Ice Cream in the Fridge

Ice cream in the fridge and no water in the coffee pot. The ice cream was yesterday and the coffee pot incident was this morning. Well, actually, I set my coffee pot the night before, so, technically the coffee pot incident was yesterday also. Anyways, I've decided that's a natural result of going from 1 daycare kiddo to 4 daycare kiddos in the short span of 2 weeks. Wow - talk about a growth spurt!

I'm very happy for the growth by the way. But it's definitely been challenging to have so much growth all at the same time. The new members are 3, 18 months, and newborn. So put that with a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 year old and that's a lot of children 3 and under! It's been really fun though. Tiring for sure, but fun.

I definitely don't get to rest as much and it seems like I'm moving in fast forward now when I'm wiping the kitchen after meals/snacks. But it's not so bad. I mean, it's naptime today and I still have time to blog! Itty bitty one is in a wrap right now. He just finished half a bottle and is dozing.

And hey, if that's not enough over achievement for you, the kiddos "helped" me make the pizza today. If you've made pizza with young children, you know why the word "help" is in quotations! We had a lot of fun though and they feel really good about themselves when they've "made lunch." So it's worth it. We made margherita pizza. I used some roasted tomato puree that I made up the other day from my garden tomatoes as the pizza sauce. Then we put mozzarella, diced tomatoes, and basil (from the garden) on it. My only regret is using Pillsbury pizza dough. Terrible - it didn't bake up right at all and I followed the instructions. It was horribly doughy. Awful stuff. I guess next time I'll have to get off my lazy butt and make my own dough. I really wanted to - I guess I just wasn't motivated enough to do it. Oh well - the kids didn't notice the doughiness so much!

Anyways, as we're in a bit of a growth spurt I find that there are some definite things I'll be adding to help the daycare run more smoothly, improve the play areas, and provide educational opportunities for the children.

I don't remember if I mentioned that I ordered a table and chairs when I started the first two (they started last week). They have arrived and I'm loving them. I'll have to post pics if I ever get my film developed! I've got a big blue rectangular table that's toddler height (and adjustable) and four blue toddler chairs (I ordered 2 different heights).

I also moved the potty area downstairs. There's no bathroom downstairs, but I have two potty training right now. So I created a curtained off potty area downstairs and it's working out marvelously!

Well, I guess that's enough rambling for now. I should probably do something productive before everyone wakes up!

Stuff That's New

There are a few things that are new this week at my daycare. First of all, two new kiddos. A 3 year old and an 18 month old. They're adjusting beautifully. In fact, I think the current kiddos are having a harder time with the transition than the new kiddos. They must feel threatened with new kiddos on "their turf."

Another thing that's new? A daycare table. Finally I was able to get a table worthy of daycare. I have chairs ordered, but those have yet to arrive. I'm excited about all of the exciting things we can do with the new table space. The kiddos are excited about the new table also. I'm excited that the new space will allow us to do meals more "family style". Older children will get to work on serving food to themselves, pouring their own drinks, and other such fascinating accomplishments. There's more room for messy art. Woo hoo - that's always a plus!

Speaking of art, it's supposed to rain today. I think I'll end this note so that I can browse the internet for some sort of art activity to do with the kids today.

Kids Make Lunch From the Garden

We had a blast making lunch today. I threw some hamburger in a frying pan with chopped onions and garlic and cooked my penne noodles. I had some tomatoes from my garden and I squeezed the juice of about 5 of them into my pan over the hamburger, onions, and garlic. Then I realized that I didn't have any basil picked. So I put the sauce on simmer and the kiddos walked out to the garden with me. They helped me pick basil out of the garden. They also picked red tomatoes out of the garden.

Once back inside and after washing up, they got to push the pump on the salad spinner and watch the basil dry. Then I chopped the basil and they got to sprinkle the chopped basil into our homemade sauce. I then combined the sauce and the penne and it was absolutely delightful to eat.

It was so fun watching the kids in the kitchen. The oldest exclaimed "I cooked lunch!" I want to do more kitchen activities with them, especially those that involve using fresh produce from the garden. I think it's neat for kids to see where our food comes from and see the process of growing, picking, preparing, and eating. It's just kind of a neat cycle!

Mmmm...I might go have a second helping now that the kiddos are down for nap!

