Parenting

Preschool-2nd Grade Calendar Time | How to do it at home!

Our Homeschool Calendar Time

(and why it’s important)

I absolutely love doing calendar time as part of our homeschooling routine. I utilized it when I was a teacher, and found so many benefits in this jam-packed, yet simple time.

Calendar time is like hitting 50 birds with one stone. Ok, maybe not quite that many, but it is an amazingly rich educational time.

When you teach through a calendar routine, you (sneakily) teach students

Days of the week
Months of the year
Spellings of the months and days of the week
Letters and sounds
Upper and lowercase
Colors and their names
How to say today’s date
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow concepts
Numbers and their order
Counting
Ones, tens, hundreds
Patterns
Shapes
And so many other things if you choose to add them!

Many of these things are state benchmarks or core standards through 2^nd grade.

It feels so good knowing you’re hitting so many standards with this super easy and fun time!

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but you will not be charged a penny extra! And mama, I never recommend products I don’t love or believe in. I so appreciate your support)

What our calendar looks like

Calendar time for preschool, calendar time kindergarten, homeschool calendar time, 1st grade calendar time — Oh, that glare! I’ll try to get a better picture on a cloudy day soon…

I created my calendar to be dry erase, which is absolutely fantastic since we use it daily. To do this I measured out the different areas I wanted on a poster board, penciled in my design, and went over it with Sharpie. Then I reused a large picture frame (Goodwill, anyone?) to place my calendar poster inside. Tada! Dry erase calendar board!

The large blocked areas include

Months of the year
A place to write the date
Days of the week
A blank calendar with 5 rows
An empty spot to write the focus of the week (like letter, shape, color, pattern, etc, depending on the theme)
A spot to write the memory verse or poem for the week

I use a combo of dry erase markers and Vis-à-vis markers. I use dry erase marker on the board for the things that will change daily (like the day of the week) and I use the Vis-à-vis for the things that need to stay put for the whole week or for the month, such as the letter of the week, the date, the memory verse or poem, etc.

The Vis-à-vis markers are fantastic since they comes off with a wet cloth all easy-peasy, but they stay put otherwise.

Our routine

We personally start our calendar time with a prayer and our scripture memory verse or memory poem.
Then we sing the months of the year song

I circle the month we’re in before we start singing, and then use a large pointer (hey-o, Dollar Tree!) to point to the months as we go along. As the kids get more familiar with the months, I let them take turns “leading” the song and using the pointer. I like to have my kiddos yell the month we’re in when we get to it in the song so that they can differentiate where we’re at.
Next we sing our days of the week song

I sing it to “The Addam’s Family” theme song, like this one on Youtube . Then we work together to color in the day of the week on the board. I say something like, “If yesterday was Thursday, then what is today? What comes right after Thursday?”
After the days of the week, I start filling in the date on the calendar

Since we do it every day, I either have to fill in just today’s date, or I fill in the weekends’ and then today’s. Then we all count to that number, once again using the pointer to follow along.
I write the whole date up at the top of the board

We practice saying “Today is…” and then the day of the week, the month, date, and year. They each get a turn to practice saying it after we do it all together a few times.
My kiddos then fill out their own dry erase calendar sheet

They use the information we all gathered on the big board and fill it out again themselves. I’ll share more about this below (with a free printable, too!)!
We then go into our focus item of the week

To start the year, we’ll be going over a letter of the week for this section. This is the transition out of calendar time. We use this as a spring board to move on to the related activities from there.

The whole thing only takes about 20-30 minutes, and holds my kids’ attention the entire time. It goes by so quickly since it’s pretty fast-paced. And look at how much they’re learning in that time?! It always amazes me.

50 birds. One stone.

Maybe I wasn’t exaggerating.

Student calendar

As I mentioned above, I have my kids fill out their own dry erase calendar board. Having them practice it on their own really cements their learning…we all learn better by doing, right? I was concerned at first that my then 2 and 4 year olds would get sick of the repetition. We filled them out every calendar time, and they didn’t get sick of it at all last year. They loved it every day. Blew. My. Mind.

Here’s what it looks like:

You can download all of the months for your own use here!

I put them in thick sheet protectors, which makes them dry erasable.

Note: Make sure the “boards” get wiped off really well immediately after calendar time each day. The longer it sits, the harder it gets to erase. We just made cleaning their calendar boards part of the daily routine, though, and it worked great!

