school, routines, figuring it all out

Yesterday, I studied Charlize's class schedule for a few minutes and decided I wasn't very happy with it.

Out of 3 hours, they only have 20 minutes of 'lessons'.

Twenty minutes of 'circle time- stories, songs, and lessons.

The rest of the day is free play, snack time, toileting and washing hands, essentially.

I was questioning whether this school was the best thing for her.

But today, I arrived a little later than usual, and I changed my mind.

There are more adults in the classroom than I had realized.

And during freeplay, they go around to the kids and play with them, direct them, point things out.

And Charlize is 4.

She's learning her letters and letter sounds here at home.

I feel like she already knows most of what she will need to know for kindergarten, anyway.

The main point of me wanting her to go to preschool in the first place was for socialization and to get her used to being away from me and playing well with other kids.

So, now I feel a lot better about the situation.

Charlize's teacher mentioned this morning that they have an infant-toddler class also, and that I should talk to the coordinator about possibly getting her into that.

The toddler class is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, same hours as Charlize's class, 830 till 1130.

That would be awesome.

Liliya would really enjoy it, I have no doubts.So I'm going to talk to her and see what I can do and if there's even a possibility.

It would be wonderful.

Other than that, Rayce's open house is tomorrow at 6.

I had forgotten it was this week, so we'll have to leave Jada's birthday party early :o(

But I'm really looking forward to it anyway.

To seeing what he's been up to and talking to his teacher about how he's really doing, since I never get any info out of him after school.

I told Holden and Dante's mom yesterday that I was gonna have to start taking them every other weekend instead of every weekend.

I just don't have enough time with 'less' kids to get things done and have any tiny amount of time for myself.

I babysit 5 days a week, sometimes just Melissa but sometimes Jake, Jonathan, Jeremiah...

I'm overwhelmed.

I babysit because I need the money, because I'm stuck at home and can't do anything out of the house.

So, for now, every other weekend it is, and once during the week.

I'm thinking that when I have them for the weekend, during that week I'll take them Thursday.

Then the weekend following the Thursday will be an off weekend.

Then I'll take them Monday after the off weekend.

To keep the number of days in between visits more regular.

It'll be longer in between.

But I have to do what's best for everyone here, and I've been so overwhelmed lately that I haven't even really enjoyed any of the kids very much.

That's not fair to them and it's not fair to me.

All in all, things seem to be going really well and I'm excited about that.

We're figuring things out, falling into routines, and everyone is relatively happy and healthy.

What more could I ask for?

:o)