The other day my Judah was adamant about going to REAL school.
He said, and I quote, "YOU stay home and be homeschooled, MOM!"
We weren't going to homeschool this year.
My plan was just to continue with our normal routine - nothing organized. Just life as we
live it - unorganized, spontaneous, raw - doing all the "pre-school" things without calling it "pre-k".
A wild and romantic approach to learning disguised in the every day activities.
But every perfect stranger we have run into in the past two weeks has eagerly asked my children,
"SO DID YOU START SCHOOL?!?!?!" My kids would just look at them with blank stares and respond
with something off subject and random like, "Hi, my name is Isaiah. I'm four."
My husband and I, being second generation homeschooling parents, both have just felt that
"there is time". MORE than enough time to get everything, all the grades, all the homework, done.
So why rush, especially with our boys, into starting anything organized? We believe that the homeschool
classroom is NOT to mirror the mainstream classroom (in regards to time frame and structure),
but to be a space that can grow, bend, create, fail, move forward, fall back, cry,
celebrate with our children - at their own pace.
I didn't think it was time, but my children said otherwise.
They decided to set the pace. And they decided to do it THIS year.
So we have begun. Sooner than I imagined we would. It's a lot of "play" with purpose -
sorting, stacking, talking about colors, shapes, and the ABCs. A good friend was so generous to lend
us lots of fun, Montessori-like classroom learning tools that we are devouring. With our brains. We are
reading a lot, listening to audio books in the car, memorizing Scripture, tearing through those Kumon
early-learning workbooks, watching really educational things on Netflix...
like Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Ha.
We are still finding our rhythm, our groove. But I'm convinced that running to Starbucks is a good
intro to Social Studies for the mind of an (almost) 3 and 4 year old. So we're going with it.
I am loving this year... SO FAR!
KUMON
MONTESSORI
CHARLOTTE MASON
FIVE IN A ROW
So sweet that he wanted school!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty sweet! How can you say "no" to that?!?
DeleteThank you for the resources! I love that you are in this right at the same time as I am. We aren't going to take pre-school too seriously and I only "planned" on starting our four year old, but I am loving how much our 2 year old is catching on and learning right along!
ReplyDeleteFor sure, Nikki! Yea - our 3 year old would be freaking out if we did not include him! He thinks he is Isaiah's twin. Lol. He doesn't get everything, but I know he's catching on too - like your little one!!! Best of luck to you! Take it easy, right?! It's just pre-k - NBD :-) Here's to the class of 2028!!! - whoa that seems forever away. Is that right?!
Deleteit's soooo encouraging to see families beginning their journey of homeschooling. i was blessed to have been homeschooled all the way through and look forward to doing it with my kids. keep up the great work! you can so do it.
ReplyDeleteAw thank you!!! I was also blessed to be homeschooled too! Such a gift. I hope my kids love it as much as we did, Marli!!!!
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