Daycare Drama

I've been absent from this blog for quite some time. Building a daycare is very difficult and frustrating at times. I love what I do, but the business end of this job gets to me sometimes. Shortly after enrolling my last kiddo I lost my family due to parental job loss. They informed me on a Thursday that they were moving to Pennsylvania that Sunday. Wow - that was quick. It felt so defeating at the time because she had such a rough adjustment period. She had just started to turn around after about three weeks in care when I learned she'd be moving.

Despite my enjoyment and excitement about the addition of themes to my daycare business, I knew that I couldn't continue to do new themes constantly with income from only one full-time daycare kiddo. So I let that drop. That's not horrible in and of itself. It's summer after all and we spend so much time outdoors that not having the themes through the summer is not that big a deal. I do hope to resume them later this year. However, I've decided that my daycare needs to be full or close to full before I take on themes again.

I have enrolled two full-timers that are supposed to start this coming Monday. So I'm hoping that this enrollment works out. I have a series of interviews coming up also. I'm hoping to get at least one more enrollment from the interviews. However, I know that interviews are not a guarantee of anything. Last month I had a period of time where I had four interviews scheduled in one week. It made for a long week and Boo was out of sorts because his "mommy time" that he gets in the evening was eclipsed by parent interviews. I got no enrollment from any of those interviews. That felt very defeating, especially considering all of the time that I had given up with my little one in order to do the interviews.

Anyways, I guess all of that information brings this blog up to date. I'm looking forward to getting to the point where I'm maintaining my business instead of building it. But I'm still quite a ways from that point. Even once I get enrollment full, I have big plans for bringing the daycare space to the level of quality that I'd like it to be.

Hopefully I'll get to that point before too long. When I do I will definitely post my progress!

Homemade Playdough

I used a homemade playdough recipe that turned out pretty great. I can't remember the website where I got the recipe. But I just did a quick google search and I'm pretty sure the first recipe on this page is the same one that I used:

Homemade Playdough Recipes

I added brown food coloring and a bit of black. Well, my black looked a bit greenish. I found that the combination made my playdough look like the exact shade of dog poop. I was actually going for soil, so it was a bit off. Oh well. Also, I added an essential oil to give it a scent. I used clary sage as that was the best I had for giving the playdough somewhat of an outdoorsy smell. Unfortunately I don't have any dirt-scented essential oil. I really like the scent although I think I could've gotten away with using less essential oil. I used 15 drops. I probably could've used less as the scent of the playdough is pretty strong.

Anyways, we used the playdough to make a "bug landscape" and played around with plastic bugs on our landscape. We found that it was pretty fun to press the bugs into the playdough and look at the impression that it made.

Bugs and Butterflies

I've decided to introduce themes into my daycare program. I'm starting slowly with it, allowing two weeks for each theme. This way I can get my feet wet and get a feel for curriculum planning without overwhelming myself. The first two weeks is Bugs and Butterflies. I must say that we're having fun with it. I actually really enjoyed the curriculum planning part of this. I was a little bit suprised by that. It's nice to have a plan that's a bit more specific than our regular routine. However, I am not rigid with the theme either. We still go on our nature walk every morning and we still do outdoor play after snack.

We've never done a "circle time" per se. However, we have done everything that most providers do in a circle time. We do finger plays, books, poems, songs, etc...Well, with the start of themes I decided to try out circle time. I must say that I really like it. We do our circle time at 9:00am everyday. So basically the children have 1/2 hour of free play after breakfast before our circle time. It's a nice way to start the day and it makes me feel a bit centered and together. My oldest seems to get circle time the most. And even my own little one seems to enjoy the concept. Our newest member is not sold on it, but she is younger and she is still adjusting also! After circle time we do art before going outside. I'm making a conscious effort to add more art into my program. Honestly the art has been getting the short end of the stick as we're usually rushing to get outside. However, I would like to do art projects/crafts on a more consistent basis. I prefer open ended art to crafts as I feel they're more appropriate for young ages. We will do some crafts also though as I know parents like it when their children bring home a finished "product" and children like to show off their work! We will also do group activities that are based on the theme. So after circle time we will either do art, craft, or group activity. Then we will head outside as usual.

