Mom vs. the Dot: Making it COUNT!

After a three-day stint of "holing up," I decided to brave going out into the world again. Well...it wasn't exactly a voluntary decision.  We were out of groceries. The break was so nice - we spent half a week visiting with relatives and opening Christmas presents, and the other half of the week resting at home and enjoying our presents.  I couldn't have asked for better.  And hubby had the week off.  Nice to have him home.  Days on end with no schedule, no appointments, no commitments - it was grand! And a little unnerving.  I felt so off-kilter not having our normal routine.  The kids sort of went crazy the first two days we took off of school, then they played endlessly at every relative's house with whichever children or dogs were available to play with. Hours and hours of Infinity 3.0 were logged (our 8-year-old's most-wanted Christmas gift).  The "twins" spent many hours on the iPad, playing computer games, and playing. ...

(Here my third grade daughter is helping her brother and sister with preschool/kindergarten reading) This summer, I searched for a fun  morning routine for homeschoolers, and I was surprised that I found none.  None at all.  Hmmm... So I began to think of what I wanted for our morning routine: 1. A "good morning" song 2. Praise and worship song (super fun) 3. Occasional devotions 4. Learning songs for my preschoolers 5. Pledge of Allegiance I discovered the JOY of Youtube, and I was off to the races. Here is an example of our morning routine.  We use more or less, depending on the time we have available on a particular day. Phil Joel - "It's A Good Good Good Good Good Good Morning!" By beginning with some fast-paced dance songs, the children dance around the room and get their blood pumping.  It's kind of like gym and music class at the same time.  I try to choose songs that scroll the lyrics so my new reader can practice readi...