Carpet Squares

Today for the first time I had John do "circle time" with me. We sat on the carpet squares I bought cheaply last week while I read him books. This year I plan to try increasing preschool-like activities, not because I think preschool is necessary but so that I can surmount what I think will be a steep learning curve for the pragmatics of homeschooling. I thought that sitting on carpet squares for an Official Activity would be a way of starting to teach some structure and about increasing his ability to sit still. (At 2-3/4 years old, he has now made it through two Masses! It took a lot of work on our part and he was a squirmy worm, but he's made it through two without being hauled out of the sanctuary screaming!)

My sister-in-law Holly works at a preschool and told me that with her two-year-old class they have circle time twice daily for about six minutes each time. I was relieved to hear that being able to sit still for only six minutes was a typical expectation for children John's age! He did pretty well today--according to my expectations--sitting through two books, which I let him pick so he would be interested. He got up a several times (half a dozen times?) to check on things, but with one request he'd come back to sit on his square (which held novel appeal for him).