Thursday – 1/2 work day
4:30 up with intention of attending a 5:30 Ultimate class. Crank out blog post.
5:10 hear G screaming. NOOOOO! Josh had come home super late so I was not going to ask him to jump in (plus, with her still nursing, she usually wants me in these situations. Fortunately or unfortunately). I feed her and by the time she is settled back down it is 5:40. Too late for the class.
5:45 thank goodness for Beachbody! I still find the whole MLM concept rather skeevy but man – they are some convenient and good workouts. Dirty 30 – check (8-12 lb weights, as per usual). 2 mile run (because the Ultimate class would have had running too!) – check.
6:40 shower (all kids still asleep)
7:00 get everyone up (G is starting to wake up on her own; A&C still asleep). Breakfast with kids. School runs x 2 (didn’t want to leave C out on my day off).
8:40 set up and do podcast recording session! Episodes #90 and #91 complete, and I have to say they are good ones. I don’t always feel entirely in the ‘flow’ when podcasting, but these sessions felt very natural and I think they are strong ones for us. (Teaser – one is on Weekends Revisited and the other features a guest from the Netherlands!).
Minor hiccup when my laptop screen breaks just before starting. It’s not pretty, but it’s still functional. I am typing this on ~70% of my screen. Thankfully it’s a fairly big screen. This is a 2015 MacBook Pro that otherwise still works perfectly so I am likely going to pay for a repair (unless it’s over $500) to get a year or two more out of it.
During all of this, our nanny took G out of the house because she is not happy when she can hear my voice but not access me!
11:45 podcast recordings & mini-planning-meeting complete! Whew. Eat chicken curry for lunch.
12:15 dive into preschool forms for G for next year.
12:45 give up on forms for the time being (SO. MANY. FORMS.) and drive to work.
1:15 patients, calls, etc. Plus 5-10 minutes scheduling Apple Store appointment for Saturday to get repair estimate.
5:15 drive home (podcasts listened to: Happier + Freakonomics, which was about Spotify and totally fascinating). Grab photo from Walgreens on way (they have very convenient same day ordering). Marvel at how a stop at Walgreens somehow took 25 minutes in Miami Beach (crowded, hard to park, hard to get there, lines) but approximately 3 minutes here.
5:45 home. Help C with his project (ie, tell him every letter to write). Feel very annoyed about this project. I contemplated skipping it but didn’t want to hurt the teacher’s feelings. They also hand out a packet of weekly homework, none of which he is really capable of doing independently. For this and other reasons, I am sending G to a different preschool. (On the up-side, his main teacher is very nice and does a lovely job and C seems happy! It hasn’t been terrible. It just isn’t quite my style).
(Told him letter by letter to write – he knows the letters, his name, and the words “cat” and “car” but that’s about it at this point, just to be clear)
Both kids do piano for 5-10 minutes (though they are less eager than the past 2 days).
7:00 G bedtime routine
7:15 dinner while kids watch show (still on Vampirina kick)
7:45 big kid bedtime routine
8:30 big kids in bed
8:45 pass out. I do not usually go to bed this early multiple nights in a week but I was insanely tired. I think I read 1 page of my book.
Totals:
Blog & podcast – 3.5 hrs (a lot, because it was a recording day)
Work – 4 hrs
Kid time – 4.5 hrs (counting the 30 min that A&C were watching TV – so 4 hrs without that)
Sleep – 8.5 hrs (catchup, I guess!)
Exercise – 60 min
Non-hobby-related-relaxation/leisure – 60 min (really just lunch & dinner time, during which I read blogs on my phone, continuing to avoid instagram!)
Driving – 60 min (while listening to podcasts)
7 Comments
Argh, this homework kills me! It’s work for the parents! My nursery is doing an educational push that you have a right to keep your kid in nursery for an extra year (here in the UK, kids start between 4.5 and 5.5) and part of me thinks that another year of play-based, outdoor heavy education sounds like a great idea. The other part thinks that I wouldn’t willingly pay enormous fees for another year.
As a former educator I have to strongly agree with you that the homework seems very annoying and not developmentally appropriate for a child in preschool… unless they expect you to do the writing for them. It’s great that you still made the effort but for me that would also be a big negative for the school.
I haven’t commented before but had to comment on this…I have a PhD in Developmental Psychology and research practices teachers can use to support school readiness (and actually work for a preschool curriculum developer). I can tell you that homework for preschoolers and this assignment are pretty inappropriate. I totally get not wanting to hurt the teacher’s feelings, but she should also have better training in how children learn (play-based, activities that are meaningful to children, not pushing children to do something they are not ready for, etc.). Hope this helps in making you feel even more validated in your misgivings about this situation.
It does 🙂 as I said … we are not sending anyone back to this school next year. C will be in public K and I found a different school for G that I like much more. At least from what i could tell from their info and tour!
Wow that’s a lot of homework for PreK. Our daycare used to do that with G toward the end of the year, but we just didn’t do it. Although, whenever G had a project like this, I would have him tell me his answer, then I would write it out and he would copy. So much less work and very independent.
I’ve not gone off instagram but I’ve been more mindful of my time on it! My lab moved to a new space and I got an office space in the main office with two PIs and two secretaries, so I feel like I’m much more professional than when I was in the lab. So … I’ve been MUCH more productive! 🙂
I am really enjoying your day in the life posts! I admire how much you get done in a day.
I am in awe of the number of things you manage to pack into a day! I still feel Iike I’m running on empty trying to accomplish the bare minimum…and I have only one kid, and he’s two. Very inspiring! 😊