Fun Cards!

Fun Cards!

Lately, I've been getting stressed out. Being a stay-at-home mom is HARD. At least for me.  Add to that being my children's primary teacher, I have now at least doubled my stress and expectations.  In addition, I don't always have a lot of patience. To top it off, I haven't slept through the night in over 8 months! I am one tired and cranky mama sometimes! 

This past week my son was really getting to me. He was having a difficult time listening to me and doing what I asked him to do. It seemed like all week he just wanted to argue with me which is not something I tolerate. Therefore, he was constantly getting into trouble. I know in his heart he doesn't want to make me mad but at the same time I felt like that was exactly what he wanted to do. I needed to change something as I was getting very irritated and tired of giving him consequences that clearly were not making a difference. 

Busy making some Fun Cards!

After reading some about positive disciplining, I decided I needed to change my focus and focus on the good things he was doing. I also needed to bring out more positives in him. In the past, when I've done this, it has worked very well. My problem is, in the heat of the moment it's hard for me to come up with something to do together that will get a positive reaction from him. I decided to make something called Fun Cards. I'm hoping to use this throughout our kindergarten year and in future years. My goal is to have a list of things I can literally draw from that can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes to do with him. I bought some blank index cards I was planning on using for vocabulary words but I felt this project was more important. One of my biggest reasons for homeschooling is I want to reach the hearts and minds of my children. I want them to look back on their childhood and have no doubt that their parents loved them and cared for them. Childhood should be a time for learning, growing, and having fun. Once I started creating these fun cards, Blue Rock quickly came and joined me and wanted to make them too. He didn't even know really what I was doing but I gave him some blank cards and he wrote words, letters, and drew pictures and had fun! 

One of the Fun Cards he made!

In addition to the Fun Cards, I also made Field Trip Cards of things I want to do this coming year. I'm naturally a getter done type person who has a hard time letting things go. Yet, I'm also eclectic and am open to other ways of learning and teaching.  I'm trying to be more relaxed and realize that sometimes my children will do better and learn more when I stop reading and stop schooling and we get out of the house and do something fun together.

My plan is to do at least one fun thing together everyday. If we start having lots of tension or we just need a break and I need an idea, we will pull a card from our Fun Cards and do the activity.  When we need to take some time off, we'll pull a Field Trip Card. Some of our field trips will take place on the weekend so my husband can come. Others we'll call up a friend or just go with the three of us. I'm hoping this small addition to our daily routine will reap huge blessings on our family. The heart of my fun cards is spending quality time doing something fun with my children. 

This is what I have so far for our Fun Cards and Field Trip Cards.

Fun Cards:

Jump on the Trampoline, Play Hide and Seek, Play in the Backyard, Eat Ice Cream (this can be at home or out), Ride Bikes, Write and Mail and Letter to a Friend, Bake Cookies, Play a Game, Work in the Garden, Play a Card Game, Read a Book Together, Go to the Park, Play in the Sand, Draw a Picture Together, Watch a Show Together, Go on a Nature Walk, Make Play Dough, Practice Gymnastics Together, and Blue Rock's Choice.  

Field Trip Cards:

Visit the Fountains Downtown, Museum Day, Take a Train Ride, Visit the Fire Station Museum, Visit the Water Gardens, Zoo Day, Visit a Farm, Invite Friends Over for a Holiday Party, Go Camping, Visit Sea Life, and Visit the Cowgirl Museum.  I'll also add Botanical Gardens, take a Ghost Town Tour, and several other things as I think of them.

Blue Rock's Fun Cards:

I'm not sure what all of his cards are so we'll wait until he wants to pick one of his cards and he can tell me then! I just love his creativity and want this to be something fun we do together.  He did make an ice cream card and brought it with us on our family date night last night. He wanted to show everyone his ice cream card and was hoping that would pay for his treat! The ice cream card says DOD and has a picture of an ice cream cone.