Thursday, May 12, 2011

New Organizing Technique

I have a contrary daughter. I can't figure out where she got it from (ha! Mom will clear up *that* confusion in a heartbeat!)
So just telling her what happened, and when, wasn't going to work.
It was time to re-think things!

I made little square badges for each thing we cover over a week's time...one square for "math," one for "Right Into Reading" page(s), etc. There are 5 colors of squares. They're all laminated and (will) have velcro on the back.
Then I made up five laminated sheets of large paper, and have the day written on the top of each one. There are 12 velcro backs on each paper (um, confession; I didn't count to see how many squares we'll use in an average week. I'm hoping less than 60!)
At the beginning of the week, I'll pull out the appropriate squares of what's in the syllabus for the week, and give her the box of squares. She can then choose what she wants to do, and when. If she wants to do all the crafts one day, she can. If she's in the mood to sit and listen to me read, she can.
There are a couple "help mommy" squares in there too!
When she finishes all of one color that week, she can choose one of the yellow squares, on which are written fun things we don't do often. I haven't decided yet if those will be randomly chosen, or if she can read them all and decide. There are pros and cons to both. (they're things like "rearrange a room," "color with markers," "make cookies," "get a toy out of the attic," etc)

When the last square for the week is done, she'll get something else. Those are slightly "bigger" prizes, like rearranging a room. Good thing we enjoy the organizing!

I'm hoping today is a sign that this is going to work well, because we've had an awesome day so far! I'm very encouraged and excited.

2 comments:

  1. lol....I thought my daughter was the only contrary one in the world. :) Glad to hear I'm not alone! What a good way to organize. We do something similar here but aren't using it much at the moment. We're just wrapping up preschool quickly because I'm so excited to start Animal Worlds with her....so organization is out the window, it's a free for all at the moment.

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  2. Sorry that your daughter is contrary too. It's hard, isn't it? I figure, Jasmine's broken us into parenting, so it only make sense that she's breaking us into school as well!
    I hope the Animal Worlds goes well! That's exciting!!

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