Starting Kindergarten

Hi sweet girls...

I have been putting off writing this post but I really want to document these first few weeks of Lucy's Kindergarten in case one day you find yourselves teaching your own little ones at home and in need of hearing how it's gone for someone else.

I should start by saying that I am starting you Lucy on Kindergarten at age 4.  I know there are people out there that have opinions about that but I'm trying not to get discouraged because I know what I am trying to accomplish by it and you seem to be thriving so far.  So I guess that's been my first lesson... homeschooling is all about meeting your family's needs so one needs to learn how to balance well-meaning/experienced advice and what your heart is telling you to do.

I had been having some anxiety about "the big first year" of homeschooling happening next year because Lucy you would be 5, Jenna 2.5 and Michael 8 months.  I've heard a ton of lectures about how to homeschool older kids while having babies around and it all sounds so doable coming out of their mouths but the truth is it wasn't looking so easy as I imagined it happening in our house.   Starting this year is nice because I only have you two girls and I can get some experience under my belt before I have to start teaching while entertaining a toddler and a (probably) crawling baby.  What can I say?   Some women are not faced by this but I am not one of those so easing into this transition early is helping me.

The other benefit of starting early for me is that there is no pressure to perform.  You are 4 so if you don't get the material or things don't go well we just do it all over again next year and no harm's done.

Now having said all this, the main reason you are starting Kindergarten at age 4 is because you are ready for it.  You have the patience, focus and desire to learn the material.  Not an hour goes by without you asking "What's next Mommy?".   We went through this summer just "winging it",  coming up with activities and capitalizing on learning opportunities as they came but that proved to be hard for both you and I.  You want to know ahead of time what the day holds and I need to have a plan for the day.  We are just not the spontaneous kind sweetie but that's OK... we have some other really cool qualities ;)

Ok, so now to the meat of it.  Charlotte Mason.  Oh, wow, Charlotte Mason.  This lady who lived a while back and is (I think) one of the most passionate educators of all times, has had a lot to do with how I plan to train you kids.  Her teachings have had such an intense impact on me that it's made me want to re-educate myself in a way using her incredibly logical methods and ideas.  She was a Christian and obviously on fire for Jesus.  You can see Him in every one of her suggestions and I love that.

In a nutshell, she believes that for children 6 years old and under the main components of education should be nature study, habit training and reading some awesome literature.  The nature study part of her philosophy has revolutionized the way our family operates.  We spend A LOT of time outside these days... and that's time outside exploring and enjoying God's creation not running errands in a car. When we are not outside we are looking out our "nature window", reading, or working on establishing good habits.   One thing I read in her writings is that before discipline has to come attention.  A child can not obey if he hasn't heard what he was asked to do.  I can not tell you how many hours we have spent disciplining you Lucy for not obeying "right away" without understanding that the root of that problem was you not paying attention to what we had requested.  So, part of her habit and obedience training is developing a child's ability to pay attention.  She's got some cool tricks under her sleeve for this... most of it using nature itself.

The other day you observed a lizard from inside our big window and waited (very patiently) for it to jump from a leave to the trunk of the tree so you could show your sister how it would change colors from green to brown.  Now things like this make me smile because I know what they are accomplishing in you. You are still expected to obey "right away, all the way and with a happy heart" but now I have a better insight into why it is so challenging for you to do the "right away" part of that.

One last thing about nature study... it's hard for me to believe I have lived 33 years of life so numb to the magic and glory of God's creation.  It makes me sad but at the same time grateful that I finally got it...that I get goose bumps not only from grand experiences like standing in the Yosemite valley looking up at those mountains but also from walking out our front door to see that a whole family of mushrooms have grown overnight in the humid corner around our chaste tree.  He created it for His glory AND our enjoyment and it has become my new goal to make sure you kids don't go one day without noticing and enjoying it.

That they may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

~Is. 41:20

Now on to the Charlotte's ideas on reading to you guys.  She is not fond of the repetition/same syllable books... you know those that spend pages making "bob hop on pop". She thinks we should talk UP to our kids, that we should use words and feed ideas that might even be a bit too profound for them so that their minds start hungering for this depth instead of being numbed and bored to death by the "hop on pop" business.  To this end, she loves books with a real plot, what she calls Living books, books that take you to a place and describe it so vividly that your little hearts can't help but yearn to go there, books that bring a character to life in such way that they become your best friends and cause you to want to take them everywhere you go.

Initially, I thought that sounded wonderful but how can a 4 year old really get those books, how can they sit still long enough to listen to that plot unfold.  Well, I have found out there are age appropriate Living Books for kiddos your age. Reading has become a new passion in our house.  I no longer have to suggest it, you girls just come to me carrying 6 books each.  Beatrix Potter tales are some of our favorites... her language is exquisite and her stories so very rich.  You two ladies will never look at a bunny with the same eyes again or want to fool around in lieu of doing your chores without remembering the squirrel without its tail ;)  More habit training "indirectly" taught by Ms. Literature.

I'll have to share the pictures and stories of your first two weeks on a next post but I did want to end this one by sharing that we are using the My Father's World (MFW) Kindergarten curriculum.  They are a Charlotte Mason based curriculum created by a family whose highest priority is to give children a biblical world view.  We don't do science, language arts, math, history and then bible... everything IS BIBLE... everything is studied through the eyes of Scripture.  Bible is not just another lesson that's tagged at the end, it is everything.  We are learning to see science through God's eyes, history through God's eyes, math through His eyes.

This last week we studied the Sun (science) and letter S (language arts) all stemming from the main truth that "Jesus is the light of the world".  It was so heartwarming to see you (Lucy) make these spiritual connections while walking in the dark with a flashlight to learn how to Sun provides light.  I can not count how many times I saw you "reading" your bible after we talked about how the word of God is a lamp to our feet.   Some seriously cool stuff... I'll show you on my next post.

Love you girls!
Mommy