Homeschooling seems akin to birthing a baby.I have been
"schooling" {playing and discovering, losing my wits and regaining
them a thousand times over} with my girlies for five years now, but there is
something so official about the title of kindergarten. Probably has something to do with the way Hopey keeps announcing to the general public, "I am in kindergarten this year!!"
THE Kindergartener, with her awesome "Eureka!" face.
Anyway, I say it's like birthing because I know-- having had other peoples' babies in my care before-- that good teaching is opening your heart like a mama does and bearing yourself vulnerable to do whatever it takes to help those kiddos learn. Each new year is like a new life waiting to begin, filled with possibilities and potential and mystery. There are lots of decisions to be made in the time leading up to day one and though I know there will continue to be afterwards, there is something so motivating about the season just before you start. You pretty much ought to call it nesting because, man, have we been cleaning and clearing this joint out.
One project was organizing our Reading Nook into a "School Library." It was really fun to teach the girls the difference between fiction and non-fiction as we sorted, then to have them decide they wanted certain authors-- like Stan and Jan Berenstain and Marc Brown-- grouped together too. We put the ample supply of Sesame Street and Dora/Diego on the lower shelf for our youngest little reader. And made a special spot for the published works these girls crank out each week. It led to a lot of this, rediscovering all sorts of old treasures that have gotten lost on the shelves over time:
But, as with all bursts in my nesting history, I can get pretty absorbed in the projects that actually don't involve the kids. I'd come out of a closet that was freshly organized to find half the rest of the house altogether destroyed. :) When the girls had finally had enough of entertaining themselves on those particular days {a.k.a. driving each other crazy}, I'd finally call it quits and we'd do something much more happy and desired.
Cross items off the Summer Bucket List:
Eating banana bread doesn't need to be on any list for it to be a good use of the afternoon.
:: Home Spa. While the girls were downstairs and greatly in need of a pace change, I quickly got out some nail polish and an ocean sounds CD, lit a few candles and turned pillows into a faux massage table.
The Waiting Area, if you please.
Bubble baths by candlelight. Why don't I ever do this one for myself?
:: Mommy Dates. Hope and I went early morning yard sale'ing. Heaven knows we don't need any more stuffed animals in this house, but for a quarter I made this child's day. Actually 75 cents since I let her get a cup of pink lemonade from a stout little businessman. Alysse and I simply took a long stroll around our block, one of her very favorite things to do.
:: Swimming. Nothing says friendship like bumming off friends with really nice neighborhood pools.
:: Ding Dong Donuts. The rules are simple.
1. Go to the new bakery in town at closing. Get a gigantic box of the day's homemade, delicious, and completely fattening leftovers for way cheap.
2. Wrap some up for neighbors on either side of you, lest you die of a sugar coma.
3. Put the sinful things on their front porches; ring doorbells all sneaky like.
4. Run like crazy back to your house before getting caught.
::Tea party on the deck. Bed head in fancy buns, adorned in all manner of random jewelry.
We've also got big black squiggly marks through watch a sunset, make our sponsor child sunny pictures, beach, putt putt (turned +bumper boats!), spray park, children's museum, PopPop and Nana's, slip 'n slide, picnic at the church park, ice-cream from a truck, light sparklers, summer craft, and make reading forts.
One item that I neither wanted nor intended was losing my keys in a parking lot (first time I've done anything like that since college!) This pretty much kept us from finishing up summer's last hurrah this week by scratching off our other far more fun ideas. However the girls got to see a real live tow truck and eat pizza on a Monday night, so they may just think it was one of our most exciting summer adventures yet. Me? Not so much. :)
But I've got bigger things on my mind, with this "baby" to birth and all come Monday. Plus, it looks like Summer 2012 was pretty good to us.
And that's worth more than a million squiggly check marks.
~Katrina
THE Kindergartener, with her awesome "Eureka!" face.
Anyway, I say it's like birthing because I know-- having had other peoples' babies in my care before-- that good teaching is opening your heart like a mama does and bearing yourself vulnerable to do whatever it takes to help those kiddos learn. Each new year is like a new life waiting to begin, filled with possibilities and potential and mystery. There are lots of decisions to be made in the time leading up to day one and though I know there will continue to be afterwards, there is something so motivating about the season just before you start. You pretty much ought to call it nesting because, man, have we been cleaning and clearing this joint out.
One project was organizing our Reading Nook into a "School Library." It was really fun to teach the girls the difference between fiction and non-fiction as we sorted, then to have them decide they wanted certain authors-- like Stan and Jan Berenstain and Marc Brown-- grouped together too. We put the ample supply of Sesame Street and Dora/Diego on the lower shelf for our youngest little reader. And made a special spot for the published works these girls crank out each week. It led to a lot of this, rediscovering all sorts of old treasures that have gotten lost on the shelves over time:
But, as with all bursts in my nesting history, I can get pretty absorbed in the projects that actually don't involve the kids. I'd come out of a closet that was freshly organized to find half the rest of the house altogether destroyed. :) When the girls had finally had enough of entertaining themselves on those particular days {a.k.a. driving each other crazy}, I'd finally call it quits and we'd do something much more happy and desired.
Cross items off the Summer Bucket List:
Eating banana bread doesn't need to be on any list for it to be a good use of the afternoon.
:: Home Spa. While the girls were downstairs and greatly in need of a pace change, I quickly got out some nail polish and an ocean sounds CD, lit a few candles and turned pillows into a faux massage table.
The Waiting Area, if you please.
Bubble baths by candlelight. Why don't I ever do this one for myself?
:: Mommy Dates. Hope and I went early morning yard sale'ing. Heaven knows we don't need any more stuffed animals in this house, but for a quarter I made this child's day. Actually 75 cents since I let her get a cup of pink lemonade from a stout little businessman. Alysse and I simply took a long stroll around our block, one of her very favorite things to do.
:: Swimming. Nothing says friendship like bumming off friends with really nice neighborhood pools.
:: Ding Dong Donuts. The rules are simple.
1. Go to the new bakery in town at closing. Get a gigantic box of the day's homemade, delicious, and completely fattening leftovers for way cheap.
2. Wrap some up for neighbors on either side of you, lest you die of a sugar coma.
3. Put the sinful things on their front porches; ring doorbells all sneaky like.
4. Run like crazy back to your house before getting caught.
::Tea party on the deck. Bed head in fancy buns, adorned in all manner of random jewelry.
We've also got big black squiggly marks through watch a sunset, make our sponsor child sunny pictures, beach, putt putt (turned +bumper boats!), spray park, children's museum, PopPop and Nana's, slip 'n slide, picnic at the church park, ice-cream from a truck, light sparklers, summer craft, and make reading forts.
One item that I neither wanted nor intended was losing my keys in a parking lot (first time I've done anything like that since college!) This pretty much kept us from finishing up summer's last hurrah this week by scratching off our other far more fun ideas. However the girls got to see a real live tow truck and eat pizza on a Monday night, so they may just think it was one of our most exciting summer adventures yet. Me? Not so much. :)
But I've got bigger things on my mind, with this "baby" to birth and all come Monday. Plus, it looks like Summer 2012 was pretty good to us.
And that's worth more than a million squiggly check marks.
~Katrina
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