Add-Ons

As we progress throughout the year, I will add a sticky note for them to identify yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
We will also include patterns, and I can draw different shapes or use different colors on the dates of the calendar to familiarize them with that concept.
Once they have mastered the name of the numbers to 30, I introduce ones, tens, and hundreds. This is done by adding a popsicle stick to a three-pocket organizer I hang next to the calendar every day we met for calendar time. Once there are ten in the ones pocket, we bundle them with a rubber band and place the bundle in the tens column. And once we have ten of those, guess where they go? Yep! Bundled into the hundreds column. Boom

Again, if you want to grab the free monthly calendar time sheets for your kiddo(s), you can download them by clicking here!

If you’re a homeschooling parent and need a planner for this school year, hop on over HERE to get the free printable that I use!

Do you already utilize a calendar time in your daily routine? What are your favorite parts of calendar time?

How to Start a Bedtime Routine

How to Have a Bedtime Routine (even with multiple kids)

A guide to help you develop a sleep schedule so that everyone sleeps well.

Is bedtime a stressful time in your home? I hear from so many mama friends about how rough bedtime is, how long and drawn out it is, how chaotic it feels, how many tears there are (theirs and their kids’).

One of my amazing mama friends described (beautifully) their bedtime routine looking “more like wrestling naked mole rats covered in Vaseline who are as fast and loud as a jet taking off”…Does this sound like bedtime in your house?

Maybe you found this post because you’re feeling desperate. Things are out of control.

Or maybe you’re here as a proactive step so that your night times with your new baby don’t become stressful.

Either way, can I be honest?

Bed time can be a totally enjoyable, maybe even your favorite part, of the day.

We don’t read endless books, sing endless songs, bring endless cups of water, or bring stray children back to their room repeatedly.

What helps the baby sleep? What helps toddlers sleep? And what helps people of all ages sleep? Routine. A good, solid, bedtime routine.

I’m going to share with you how we run our bedtime routine and have (mostly) peaceful nights.

With a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 17 month old, our bedtime routine looks like this:

6:30pm: Bath time for everyone!

6:45pm: Everyone gets in jammies. The 17 month old says good night to siblings

6:55pm: Either Daddy or I put the 17 month old down for bed. We read one story (usually The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton), and sing Amazing Grace while cuddling. The older two play quietly in the living room or their room.

7:00pm: We put the 17 month old on his back in crib with his lovey and special blanket, say a prayer, turn on white noise, turn off the lights, and tell him “I love you.”

7:15pm: We do a quick clean up and then Quiet Reading time starts for the older two. They get 2 books and bring them to the couch. We put on calming music and we all read silently to ourselves. Since our 3 and 5 year old aren’t actually reading yet, they look through picture books.

7:40pm: Books get put away and they both use the restroom.

7:45pm: We brush teeth (we still brush their teeth for the first minute and a half, and they practice brushing their teeth after)

7:50pm: In their bedroom, we sit on the floor and lead them through a couple stretches and deep breathing exercises. Then they each get to pick one song to sing (we sing worship songs at this time). Next we ask them to share one thing they’re thankful for from the day. We pray over them, and then have a big family hug which they have termed, “huggle snuggle.”

8:00pm: Water bottles are double checked for being full, white noise is turned on, nightlight is turned on, lights are out, and we say, “I love you.”

When should you start a bedtime routine?

Now.

Yesterday.

Ok, a better answer is when your little is 3 months old. This is a great time to bring in regularity with a bedtime routine since they’re naturally getting on a more consistent schedule (usually). And if they’re not yet, this is a great way to start some consistency and teach healthy sleeping habits.

It’s also a great time for our family since we usually start sleep training when our babies are around 4 months old, so having this bedtime routine in place better prepares them (and us) for that time, too.

Like, majorly.

But if your kid (or kids) are older than 3 months, don’t fear! You can start at any age, and you can start this week. No matter how old they are (ok, ok, once they hit 18, you should probably back off), a bedtime routine will benefit them and you!

How to create your own bed time routine

Step One: Decide on nightly activities

Start by asking yourself, “What types of things do I envision for a bed time routine?” This is time to dream a little (haha, dream. Get it? Sleep…moving on). When you think of a peaceful bedtime routine with your kid(s), what do you think of? Write all those things down on a list.

Some activities to get you thinking:

Bath time, brushing teeth, massage, read-aloud, quiet reading, bedtime snack, lullabies, dancing out wiggles, coloring, prayers, words of encouragement, breathing techniques, words of thankfulness, blessings, stretches, highs and lows from the day, etc.

Next, narrow it down to things that will fit within an hour. Your bedtime routine should take no longer than an hour from start to finish, but can even be as short as 15 minutes. Think about a time frame that will work most evenings of the week to do.