Today was really fun outside. I have a couple of children's sized garden shovels. The children and I had fun digging for bugs. I have a huge pile of dirt/sod left over from creating the garden. I don't have a wheelbarrow, so we are slowly removing the sod by hand! Anyways, there's quite a bit still there and it was a great opportunity to look for bugs. We saw an ants, flies, earwigs, and some tiny green bug that I'm struggling to identify. It was fun to see the kiddos get excited about identifying bugs.

Our walk was pretty eventful today as the squirrels were out in large number. They were chasing each other all over the place. One of my daycare kiddos told a squirrel "Get back here!" as the squirrel was running away! :)

Our next theme is flowers and gardening. I'm going to plant flowers by the side of the garage. Yes, in June. I realize I'm a little late on this one. Oh well! I'm going to let the kiddos help me put the plants in the ground. The only thing that's kind of a bummer is that the area is all weeded and sodded over right now. So I'll have to get my shovel back out and do more digging. Ugh - I just finished digging our big garden area. I'll be so glad when all of the digging is overwith for the year. We don't own a tiller - we're gardening on an eensy budget this year!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to continuing with the themes. I'm really having a great time with it so far!

New Enrollee

I started a new kiddo yesterday. Yay! A full-time toddler. She's a cutey too. It was a rough day though. She's young and I'm sure it's all a bit overwhelming for her. But we'll get through this transition period.

I'm excited to have two full-time kiddos now though. I'm hoping this momentum will keep going and I'll get even more enrollment. I guess time will tell. I really want to see this daycare get into full swing though!

Montessori-uninspired

Well, I'm officially Montessori-uninspired. No offense meant to those who are into the Montessori approach. However, as I've been reading more and learning more I've come to realize that I don't really believe Montessori is the best approach for me and my daycare. There are some aspects of it that just don't appeal to me.

That being said, I've been reading the book "Raising and Amazing Child the Montessori Way" and I will continue reading it. There are some great ideas in the book even though I'm not a fan of the whole Montessori approach.

What it comes down to is that Montessori feels too rigid to me. For example, a work is presented to a child. The child is shown how the work should be used (there is one way) and the child is only allowed to use the work in that one way, clean up the work, put it away, and then get a different work. So if a child wanted to combine a couple of works, that would not be allowed. For example, if a child had a cylinder work (it's a work that involves cylinders that vary in depth and circumference) and decided to stack it like a tower, that would be incorrect and a child would be instructed to use the work correctly. If a child wanted to use the cylinders with a dollhouse in order to create furniture, that would be considered inappropriate use of the work. Granted, I'm sure that is not everyone's experience of Montessori as even Montessori schools vary to the degree as to how they interpret Montessori method. However, that approach would be true to method.

Maria Montessori created her program to help children who were horribly disadvantaged, many being street children. It's easy to see why a highly structured approach did them a world of good. However, for me, it seems as though it would inhibit imagination.

Montessori also was not a fan of fantasy play. Pretend play that imitates real life is encouraged in the Montessori environment. But fantasy play that revolves around imaginary animals, characters, and places would be discouraged. Maria felt that children should be involved in real world activity and that time spent in fantasy play was actually damaging for children. I could not disagree with Maria Montessori more on this idea. Fantasy play is a wonderful part of childhood and it would make me incredibly sad to think of children not creating imaginary worlds, animals, and characters.

I'm actually relieved to be so uninspired. I think that I was feeling a lot of stress as a result of my previous decision to be Montessori-inspired. So much of Montessori revolves around having appropriate works for this or that sensory experience, practical life skill, and other tasks. I don't believe children need a special set of cylinders to learn depth perception. Children are sponges and learn so much from the natural world around them. It seems silly to me to put so much emphasis on works that have isolated single concepts.

So anyways, goodbye Montessori. I will continue with what I was doing already. I try to get the children outdoors as much as possible. I think that in our culture spending time outdoors is undervalued. There is a special sense of well-being that comes from being outdoors, feeling the warmth of a summer breeze, touching the grass, digging in dirt, and watching the birds fly here and there. It's peaceful, relaxing, and exhilarating. I try to get the children out for a nature walk once a day. Additionally we go out for playtime outside in the morning. And provided everyone wakes up from nap and gets through afternoon snack before parents pick up, we go back outside for the afternoon.

