Schooling & Perspective

Perspective.

I remember when Rosie was two, I started feeling the internal pressure for pre-school.  We have so much pressure to school.  Shortly after that, I started getting the questions.  "Is 'Rosie' starting school in the fall?"  (as she was about to turn 3).  Since that time the pressure to school has not just been internal.  In books I had begun to read, it seemed there was more information about dangers of schooling too early.

This past school year Rosie was JUST eligible for our parish pre-school.  In discerning what to do, specifically if we wanted her to be oldest in the class or youngest, a very wise teacher friend said "always give your child the gift of time."  She also asked "would you rather your daughter be driving her friends around or riding in the back of their car?"  That was an easy answer.  In quick interview with others, it seemed that being older in the class was usually preferred/easier. 

Perspective.

Before, I was dealing with pressure to school.  Now, perspective allows me to see that giving her an extra year allows us to have her in our home an extra year.  Rather than rushing our 17 year old off to college, we will have almost a full year with our 18 year old.  I am obviously not parenting a teenager right now.  But, reason tells me in parenthood, every moment counts.

This year we have been working on "handwriting without tears".  It has been a very loose pre-school program, but we so enjoy our time together.  That said, I am still struggling heavily with the idea of being solely responsible for her education.  Mainly related to the responsibility of having all children in my charge at all times...this in itself is a big lifestyle change, it is not so easy just to run to the store.  Also, teaching requires quite a bit of patience...and so far we are only sitting down for an hour a couple of times a week.  For Christmas, I received another wishlist book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.   I am looking forward to starting that this year. 

I am not sure yet if we will enroll in pre school in the fall or continue to school at home.  We love the precious moments with our beautiful children.  We love teaching our values and faith, seeing our two year old sing Alleluia or bow his head to pray and say Amen.   We love seeing Rosie grow into a God-loving little girl.  Those moments of witnessing the fruits of our parenting are priceless. 

For 2012, "God, please continue to shower me with BUCKETS of grace necessary to be a good mom.  A loving mom.  An encouraging mom.  A mom who teaches by her actions.  Help ME be a better ME.  For this I pray. Amen."

Home School, 3 days in

Today was day 3 of my homeschooling career (pre-school).  I was super resistant, especially in light of the placement of baby love.  I had not prepared much at all (with the exception of thinking about decorating a home school room).  The day before my planned start date I sat down at the computer and spent an hour looking through resources, including more decorating ideas.  <--- self admittedly, this is my biggest draw to home school right now.

Day 1

Here we go!

After three days, I must admit, I enjoy this dedicated time!  For Rosie, right now school is mostly about role playing.  She loves to play the part of the student (including wearing a back pack and school shoes) and she loves to call me "hey teacher".  Our goal is mild, one hour, three days a week.  We do lunch, put the babes to bed and come downstairs. 

In our hour, we start with the Lords Prayer, say the Pledge of Allegiance, spend time reading a bible story, talking about a virtue or the saint of the day; move into handwriting/letter recognition and close with an activity/song or story. 

Based on a recommendation, I am using ideas from Handwriting without Tears for the teaching order and multi-sensory learning ideas (letters out of play dough, in chalk and today...shaving cream).  I love printables from Homeschool Creations and I have pulled some faith study ideas from Lisa Hendey.

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

    

Ave Maria!

Today, my ideas were pulled from Shower of Roses.  Since we did not have school on Mary's birthday, we made a big deal out of today's feast...Holy Name of Mary.  It was wonderful.  I notice that after our homeschool hour Rosie is extra snuggly and loving.  She loves the time together as much as me. 

Crowning Mary..with flowers from our garden

While the jury is certainly out on how long this will last, for now...we enjoy our time playing school. 

cautiously contemplating home schooling

In my college years I was fortunate to be surrounded by solid Catholic families.  These families mentored me in Catholic family life.  They were also my first exposure to home schooling.

When I met Paul, he was a big fan of the idea of home schooling.  I was open to the idea.  The idea of home schooling is one thing.  The reality of it...quite another.

This past year I have received a few books from my wish list: 
The Well Trained Mind
Catholic Homeschool Companion
Catholic Education: Homeward Bound

The Well Trained Mind paints a beautiful vision of homeschooling.  In the ideal world we would all be classically educated.  This book terrified me.  I did take away encouraging H to draw her circles counter clock-wise as a pre-writting skill, but not too much more than that quite yet.

The Catholic Homeschool Companion is a wealth of resources.  I am not quite ready for deciding on a curriculum.

Right now I am reading Homeward Bound.  I am grateful for the simplicity of this book.  It advises that instead of asking whether we will home school, we should be asking whether we will continue to home school.  It also discusses the tutoring approach to home schooling.  This speaks to me.  In college I hired a tutor to help me understand biology.  I was so grateful for the one on one approach that I received for the first time in my life.  It is easy for me to understand how one could excel through tutoring. The other piece that appeals to me is the non-rushed approach.  Getting out of the house can be a flurry of activity, we are often rushing out the door.  I like the idea of not rushing and am a big fan of the idea of simplicity. 

I am a long way from decision making.  The biggest hurdle for me to overcome is myself.  I am interested in the idea and am on the hunt for homeschooling blogs & resources that inspire.  That said, we also had plans today to tour our local parish preschool.  Due to the ice, school was canceled...we are home.  :)