Now, get specific. If you want to sing songs, how many? If you’re doing a read-aloud, is it for one book or a set amount of time? Are you reading the same book every night (we do this with our kids when they’re really young since repetition is very beneficial in development)? If you’re including bath time, how long will it last? Etc.

Jot down those notes.

Step Two: Decide on the time your kid(s) should be in bed with the lights out

It’s best to begin this step by researching how much sleep your child should be getting at their age.

Here’s a recommended time table from the National Sleep Foundation to help:

Age	Recommended hours of sleep
Infants 4-11 months	14-17 hours
Toddlers 1-2 years	11-14 hours
Preschoolers 3-5 years	10-13 hours
School Age 6-13 years	9-11 hours
Teenagers 14-17 years	8-10 hours

Note that not all of the recommended hours need to be at night. Keep that in mind as you plan! If your kiddo still naps, count that as part of their total recommended hours.

Because my children are still in a time of their development where they should be getting about 11 hours of sleep at night, we need to make sure they have the best chance to get that sleep! That whole brain development thing an’ all.

Now that you know how much sleep you should be aiming for, to figure out what time you should have your kids actually in bed with the lights out, work backwards from the time you want them to wake up.

My older two kids wake up at 7:30am, so to get the recommended 11 hours, they should be asleep by 8:30pm. Because most kids don’t just fall asleep the second their head hits the pillow, we get them in bed a half hour earlier than that time.

SO, if your kids wake up at 6:00am, and they’re in the same age bracket, then lights out should be at 6:30pm.

A couple of tricks to get your little to stay asleep longer:

Use a toddler OK to Wake light

This is an amazing tool! Seriously. The light turns green at the time you set it for, letting the kiddo(s) know they can get out of bed. Our kids caught on to this really quickly! They knew that I would walk them back to their bed (without talking with them) if they got up earlier than the light. That routine got pretty boring for them after just a couple days.

I would just suggest role playing and going over how it works thoroughly the night before first starting. Practice with them what happens if they get up too early, and what they can do if they’re up but the light isn’t green (ie: stay in bed, quietly read books, play quietly in their room, etc).

Push breakfast back

The second really important trick with creating a later sleep-in time is to push breakfast back. I don’t have breakfast ready before 8:00am. So if my gang gets up at 6:00am, they have to wait a really long time to eat. Their bodies naturally adjusted to this and they sleep in longer than when I was feeding them as soon as they’d wake up. It’s a game changer.

Note: It’s tricky, but this trick (see what I did there? So punny) still works with breastfeeding littles. When my now 17 month old was 11 months old and still breastfeeding, he started waking up at 6:00am. Since he was older and I wasn’t worried about calories anymore, I decided I wouldn’t breastfeed him until 7:00am. When he got up, I played with him on the floor, but I stopped sitting in the nursing chair or holding him by his food source haha It took a lot to keep him distracted, but I was persistent in not nursing him until 7:00am. So he soon started sleeping in until 7:00am. Then I pushed the morning nursing time to 7:15am. And then to 7:30am. His body naturally adjusted to this routine, and mama got her much-needed quiet time.

Don’t engage with them if they wake up early

If they get up early, don’t engage in conversation or much eye contact.
Kindly and firmly walk them back to their bed and briefly remind them of your rules.

An example in our home is, “I’m not talking with you since it’s still bed time. You need to stay in your bed quietly until the light turns green. I love you.” I have a little who loves to ask a million questions to try to get me to cave. So I firmly and lovingly repeat, “I’m not talking with you because it’s still bed time. I can’t wait to talk to you once the light turns green. I love you.”

You might feel like you’ll die of repetition before they get it. But be consistent! Keep at it until their habits and bodies change!

Step Three: Think about the order of activities

Your bed time routine should be like a trail that slowly winds down. You want the routine to start off with something that begins that wind down process. So, it would make no sense to have quiet reading time followed by a “get your wiggles out dance.” Try to think backwards from the calmest activity being closest to bed time, to the most invigorating activity being farthest from bed time.

For my kids, bath time is actually not that relaxing. It is a step in the right direction, for sure, but they’re still pretty wound up after bath (even if I put lavender oil in it!).

That’s why it’s our first activity. It starts the process, but is not the most calming thing we do.

You want the routine to progress to calmer and calmer activities.

If your thing is to have a tickle fight every night, may I encourage you to do that first thing? Keep that in the routine, but keep it as far away from actual bed time as possible, man.