Another thing that I will continue with is quality literature. I have poetry collections for young children as well as plenty of board books. Children are captivated by the lilting rhymes in well-written poetry. I use a lot of books from the Barefoot Books collection. They have books that emphasize quality storytelling, multiculturalism, green concepts, as well as many other wonderful subjects. I adore these books and would encourage their use in any home daycare program. There's a link on the right for anyone looking for books to add to their library.

Music is also something that I incorporate into much of our day. I LOVE using music for transitions. It really is effective to put a music CD on while I try to clean the kitchen up after snack or lunch. I have some instruments that I've purchased for music time. I have a drum, tambourine, shakers, and coconut clave sticks. I got my instruments from Nova Naturals and I love them. I also have my piano and the children love to sing and dance to piano music.

Well, anyways, I guess this has been a long post. But it's been awhile since I've updated and I wanted to share my new approach to my daycare.

The Rest Mats Have Arrived!

After searching around I found a much cheaper alternative to cots. I found rest mats that several home daycare providers rated 5 stars. And they were only $10 a piece. Woo hoo! They came in the mail today. They're nice and fluffy looking. They fold up and take up less space than the cots did for storage - a big plus. I need something that easily stores since the sleeping area is right in the middle of my living room!

Excellent Daycare Books

I've found a line of books that is absolutely wonderful for daycare. The focus of their company is on providing quality storytelling with quality art. I can tell you firsthand that the books are amazing. I'm working on building up my own collection. They also carry some wonderful music CDs called Putamayo Kids. I use them on a daily basis in my daycare and LOVE them. The music CDs feature music from different cultures that appeal to children and they're nice because it's great music and not that jarring, abrasive sound sometimes found in children's music CDs. I've got some of their board books and love them. A paperback that I bought is "Magic Train Ride" - LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE it. Kiddos loved it too. Boo, my little one, asked for it "agaim" and "agaim" and "agaim". I'm actually considering basing the theme of his second birthday party on it as there's lots of room with the book to work in crafts, activities, etc...

Anyways, I'll stop gushing now. They've got free shipping this weekend. There's a banner on the right you can click on if you'd like to browse and get free shipping this weekend. Enjoy!

Water Play!

We did some water play the other day. Fun times. I put some water toys in a dish bin and added some dishsoap and food coloring. The kiddos had fun using whisks to make bubbles and playing with the water toys. Needless to say, they were soaked afterwards and needed changes of clothes. I would've stripped them down to diapers, but my house felt a bit cold that morning!

Pudding in a Bag

We made pudding in a bag for afternoon snack one day. I put the instant pudding mix into a bag with a slider zip thing. And then I added the milk. I zipped the bag shut and let my dc kiddo mush away. My own LO was still sleeping.

He mushed and he mushed until, voila - pudding!

Whipped Cream Art

We did whipped cream art the other day. Oh so fun and oh so edible. Edible is a good thing for toddler art! I put dollops of whip cream into an egg carton and then mixed in a bit of coloring in the different compartments. They had a great time smearing around the different colors. A nice sensory experience too. I was quite proud of my dc kiddo who happily smeared away as he's sometimes a bit hesitant to get messy! My LO is ALWAYS all too happy to get messy...lol!

Seed and Bean Mosaics

I found this idea on a yahoo group that I belong to for home daycare providers who lean towards natural living and childcare. Here's a link to the group.

Natural childcare yahoo group

Anyways, seed and bean mosaics were really fun. I got an assortment of lentils, dried beans, etc...out of my pantry. Since I have a young crowd I put the glue on their paper for them. Older kids would have fun making designs with glue on their paper. Then just place the beans, seeds, etc...Fun.

This activity took all about five minutes with the ages that I currently have as they pretty much just dumped all of their seeds and beans onto their paper right away. But I tried to get them to mush them around on the glue. I have one that's a bit resistent to touching glue. So I had to work with him on it a bit. But he eventually did smear it around a bit. My own little one just wanted to eat all the beans and seeds...lol.

I long for the day that I have a digital camera so that I can take pics of stuff as we do it and post it for all to see. Someday!

