Rain gutters and bicycles.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 12:53AM I spend a lot of time organizing and reorganizing my scrap supplies. It's a sickness, really. ;) This post, though, is not about scrap supplies (though I wouldn't be surprised if that comes up in the next week or so, LOL!). No. Lately, I've been wrapping up this school year and planning for the next and am just so stoked about the ideas and books and activities I'm hoping to tackle with the boys. To that end, I've been sorting and organizing and reorganizing my homeschooling supplies. And I realized that I could take a pointer or two from my scrap supply saga...I do better at using things if I can see them in plain view. I think most people do. So. One of our projects over Memorial Day weekend was this:
We added some shelves to the boys' closet wall (we removed the closet doors long ago to prevent boys shutting each other inside and have always used the built in shelves for books rather than clothes). The shelves are actually vinyl rain gutters. Yup. Just bought some gutters (they come in 10' lengths but are easy to cut), end caps and brackets and stuck them right up. Okay, Nathan and Noah stuck them right up. ;)
I love that the boys can now put a selection of books here that they can actually see and be excited about (as opposed to keeping a pile on the floor and neglecting the many other books still on the shelves because they just forgot about them). Obviously, we put up three shelves...one for each boy. Thus far, they've been using them to keep track of the bedtime story selections they think of during the day. I'm thinking of adding more of these rain gutter shelves elsewhere in the house so that I can keep better track of books I want to make sure to read to the boys in a given week...still pondering where to put them, though. :)
Oh, and for the record, this is not an original idea. I've seen it before and then was reacquainted with it over the weekend while reading "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease...good stuff, btw.
One of the other "big" things over the weekend was our realization that Asher needed a new bike. His little one was just too much work for him (he must have been pedaling many more times than the rest of us when we took our family bike ride to the Farmer's Market on Sunday...and was wiped by the time we got home). We'd been holding out in the hopes that he'd learn to ride without the training wheels on that littler bike...seemed like it might be easier to learn on since he'd be closer to the ground and all. But. We hope to do much more in the way of family bike rides and having him dread them wasn't going to work. So. He got a new bike and is delighted and once again happy about bike riding. Micah, having inherited the littler bike, is likewise thrilled. Since it was raining yesterday, the boys got their first real chance to try them out today:
(Yes, they all still have training wheels...we'll be working on that next, lol.) During this afternoon's riding in the cul-de-saq, Micah exhibited his typical precociousness. Noah, biking very slowly, ventured to let go of the handlebars and shout that he could ride hands-free (if you know Noah, you know this is a big step for my always cautious boy). Micah, seconds later while pedaling furiously after Asher, did this:
First day riding a bicycle and the boy is trying to ride hands-free on me. Oy. Moments later, btw, Asher declared that he could ride butt-free (meaning that he stood up in the pedals so his bum was off the seat). Micah, naturally, followed suit immediately. At that point, I was obliged to step in and ask that he not try to ride both hands and butt-free at the same time. ;) (Because you know the little bugger would have tried it, LOL!)
Anyhow. The bike fest ended with the discovery of a joy of training wheels after rain:
Noah actually started it and all three boys took their turns positioning their bikes and getting their backsides soaked. Fortunately, they figured out pretty quickly not to line up behind one another. ;)
Okay, back to work on this layout on my desk now. :) Hopefully, it'll go quickly and I'll finish up a few that I can share before the end of the week, too!
Reader Comments (2)
okay, that rain gutter idea is SHEER BRILLIANCE!!!!!! i am going to have to try and talk my hubby into doing this for my little one this summer! :D
Oh I do like that gutter idea for books and such too! Thanks for posting about it!