I didn't take first-day-of-school pictures while growing up. Did you? But I do think it's a cute idea. Of course, I didn't remember to do it with the signs and everything on the actual first days of school for Keith (more about that in a minute) and Priscilla on their respective first days. But Keith's third day of seminary lined up with Priscilla's second day of kindergarten, so we snapped a few pictures.
Look at this sweet girl. When did she get old enough for kindergarten?
Actually, I've been asking myself that question this week. She is ahead of some of the kindergarten material, so it would be ridiculous to start her with preschool work. But she isn't five yet, and I hadn't really thought about that aspect of things... starting her in a grade ahead of her peers age-wise. I skipped kindergarten myself and started first grade a few months after turning five years old; I was public-schooled all the way through and graduated high school at sixteen. Being younger made for a lot of hard social things, but I don't know that I would choose it differently.
I would probably be overanalyzing the kindergarten thing right now if Rilla was going into public school. But she's not, and kindergarten is what she's ready for and needs, and so this is what we're going with. If Abraham starts kindergarten when he's five, then that would put each of our three kiddos at two years apart school-wise, which may be nice.
Anyway, I said I wasn't going to overanalyze it, so I'll quit musing all about it here. Although it did give me an extra surge of nervousness one day to realize that I am teaching kindergarten after never having actually been to kindergarten. Ha ha. I recently learned what a rhombus is... something I must have missed in kindergarten... so I feel pretty much prepared now.
Here's Keith with enough coffee to get him to Kansas City and Priscilla with bare feet and leg warmers on the hottest day of August. I haven't seen any other first day of school pictures popping up on Facebook with kids in bare feet and leg warmers. I suppose this one immediately gives away our status as homeschoolers!
And here's Keith again! He is commuting down to Kansas City two days a week now to attend a preaching course at a seminary there. I am really proud of him. Part of the job description with starting as Associate Pastor here was the understanding that he would take some preaching courses. We didn't really think about the fact that he was actually applying to get into seminary, though, until after he was in. And then I realized... hey! You just got into seminary! That's actually a pretty cool accomplishment! Especially since he was working on 100-level undergraduate pre-requisites just six months ago. Kind of a big switch.
So there we go! Look at us, all off and running into a new school year! Pretty exciting stuff!
I can't believe how big Rilla is. Crazy. She looks so much like you and she reminds me of when I first met you.
ReplyDeleteWe've made the decision to delay all formal schooling, even at home, until at least seven years old. We just read aloud a lot. It was easy for Anna Kate but hard for Alberta because she's LOVES sitting down and doing school. But so far, I'm so glad that we've waited. I'm sure you will know what is best for Rilla as things progress.
Thanks for sharing, Lola! I know you are a fan of delaying the start of formal schooling and I wondered what you would think of us starting already. I have really had to hold myself back from starting anything formal with Rilla for the last year, as I have wanted to be sure to give her more of an open, Montessori-style preschool years experience. I think we have succeeded at that. Maybe not perfectly, but at least going for the heart of the Montessori model.
DeleteI had thought not to do any formal curriculum at all for a few more years, but to be honest, she has been ready for more. Just a bit more structure, nothing huge. She is on the edge of learning to read, and she is hungry for all kinds of new concepts, yet I haven't known quite how to move forward with that. She wouldn't mind if I read to her all day long, but that doesn't work too well for all of us right now. Our "homeschool" time now takes up an hour or two, including the books that we read together with all the kids. Nothing strenuous. She still has plenty of free play time, but she is just so ready for some bit of structured introduction to new concepts. Not replacing but coming alongside all our daily learning-as-we-go and whole books. She can play all day with her brothers, but she can also sit down and work on a self-chosen project for four hours at a time. I know that there are lots of moms who can come up with creative opportunities for kiddos to sprinkle in through the day, but I have gotten to a place in this last year where I have just needed something else... I have needed somebody else's suggestions, really, about where to start each day so that I can give her some bit of something when I know she's ready for something.
Now that I have this curriculum, I am basically using it as an outline. I started tweaking things, adding things, and taking out things on the first day, and I haven't stopped yet. :) But I am so much appreciating having some kind of outline to start with. It's easier for me to edit than write; it's easier too for me to take some idea and adapt it to our own purposes than just come up with something from scratch. At least after three moves in the last year and with three kiddos under four and all the new demands of being a pastoral family... I just need some help with coming up with new ideas to keep Rilla stimulated.
It is funny though to start kindergarten and see how unchallenging and boring it would be for a child (like Rilla) who has simply been taught as we've gone along. I like this curriculum, and really think it will be a good one, yet the activities for this week include introducing your child to the alphabet. Ha! Okay, so we've taken that out and instead are practicing two lowercase letters a day. That's about as much structure as we're doing... just the suggestion of writing two new letters, which she really does enjoy doing.
So, all of that to say... it's for both of us. I need the little bit of structure as much as Rilla does. And don't worry, I'm not going to drill her with textbooks and workbooks. I've already had to recognize that no matter how many books I've read on not drilling the happy learning interest out of kids, I still had to learn for myself (second day of homeschool) to deliberately choose not to push too far. :) But I do know I need some kind of helpful suggestions to help me structure things, just a bit, and Rilla is ready for some kind of structured introduction to things, just a bit. I think we're easing into it pretty slowly. But I'll update you on how it goes.
One thing I like about this is that we can take a day off any time we want. And I am enjoying starting with just a bit of structure so that I can gain a better understanding of how we will want to do the rest of the elementary years. Kind of easing into it slowly, testing the waters, that kind of thing.
I'm sure you know what she needs. The curriculum seems fun and laid back. My kids have still done a lot of "school" things like copywork and math because they ask me if they can. It would seem weird to not allow a child to learn something they really are wanting to learn. But now that Anna Kate is actually seven, I'm sort of freaking out. I've started her on a formal math curriculum and she basically learned to read by asking me how to spell words when she was making cards or writing stories. But now there is pressure to get her going and she just hates sitting still. She wants to climb trees and explore and learn hands on. Alberta would be happy to sit at the table and study all day :) It's funny how different they can be.
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