10 things to do before the school holidays end

With only a little over a week left for those of us on Victorian school holidays, I wrote myself a list of things that I need to do before the kids start back at school. This is not a list about all the exciting activities I must do with the kids before the holidays are over, but some pretty mundane tasks that should hopefully allow for a smoother start to the school term:

(1). Check all uniforms for sizing and do some stain removal.
By the end of term 4 last year, we were so busy that the uniforms were just washed, ironed and put away. I know that there are stains on some of the shirts that will come out with a good soaking or scrub.

(2). Check shoes for sizing and polish them.
It is amazing how much feet can grow in six weeks! This goes for socks as well - also checking that they are all paired up correctly and that there are enough.

(3). Check that we have all the required stationery.
We order most things through the school supplier, but we had to get a couple of extra items (see shopping expedition last week). The All for Women website has compiled a great list of stores back to school specials and references for lunch box ideas.

(4). Check all lunch boxes and drink bottles are accounted for and in working order.

(5). Ease our way back into our standard bed times and morning routines.
I love the freedom and flexibility that school holidays allows with later nights and then later mornings. However these are not particular helpful in getting us all out the door happily and on time for school.

(6).Label all books, pencils etc.
This is something I like the school boys to do themselves. I can have them with me in the study while I am on the laptop, and they can work away at this task and I can assist were necessary.

(7). Make play dough.
Our school requires each child to take a container of play dough to school which is used for rainy days. I prefer to make it myself for two reasons, firstly it is cheaper and secondly the kids like to help and we make a new batch for home. I use the recipe on the packet from McKenzies cream of tartar which can be found on their website in the cooking tips section.

(8). Paper work.
I have personal detail forms for Possum’s kinder; comments sheet to complete from the boys’ end of year reports and some registration papers for a toddler program for Babaganouski.

(9). Restock the grocery and baking cupboards.
We tend to have different morning and afternoon tea snacks, than what the children would necessarily take as snacks in their lunch boxes. I also tend to bake more during school terms, so I need to make sure I have all the essential ingredients on hand.

(10). Spend a day just hanging with the kids.
I like to have a whole day where I follow the lead of the kids, don’t look at the clock, don’t go on the computer and don’t answer the phone (until they are in bed!). It is a nice way to end the holidays.

Any other suggestions for preparing for the return to school?

Planning time to stop and play.

In an earlier post on planning school holiday activities, I spoke about how I like to plan time with the kids so we are just at home and doing our own thing. This is not exclusive to the school holidays, but is something that I try to do throughout the school week and the weekends. Sometimes getting the balance is difficult, but I feel that is essential that I have this time to nourish and continually develop my relationships with the kids.

A number of years ago I read a fantastic book by Stanley Greenspan called The Challenging Child. I had sought this book out to try and help me manage the behaviour of my Little Rascal. He was our second son and his personality was completely different to our eldest son. What had worked with our Thinker, was simply not working for Little Rascal. In the book he goes through the different child-types and gives an insight as to how they see the world that they are in. He then offers guidance on how to parent this child taking into account their strengths and talents.

Reading this book was great on two levels, firstly it made my issues seem insignificant compared to some of the case studies; and the second was that it taught me about the concept of “Floor time”. The books spends considerable amount of time going through this process, but in brief it is a “special unstructured time that you set aside for yourself and each child”. It a 30 minute block of time, that in its entirety you have that child leading whatever activity he has chosen and he has your full attention.

Now at first I thought that I was giving each of them plenty of time like this (I had 2 boys and a newborn baby girl at this point), so I observed my own behaviour for a couple of days and what I found was that:
· Often I would choose the activity and instigate or lead the play
· Sometimes I would go to and fro to the activity, as I completed chores as well (I am very fond of multi-tasking!)
· Would answer the phone if it rang
· Would get distracted by the needs of another child.

So I made a concerted effort to have a dedicated 30 minute play session that was of his choice and led by him. How did this help me manage his behaviour you may ask? Well I got to understand him a little better. Through some imaginary play, I worked out that he found the noise levels of large groups agitating, “too loud” he would say. I also worked out that he wanted to do more for himself. “I can do this” was a common phrase to hear from him.

