Sorry I have been away for a while, I have been busy deciding what to do about my Sons education. He was born later so he is unable to go to go to preschool this year, however I feel he is ready.
So I decided to do some research and realized I had two options.
1. Do nothing and wait another year
2. Begin homeschooling him.
I decided option two was a better choice and so did my husband. We are also considering doing this throught elementary school as well, because I had many negative experiences while in the public school system. Most of my recesses were taken away, because I asked too many questions, and did not pay attention. I clearly remember looking out the window when I was in first grade, trying not to cry because I wanted to be playing outside, or wanted to be with my Mom.
I don’t want my son to grow through the same thing, and have traditional learning kill his curiosity, or his creativity, as well as a strong desire to learn. It is the children that really want to learn that get left behind in the end.
As I have been a stay at home Mom, thanks to my Hardworking husband, my Son has taught me many things.
1. Children are naturally curious and ask many questions, because they want to learn about the world around them. It is in this way, by answering the questions they ask and showing them how to interact with the world around them, they learn about life.
2. When you fail, keep on going. My Son keeps trying, even if he fails. Children are extremely motivated. Somewhere along the path we lose that motivation. I can remeber when I lost my motivation, when I was in first grade. Sitting inside for my recess wishing I was outside, playing in leaves and counting them, instead of counting stupid yellow blocks.
3. The most important things I learned were from my parents, not teachers. Until you have a child, you never relize how much your parents did for you. I remember my parents reading to me. I remember when my Dad read The Hobbit to me, as I sat in his recliner with him and fell asleep. It is still one of my favorite books, and my sons too! I love reading to him and talking about books. The gift my parents gave me was the ability to read, and that got me through all the recesses I got taken away from me in elementary school, and then the many detentions I had in Jr. High and High school. I could never repay my parents for all the times they took the time to read to me and instill a love of reading and then later naturally I begin to want to create stories of my own. It is in writing I found my passion and voice.
I have learned other things from my Son, and parents. It is because of this I want to take a different approach to learning, and allow my son to pursue the things that he loves at an early age, as well as trust my son to learn, and trust myself as a parent to teach.
So to give you an Idea, these are the things we have been doing…
Cookie counting game
Learning should not be done in a room, the real learning is to be done by living life outside, not inside a classroom with four walls, and a broken system school system that leaves children behind.
The real world is waiting. Go ahead and let your children live, be happy, learn, and love…
…But the most importaint thing is just to let kids be kids, in a world that is cruel, we could use some wild spirited free thinkers.
Look for updates the next two days… this post will be updated with links for parents interested in homeschooling preschoolers!
Snapshots of a Life 