The beginning of our school year proved way more low-key in 2012 than in years past . . . to start off with, I didn't redecorate the classroom to a new surprise theme. We hardly used the room last year, so I figured we would enjoy it this year instead :)
I also have learned a few lessons myself, namely . . . teach the same thing to different levels and everyone is happy (it is possible, and it is wonderful! Only took my five years to figure it out, right? :) Another important lesson--don't start all the subjects at once, ease in, don't overwhelm. We've had fewer tears this year than any of the others, school gets completely finished each day, so I don't feel like we're playing catch-up, and they are enjoying it! Whoo-hoo!
One fun project, while studying Columbus, was making oragami paper boats. This wasn't part of the curriculum, but they needed something to do while I was reading the history stuff to them. I may have created a monster . . . a construction paper, boat-building monster . . . :) Caelan loved this project and folded dozens of boats! In fact, we had so many boats, that "we" decided to float them in the sink to see if they would, er, sink! It took some work, but the addition of Legos seemed to speed the process along. Until all the soggy paper boats sailed onto the floor and the Legos took over the "ocean." When things began to splash out of control, I called for a clean up.
The Legos went wet back into the containers, which is an important note for my next story. A story that really has nothing to do with school, but I'm throwing it into this post anyway. It's called: The Mystery of the Peed-on Legos.
Intrigued aren't you?
So, we were spending a rainy day at home and had a little time after school wrapped up for the day. I decided to invite the kids to play Ticket to Ride with me (a fun board game). The girls agreed. As we were finishing up our game, it became snack time. Buck was in the garage getting the van ready to haul beef, the boys were amped about snack, I was adding up train scores, and the volume in the room kept growing louder. Somewhere in the midst of all this the boys announce, "The Lego bucket smells like pee." Assuming it was the wet Legos from the sink trapped under the lid, I opted to investigate later . . . and then forgot. Until 10:30 or so rolled around and I was getting ready to go to sleep. Then the words, "Lego bucket smells like pee," came drifting back to me.
I retraced my steps to the boys' room and grabbed the VERY full bucket of Legos . . . when I popped the lid off, I just about tossed my cookies, there was an unmistakeable potty smell drowning those treasured little plastic blocks.
Into the kitchen they went, filled the bucket with dishsoap (twice), added water, shook to form suds, rinse repeat. THEN out came the Clorox (three times), shake, rinse, repeat. 15 minutes later, the everything smelled disinfected, so I went to bed.
The next morning I asked the boys, neither of whom could remember or would confess to having done this. I honestly mostly believed them, but obviously SOMEONE used the bucket as a toilet. "Maybe Chauncey?" (sure, blame it on the dog). "Maybe a robber broke in the house and HE peed in the Lego bucket." An interesting theory, but I'm skeptical . . . basically, they were throwing out possible explanations to get their Legos back . . . Legos that were in "time out" until the truth be told.
As the day went on, I found myself in a conundrum . . . neither boy seemed to remember what happened, and didn't seem to be covering each other's tracks. But what if they were? Should I return the toys and reward their deceit? Or wait for a confession, which Graysen eventually gave, "Mom. I did it." Why? "Well, maybe I didn't want Brennen to build?" Hmmm, shakey reasoning, and he didn't even seem to believe himself. So, do I reward the deceit of a false confession? What's a mom to do?
A mom is to wait.
Sure enough, the next night I hear crashing coming from the boys room. Graysen is in the corner, next to a box of Matchbox cars, trying to find a place to "go." I lead him to the bathroom, where he takes care of his business. Then I walk out, expecting my tired little buddy to follow me. He does not. I walk back into the bathroom to check on him and find him . . . in the shower!! Just kind of wandering around in confused circles. So I get him out of the shower and start steering him back to bed. He heads toward our room instead of his own, so I steer him again in the right direction. Allthewhile, I knew the Legos were being returned that night.
Graysen was the culprit (not a robber or our pet) and he didn't remember it because he was basically asleep! Feeling more impressed that he hadn't peed on my carpet, than upset that I had to bleach the Legos (which, let's be honest, probably needed the bath in the first place) and my mommy mystery of the day was solved with a positive outcome. Whew! :)
The beginning of our school year proved way more low-key in 2012 than in years past . . . to start off with, I didn't redecorate the classroom to a new surprise theme. We hardly used the room last year, so I figured we would enjoy it this year instead :) 
One fun project, while studying Columbus, was making oragami paper boats. This wasn't part of the curriculum, but they needed something to do while I was reading the history stuff to them. I may have created a monster . . . a construction paper, boat-building monster . . . :) Caelan loved this project and folded dozens of boats! In fact, we had so many boats, that "we" decided to float them in the sink to see if they would, er, sink! It took some work, but the addition of Legos seemed to speed the process along. Until all the soggy paper boats sailed onto the floor and the Legos took over the "ocean." When things began to splash out of control, I called for a clean up. 
The Legos went wet back into the containers, which is an important note for my next story. A story that really has nothing to do with school, but I'm throwing it into this post anyway. It's called: The Mystery of the Peed-on Legos. 
So, we were spending a rainy day at home and had a little time after school wrapped up for the day. I decided to invite the kids to play Ticket to Ride with me (a fun board game). The girls agreed. As we were finishing up our game, it became snack time. Buck was in the garage getting the van ready to haul beef, the boys were amped about snack, I was adding up train scores, and the volume in the room kept growing louder. Somewhere in the midst of all this the boys announce, "The Lego bucket smells like pee." Assuming it was the wet Legos from the sink trapped under the lid, I opted to investigate later . . . and then forgot. Until 10:30 or so rolled around and I was getting ready to go to sleep. Then the words, "Lego bucket smells like pee," came drifting back to me.
Into the kitchen they went, filled the bucket with dishsoap (twice), added water, shook to form suds, rinse repeat. THEN out came the Clorox (three times), shake, rinse, repeat. 15 minutes later, the everything smelled disinfected, so I went to bed.
A mom is to wait.
