Year D... and Year A?

I may think up a catchier title since I'm no longer calling it Tot School... but this will do for now. This is probably going to be a boring post to everyone except me. The short version is that I'm trying to keep things organized between my son and my daughter so that hopefully I can reuse some of my homeschooling ideas from him to her (I can hear you laughing, I know, I know, as my mom would say, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." but maybe there will be a little overlap? Let me have my moment of peaceful dreaming please.) I think best out loud and I this blog is mostly for my own record keeping anyway, so here goes.

Raccoon is doing preschool stuff and Ducky (her blog name used to be Robin but I'm changing it to fit more with her personality) is in baby school, which means chewing on things and creeping around at this point. Since Raccoon is going to preschool twice a week, I haven't done any lesson plans for him and we've just enjoyed things as they've come. A picture post will hopefully be coming soon. Our lives are currently utter chaos as we live in the middle of a messy remodel project, but I am hoping, praying, that life will return to something more ordered in December... maybe January.

Okay, so into the nitty gritty.

Here in Celosia, planned learning starts around one, so Year D is Raccoon's fourth year and I'm going to call what Ducky does "Baby School" until she graduates to "Tot School" next fall (although I may link up sooner if I feel like what she's doing matches up) and Raccoon will start Year E, which will roughly correspond to traditional kindergarten for him. She is already trying to copy what we do, at nine months old, grabbing a pen or paintbrush and trying to scribble on paper (she loves it when I grab the end of the pen so she can actually scribble with her fist on the lower part). So I'm guessing, I know it's far out, but that she's going to be ready for some kindergarten things the school year that she is 4-turning-5.

Raccoon's birthday falls nicely for his Year to correspond with the U.S. school year, but Ducky's birthday is at the beginning of the calendar year, so I have to decide if I'm going to do her Years by age or try to match them to a school year. I just need a system I can keep straight! I'm sure this is tediously boring to everyone else, but it's the kind of thing I love - making up peculiar systems.

                 Raccoon                     Ducky
Year A      1      2010*                  turning 1    2013             baby school
Year B       2     2011                    turning 2    2014             Tot School
Year C       3     2012                    turning 3    2015             Tot School
Year D       4     2013                    turning 4    2016             Preschool
Year E       5      2014                   turning 5    2017^            Kindergarten
Year F       6      2015
Year G      7       2016
Year H      8       2017^

*Each Year starts in September (or October if we do a soft start to school after summer projects)
^Next planned furlough to U.S., summer through Christmas perhaps

Okay, so that makes this Year A for Ducky, which is what I needed to figure out, or if not then I was thinking of doing a year of "baby school" for her before I called it anything else. Then she'll move into Year B in September, 2014, at 19 months until 27 months. The things I wrote down for my son's Year B were actually towards the end of his Year, so I think I'll be able to crossover some ideas and activities by that point. And if she's more of a I'd-like-to-do-free-play-on-my-own kind of girl, hallelujah! Ha ha. But I suspect she's going to want to "do school" like her brother. We'll see. (Hello future self, reading this post, how are things going for you? Drop me a note and let me know how close my guess was.)

I originally was going to start on my picture post of things we've done so far this Year, but I couldn't get past the title. Hopefully a little thinking ahead will serve me well later. How I love making plans... :)

Full Body School

Those three words sum up my approach to tackling homeschooling with Raccoon. We are going to be living out in the country, which I haven't had much peace about due to the King's long commute to work, but as I think more about my son, it's going to be a good thing for him.

An obstacle course.

An outdoor gym/playground.

A garden.

Water play.

Animals.

Maybe we'll build a rock wall.

I have to find peace about this move. To trust the Lord that my mission right now is not somewhere out there, but right at home, three feet and two feet tall.

A great post about this? Carissa's Blessed with Boundless Energy. I especially love this quote, "Specifically, I have him do some highly energetic movement and some relaxing focused balance type work right before we begin any seat work. We have been going in this order and it has helped a lot." This gives me hope. The nuts and bolts of how to make things work in school for Raccoon, this is what I need. Raccoon's energy is a blessing when channeled properly and not so much when it heedlessly overflows.