Working in Practical Life Skils

I'm trying to incorporate more practical life skills into the daycare day. Last weekend I bought a dishtub at Target - just a cheap white tub. I put dishsoap and water in it and set it on a chair during breakfast and lunch. After the children are done eating they put their plates, silverware, and cups in there. Right now it's food and all - a bit gross, but it still saves me a pre-rinse before I load the dishwasher and they are proud to clean up after themselves. With older children they'll be taught to scrape the dishes first. But I've only got two kids - my own and one full-timer. My full-time kiddo is just two and mine is 19 months old. I think they do great with it given their ages.

I'm open to other ideas on building independence. I am working on gathering materials to make some "works" for the kids. Right now I've completed one. I can't remember where I found the idea - not trying to steal it. I'm pretty sure I found it on a Montessori type blog. I put pom poms (the kind you get in a bag at the craft store) with a broom and dustpan for a "sweeping work." I put it all together in a tupperware container so that everything's all together. I got it out this morning and showed the kids how to use it. They had a great time. My older kiddo definitely got the hang of it. My own little one tried, but also wanted to eat the pom poms. This is definitely a supervised work with really young ones. Of course I think a lot of the works that I've looked at seem to be that way.

I've also started to refer to things as works. When my little one, Boo, got out the ring stacker I asked him if he wanted to work on stacking and helped him to work on it instead of throw the rings. My dc kiddo was mad that he wasn't working on the same thing. I finally got him to agree to work on a shape sorter. Granted, I left the room for a minute and their work pieces were thrown all over the place. Ah - such is life!

I haven't really spoken with my dc parent about this transition to Montessori-inspired. Honestly, I'm sure she'll be okay with it. I just want to do the approach justice when I explain it. So I plan to do more reading and researching and setting up of the environment.

Montessori-inspired

Well, I've already posted on this on my other blog. But I'll go ahead and repost here. I plan on being Montessori-inspired as a daycare. I also wouldn't mind adding in some elements of Waldorf also. It's going to be a lot of work. Just what I need - more on my to-do list. But I'm kind of excited as I think this will be a great environment for Boo to be in.

Montessori materials are super expensive. However, I have found some ideas online to make my own things. So I'll be doing a bit of that. Even that can be hard because my income is soooo limited right now that I don't have much to use on supplies, craft materials, etc...But I'm trying. One step at a time. This conversion, for lack of a better word, will take place very slowly for this reason and also because I don't have all the time in the world to work on this either. There are still basic daycare necessities that I need that will take precedence over acquiring/creating Montessori materials. My next daycare purchases will likely be table, chairs, cots, and cot sheets. Those are must-haves that I will need in order to add kids to the daycare.

Speaking of kids, now that I'm licensed and on the referral list, where are my freaking phone calls??? Okay...I've only been on the list since Monday. But still, I'd like to get this place filled up and going! Building a business is a major exercise in patience.

What I love about Montessori is the self-direction aspect. I think children gain a lot of confidence when it is their idea to explore something. This is not to be mistaken for a mad free for all freeplay all day type of thing. The main ingredient in Montessori is the environment. The environment must be enriching with plenty of things for children to work on. Toys are not called toys. They are works. I remember that from my days as an Infant Teacher at a Montessori school. It makes sense if you think about it. When a child is putting together a puzzle, that child is working. When a child is pushing a toy vacuum across the floor, that child is working on coordination, gross motor movements, etc...So I love that Montessori sees children's play in that light.

Waldorf does not rename toys as works. Waldorf seems to emphasize (I've researched this a lot less, so pardon me if I'm a bit off) creativity and imagination and creative expression. Dramatic play seems to be big, especially when looking through online shops that sell Waldorf materials. Children learn through this creative play and expression.

Both seem to emphasize the natural world - outdoors, toys made from natural materials, etc...I love that aspect! Wooden toys vs. plastic, etc...Welll...there will be more plastic than I'd like in my daycare because as a home daycare provider I'm on a pretty low budget for toys/materials. But I think that if I'm creative I can find ways to incorporate this concept as much as possible.

There's a couple of books I'd like to purchase about incorporating Montessori into the home for early childhood. I'd really like to get these when I have a chance as there's instructions for making Montessori works as well as explanation of Montessori concepts.

Welcome

Hello. I've found that my other blog is starting to get weighed down with daycare-related posts. Since that wasn't the intention of my other blog, I've decided to start this one. I'm not going to write much now because I have one more blog to set up!