I keep thinking to myself, I wish Ian could have been in Mrs. Lauterbach's class. She was Noah and Caleb’s pre-K 4 teacher and they learned so much from her. I feel a little beside myself when I think I need to match what she taught the boys. John and I both want Ian entering kindergarten at the same level of Noah and Caleb so here goes my best effort!
With all that being said, I started “mommy’s school” on the first day of regular school. I found some simple things that we could do daily and add other stuff if we had time or if needed as we go. We use our dining room right now since we don’t actually have a dining table in there. It works but I have already asked that we work on redoing the kids play room so we can move in there. I would love all the supplies and stuff to be in the same place. I find myself either making piles in our dining room or walking around the house to get what we need. Not good when I’m trying to keep the attention of three little kids.
Day one: Was rough! I was still some what ironing out how I wanted to apply the things I found online and the boys had it in their heads that they were going to run around and play and not be tied down to anything. After a few stressful times of them fussing about not being able to play and not wanting to do what ever it was I had out. I said fine, go play, we didn’t have to have school. They looked at me funny and then I guess thought about it because after that it was “please mommy can we have school.” I still didn’t go back to it. I wanted to make sure that they thought about it and we would start the next day.
Day two: A little better. The boys were more in to the idea of school. They were excited when after the kids left and a few other morning routines had been done that I said let’s start school. Then a new big problem arose, Makaela! I had done research on how to keep your toddler busy, but she is just not taking the bait. I can give her something to do, get her playing, walk back to the boys and she will follow. She wants to be in my lap, do what they do, but not on her own paper- on theirs. Or I start her on something and the boys are focused on what we are doing instead of what they should be doing. I am starting to really wonder how people truly homeschool with little kids in the house. I couldn’t imagine adding Noah and Caleb into the group!
Day three: Worn out! We continue to work on our routines for mommy’s school. I’m trying to find out what works and what doesn’t. I’m still trying to figure out how to respond and work with Makaela. I did figure out that when she throws a fit that minute she is in time out we can get A LOT done. Ian seems to be learning and still enjoying it. Eli is right there with him. I hope that next year goes easier as we have the same goals set for Eli. I also did a little test today just to see what the boys knew. I found out exactly what letters Ian doesn’t know and how high he can count, etc.
Day four: Pre-K teachers/ Homeschoolers are crazy! I taught so shouldn’t I be able to handle this. I taught middle school, but this is crazy. My hat goes off to pre-K teachers as I don’t think I would EVER want to do this with other people’s kids. My own kids are driving me back to teaching middle school! I am still in search of some homeschool mom that will tell me the best trick to keep your almost two year old from coloring on her brother’s papers, stealing their activity, or getting upset when mommy is trying to help her brother with something instead of helping her. I think part of my problem goes back to Makaela’s neediness. It’s something that I struggle with daily even without throwing the teaching thing in the mess. At dinner this week, I saw her trying to get John’s attention as he was talking to one of the boys about their day. She sits next to him and kept tapping him on the arm, saying “daddy”, “dad”, over and over. He turned and asked her to wait, but she didn’t seem to want her story to wait. I laughed a little since that is exactly what I deal with all day. So, maybe it’s not just me, maybe she just LOVES attention.
I took a picture of the kids dancing and singing along with their morning videos. Everyday we talk about the weather, days of the week, and months. I found on you tube a video for the days of the week and the months. They enjoy this routine and it’s one everyone can participate in.
