It's been a doozy around here. Covid for Christmas and now some kind of sickness that has swept through out household and wreaked havoc. Fevers, congestion, headaches, aches, fussiness, and SO MUCH SNOT. I have probably taken a couple gallons worth of snot from everyone's head through the suction bulb and kleenexes. And there is no end in sight. As I sit here typing, I'm dealing with my own sore throat, congestion, and pure exhaustion. Taking care of sick kiddos while you are also sick has to be one of the worst parts of parenting. I'm just praying nothing becomes more significant and we all get through this soon. I can only consume so much coffee before my eyeballs fall out of my head from lack of sleep.
I figured now is as good a time as any to write a post as I sit here waiting for Eleanor to fall asleep so I can nap. So here goes.
We started the year out GREAT with lots of outside time, reading aloud, homeschool lessons, playdates with friends, back to our healthy eating, exercise, and consistent routine. This last week that has all gone down the drain, but I'm sure we'll get back to our rhythm as soon as we can.
A few months ago I reached out to my hospital facebook group of thousands of mamas to see if there was anyone interested in forming a homeschool co-op type group for our children that weren't quite school aged. Many of the co-ops in town require that you be in kindergarten to join, which makes sense, but that leaves us with no group of like-minded friends. Surprisingly there were A LOT of interested mamas that had little ones, but weren't quite at the "school age". But they knew they wanted to homeschool eventually. A couple meet ups later and we formed a tight little group of about 10 moms and their children. Some of the families have young elementary students, but most of us have children under 5. We all are going into the whole school thing already knowing that we want to stay home and that the education system is not right for our families. So that automatically makes us pretty likeminded. I have really enjoyed getting to know them and we have even formed a semi-formal co-op complete with field trips, playdates, and special events. The vision is to grow together as our children grow, to establish mixed-age friendships for our children, and to explore the community together as we form our own community. I imagine as we move forward, there will be a lot of blog posts about our co-op. Already this month we have met several times!
Many of us love a lot of the same things. I think when you already know you want to homeschool before your kids are even at school age, you have a different kind of mindset altogether. A lot of these moms truly value real learning over receiving an "education". They agree that nature and being outside is one of the best things for children. They value reading aloud over textbooks, relationships over schedule, and child-led learning over adult-centered lessons.
One day, while we were at the nature preserve with some of them, I witnessed something amazing happen. One of my children was having a meltodwn over a boot that had filled with water in the creek. So while I was dealing with said child, I quickly snapped this picture as I was watching this group out of the corner of my eye. It was a group of mixed age children working together to build a teepee out of sticks. Here is what I saw: physically speaking this group was really getting a work out. We know that heavy lifting, crouching up and down, building, and dragging really works the inner core. And a child's core is connected to so many things including balance, muscle buiding, and strength. This in turn is connected to focus, ability to sit for longer stretches, hand eye coordination, and so much more. It's the old adage that children really do need time to play in order to be successful in school. Physical benefits aside, though, I also saw so much more happening here. They were working together as a team which works out skills like communication, delegation, listening, social emotional, etc. Someone had unknowingly elected themselves as leader and the others worked to listen to that leader. It's a fine balance of teamwork as they learn to not be too bossy so as to keep the other friends engaged, but also to share their ideas and input in order to make progress. And all of that happens without the children even knowing. Building this teepee also was a form of math and science as they had to measure, calculate, and balance the sticks. It was language as they had to communicate correctly and express their ideas. It was art as they had to use their creative brains to design this fort. It was sensory development as they had to squish mud, chisel away the bark, and stand on uneven ground to finish this. And it was fun.
ALL of that happened without an adult interrupting or directing the process. I can't think of a single time in my few years of teaching that I observed a lesson that covered everything mentioned, engaged all the children, and involved so much ingenuity. It was truly a beautiful thing to watch. One girl even spoke up after some frustration amongst the group that their sticks weren't staying in place that they should use the available mud like a glue. So one group got to work making mud glue as the other half of the group went to search for more sticks.
It's moments like this one with this group that remind me homeschooling is the right choice for us. I value true, rich learning and you just can't find opportunities like that in today's classrooms... no matter how good the school is. Because this was completely child-led and they taught themselves without even knowing.
(Now if only my crying child would have joined the group ;) Maybe next time I'll bring a second set of boots just in case).
And while I personally believe early childhood should be mostly play, reading, and nature, I have a 4 year old that LOVES the formal stuff. So we started out homeschool lessons back up after the holidays. We've been slowly working through the alphabet as we learn the letters and sounds because Isla desperately wants to learn to read. We also spend time learning different parts of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). We learn a different artist and composer a month where we focus on their life, but also their methods of art and music. We read aloud A LOT. We do a little writing, but mostly just work hard on fine motor skills so we can eventually write well. And we sprinkle in thematic units, like snow/winter this month.
Let's see, what else have we been up to? We have tried to spend a lot of time outside, although this sickness is throwing us for a loop. We have baked a little, crafted, read, and played played played!
We also had a big birthday/Christmas celebration with the Readys. We even got to spend some time with Amma!
And last, but not least, this sweet girl turned 3 months old. She is such a sweet little thing. She ADORES her daddy and smiles whenever she sees him. She sleeps 2-4 hour stretches at night, still eats very quickly, and is working hard to roll. She loves baths and her siblings. We all just love her so much. She's the perfect addition to this crazy family!
Comments
Post a Comment