Homeschool Update

We're roughly 75% through our Pre-K lessons, so I thought I'd update a little about our first school year. Leah often grumbles when I say it's time to do school, yet once we're in the middle of things she seems to really enjoy herself. When I tell her we're done for the day, she then grumbles that we're finished and asks for more. I'll take that as a good sign!

I've learned that she's very much a visual and hands-on type of learner. Auditory, not so much. She has to be able to see a picture of whatever we're talking about, or do a crafty project, or manipulate an object in some way. This is especially noticeable when I read a story or poem aloud. If there aren't any illustrations to go along, she zones out and can rarely tell me what the story was about. When there are pictures to match, she comprehends much better. Or, sometimes I wonder if she simply needs a few days to let something sink in. Awhile back, we talked about rhyming words. At the time, I thought she wasn't paying attention but a few days later, something triggered in her mind and she said, "Dog and frog, they rhyme! And cat and fat, they rhyme!" Just the other night, we were reading "Green Eggs and Ham" and she was pointing out the rhyming words without any prompting. Amazing.

Leah loves, loves, loves to draw, color, paint, and complete any sort of art project. So, I've incorporated crafts into the curriculum where there may not have been any assigned. For instance, the curriculum instructed her to work on a mural of wild animals each day for a week, as we discussed various types. She loved that project so much that I chose to do the same for a unit we did on farms. It wasn't part of the curriculum, but it completely enhanced her learning experience that week. I also added in those paper plate farm animals (thank you, Pinterest!) that are pictured above.

Another thing I've noticed over the past month or so is that Leah really enjoys unit studies - meaning she likes to talk about a particular subject for several days in a row. Since the New Year, our curriculum has given us, in addition to wild animals and farms, units on transportation, weather, and community helpers. We made a book for that particular unit, which Leah was SO proud of once it was put together. Each day, we discussed and colored pictures of two helpers, people such as doctors, lifeguards, librarians, repairmen, postal workers, and of course, policemen and firemen.

Leah has an eye for detail, or maybe it's simply an inherited OCD tendency, because she was always asking me what color the uniforms were. I told her or pulled up an image from Google, though I mentioned a couple times, "But this is your book and you can make them whatever color you like." Nope. Not Leah. It had to be realistic. Haha.

Overall, I really like our curriculum. We already ordered their Kindergarten level, since they had a decent sale for current families back in January. It's on the expensive side, though still substantially less than we might have paid had we sent Leah to private school. Mostly, I love that everything is laid out for me. Sure, I can include additional arts & crafts or skip over something that feels redundant, but all in all, I am very comfortable with it. I appreciate how gradual it is too. This year felt very relaxed, casual, and like an introduction to learning. While there are already many more activity and instruction books included in our Kindergarten box, none of it seems overwhelming or rushed. It appears to be a gradual extension of what we did this year. It's exciting!

Yes, we're still here!

It's nearly the end of January (already!), so let's play catch-up! The blog often slips my mind in the day-to-day routine... add in the holidays and it was completely forgotten. Oops!

Leah had another wonderful Christmas. I probably say this every year, but each year does get more fun. She remembers more about the previous holiday season and looks forward to so many of the traditions. She loved decorating the Christmas trees, especially the artificial one with all of her character ornaments. We even got to play my extended family's annual game "I'm Thinking of an Ornament" for the first time this year. :)  Leah looked forward to making and decorating cookies, especially spritz. She did a beautiful job, as always! Leah also experienced a first this holiday season - she chose to meet and sit with Santa.

Additionally, a new tradition began with the Elf on the Shelf this year. Leah was a bit apprehensive at first when she discovered that the elf seemed to enjoy playing with her toys. Still, she grew to love the elf, looking for her everyday, and becoming sad when Dorothy had to leave for the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Leah asks about her from time to time and looks forward to seeing her again next December. Anything that adds to the magic of the season is alright by me!

Santa, of course, visited our house yet chose to change things up a bit this year... rather than leave the gifts by the tree in the living room, they were placed by the tree in the family room. It made sense since the Fraser Fir always has family gifts around it, yet the artificial tree gets ignored. I don't think Santa wanted to risk waking Leah either. ;)

Leah's big gift was a dress-up rack for all her princess and fairy outfits, along with some new ones! Leah changed her dress so many times on Christmas Day, you'd think she was hosting an awards show. Haha! I think, by far, her favorite dress was the Dorothy one that her great-aunt Donna sent. Between that, the stuffed Toto & basket that Santa left, and the red sparkly shoes Grammy had given her awhile back, she looked the part and spent the day on cloud nine.

In other news, homeschooling is going well. We recently finished up two units that Leah really enjoyed: transportation and wild animals. Last week, she worked on a wild animal mural a little bit each day. All week long, she was SO excited to "do school" so that she could spend time on her picture. Leah loves drawing, coloring, painting, gluing - pretty much anything crafty - and she very much loves anything to do with animals. So, the project was like homeschool gold for her. You know she's proud of her work when she willingly poses for a photo with it!

