One of the my biggest "Mum guilts" these past few years has been that I have been working long hours and have decided to put OJ into some after school activities. These activities have been to benefit her and help her with her learning- socially, physically, and academically.
Firstly, OJ goes to after school care twice a week. This really helped with the whole guilt thing, as it meant that OJ was looked after without putting hinderance on family (not that feel that way. but my guilt tells me they do.) The after school care that OJ goes to is wonderful. They do her reader and homework which eliminates another stress of the afternoon. She gets to interact with other children, not just in her year group. This was the biggest reason for putting OJ in twice a week. I want her to gain social skills further than just at school. They also get to run around and get rid of energy! The biggest bonus of all!
Our week
Monday
Monday afternoon is after school care, which has really helped with starting off the week. especially if grandparents have wanted to go away for the weekend. But to make the afternoon even crazier, OJ also has swimming lessons. She took a year off swimming lessons when she started school- it was just too much to take on. We then swapped swimming schools to one closer to home, for an easier run. However, she regressed big time with her swimming skills. As an essential life skill, I wanted her to gain confidence in the water but also to be safe in the water.
Now, with after school care and then swimming- fitting in homework is going to be interesting. This week (first week of homework) OJ wrote out her spelling words whilst waiting for her lesson to begin. Something I think will become routine.
Tuesday
Tuesday afternoon is less chaotic but will require a little of running around for yours truly. After pickup from school it's homework time. As I haven't been around for after school activities for awhile, I am enjoying having the ability to have an input in how homework is being completed. I am pushing OJ a little more this year, and hoping it will help her out.
OJ's homework is quite involved this year, which I like in some ways. But when I am not there to help her, it can be quite difficult. The highlighted words are her spelling words (which are going over a lot this week!) The boxes are her activities she must complete by the end of the week. 3 in column one, 2 in column two, and 1 in column three.
These activities can take up to 30 minutes to complete- especially with OJ's slow going pace.
To help prepare OJ for NAPLAN this year, I got her a NAPLAN practise book which covers all 4 areas of NAPLAN with Numeracy, reading, writing and grammar. She has actually liked going through the pages together. I am hoping with this extra help she will be able to feel a little more confident about the whole process. At the moment... it is near meltdown even with mention of the dreaded task!
Now, we have a little extra time on a Tuesday before her after school activity- Tutoring. OJ attends Begin Bright Shellharbour. (See link below.) This year she will be going for an hour and covering Numeracy and Literacy. She has loved going to tutoring and has made leaps and bounds from it. After a year of tutoring, her reading and spelling has improved so much that her end of year report stated she was at grade average! I huge achievement of a struggling learner. They do some really interesting activities, all tailored to OJ's needs. She has mentioned using sand to write words, dice to write stories from, games and challenges; all of which have helped her with learning the targeted skill. The owners and the teachers are amazing! This has helped myself and OJ settle in, but more so for my family who were a little hesitant about OJ starting tutoring.
**Note for future self- do not sit for an hour with puppy dog.
http://www.beginbright.com.au/
Wednesday
OJ's favourite day of the week! For several reasons. Firstly, it's her day off from after school activities. Secondly, it's sleep over night at her grandparents house. This was kept up to keep all parties happy with the transition of moving out of home and to create a "date night" for mummy and daddy. Sleep over night also includes our puppy Obi, who gets to stay over so we can go out for dinner. (our house isn't suited for a puppy to stay at home by itself.) Wednesday nights are actually the night of the week that feels the strangest. The house is extremely quiet! But it's a break. Very soon, the break will be extremely helpful I think with bubs coming along.
Thursday
Thursdays are back to the usual after school routines with Guitar. OJ started guitar lessons over a year ago. It has been a struggle to get motivated and continue practise when I haven't been around. OJ is a perfectionist in some ways. She needs to be a master at something the first time- otherwise she gives up. This isn't helpful when learning a new skill like guitar. It has been very slow going, and this year- I plan to push her with guitar as well. She has been practising more, I have written a practise list of what she needs to complete when she sits down. I drew out the chords for her so she has them all in one place. We have even started to set up an area for her in her room to practise, using her toy box to hold her folder of music.
So far she has learned the chords, the song TNT, Shotgun by George Ezra, the National Anthem, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Her confidence is mostly in TNT and she has been beginning to play it with a lot more ease.
As guitar lessons are straight after school, homework completion for the week will be done afterwards. This is also MJL's indoor cricket night. So from here on, it's also girls night in.
Friday
Ah Fridays! The day when homework is submitted and the week is done! OJ also has after school care again. This was planned so grandparents could take a long weekend away, but also to finish the week off with little stress. Friday nights is MJL's late night at work and usually we eat out as its just easier.
As you can see, our weekly schedule is quite busy. The past few years it has been my parents who have done the rushing and running around. This year it falls back on me - which I am looking forward to in a lot of ways. When bub comes our routines are going to be even more intense, and establishing them now is extremely important.
Do you have an after school activities your children do? Do you find the rushing around difficult to balance or easy?
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