We (my husband also spent time doing the same thing as well) stuck at this for some months and then once I felt we had a better handle on things pulled back a bit. We used this format for our eldest when he was 7 and were trying to work through some stuff with him. He was very keen on chess at the time and we would generally spend the 30 minutes playing this. This planed time provided him with an open environment in which he talked easily and I got to find out some things that helped me manage his behaviour better. And he taught me how to play chess, which was a bonus!

30 minutes a day across four children is something that I cannot achieve in the normal run of everyday life. During school terms, a couple of times per week at 20 minutes each the best that I can manage. This is why when it comes around to school holiday time; I plan time at home, so I can spend more time with each child. We still do lots of ad hoc play and running around, but the children know that they have their allocated time and look forward to it.

At the moment, there is no issue (out of the ordinary that is!) that I am working on with any of the children, so we modify the practice a little. The modification means that the other children can participate in the time if they want to, but whose ever turn it is gets to choose the game and it is to be done their way.

For example backyard cricket is the most popular choice by the boys these holidays, but they have different preferences in the rules. Little Rascal will generally state that there you can’t go out first ball, there is “auto-wickie” (automatic wicket keeper for any edges behind the stumps) , you can run on overthrows and byes and that it is “running wicket” (you can be run out at either end). The Thinker is generally the opposite of this, but they both are happy to play in each other’s turn because they know that they get a chance to do this too. Possum prefers playing “mums and dads” at the moment and the boys then go and play cricket by themselves! Babaganouski is obsessed with cars and balls, so that is about all we do together. If we have had consecutive days were we have been out or had visitors and been unable to have the allocated time, one or all of the children will ask “when is it my time next?”

Planning time with each child sounds so simple that it needn’t be mentioned, but in a hurried world I enjoy the time that I take out from everything else to stop and play.

10 books we are enjoying on the holidays.

Loving lists is an integral part of my love of planning. Every Tuesday I plan to share with you a top 10 of things that I hope you might find relevant or interesting.

One of the things I love most about school holidays is that there is more time for the simple things, like reading books together. I love reading to the kids for the pure joy of the story and also for the learning opportunities that they provide. Below I have added some notes to some of our holiday favourites, about things we talk about and focus on when reading these books.

1 - 5 are picture books that are really for those below school age, but I do find even my older children still enjoy these stories:

1. Possum Magic by Mem Fox. A beautiful story that provides an opportunity to familiarise the kids with the capital cities of Australia.
2. Wombat Stew by Marcia K. Vaughan. A funny story with a lovely chant for the children to join in with. Also introduces the reader to the names of native Australian animals.
3. Where is the Green Sheep? By Mem Fox. A simple rhyming story that allows the children to anticipate the words through the picture and rhyme. Also provides opportunity for talking about colour, size and shape.
4. Refugees by David Miler. A sad tale of two ducks displaced by urban sprawl. After a hard journey it has a happy ending, through which I can talk to the children about both caring for their environment and for other people in society.
5. Olivia by Ian Falconer. This is a well worn favourite of our Possum. However, if you check out one of the canvases that which painted by the Thinker, he did try to imitate a Jackson Pollock, which he learnt about from this book. Thankfully he didn’t follow in Olivia’s footsteps and paint it on the wall!

The books from 6 – 10 are for my older boys aged 6 and 9:
6. The Cat on the Mat is Flat by Andy Griffiths. Very child oriented humour for the early reader. Can explore lots of rhyming words, as text is all written in rhyme.
7. Are we there yet? By Alison Lester. Details a family’s journey around Australia, providing a wonderful opportunity to explore the country through text. There is such a great mix of illustrations with the text, which even after many reading the kids can still pick out new things they want to talk about.
8. The Twits by Roald Dahl. I personally prefer Matilda, but the boys think this book is hysterical, so it comes out very often. As with all Roald Dahl books, drawing the children’s attention to how he uses words and puts the story together shows them some techniques they can use in their writing.
9. The Adventures of TinTin by Herge. These are very old school and some of book in the series do require explanations to the children about moments in history and perceptions of other cultures at the time. But this is in itself is learning opportunity s well as the exploration of countries around the world through adventure and humour they get from the stories.
10. Horrible Histories series by Terry Deary. These books are a humorous and “horrible” (that is full of gory bits) look at the history of the world through the ages. These are really only appropriate for my eldest. I have to admit that I have learnt quite a lot from reading them to him!

I am always looking for new books to interest the children, so if you have some favourites that you would like to share, I would love to hear about them.