As you consider your activities, ask yourself these questions:

Is it sustainable? Are you able to do this every. single. night? Sure, you might like to do massages with your kids, but are you able to do that each night, or should that be more of a special activity that you throw in every once in a while? If you like the idea of it every night, go for it! That’s so great! I would just die.
What am I excited about? What do I not want to do? Your kids are following the routine, but you have to implement it every night. If you love to read a loud with your little(s), this should absolutely be part of your routine. For me, I do so many read a louds during the day that I’m kinda over it by bedtime. To make it enjoyable and sustainable for me, we do silent reading instead. Now, I don’t love brushing my kids’ teeth, but that’s a non-negotiable. I’m not talking about that kind of stuff.
Do I want a babysitter to be able to implement our bedtime routine? Our answer to this question was a huge YES! We certainly wanted to be able to leave for an evening and not worry about messing up the bed time routine!
If YES, could the activities I’ve chosen be done by said babysitter? We picked activities and even the song Amazing Grace based on wanting anyone (not just ANYONE, but, you know, well-vetted babysitters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, best friends) to be able to implement a flawless bed time.

Step Four: Write it down or type it up

This is crucial. Fine tune those times and create an actual schedule. Be as detailed as you can. Think about how long each activity will legitimately take. Then write. it. down.

Give your new routine a couple nights run-through to see if your times are fairly accurate.

When you are happy with it, make an official copy.

If you want a free template to use, grab it by clicking the link below!

Grab your FREE Bedtime Routine Printable

Putting together a physical copy of your new bed time routine will be a life saver. Hang a copy on the fridge. Post it by the crib. Stick it on the bathroom mirror. Make sure that it is visible and repeatable. You can refer to it as you build it into a habit.

Click HERE to see our current bedtime routine as a printable.

Step Five: Stick to it

Yep. It’s great to have a plan, but if you consistently disregard it, it’s completely useless. That means you’ve got to plan around it, make it priority, and stick to it.

I’d say it’s best to make sure that you’re home for the bed time routine at the decided time at least 4-5 nights a week. I know this can be hard if you have older kids and younger kids at the same time, but see what you can do.

More nights than not, stick to your plan. It will make all the difference!

Two nights a week we have evening activities that keep us out until past the little’s bed time routine. We’ve chosen to be flexible with this, but we still implement the very end of the routine (jammies, brush teeth, potty, songs, prayer, huggle snuggle). And we try to prep them in advance that we will be skipping bath time and quiet reading so that they are mentally ready and less likely to lose their (cough) crap.

Extra tips

There are a lot of differing opinions on whether or not to let kids sleep with a water bottle. We have chosen to let our littles sleep with their water bottles to avoid the “I need a drink of water” excuse to get out of bed. We only fill their bottles half way with water (never milk or juice) as they get in their beds and we don’t refill them after that until the next night. They practice taking small sips and know that they need to make it last through the night. That way we avoid guzzling and repeat bathroom trips!
My biggest suggestion to friends who are trying to implement better sleep in their home is to use a sound machine. This truly makes a huge difference in the quality of sleep that kids get. Having a sound machine helps negate a lot of the little noises that may otherwise wake them up or disrupt their sleep.
If you’re interested in sleep training your baby or littles, I highly recommend The Sleepeasy Solution. This is a gentle but highly effective method. All of our kids were sleeping better within 5 nights of applying the techniques in this book, and they’ve stayed great sleepers throughout the years. It’s not for everyone, but it’s been invaluable to us!

Here’s to calmer nights and more sleep!

What are your favorite bedtime routine activities? Do you already implement a bedtime routine?

Interested in starting a daily routine, too? Check out How to Have a Daily Routine With Kids

Here are the exact bedtime routine resources we personally use, in case you’re interested!

Click the picture to download

Free Homeschool Planner Printable

Free Homeschool Planner Printable

We are getting ready to start our homeschool year.

Insert squeal and happy dance!!

Our first born is going into Kindergarten, so this year feels more “official” than our previous years of homeschool preschool.

And I’m so jazzed!

I left my job as an elementary teacher to stay home with our crew. When Back to School stuff comes out and the buses start practicing their routes, I actually still cry a little. It’s something that I certainly miss.

Being a planner type of person, prepping for the year was always fun for me. Maybe I’m just weird like that, but I LOVE planning!

I might have been a tad bit too excited to finally start legit planning for our Kindergarten homeschool year! As I searched for a printable homeschool planner to use, however, I kept going back to my roots. I wanted the planner I made for myself when I was teaching. It just worked for me.

So I made it again, with just a few tweaks for my current needs. I tried to think of all the things I’ll need to have written down and created paged for them. After, I kid you not, countless hours, this printable homeschool planner was complete! Eactly how I want it…I think haha I’ll find out how useful it turns out to be as the year goes on!

