I mentioned in April that we were going to give homeschool preschool a try for a bit and see how it worked.  It has been interesting.  Here are some random observations in no particular order…

Caroline does not enjoy doing the same thing or similar things more than a few times. We started out making those cute foam letters and by the time we got to about F or G she had lost interest.  It didn’t matter that they were different or super cute.  She just didn’t care to do the same kind of project again.  She craves and thrives on new experiences.

So that means the Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week curriculum was only partially helpful.  It is a great curriculum, but it has not worked well for us for a couple of reasons.  One, Caroline was already well past a lot of what was in it.  And, two, many of the activities are ones that are repeated multiple times with multiple letters. Again, Caroline has no interest in doing something again.

I’ve also realized that a great deal of what I have saved from teaching will probably never get used.  I have lots of files that I am going to pitch because they just won’t be relevant with the child I have.

This past week David and I talked again about whether or not we should consider sending Caroline to preschool this fall.  I admit that part of it would simply be for a break, even if just for this year.  But now that she is already sounding out words all over the place… I think she would be bored.  She’s definitely not ready for a kindergarten class, but when I read the four year old curriculum online for the place I was researching… I just think she would be bored.  I have tons of little readers that she’ll be reading in probably another week (as soon as I sit down and work on some basic sight words with her).  And even when I think about the fact that I would get a break, I think of the running back and forth to drop her off and pick her up and the volunteering in the classroom, etc.  It really would not be a break.  So I think we’ll just stick to the babysitter thing we’ve been doing.

Starfall.com has been a great tool.  Caroline is thoroughly enjoying it and has learned a lot simply by playing games on there.  Using the LeapFrog videos was also very instrumental in helping her.  We have had the first two since last winter:

We haven’t bought this one yet, but will since it focuses on long vowel sounds and I know it will be helpful:

This weekend we bought this one and she’s already talking about commas and periods:

I looked at this at Target this weekend, but am not sure.

It has two sets of phonics books you can buy to use with it (one short vowels and one long vowels) which could be helpful.

But so much of the rest of it is marketing propaganda (Little Mermaid, Dora, Cars, etc.) and I refuse to go in that direction.  (We do Hello, Kitty! and Pooh.  That is enough.)  The books I would buy are kind of pricey so I’m not sure I want to open that can of worms.  Ten bucks for a DVD is one thing.  The entire Tag thing will get a lot more expensive and I’m not sure it will make that big of a difference.  So the verdict is still out on that.

So now I’m trying to decide what to do about the fall. I’ve been looking at the Sonlight curriculum this week, but am not sure we really need that much for a four year old.  I’m thinking just an organic, teachable moments-based learning approach will probably still work just fine for this year.

One of the other big things I’ve learned admitted to myself is that I do not want to spend a lot of time in planning.  Reading through the 27 Reasons Families Love Sonlight and 27 Reasons Not to Buy Sonlight was helpful in a few different ways, especially after doing our practice preschool.  While I thoroughly love doing research and planning out units, I do not have the time to do it at this point in my life.  When I went through my elementary education program, I was in a selective, specialized program called Academic Learning.  The focus was on developing curriculum.  I ab.so.lute.ly. love to develop curriculum.  But if I am honest with myself, I just do not have the time and energy to devote to it.  So I think we will eventually end up with an all-in-one type curriculum where everything is basically planned and then we’ll supplement as necessary.  But I’m thinking we are still a year away from that (at least).

So that’s where we are.  Learning is happening all the time because we’re just three learning type people.  And it will all continue to evolve as we move forward! 

We started doing preschool this week and so far we are off to a good start.  Caroline is excited each morning to come down and see what is planned.

I have to say that none of these ideas are original to me. I’ve done a lot of surfing, looking for ideas that I thought would work well for us.  And I am keeping it pretty low-key to start with.  My main goal is to get off to a fun start with this.  Yes, Caroline will be learning as well.  But given her personality, my biggest goal is to get her hooked on learning and finding it enjoyable.

So here is what we are doing…

We set up a corner in the dining room for our school area.  There is absolutely nowhere else in the house to do it. I would dearly love to have a separate room, but that just isn’t meant to be.  I have literally an entire room’s worth of stuff in our basement from my teaching days and since having Caroline.  It’s frustrating, but I’m just trying to make the best of the situation.

So we purchased a table and chairs which we love.  (That’s Caroline above sitting at it the first day we bought it, trying it out with a coloring page.) Bought it at Toys’RUs and it is great!  It should fit Caroline for at least a few years.  We also purchased a small bookcase. (We already had twelve in various sizes in the house, but they were all being used…) And a palm tree.  (More on that later.)

The rolling cart is an idea I got from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I am also using her Letter of the Week Preschoool Curriculum.  It was only $10 and it is worth every penny just for how it has so many ideas I can quickly use and print off.  The curriculum is written to be used with one new letter a week.  We’ll probably do two a week only because one a week will be dragging it out too much for Caroline.  Some of the activities are too easy for Caroline, but there is plenty there to give me a good foundation on which to plan around.

So the rolling cart.  If you go to her post The Workbox System, you will see some examples of how she organizes her children’s work each day. Since Caroline and I are both a sucker for anything organizational I knew this would totally appeal to both of us.  I wish I had had the video camera on when we set up the rolling cart (before it was even filled).  Her eyes got big and she could hardly wait to start pulling the drawers open and rolling it around.  Now the first thing she does every morning when we come downstairs is open all the drawers to see what is in there!