Leah is thriving in her dance class as well. She did a 6 week class in the fall and we're currently in the midst of another 6 week class. These classes have been without parent participation and it's amazing to see how much she's grown up. When we tried this a year ago, she bawled her eyes out and wouldn't separate from neither Dan nor I. Now, she's like a pro. I am so glad we didn't push her, we just waited, did another round of the parent/child class, and let her show us when she was ready. Watching her now through the one-way mirror, Leah impresses me with her maturity, how well she listens and follows directions, and how much she clearly enjoys herself. She's made a couple friends too, and has introduced herself to every other little girl in the class. What a big girl!

Speaking of which, we're working on a "big girl" room in time for Leah's 5th birthday. It's time to say goodbye to Winnie the Pooh and the toddler bed that Leah is very close to outgrowing! Dan began earlier this week by tearing out the closets and patching up the walls. The room is getting a complete makeover from top to bottom - paint, floors, furniture, you name it. Exciting stuff for the new year!

Dreams Come True

Last week marked Leah's first trip to Walt Disney World! After talking about and planning our trip for well over a year, it was so exciting to finally have it realized. Leah met so many of her favorite characters, rode several rides, trick-or-treated in the Magic Kingdom, watched an amazing firework display, enjoyed a few nighttime swims in the resort pool, and generally had the time of her life!

The day prior to our trip, we picked up a rental car... what was supposed to be a SUV turned into a minivan, since the rental place didn't have a vehicle to give us. It worked in our favor because there was SO MUCH ROOM! The seats collapsed into the floor, which worked out perfectly since we wanted plenty of space for Dodge to move around and lay down. Yes, he came to Disney World too! Amazingly, pet care & boarding was right across the street from our resort. It's like it was meant to be. Dan & I so appreciated being able to visit him each day, as I know Dodge did too.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside in their new royal rooms. Beautiful, picturesque resort! The rooms were super fun with lots of cute details: characters in the wallpaper border, Aladdin's magic carpet woven right into the rug, faucets that looked like the magic lamp, a "note" from Princess Tiana on the table, etc. One of the highlights for Leah was the firework display that lit up over the beds!

Our first evening was spent in Downtown Disney for dinner and a little shopping. Both Port Orleans Riverside and French Quarter have special ferryboat rides to Downtown Disney, as opposed to taking one of the Disney buses. We all loved that and it was such a relaxing way to travel back and forth.

Magic Kingdom was on the agenda for our first full day. The look on Leah's face when she first laid eyes on Cinderella's Castle was priceless! That day was magical for her. More than anything, Leah has talked about meeting and hugging different characters. So, I made that my goal: to find as many as I could! Throughout the day, Leah met Tiana, Ariel, Pluto, Marie (from Aristocats), and Merida. We had dinner reservations at the castle, where Leah met her beloved Cinderella as well as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel. By the time dinner was over, Leah was on top of the world!

Leah's jaw dropped when she first saw Cinderella, Snow White, & Sleeping Beauty during a show in front of the castle. :)

Getting ready to ride Dumbo with Popel!

The main reason we planned this trip for October was to attend Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. This occurred on our third evening at Disney. We had a blast! Leah dressed as Tinkerbell and we trick-or-treated around the Magic Kingdom. Everyone is given a treat bag as you enter the event, so by the end of the night, Leah's big bucket of candy was FULL, since we adults dumped our collections into hers. Between that, the parade, the incredible fireworks, and meeting a few more characters, it was a success. Dan's goal was to give Leah a good Halloween and that goal was certainly met. We're all ready to go back and do it again next year!

Tinkerbell & Tinkerbell :)

During our stay, we visited all of the major parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot). Unfortunately, our Animal Kingdom day was cut short due to the Halloween party that night, so we've already discussed spending a full day there next time we visit. The safari was awesome, we found a great character meetup spot, and it was a beautiful park to walk around. Hollywood Studios seems like it may be a better fit when Leah is older and more interested in rides or movie-related shows. She loved the Beauty & the Beast stage show there, the Pixar parade, and meeting a few more characters, though I do think we can skip those next time in favor of exploring more at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  Epcot was a favorite of Dan & I, thanks to the Food & Wine Festival. We had so much fun sampling goodies from different countries. It was there, too, that Leah met her final two princesses and even caught a glimpse of Bolt, her first favorite character! 

It was a wonderful vacation, full of awesome memories and magical moments for the most special little girl in our lives. I am so glad that so many of her dreams came true. 

Life Lessons

As we began homeschooling last month, I never thought Leah would end up learning a serious life lesson only a couple weeks in: how to understand and cope with death. As most of our followers know, we had to say goodbye to our beloved dog and family member, Hud.