So far this planner contains

YEARLY OVERVIEW
2018-2019 CALENDAR
CURRICULUM LIST
WEEKLY LESSON PLAN
MONTHLY PLAN
DAILY SCHEDULE
MONTHLY CHECK-IN
STUDENT GOALS
BOOK LIST
FIELD TRIP PLAN

I’ve already started mapping everything out, and am getting into some of the nitty gritty plans.

I’m over the moon.

So, for you homeschooling mamas out there, here’s the printable homeschool planner I’m using this school year (along with my Stabilo pens, which are my favorite).

Click on any link to download!

Happy Planning!

Black and White Free Homeschool Planner

Black and White Theme Cover Options

Bright and Colorful Free Homeschool Planner

Bright and Colorful Theme Cover Options

Comment below with any suggestions you have to make this planner meet your needs!

7 Easy Gluten-Free Toddler Snacks {No-Bake}

Toddlers. They be crazy. Crazy hungry, too. I absolutely adore my littles, but seriously, the endless snacks can be totally exhausting and downright overwhelming.

It’s all too easy to pick up a Costco size bag of Pirate Booty and toss that to them like birds all day long. But I really do try to feed them healthier options and save that for special, extra desperate times.

Being a gluten free family can add some elements of “inconvenient,” but we have found some really easy ways to make this work.

When my firstborn entered toddlerhood, I found myself struggling to find gluten-free toddler snacks that he would enjoy. Especially when I try to eat more whole foods than processed foods.

And I didn’t and don’t always have time to bake a delicious muffin, which is, like, 99% of toddlers’ favorite snack.

When I make muffins as a gluten-free toddler snack now it’s a special treat and extra exciting!

I want to share with you 7 of my go-to snacks I rotate through every week. All week.

Some of these are so simple, you might shake your head. But when you’re trying to feed hungry toddlers all day and you have to feed them gluten-free snacks, some times you need to be reminded of the simple foods that save your life.

These are my go-to gluten-free toddler snacks that require zero oven time

Trail mix. Y’all, I make our own trail mix using items from Winco’s bulk section, and it’s the BEST! I get to alter it however I want and I know exactly what’s in it (which, guess what? There are NO hydrogenated or yucky oils. Boom!). It’s a very filling snack that is actually time consuming to eat, too, because mine like to pick out each nut and raisin. Healthy snack + short mama break = so much yes.

This trail-mix has dry-roast peanuts, raw pumpkin seeds, sliced raw almonds, unsweetened shredded coconut, no-sugar added raisins, and dried fruit my sister brought us from thailand
Sliced fruit or berries. Yep. That easy. Apple, pear, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, watermelon. You name it. Chop melons and other larger fruits earlier in the week to make this extra simple. Let them eat it with mini forks and it’s even better for some reason #toddlerlogic
Veggies with homemade ranch. My kids LOVE this one! Seriously. Ranch is magical in making everything edible. I’m pretty sure it could make dirt taste good. Again, pre-chopping veggies for the week makes this snack the bomb for busy days! I also home make a lot of ranch for the week, too.
Cheese cubes. I don’t know why my kids love this so much. Any time you serve a food in a shape that’s not normal, it gets extra exciting. I just cube cheese and put it in a bowl. Again, break out the mini forks for extra sophistication.
Yogurt. Sooooo easy! So simple. We use whole fat plain yogurt in our house because I believe in healthy fats. But use whatever you want! I mix yogurt with a little bit of raw honey and a dash of cinnamon or vanilla for an extra treat. Then I scoop it into reusable squeezy pouches or their cute little snack cups and, voila! Snack, done.
“Ants on a Log.” Did you ever have these as a kid? It’s just celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins (aka ants) on top. I use peanut butter that I make myself in my food processor (I’ve used this one for years as an affordable option!) with just dry roasted peanuts, a tablespoon of avocado oil, and a dash of Himalayan salt. If you like sweeter peanut butter, adding in raw honey is a delicious option!
Gelatin jigglers (Jello, but homemade). Jello is like Bandaids to me. It’s general term, but I know it’s a brand. So, it’s jello, but it’s not. Because it’s not actually Jello brand. Get it? It’s this SUPER easy recipe that uses grass-fed gelatin, 100% juice, and water. That’s. It.You do need at least 30minutes for it to chill, so it’s better to make it in advance of the hungry toddler tantrums (anyone else have a threenager that gets massively hangry? Anybody?) For the best and easiest recipe, go HERE https://bodyunburdened.com/homemade-healthy-jello/

So there you go. Some gluten-free toddler snack ideas that are healthy, easy and don’t require baking.

What are your favorite go-to toddler snacks?