visiting our local homeschool convention. And all in all it was a good time.
This is the first time I'm writing publicly about this. About a year or so ago God started prompting me that this might be the path for our little family. At first I kept it to myself, it isn't often I feel the Holy Spirit move me like that and I was nervous. I prayed and continued to feel that tug. So I approached Matt. He was open to homeschooling, but as we talked we both agreed that we will revisit the decision yearly to make sure that we are doing what is best for our family and he was also nervous for the demands it would put on me. His thought were mirroring mine so we talked a lot about it. We decided that for now, yes this is what we should do.
I've worked with Lauren at home for the past two years so this is really nothing 'new' per say but it feels more official since this coming year would/could be her first year in preschool and this is the first time I purchased "curriculum" and got a few books to read up on the whole thing. So I decided to continue my 'investigation' by heading to the convention.
The association that puts on the convention also made an offer I couldn't refuse, if you were a first timer and your oldest kids was under 5 you got in for free! So I signed us up and headed downtown.
Now I had no idea what to expect, so it was hard to prep the kids. Lauren's personality just enjoys having a sense of what lay ahead- the more I prep her, often the smoother a 'new to her' situation can go. I think that is true of lots of personalities, no one really likes the unknown. So she seemed very apprehensive to drive to the city and do ??who knows what?? I did know that there were lots of lecture sessions on a large variety of topics and keynote speakers. I planned to avoid making my 16 month old and 3.5 year old sit through any of that. Then there was the vendor area and the used curriculum area, so those were on my agenda and also just walking around.
We first had to sign in since I had pre-registered and Lauren and Olivia both felt so special that they too received name tags (Olivia didn't figure out how to destroy hers for the better part of the morning, go her, or me?!). Lauren saw the escalators and the whole time asked if we were going to go upstairs- I kept informing her that our double stroller was in no way built for that, and neither was mommy! (I had a horrible flashback of taking the two sweet kids I nannied each summer all through college to the mall and leaving the eldest at the top of an escalator since she hesitated just a little when we were getting on- oh that was frightful, but thankfully there were people around to help!)
We walked around the vendor area for over an hour, stopped to enjoy a small lunch, and then continued to walk around. So much to see. Lauren got out of the stroller for a bit to walk- some of the booths had interesting things for a little girl to look at, like books and such. She often directed where we went. Olivia just enjoyed the view and chilled, like she usually does- oh I wish she got the easygoing, laid back part of her personality from me! We then headed to the used curriculum area- it was like a huge garage sale of educator material. I didn't realize that you needed a ticket to get in and apparently I didn't get one- but a nice lady gave me an extra she had. (Afterwards I realized that was suppose to go in at 3 when it opened up to everyone- yikes, I didn't plan on staying that long so I was very grateful for the lady who helped us out.) I looked in a few sections, mostly the pre-k and didn't see much. It was interesting since things were priced for Friday and then had lower prices for Saturday, and in some cases much lower prices. So next time I know to go Saturday since it will be cheaper? But I'm sure everything is more picked over at that point. Again I wasn't looking for anything really- just browsing.
The only things I paid for was parking (stupid city parking) and a couple hotdogs and a bag of chips. It would have been neat to sit in on a few of the lectures but maybe when the kids are older or when Matt comes too? All in all I'm glad we went and got a feel for everything. There is really so much out there and really lots of people, support, and product. So now I have to go through the huge stack of brochures and such that I took home for thinking about the future.
You see this past year, and still ongoing, we did a letter and a bible story a week. Well theoretically we did a letter/bible story a week I should say. Some weeks we did two letters, some one, some none. Slowly we've made our way through the alphabet. Doing calendar time, weather, learning new bible songs and stories, doing crafts, memorizing bible verses, going on field trips, learning how to write letters and their sound, coloring, and we've read lots of books. So I would call it a success because she has learned a great deal.
For this coming year my goals are a little different. I've picked a curriculum that will allow me to involve Olivia in this time too. I wanted something that was more broad, yet more encompassing. Something that stressed the Bible and character development. But also had a little bit of math, science, and self awareness. I found all of this and more in the Bright Beginnings curriculum. I also see myself being able to use it for multiple years- so even though it was not at all expensive- it might prove to be even more inexpensive if I can use it for multiple years.
One of the parts I struggled with this year was that I made the curriculum for all 26 letters. I pulled from multiple resources, including ABC Jesus Loves Me and 1+1+1=1 blog, and then added my own stuff in there. Well this created A LOT OF WORK for me. And after I got going I really didn't use some of the stuff I worked hard to create. At first it wasn't so bad since I got ahead, but then I caught up to myself and found it hard to find time to keep up with the lesson planning part. I'm still not done, hence why we're still not done with the alphabet quite yet, but we're getting there. We made it to 'T' and we're still going somewhat strong :/ I think.
Another thing that I struggled with was watching Brooke. There were a few times this past 'school year' that I had her regularly for weeks on end and yes she could do some of it, but my whole day flows different when I have her and it just added a different dimension to our activities. With this new curriculum it won't matter if Brooke is here or not, she'll just be able to join right in. Since part of what I'm learning is really the scheduling of the day and routine. Right now, I'm doing it during times when Olivia sleeps and it is Lauren's and my special time and I do naptime a little different when Brooke is here and whatnot. So next year since it will be involving both kids it will be just adding her to the activity I've already got planned.
Just like anything until you do it and work out the kinks I'll never know just how much I'll like it. But I've prayed on this a lot and really like what I see- the short, interesting, easy to do lessons will allow some flexibility and we'll just figure it out as we roll along- 'tis life! Please feel free to leave a comment or email me if you have any questions- not that anyone has ever done that, but hey you never know! So we might be finishing up our letters just in time to start our new curriculum, but thats okay!
"Those who plan what is good, find love and faithfulness." Proverbs 14:22
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