) or be a wildlife specialist/conservationist and be on TV with Jeff Corwin but you don't know how to read a map, how will you find the animals you want to help!? Anyway, our educational philosophy if we had to choose one would be a mix of classical education (learning from the works of the masters such as Van Gogh, Monet, and composers like Bach or the scholar's favorite, Tchaikovsky, reading books like
Robinson Crusoe) and a philosophy I had never heard mentioned in my four years of college, but whom I found through my own research and the curriculum we chose for this past year; Charlotte Mason. Her belief was, "Education is a discipline, an atmosphere, a life." It was God centered and taught students the building blocks of the world through math and science, classic literature, artwork, and music, studied geography and cultures, all in order to give an understanding of the world around them and how God made it, as well as allow them to develop the faith, discipline, and basic intrinsic love of learning that would enable them to learn throughout their entire lives and become whole and moral human beings, caring and compassionate and educated. Sounds pretty good right?? So, if you know of any books, curriculum, texts, or websites that sound like they would align with those guidelines, let us know! We have our eye on a few, Language Lessons for Little Ones is one of my favorites, and we're considering Horizons Math with supplemental workbooks like Mathematical Reasoning A. We're planning on starting geography and life and environmental science, but haven't honed in on a reasonably priced but thorough curriculum. We'd love to find a good phonics program that doesn't bore us! If you know of one that uses real picture or chapter books to teach phonics, I desperately want to hear about it!! We are following Common Core Standards for the U.S. in language and math and our state standards in science and social studies. We have plenty of time, but as you can see, we're a little hard to please... We'd love your input and we'll definitely keep you posted how things go with all of this crazyness, from potty training to schoolwork! In the meantime, we are plugging along a day at a time and loving the little moments like when the little scholar told me the other day that, "Did you know? The rain makes it's own music sometimes." And last night when the crowned princess finally asked, "Please!" when she wanted a snack! Overall, life is good. Hope yours is too!!
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I am soliciting the help of our "village" and sending out a plea for parenting help and/or suggestions. Some of you know, we have been trying (unsuccessfully) to potty train the crowned princess of the House of Cockrell for months now... I'm not sure where we are going wrong; maybe I tried to start too early or maybe she's just a stubborn rat. Either way, Mark and I are getting desperate to figure out a way to potty train this girl. I think the last straw lately has been when she decides to take off her diaper and poop in the floor but screams and kicks us when we try to put her on the "big potty," or when she poops in the diaper, but then takes it off, lays it in the floor and pees on top of it. (This post probably will not put us in a great light as parents, but I'm laying it all out there so you know and understand the truth and gravity of the situation; to us this is serious people!!) You are probably wondering where I am when all this pooping and peeing is going on and I have to admit, I don't know! Maybe cooking dinner or switching laundry, getting a snack ready or unloading the dishes? Let me tell you, this girl is sneaky like a cat and she KNOWS when I am otherwise engaged and I truly believe she chooses the opportune (for her) moment to do her business and lately, try to get rid of the evidence (for example, trying to wipe the poop out of the floor with one of her brother's t-shirts...yes, that happened). I do not like to change diapers per say. However, I further dislike having to pick up a two-year-old's smeared poop out of my floor. I'd like to think the problem does not lie with us as parents, but I am afraid it might be so. So let me tell you what we've tried. We have tried Pull-Ups, she takes them off. We have tried putting her exclusively in pretty pink flowered panties, she also takes them off or pees and poops in them and then takes them off. We have tried offering rewards and clapping and literally having a small party in the bathroom when she does actually go on the toilet (once or twice a month). We have tried bribing her with getting to put on makeup if she goes on the potty (sad but true). We have tried simply watching her and rushing her to the potty when we know she has to go (this is usually when she kicks and screams). Our last good idea is to try to find a super-blingy potty chair, you know, the kind that play music and light up when you go in them... We are desperate people, depressingly willing to pay $30 for such a frivolous and outrageous parenting tool. But in our defense, would anyone enjoy cleaning up human poop out of their floor?? Anyway, to make a long and whiny story short, we are asking all of you to please let us know if you have an idea we haven't tried. The blingy potty is being bought this weekend and given to the princess at her birthday party Sunday (Oh, did I mention I tried telling her that all the real princesses used the potty??). Maybe it will work. Maybe she's just not ready. But I am pleading with the potty gods to please not make me clean up poop smeared with a t-shirt all over a wood floor, ever again.