Ok, so the palm tree now residing in my formal dining room… Yes, it is a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.  We’ll be adding a letter each time we learn about it.  Caroline and David made coconuts and Caroline was more than proud of them.

We’ll be using Chicka Chicka Boom Boom along with the Letter of the Week Curriculum. We’re making a lapbook and I’ll post about that shortly as well.

Let’s see… What else…

Oh, we are making these adorable little foam letters.  This is where I am really grateful for David.  I could never cut these out and make them look anything remotely like the picture.  I just gather the supplies, print out the picture from the internet, hand the stuff to him, and he cuts all the pieces that I need.  Gotta love being married to an artist!

So here is Caroline proudly showing off her alligator!

Well, there are a number of other neat little ideas I plan on sharing, but work is calling me so I should stop here.  I definitely won’t be posting pictures of everything we do, but I will share some of the ideas I find in case anyone else would like to use them.

So far I’m pleased with how things have gone.  One thing I know for sure.  Anything that uses a dry erase marker or scissors and glue will be a big hit.  She loves them both.  And I’m also pretty sure that Caroline is going to be a lefty. She goes back and forth, but she almost always writes with her left hand now and cuts with her right.  So I’ll have the added challenge of trying to teach a southpaw how to write!

We have applied for several charter schools for their young 5′s program (just in case we have not moved by the time school starts). R. will be 5 in mid-July and school will start in early September. young 5′s was recommended to us by a teacher friend who has taught early ed through high school. She says that, with very few exceptions, boys are better to start later rather than earlier. However, I also had a former teacher friend tell me that R. should not go into young 5′s but should go straight to kindergarten because he is very intelligent and will get bored in young 5′s and might end up being a problem child.

In talking to other moms, they all said sending their kids with summer/early fall b-days to young 5′s was the best decision they made.

What is your opinion about kindergarten vs. young 5′s for a child with a July b-day? R. is very bright (and believe me I am not tooting my own horn. There are days I wish he was not so smart. ) and he is very socially adjusted. But, he is still a boy, and a very active boy at that. He does not do well with change (which is why we are really hoping to sell our house and be in a new one before summer starts so he has the summer to adjust to a new home before school starts). I just really think young 5′s would be a good adjustment into school where he will be learning, but it will be geared more towards his need for activity and play. But, I would love your opinion as a former teacher.

What has been your experience, especially if you have a boy with a summer birthday?  How would you counsel this mom?

Caroline has thoroughly enjoyed watching Baby Einstein DVDs for the past year.  We didn’t allow her to watch DVDs until she was almost two.  She definitely likes DVDs, but I am at a bit of a loss where to go next.  She has an animal video from the Creation Museum that my friend, Katherine, sent her.  She likes that with the singing and animals.  She likes A Charlie Brown Christmas (Remastered Deluxe Edition) and has watched it off and on all year.  But that’s about it.

I know there have to be lots of good DVDs out there that I’m just not aware of.  We’re not interested in going the Dora, Elmo, Sesame Street, etc. route.  I’d especially be interested in high quality DVDs with Bible themes, Bible verses, singing, etc. but am open to anything that is solid and well done.

Suggestions?

Yesterday I shared a bit about what I am doing with Caroline at home regarding learning.  Today I want to ask a question. I’m sure I’m not the only one facing this.

What do you do with a child who won’t play by herself and is bored with something within five minutes?

I was sharing with a friend in an email recently that it is so hard to keep Caroline occupied.  If I prepare something for her or gather the materials for a new activity, she will generally do it for five minutes tops and then she is done. She isn’t interested in exploring all the different creative ways to use something. She definitely is not into doing something over and over again.  Once she’s done it a couple of times, she’s ready to move on.

I don’t have the time or financial ability to find 10 new things for her to do each day.  She has plenty of open-ended toys.  We rotate toys.  We have her put toys away before she goes on to the next thing (mostly – still working on that).  She’s not over-sugared. But it is almost as though she needs a steady diet of new things to do and experience all day.

She also isn’t interested in playing alone.  At. all. It doesn’t matter if she gets lots of one-on-one time for an hour or two.  She still wants to be with us and have us play with her.  We can’t play with her all day (and we don’t).  But she  isn’t lacking for attention.

A couple mornings a week we have a sitter come for a few hours to play with her just so we can get a break and focus on our work.  She loves having the sitters come (we use two different girls who are completely different) and always has a lot of fun.

Anyway, I am open to suggestions.  I realize part of it may be her age, part of it is a function of having an only child, and part of it is training her to do things, but it is driving me nuts.  The combination of a mom who needs time alone during the day to think, recharge, take care of a home, and work and a child who thinks she needs a play companion all day, every day and seems incapable of getting engrossed in anything by herself is just not working very well.  I have to be honest.  If things don’t change as she gets a little older, this may be the very thing that trumps everything else and forces us to choose to put her in school.  I know she might grow out of it, but right now it is very hard.

(And I won’t even get into the part about the fact that she wakes up at 5:00 every morning and thinks it is time to get up. I am dreading the time change because her internal clock is so strong I don’t even want to think about how this is going to play out shortly. We’ve already tried adjusting her bedtime to start compensating for the change, and that’s not working either.  It doesn’t matter what time she goes to bed. She wakes up early every. single. morning.)