thrive not just survive

My goal this year is to thrive and not just survive. To not just have my days all blend in together but to accomplish things daily and set small goals.
One of the goals I have is to put meaning behind the time I spend with Chase. To have his days not just be unorganized play and a heap load of mischief. Because my boy is BUSY and if you turn your back for just a moment, he has done something he knows he is not supposed to or he has done something that he isn't to do again. For instance yesterday he was in the bathroom for 20 seconds (I had no clue his little step stool was in there and thought he was using the toilet) and in that time he opened a little bottle of scope and dumped it into the fish bowl.
I found somewhere online people doing 'toddler trays' So I invested in a few small bins with lids. I have 5 and in them I put different activities in there to work on motor skills (my kid is a gross motor kid so I want him to practice having small times where he focuses on tasks sitting down). Some activities don't spark his interst, others he will sit at for a long time. Some days one that he loved, he doens't so much the next day. It is a total hit and miss day to day thing. Last night after he went to bed, I changed the bins.
1. a grocery store flyer and a pair of kid scissors (he is working on cutting skills and we also talk about the different pictures while he cuts)
2. three markers, a papertowel, paintbrush and a cup (for water). this one he colours the papertowel and then when he is all done he paints it with water
3. pom poms, pickle tweezers and an icecube tray. He practices picking up the pom poms with the tweezers and putting them in the different sections of the tray. One day we'll work on sorting them by colour but he isn't quite ready for that yet. But we do work on counting and I talk about the colours of them.
4. shoe string and cheerios (to make a necklace)
5. stickers and a piece of paper

I think this will help me to see if 'homeschooling' is for me or not. I know he is young yet for formal learning but setting up and changing these bins and planning ahead will help me see if I will be able to stick with this long term or not...I'd really like to as I feel it is my job as a parent to educate my kid. Not just to learn to read and write but to love to learn, but to love God in all things, to give back to the community and respect those in authority over him.
So far this morning (it is only 840) he is on his third bin. He wasn't TOO interested in the painting the papertowel after colouring it with marker, but he is having lots of fun with the pom poms. The problem is he is the kind of kid that wants to do all the bins 'now'. he is a 'now' kid for sure. So he will switch bins after only a couple of minutes so he can try explore another one. Good thing he knows he has to clean up one bin before starting another one (teaching him to clean up after himself).

We also throw in colouring, playdough, stories, puzzles and baking into our days. And then I also try to have him be outside atleast 1 hour/ day and we try to get to the pool once or twice a week. And I am trying to not have tv daily (I have been failing more with this with the winter weather) but I am controlling 'what' he watches. So far the only programs he watches are 'Thomas', 'Tractor Tom', 'Curious George', 'Sesame Street' and 'Bearentain Bears'. Which is
a lot considering that he is only 2 1/2 but I try to not just turn on Tree House (mostly because 99% of those shows I consider to be more annoying than educational). I am totally considering becoming tv free or just moving it to the basement for me to have on some evenings after he is bed or while I am working on my crafts downstairs.

I collect up all his art projects and mail them off to his grandparents :). Some I take photos of first as my way of keeping a memory.

My to do list is a mile long today and it is already almost 9am and there is only one thing crossed off my list, but I have given 5 time-outs (me going back to work has made Mondays tough) made breakfast, cleaned up, read a book, dealt with one accident and made a snack.

I think today is a coffee day!