When School Starts

I realized that I haven't posted anything for a long time and that the old post I have no longer matches my playlist. I feel like there isn't much to post about... just everyday stuff. I've been really happy lately and I'm trying to be a more patient and warm mother. It's been very good. The kids are more patient with me and they have been wanting to spend time with me. Lately our focus has been to get things prepared for "school". I don't think I mentioned before that I've decided to run a school from our loft to help the kids be ready with the basics. Braden took Montessori school with the Arnetts last year and absolutely thrived with the challenges and social opportunities. By the year ended he was beginning to sound out words and, I felt like he was scholastically ready for kindergarten. I tried and tried to find a school that would let him in (he isn't 5 until the beginning of October), but with budgets the way they are this year, nobody would even test him. At first I was bummed and wondered what I would do with him for a whole year when he was on such a roll. I didn't want his momentum to wither away. I decided that I'd use the year to our benefit. If I could take care of the preschool and continue his education, then I could afford to put the kids in some activities like soccer to help with the social aspect. This will also help Jade to catch the fire of learning from her brother and feel confidence as her knowledge grows. I'm so excited for the school. I've decided to take elements from the Montessori system and also elements from traditional school. I've worked really hard to form an outline and so far I have units of study mapped out for the first semester. Many of the things are topics the kids suggested that they are curious about. We'll study the different classifications of animals, the human body, maps and globes, simple tools, environmental regions, rock formation and classification, the planets and space, time, calendar etc. These we will study as a group. We'll have work centers and independent learning to take care of the topics that Braden and Jade aren't at the same level... reading, writing, arithmetic, small motor skills. I still have a lot of work, but it'll be ready by the second week of August. It is hard to imagine me being a teacher. I'm not naturally patient. For me, waiting for a child to figure something out is very difficult. I know how important it is for them to discover on their own, though, so I will try my very best to relax and take things slowly; after all we do have a whole year. I'll talk more about it when school starts.