We made the decision to end his suffering less than one week after being diagnosed with kidney failure, only six weeks away from his sixth birthday. Hud hadn't been himself for awhile, though we attributed much of that to anxiety over going outside after a nasty run-in with a yellow jacket nest in early July. Little did we know. I brought him to the vet in mid-late August, after a week-long bout of vomiting, where it was believed he had a case of acid reflux or an ulcer. Less than a week after that appointment, he was barely eating and became extremely weak when he walked or got up and down. Something still wasn't right. I brought him back to the vet, where blood was taken and it was determined that he was in kidney failure.

His decline was rapid after that. He spent a couple days on fluids at the animal hospital and was returned home to us for Labor Day weekend. He didn't eat a bite of food, barely drank any water, and was clearly in pain. We returned to the vet that Tuesday morning where they ran a few more tests, administered additional fluids, and referred us to an ultrasound at another veterinary clinic. The news there was what we had feared: it was a chronic condition and he had, at best, a 20% chance of survival with additional treatment. We knew what we had to do. We brought Hud home for one final night with us before our vet made a house call the following morning.

I talk about this here, on Leah's blog, because, well, he's always been a part of her life. Hud was slow to warm up to our new baby girl, this loud little creature who "stole" our attention. He was never mean to her, never nipped at her or stole her toys. He oftentimes simply left the room to nap in a quieter place, especially if she did throw a tantrum or have a crying outburst. Yet as the years went on, he gave in. He sat patiently while she pet him and hugged him, he began giving her "kisses", and of course, he benefited from her excitement to give her buddies some treats. :)  If we were playing outside and Leah took his soccer ball to play with, he let her have it. He was always gentle, always a gentleman. This past spring and summer, Leah showed off what a good arm she had in throwing tennis balls, which Hud loved to catch as Leah bounced them off the side of the garage.

When we received the initial diagnosis of kidney failure, Dan & I tried our best to prepare Leah for what was coming. We explained that Hud was very sick, that his body was hurting, and that the doctors may not be able to make him better. We used the words death and dying, as opposed to him "going to sleep" because I read that kids can get confused, thinking that if they go to sleep, they won't return either. Leah listened to what we were saying, repeated things back to us, and seemed to have an understanding. Still, she didn't truly grasp the emotional weight of what was happening until that day. Dan explained to her, "After today, we won't see Hud anymore."  Then, it clicked. Once our vet arrived and events got in motion, Leah ran to her playroom bawling. I ran after her and she sadly exclaimed, "I don't want to say goodbye to Hud! I don't want to lose him!" My sweetie. I hugged her and held her in my arms, telling her to let it out, that it was OK to be sad and to cry. Dan was with Hud during his final moments while I consoled Leah. What an awful day, what a heavy lesson I hadn't wanted her to learn and to experience so young.  Still, she has handled it remarkably well and I am proud of her.

Not surprisingly, she's grown much more lovey and attached to Dodge. She's always loved both dogs but for the longest time, she seemed to favor Hud, the "bad boy" who paid no attention to her. Ha. Dodge has always been an easygoing, loving soul and I think she always knew she could have his attention if she wanted it. Hud was the challenge. Well, now, Dodge is making up for lost time. Leah is always hugging and petting him, talking about how much she loves him. We took Dodge to bath day at the vet last week; when we arrived to pick him up, Leah said, "I just want my boy back." So sweet! Dodge is helping us all through this, I think, and we're trying to aid him with the loss of his friend as well.

It's been exactly two weeks to the day that we said our final goodbyes to Hud. We miss him terribly, though we appreciate every moment we had with him. I, for one, will be eternally grateful that he showed me how to love unconditionally and how to be a parent. He was the first living creature I ever cared for, one who depended on me, and who allowed me to make many mistakes. Though Dan & I became a family the moment we said, "I Do", Hud really solidified that and showed us what that meant. He was our first friend here in Georgia and he will always be a founding member of our little family. Hud Buddy, we love you and we thank you.

Hud

Oct 20, 2006 - Sept 5, 2012

First Day of Homeschool

Leah began Pre-K yesterday! We decided to start earlier than Labor Day since we were both ready to go. After the curriculum was delivered and some of the supplies were stocked on shelves in her playroom, Leah was ready to start and see what homeschool was all about. I spent last week putting together a bulletin board and got myself mostly organized and prepped.

