As a mother I don't feel like I am the overly ambitious, do-it-myself-cuz-I-can-do-it-better type. I wasn't dying to do a co-op preschool. I would rather not stress about having 6 or so, three and four year olds over to my house and the pressure of trying to keep them in control, and entertained all while attempting to teach them something. So when we moved to Virginia I was excited to get Kennedy into a preschool, only to find out that here you have to have your child on the waiting list the moment they are conceived or they won't get in. You will also pay tuition that rivals that of most colleges- and I am not even kidding. I was bummed and sure that I had just officially messed up Kennedy's life (heretofore it had been 'unofficial') because there was no way she was getting into preschool this year. After a bit of searching I discovered that the high schools here do preschools where there is a teacher and students that teach and they are actually affordable. After literally hounding 2 of these teachers through emails I was able to get on a waiting list for next year and just recently found out that Kennedy made it in to the fall 2007 program. Meanwhile at home we started playing school as a pretend activity and Kennedy loved it so much we have turned it into the real deal. Kennedy is SO excited everyday- she has me pretend to ring the bell to signal the start of school and she and Kohen (decked out in shoes and coats that Kennedy has put on them) come into school (aka-the kitchen) carrying backpacks all ready to learn. Kenna calls me 'teacher' and 'Mrs. Jensen' and is enthusiastic about our learning program to the point that there can be tears when school is over or it is the weekend. The picture of the place mat shows just how neat and tidy Kennedy is. It asked you to match the # to the groups that had that # of objects in it. She wouldn't draw a line through the directions and I was impressed with her willingness to go out of her way to avoid an unsightly break-up of the directions. Check out the #5. She started to the right of the number then draws up, all the way to the left, then carefully down and back to the right to the middle group of ducks! In that moment I knew she was related to her Papa Dixie, just a little...retentive...you know what kind. Any way, we are having fun doing all sorts of activities and Kohen mostly colors with a dry erase marker the whole time while I teach Kennedy her lessons. I love that picture of him hunched over his work like an artist obsessed, he takes his scribblings very seriously. Anyway, for now we are having a good time...And I never thought that I would say that about teaching at home!
As a mother I don't feel like I am the overly ambitious, do-it-myself-cuz-I-can-do-it-better type. I wasn't dying to do a co-op preschool. I would rather not stress about having 6 or so, three and four year olds over to my house and the pressure of trying to keep them in control, and entertained all while attempting to teach them something. So when we moved to Virginia I was excited to get Kennedy into a preschool, only to find out that here you have to have your child on the waiting list the moment they are conceived or they won't get in. You will also pay tuition that rivals that of most colleges- and I am not even kidding. I was bummed and sure that I had just officially messed up Kennedy's life (heretofore it had been 'unofficial') because there was no way she was getting into preschool this year. After a bit of searching I discovered that the high schools here do preschools where there is a teacher and students that teach and they are actually affordable. After literally hounding 2 of these teachers through emails I was able to get on a waiting list for next year and just recently found out that Kennedy made it in to the fall 2007 program. Meanwhile at home we started playing school as a pretend activity and Kennedy loved it so much we have turned it into the real deal. Kennedy is SO excited everyday- she has me pretend to ring the bell to signal the start of school and she and Kohen (decked out in shoes and coats that Kennedy has put on them) come into school (aka-the kitchen) carrying backpacks all ready to learn. Kenna calls me 'teacher' and 'Mrs. Jensen' and is enthusiastic about our learning program to the point that there can be tears when school is over or it is the weekend. The picture of the place mat shows just how neat and tidy Kennedy is. It asked you to match the # to the groups that had that # of objects in it. She wouldn't draw a line through the directions and I was impressed with her willingness to go out of her way to avoid an unsightly break-up of the directions. Check out the #5. She started to the right of the number then draws up, all the way to the left, then carefully down and back to the right to the middle group of ducks! In that moment I knew she was related to her Papa Dixie, just a little...retentive...you know what kind. Any way, we are having fun doing all sorts of activities and Kohen mostly colors with a dry erase marker the whole time while I teach Kennedy her lessons. I love that picture of him hunched over his work like an artist obsessed, he takes his scribblings very seriously. Anyway, for now we are having a good time...And I never thought that I would say that about teaching at home! 
2 comments:
School is so much fun for kids at this age! Tread is so excited for kindergarten this fall. I can hardly believe he'll be old enough to go March 15th!
Erin: Wow, does this post bring back memories! Nathan was just like Kenna when he was young. He would beg all morning long until our home preschool started and then cry when it was over. He was like a sponge. I had to stay up at night to come up with new things for him the following day. They will always remember these times with you. Thanks you for being such a good mom!
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