Homeschool is a Go for Fall 2014 (K)

The King and I (*smile* do you like my new name for hubby?) have officially decided to homeschool Raccoon next year for kindergarten. We were pretty sure that this was the best choice for us, but there were a few factors that confirmed it:

1) His birthday misses our preferred school's kindergarten cutoff by six weeks, no exceptions, so it's homeschool or another year of pre-k (which would not be a good fit for him).

2) Unless the Lord steps in, we will be living in a semi-remote location in South America next fall, so our access to local schools would be limited anyway.

There are other considerations, such as our plan to do school only a few days a week and my excitement over not having to get everyone going in the morning, so overall homeschooling is a win-win for our family at this point.

All this is to say that I am finally biting the bullet and looking at curriculum!!! Since it's kindergarten and I want to ease into things, I'm not going to invest in a box set, but am going to do things piecemeal. Raccoon is also fairly asynchronous and needs a full body approach to learning, so it may take us awhile to find our groove. I'm okay with that. I will also have to figure out where Robin fits in as I want to do some Tot School things with her while Raccoon and I "do school." I am hoping that she'll be past the mouthing, grabbing, and ripping stages by then so that she can join us (She'll be 19 months... I may be asking for too much. Plan B for her is... nap time.)

I was hoping to find a bookstore with used curriculum. I have to look at something in order to decide it's usefulness, online descriptions don't work for me. I'm a page-flipper. Sadly, there aren't any used bookstores in my area, I think they have all gone out of business, but I did find a large book section at Goodwill. It's like hunting for treasure. Amongst the every-TV-show-known-to-children beginning readers, there are also amazing Usborne, DK, and other resource books. I have spent $20 (can't beat $1 each!) and I have everything except health and math and social studies. Confession: I don't even really know what social studies is, isn't it part of history or how society works or something? I'm off to Wikipedia for that one... "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence." Oh.

Where was I? So several of the books that I have should last us several years as they are more comprehensive sources, such as "Everything You Need to Know About English Homework." I have a few of these on different subjects, and plan to use them as a starting point for different unit studies once I discover what works and doesn't work with Raccoon. I have specific lesson books for subjects like art, science, and music appreciation. As I look over the books tonight, I do wonder where they came from before Goodwill, and why, if they're so good, they still look like new. Hmmmmmm.....

Well, I'm off to make lists and plans and dream... have I mentioned that I loved school. At least, I loved the thought of school - unlimited learning and access to new ideas - but I have to remind myself that Raccoon's style and needs are different from my own. But still, I bought resources that I enjoy, because if I'm not interested, then how could I expect him to be?

P.S. Why all the books you say when you can find everything you need online?
1) We won't have high speed internet. It's back to dial-up days (almost) for us when we move.
2) I still love books and want to pass that on.
3) $1 a book saves me on printer ink and paper.
4) Recycle! 

I can do hard things

This is my new school motto. I told Raccoon that he is going to have to do hard things everyday. -Insert meltdown here-

I'm hoping that this will help him move beyond his paralyzing perfectionism. We have a little list of hard things he's done and hopefully it will continue to grow.

Confession: I'm a Nerdy Mom

Ok, yup, that's me... I'm a nerd. I think one of the most freeing things I've heard lately was a motto on a children's game, "It's OK to be smart." That's sad. I'm actually more like a nerd-in-hiding. The only reason I'm even writing this is because I like to record things that make me laugh. Today it was a sentence from here:

"This post is mainly for record-keeping, so it may be a bit of dry reading for many. If you are like me, however, you will find it fascinating in a very nerdy sort of way."

That pretty much sums up both of my blogs, mainly for recordkeeping. But it's okay, because I like them.

Projects and Dreams

When I find a new blog, I read through their latest posts until I find something that doesn't interest me. If It's right away, I simply click on. If I'm five or six posts down and still reading, then I'm in. This blog had me with the post "How to Mentor a Kid with Big (Possibly Unrealistic) Dreams."

Fall

 We don't have fall in South America, 

so I plan to enjoy this part of the year 

as much as possible with Raccoon and Robin.

On our schedule for this week is a fall walk, raking leaves, and making leaf stained glass.