Pulling DS out of DC / SAHM advice

[mamabear13]

As I've mentioned, I was recently laid off.  The past 2 months we have sent DS to DC part time, saving us a little bit of $$.  But we are now thinking of pulling him all together until I find work (pretty sure DC will hold his spot for a few months). 
I'm worried about doing this because a) it will make it much more difficult to search for work/go on interviews; and b) he loses that socialization and education.

I'm hoping I can get some help from family for interviews. Maybe even have someone take him 1 day a week to give me uninterrupted time to job search.  But as for b), looking for suggestions on how to keep him occupied/stimulated.  At DC he does crafts daily, music weekly, and is learning letters and numbers, as well as structured and free play with peers.  I know I can take him to the local library story time, but other than that I'm not sure what to do? 

Ideally I'd be able to continue some sort of searching while he's home but I don't want to sit him in front of the TV all day (he already watches enough as it is!).  But he doesn't really play on his own either.  So besides planning my own activities for him (and thus not looking for work during that time), where else can I find free/cheap things to do?  I'm guessing part time preschools wouldn't enroll until fall..., if we want to spend that $$)


tldr; if you are at home with your preschooler, what activities do you do with him/her to engage/stimulate learning and development?

[LizInFL]

You may be able to find an opening at a preschool this time of year...there were a couple openings in B's class last year for various reasons and they got a new student mid-year. FWIW, Ive found church preschools are typically more moderately priced than private/independent programs (not sure if you're at all religious). Enrollment for the following school year is usually in Jan/Feb so that may be something to start looking at now, even if you just register him but end up not enrolling him come September.

B does go to preschool two mornings/week, but as far as day to day stuff...we just get out and about. We go to the pool in the summer, try different parks and take picnics, hit the zoo or children's museum occasionally, library story time/check out books, and take walks.

I read to him a lot during the day (prob a bit less now with C in the mix) but TBH I really don't do much in the way of organized "teaching" or anything. We'll work on numbers or colors or shapes, but it happens organically as opposed to sitting down with a workbook or something. I leave messy crafts to the preschool teachers. He'll color or do playdoh at home, he has some safety scissors I'll let him cut with and he uses a glue stick sometimes. We'll bake something or I'll have him help me make a snack (spreading PB on apple slices with plastic knife, things like that). When I do play with him, I'll use the activity or game to engage him with certain things (counting, working on sounds from speech therapy, talking about a certain topic, etc).

Do you have neighborhood or local moms groups you could join? Here in our city we have the (City)MomsBlog, it's a franchise so maybe there's one in your area? They plan all kinds of events around town, arrange play dates at parks, and various activities/meetups at area kid-friendly attractions. I actually met a couple friends that way thru their FB group so we'll do park dates, get the kids together for lunch/play at CFA, etc. B is also getting better about playing with other kids (that we don't know) when we go to the park. I've found a lot of places have special 'toddler time' in the mornings where you get in for a reduced fee...indoor bounce places, trampoline park, the museum, etc. Those are good things to look into when the weather is bad or he just needs to blow off steam.

I feel like I just did a huge info dump and have no clue what % is actually helpful to you, but maybe a couple things will resonate, haha!

[mamabear13]

@lizinfl, will definitely look into FB geoups5, good idea.

nam2013, god idea to have a specific craft as opposed to just general painting. Hoping I can get him to do things for little bits of time in his Ken so I can apply to jobs...it's a little oveewheling because I feel like I'd be pulling him out of a great environment and won't be able to compare..

[mamabear13]

Feb 1, 2017 8:19:23 GMT -5 nam2013 said:

Feb 1, 2017 8:16:08 GMT -5 mamabear13 said:

@lizinfl, will definitely look into FB geoups5, good idea.

nam2013, god idea to have a specific craft as opposed to just general painting. Hoping I can get him to do things for little bits of time in his Ken so I can apply to jobs...it's a little oveewheling because I feel like I'd be pulling him out of a great environment and won't be able to compare..

I get that, That's why I was wondering if you could bring him to daycare for two mornings, if this is financially viable, maybe if you explain they might be willing to work with you.

It would be financially, but not sure my day care will let me. Their one downside is they don't do half days . and they are actually giving me an exception by letting me do 3 days. They only have rates for 4 and 5 day. Going to talk to them tomorrow...

[klongoria11]

You might look for Mother's Day Out programs in your area or we have some drop-in daycares as well, just for days when you have interviews and you would just need him to be watched for a few hours.

[mamabear13]

Thanks for all the ideas ladies! I have a lot to look into now .

[trtlcrzy]

Look into the YMCA preschool. I'm not sure where you live and what the COL is there but H goes 2 mornings a week from 8:30-12 and it's $99 a month which is way cheaper than any part time daycare here. I feel like there is a lot more I could be doing with H but mostly let her play and explore on her own at home. Here the parks and rec does a "play date" every day from 10a-12p at the different rec centers and it's free. Sky zone does toddler time for $3 tues/thurs. We have a zoo membership and go there once a week when it's nice outside. Library has story time once a week. There are lots of things you can find if you look for it, most of the activities I've found through Facebook. Some of my SAHM friends also are a part of MOPS.