I also started school at home for the younger group of kids. We did some handwriting, some reading, some geography and history, all in about 45 minutes total (interrupted by potty trips and snacks and play). We learned about China: how they read and write, what and how they eat, some interesting landmarks, what their flag looks like, and found the country on the map. We learned about Egyptian hieroglyphics and papyrus. We learned about scribes in the middle ages. We looked at pictures of printing presses. We have a great child-friendly encyclopedia. I saw the elementary school bus go by around 9:00 am, like it always does. Child #3 read about seeds in his science book. He looked at a sprouting bean, tilted his head, and said, "That's a seed? I thought that that was a organ inside my body that helped me pee!" Any guesses on what kind of bean he was looking at? Yep, a KIDNEY bean. We are planting some tomorrow.
Later in the morning, we headed off to gymnastics and happened to pass the local elementary school. I pointed it out and said, "Those poor little souls, trapped in those little rooms." Child #3 asked, "Are we poor little souls?" "Oh, no! We get to play and go places whenever we want. Aren't we going to gymnastics right now? We are already done with school for the day and those kids have to sit there for the rest of the day!" I replied.
It wasn't until that afternoon that I realized that this was the day my sweet Child #3 would have climbed up on that bus and sat in the elementary school all day for his first day of Kindergarten! His FIRST day of KINDERGARTEN! That's like a huge deal in a child's life. And here was my child, playing outside in the dirt with his brother and sister completely unaware that this day was any different than every other day in his life. So of course I ran outside with the camera and took the obligatory "First Day of Kindergarten" picture. Only instead of a backpack, lunch box, and schoolbus, we had a happy little guy sitting "like a blackbelt" next to the giant squash in the garden.
I have What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know on hold at the library, just to make sure I'm not missing any important knowledge this year. But somehow I don't think I'm going to have any problems.
