Spring Ahead.... Fall Behind

Last night, we turned back the clocks by one hour. This whole idea of turning back time by an hour in the fall, and advancing by an hour in the spring, has always confused me. I probably shouldn't admit to this, because to most people this is a simple idea. Well, not for me. I can't wrap my head around how this works. I understand that we gained an hour of sleep last night, because when we woke up this morning at 7a.m. it was really like 8 a.m. We still slept as many hours as usual, except I have two kids, so that changes the equation for me. In this house, we get no sleep, thanks to our daughter Grace. Lately, my kids have been sleeping until 8 a.m., but now they'll start waking at 7 a.m again! It really doesn't matter, as I said before, because we get very little sleep as it is.  A normal nights sleep in this house consists of about two solid hours, and twenty minute naps here and there throughout the night. However, in a few days, when they're still waking at 7 a.m., and I want to sleep that extra hour, this whole 'fall behind' thing is going to come back to bite me. Then we have the 'spring ahead.' In the spring, we turn the clocks ahead by an hour, so we lose an hour of sleep. Obviously, 'spring ahead' has it's own issues. Technically, I lose an hour of 'me time' because I'll have to put the kids to bed at 9 p.m.,  instead of their usual 8 p.m., if I want them to stay asleep until a reasonable hour the next day.
Even as I sit here and type this, I'm confusing myself. I understand it will get darker outside earlier now, because of winter, and the clock being set back an hour. I understand the daylight extension in the summer as well. What I want to know is, why? Can we skip all this daylight savings time stuff for a few years and see what happens? Will it eventually be sunny at 3 a.m. and dark at noon? I think we should test it out. If it fails, I'll just have something else to complain about!

Vocabulary

advancing (v) to move, or bring forward
confused (v) unable to understand something; perplexed
admit (v) to acknowledge; confess
normal (adj) regular; usual;common
reasonable (adj) fair; average; moderate
extension (noun) the act or instance of stretching, increasing.
complain (v) to express resentment, displeasure, etc, especially habitually; grumble

Vocabulary Practice:

To add to your confusion, try to figure out each scrambled vocabulary word below. Good Luck! 

sundeocf  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
mnailopc __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
dangicnva __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
sealebaron __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
lamron __ __ __ __ __ __
damit __ __ __ __ __
texisnone __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 

Grammar Point:  Prepositions

Prepositions are the words that tell us either where something is (physical location) or when something happened (location in time), they cannot function on their own, and are always used to show a relationship between other words in the sentence.

The Preposition song- to the tune of Yankee Doodle  

Prepositions are small group of words that are a closed class, meaning there will never be new words added to the list. For this reason, it is possible to memorize all the prepositions in the English language. Give it a try!

Practice singing the song in the link above to help you memorize prepositions. 

** Write a paragraph describing all the times, and places, you've seen a squirrel in your neighborhood.**

Here is a list of common prepositions:

about above across after against around at before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond

by down during except for from in inside into like near of off on out

outside over since through throughout till to toward under until up upon with without

according to because of by way of in addition to in front of in place of in regard to in spite of instead of on account of out of

Click here for an in-depth look at prepositions. 

Here are some examples of prepositions showing location in time:

At midnight, my daughter woke up screaming.

During the ING marathon, many roads and bridges in New York City are closed.

Here are some examples of prepositions showing physical location:

 The puppy is in the trash can.  The puppy is beside the phone.