Last week was our first week of “doing school.” Sam is four and I thought it was time to incorporate a (very) loose preschool program into our schedule. We are still members of our Friday co-op, and while our membership has doubled in size these past six months, many of the children Sam’s age will be attending private preschool this fall, and the younger children (ages 2-3 years) will begin participating in our co-op as opposed to just playing on the floor during “lessons” like last year. Because the majority of the children are younger, the lessons will be tailored to their level, which means that it won’t be nearly challenging enough for Sam, thus the reason for our own program “on the side,” so to speak.
Our lesson is twenty minutes, three days a week. Twenty minutes is about all the undivided attention Sam can give me, and that’s on a good day. I use the Starfall website, which is $35 a year and worth every penny. We play an interactive game based on the letter or number of the day, and then do a few worksheets from our Brain Quest Pre-K workbooks that I purchased from Costco. So far, he is doing well. He likes the interactive games and while he certainly doesn’t know all his numbers and letters (not that I expected him to), I was surprised to discover that he knows all his colors, most shapes and is able to quickly figure out other basic pre-k skills like matching, sorting, and phonics.
I have read that having expectations for a four year old, especially when it’s the first year of homeschooling for both the mother and the child is unreasonable; that it leads to nothing but disappointment and frustration. I am trying with all my might to keep this advice in the forefront of my mind, but I find myself starting to worry:
What if this doesn’t work? What if I’m a terrible teacher? What if he won’t listen to me, and then he never learns his letters, and then he never learns to read, and then he can’t find a job because he’s illiterate and he ends up spending the majority of his adult life in my basement smoking weed and playing video games all day because he’s a worthless member of society and it’s ALL MY FAULT?!
You get the idea.
It’s only been two weeks, and he’s doing well. Great, actually. I know there will be hard days, days that will affirm these fears. But I’ll try to keep telling myself to worry about those days when they come, and not before. When I decided to homeschool, I knew it wasn’t going to be the easiest path for our family but I did believe and still do, that this is the best path for our family.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Dear Sarah,
Hi, I’m Helene (Lainelaine on Ravelry). I’ve been following your blog for quite some time now, and I really enjoy it. Your creativity is really contagious and I love your pictures! I’ve spent some time in the US in the past (I am French) and I have always been struck by a particular light I do not see in Europe. And you capture it very well.
Congratulations on your beautiful endeavor with homeschooling! As a school teacher I would suggest to pay particular attention to how your children hold their pens. It may seem trivial but fluidity of the hand has a lot of impact on processing our thoughts (and just avoiding being tired).
Here some stuff I found in English : https://eksith.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/holding-a-pen-correctly/
If you decide to give it a try – you have every right not to – I must warn you… It’s a bit of a hassle to give a child good writing habits (well like any habits…)… But it’s worth the trouble.
I am sure you will do a great job!
Helene,
I’m so glad you enjoy the blog! Connecting with people such as yourself from all over the world is one of the many reasons why I love blogging. It’s so funny that you mentioned the way Sam hold his crayon; I have noticed that he struggles to hold it the “correct way,” and I have been trying to figure out how and when to correct it. I looked at the link you sent; it was quite helpful, thank you. I am going to search to see if I can find some kid-friendly instructions to use. Again, thank you so much!
Crayons are hard to handle because of their round shape (but they are cool…). When you give him pencils you may want to choose those with octogonal or triangular shapes. It’s easy to get a good grip.
Sam is young… so there is nothing to worry about. But I had to send one of my 8 years old student to an occupational therapist to correct his writing habits. He was getting frustrated and tired (a real nervous wreck sometimes). Now things are much better, but I wish he had learned earlier, it would have saved him so much trouble and misery.
So glad to be of some help! and to be able to connect with you from my part of the planet. Thank you for blogging!
Just purchased some triangular crayons and colored pencils! Again, thanks for the advice!
I remember the first ‘back to school’ when we opted to just not take our eldest. It was exhilarating and scary and fun all at once. This week she just missed what could have been her first day of highschool and while that also proved a point for some reflection about our choices for her, and the other four, it was just as scary to opt out this time.
Trust in your self. See your goals and set yourself forward. Our intention is to raise competent, confident, independent adults and while we’re still reminding ourselves to relax on a near daily basis, it’s starting to look like that just might work out.
I love hearing advice like this from homeschooling veterans such as yourself. Thank you for your encouragement. It gives me so much hope!