On another note, we're also in the process of serious consideration of curriculum materials for our little scholar. He will be old enough for Kindergarten in the fall, but we aren't sure where exactly to begin with curriculum since we used a K curriculum for preschool this year... He has done so incredibly well with it. He is reading CVC words very well and sounding out many other words. We will finish our last chapter of the third book in the Mary Poppins series tonight and he is contemplating either having me read Harry Potter or reread the Ralph S. Mouse series next. He really excels in math and asks for extra math every day. Science is also his thing and nothing gives him more pleasure than to hunt for "nature" things to study and observe. He often does drawings of birds and animals he's seen in the yard or hiking at Mammy's. He has a pretty good rock collection started, not to mention his other collections, which include feathers, bugs, moths, clover, shells, bird nests.... You get the picture? So, our dilemma is this: we have an incredibly intelligent four-going-on-five-year-old who will not technically be old enough for Kindergarten until fall, but who is already reading and adding...but who also is still learning to share and take turns, who sometimes has to work hard at listening and minding and remembering to do his chores. He's a perfectly normal boy in other words who happens to be academically advanced and have reasoning and problem solving skills beyond his years. Our search is for a curriculum that meets his academic and intellectual interests and needs but is still at a level that holds his attention and is patient while he masters following directions and hones his fine motor skills... Our tentative plan right now is to try some diagnostic and placement tools to give us a more accurate picture of his abilities and grade level so we know where to begin with him next year. We are hoping to find curriculum that is hands-on, slightly advanced but not frustrating, and that gives us freedom to teach things not normally taught in kindergarten but that interest our scholar deeply such as the artwork of Claude Monet or the biography of Barnum Brown (the paleontologist who discovered T-Rex). We want to keep these things incorporated in his school to peak his interest and so he will understand that school isn't about worksheets or textbooks but about learning. And learning never stops. We don't learn to add numbers only because our textbooks says it's time to do so, but because how else will you know how many bones are in a T-Rex vertebrae if you can't add them up?? If you want to become a Park Ranger when you grow up (like he does) or be a wildlife specialist/conservationist and be on TV with Jeff Corwin but you don't know how to read a map, how will you find the animals you want to help!? Anyway, our educational philosophy if we had to choose one would be a mix of classical education (learning from the works of the masters such as Van Gogh, Monet, and composers like Bach or the scholar's favorite, Tchaikovsky, reading books like Robinson Crusoe) and a philosophy I had never heard mentioned in my four years of college, but whom I found through my own research and the curriculum we chose for this past year; Charlotte Mason. Her belief was, "Education is a discipline, an atmosphere, a life." It was God centered and taught students the building blocks of the world through math and science, classic literature, artwork, and music, studied geography and cultures, all in order to give an understanding of the world around them and how God made it, as well as allow them to develop the faith, discipline, and basic intrinsic love of learning that would enable them to learn throughout their entire lives and become whole and moral human beings, caring and compassionate and educated. Sounds pretty good right?? So, if you know of any books, curriculum, texts, or websites that sound like they would align with those guidelines, let us know! We have our eye on a few, Language Lessons for Little Ones is one of my favorites, and we're considering Horizons Math with supplemental workbooks like Mathematical Reasoning A. We're planning on starting geography and life and environmental science, but haven't honed in on a reasonably priced but thorough curriculum. We'd love to find a good phonics program that doesn't bore us! If you know of one that uses real picture or chapter books to teach phonics, I desperately want to hear about it!! We are following Common Core Standards for the U.S. in language and math and our state standards in science and social studies. We have plenty of time, but as you can see, we're a little hard to please... We'd love your input and we'll definitely keep you posted how things go with all of this crazyness, from potty training to schoolwork! In the meantime, we are plugging along a day at a time and loving the little moments like when the little scholar told me the other day that, "Did you know? The rain makes it's own music sometimes." And last night when the crowned princess finally asked, "Please!" when she wanted a snack! Overall, life is good. Hope yours is too!!
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