I Need to Curse for A Time...Then Get Back to Cleaning
My mother is coming for a visit in 9 days.
This completely changes all of my plans for my break as she will arrive smack dab in the middle of my time off and will be staying for exactly half of my time off. I am trying my best to get excited about her visit, but I am currently stuck in resentment and panic mode.
I am a planner, and I've been planning this extended stretch of time by myself for a long time now. Having to be host is not at all what I wanted in my only long break in eight years, but it is what it is, so I am going to try to find the positives in this entire situation...but I can't sit for long - I have to clean.
Okay - the first part of the house is cleared out a bit. I addressed the space between my desk and the hallway. I often find that I have to do this type of task in bursts - 30 minutes when I work on cleaning, and 30 minutes when I work on something else...something like blogging...or Teachers Pay Teachers files (by the way, I posted my second file yesterday!). It is currently time for something else.
I'm working on a really fun Halloween-themed lapbook right now. Do you know what a lapbook is? It's a compilation of activities put together into something that allows clients (kids, whomever) to work through several learning activities at one sitting. Many TMEs, little space. I'm currently working on a song about what happens on Halloween night for kids who are not used to loud yelling, costumes, and the giving and receiving of candy. The song is accompanied by pictures of kids in costumes that I got in a great deal on clip art from Dana at Scrappin Doodles. I think it will make a great stand-alone TME and be a good element in the lapbook as well. It's a bit soon for Halloween, but I want folks to have a chance to choose the file and then get it ready to go!
The lapbook is in its beginning stages. You can see how it will go together eventually. There will be different pages and different songs to go with them. The first page will have the title and will also have the trick or treat door for the song I am currently writing. There will be a place on the bottom flap to store the character pictures. The idea is that you will place a character on the white part there and then open the door to see who is behind the door. There will be verses for what we do and expect when we go trick-or-treating, and there will be verses about what happens when we are at home and trick-or-treaters come to our door. Inside there is a place to indicate emotions using the big pumpkin. There is also a place to count pumpkins.
I have some more space on the lapbook, so I'll spend some more time brainstorming about ways to use the character pictures that will already be present. I could write another song about choosing a character - or about emotions of the characters...hmm. The ideas start rolling, and it is time to start cleaning again. The best things happen when I can combine the two situations - cleaning while thinking about something else. Each of the pieces of the lapbook can also be posted as individual files on Teachers Pay Teachers, so I can do more than one thing with this brainstorming.
The goal with lapbooks is to include as much interactive material as possible to keep kids busy. So, I look to see what I can include in the pages of the book (to keep it contained), and still include songs or chants to sing along with - it may not always mean that kids are quiet with a music therapy lapbook, but engagement does not mean silence! So far I have pumpkin counting, emotion pumpkin, open the door characters, and some others starting to come together. By the time this is finished, my clients will have many options to choose from when we use this folder/lapbook.
Maybe Mom coming will jump start my creativity in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. Panic tends to make me a bit scattered, but also prone to trying to avoid cleaning. Can't do that with only nine days to go before I welcome her into my home...Got to go clean something else right now...
This completely changes all of my plans for my break as she will arrive smack dab in the middle of my time off and will be staying for exactly half of my time off. I am trying my best to get excited about her visit, but I am currently stuck in resentment and panic mode.
I am a planner, and I've been planning this extended stretch of time by myself for a long time now. Having to be host is not at all what I wanted in my only long break in eight years, but it is what it is, so I am going to try to find the positives in this entire situation...but I can't sit for long - I have to clean.
Okay - the first part of the house is cleared out a bit. I addressed the space between my desk and the hallway. I often find that I have to do this type of task in bursts - 30 minutes when I work on cleaning, and 30 minutes when I work on something else...something like blogging...or Teachers Pay Teachers files (by the way, I posted my second file yesterday!). It is currently time for something else.
I'm working on a really fun Halloween-themed lapbook right now. Do you know what a lapbook is? It's a compilation of activities put together into something that allows clients (kids, whomever) to work through several learning activities at one sitting. Many TMEs, little space. I'm currently working on a song about what happens on Halloween night for kids who are not used to loud yelling, costumes, and the giving and receiving of candy. The song is accompanied by pictures of kids in costumes that I got in a great deal on clip art from Dana at Scrappin Doodles. I think it will make a great stand-alone TME and be a good element in the lapbook as well. It's a bit soon for Halloween, but I want folks to have a chance to choose the file and then get it ready to go!
The lapbook is in its beginning stages. You can see how it will go together eventually. There will be different pages and different songs to go with them. The first page will have the title and will also have the trick or treat door for the song I am currently writing. There will be a place on the bottom flap to store the character pictures. The idea is that you will place a character on the white part there and then open the door to see who is behind the door. There will be verses for what we do and expect when we go trick-or-treating, and there will be verses about what happens when we are at home and trick-or-treaters come to our door. Inside there is a place to indicate emotions using the big pumpkin. There is also a place to count pumpkins.I have some more space on the lapbook, so I'll spend some more time brainstorming about ways to use the character pictures that will already be present. I could write another song about choosing a character - or about emotions of the characters...hmm. The ideas start rolling, and it is time to start cleaning again. The best things happen when I can combine the two situations - cleaning while thinking about something else. Each of the pieces of the lapbook can also be posted as individual files on Teachers Pay Teachers, so I can do more than one thing with this brainstorming.
The goal with lapbooks is to include as much interactive material as possible to keep kids busy. So, I look to see what I can include in the pages of the book (to keep it contained), and still include songs or chants to sing along with - it may not always mean that kids are quiet with a music therapy lapbook, but engagement does not mean silence! So far I have pumpkin counting, emotion pumpkin, open the door characters, and some others starting to come together. By the time this is finished, my clients will have many options to choose from when we use this folder/lapbook.
Maybe Mom coming will jump start my creativity in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. Panic tends to make me a bit scattered, but also prone to trying to avoid cleaning. Can't do that with only nine days to go before I welcome her into my home...Got to go clean something else right now...
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