When I reviewed the first lesson, the manual suggested having some type of introduction each day, to signal the start of school. The suggestions included a poem, a pledge to the flag, a prayer, or a song. None of those really appealed to me, so after thinking back on my Kindergarten teaching assistant days and scouring a few homeschool blogs, I decided to begin our day with Calendar Time. Talking about what day and season it is, as well as the weather outside, seemed like a natural way to start our day. Though it may be awhile until Leah truly understands the passage of time, the months of the year, and how to tell the date, being exposed to it will only aid her comprehension. There is also a section to label "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" so that she begins to understand those terms as well. Leah certainly grasps the concepts of whether an event has happened in the past or will in the future, but she'll sometimes refer to something that happened a few weeks ago as happening "last night". So, this will hopefully introduce her to some proper terms.  Leah very much enjoyed Calendar Time both yesterday and today!

Afterward, we moved onto our first lesson. We spent some time talking about school (some kids go to a specific school with other kids while some stay home with their parents), talking about our new supplies, where they're located, and the importance of putting things away when school is complete. We read a story together, discussed the concepts of "in" and "out", and listened to a short song that tied into our lesson. Interestingly, I thought the in & out lesson would be too easy for Leah and we'd be through it in no time. But I got to witness firsthand how you can understand a concept one way but need help when it's translated to another context. For example, we began by placing various objects "in" and "out" of a basket or small box. Leah whizzed through that, knowing what that meant, saying things like, "The crayons are IN the basket" when she placed them there. After this exercise, I presented her with an activity sheet of different animals that were either in an object (a bird in a cage) or out of one (a dog standing beside his doghouse). I asked her to point out a picture that showed "in". She pointed to the dog by his house and said something about how he goes in there. I understood what she meant, though she was skipping over the fact that right then, in that particular picture, he was not in there currently. So interesting how her mind worked. After some explanation, she quickly picked up what we were looking for and completed highlighting the various pictures, underlining the "in" pictures with one color crayon and the "out" pictures with another. She then colored the pictures however she wanted. When she was done, I asked her again to show me the picture where the dog was "in" or the cat was "out", etc and she completed it with no problem. Awesome. She learned!

There are certain objectives in this curriculum she does know. For instance, today we were supposed to introduce the color red. Leah already knows her colors, so I modified the lesson somewhat. Instead of presenting her with red objects to illustrate what color they are, I asked her to look around the room and find red objects herself. Then, I gave her a couple old magazines and asked her to cut out red pictures that she would then glue on a separate sheet of paper. She's still a scissor newbie, so this helped her work on those motor skills instead, while still sticking to the red theme.

One thing that I'm not quite sure of is how to modify our storytime. The curriculum provides a storybook in order to promote good listening and comprehension skills, that we read from at least once a day. Leah is used to picture storybooks while these stories I'm reading contain only a couple tiny illustrations in order to condense the curriculum material. She's claiming the stories are "boring" and I think it's because she doesn't have that visual to follow. Not quite sure how to remedy that one, or maybe it will just come with more maturity.

Otherwise, things are going well thus far. I am already enjoying the new routine and the extra quality time we're experiencing. I think this will be a really interesting adventure. :)

Leah created this red clay guy with no prompting from me. I love it!

Homeschooling

Yup. We are that family.

As many children Leah's age prepare to start Pre-Kindergarten or to attend preschool, we have chosen to homeschool. Dan & I made the decision a year ago, and as we draw closer to the beginning of our journey, it seemed like the right time to post about it.

When we first began discussing school options, public schools here did not thrill us. We considered private school, though the tuition of the one secular private school in our area is astronomical. That was out. All the affordable options were Christian-based private schools, and while we entertained that notion for a short time, ultimately, that felt very disingenuous to me. Dan and I are not religious; the most you could call us is agnostic. To be fair to our family and to the school, we felt it was better that we not pretend to be people we are not.

So, on a whim, I mentioned homeschooling as an option. Since joining a mommy message board years ago as well as following a few money-saving blogs, I found that homeschooling was more popular than I ever realized. In the following days, as I did some research and Dan & I discussed the pros and cons, we discovered that homeschooling was the only thing that got us both excited.

What we're looking forward to:

• Discovering Leah's learning style and teaching her in a way that suits her best
• Choosing our curriculum and following Leah's interests and curiosities
• Being able to take breaks or vacations whenever we want, working at Leah's most alert time of day, and having free time during the day for lessons, sports, or whatever she wants to explore
• Providing her with a safe, supportive environment to begin learning and building her self-esteem

I know the biggest hangup regarding homeschooling is the socialization issue. That was our first concern as well. But after talking to other homeschooling moms and reading various articles and blog posts on the topic, it's really not an issue unless you live in a cave. There are local homeschool groups to join. Leah will meet other kids in whatever activities she gets involved in (dance, gymnastics, etc). Not to mention the other interactions she has in a typical week - meeting and talking to people at the grocery store, the pet store, the bank, etc. We hope to involve her in volunteer projects down the line as well. "Socialization" is not just about making friends with a bunch of other kids who are the exact same age; it's about learning to interact with others in a productive manner.

The three of us attended our first Homeschool Expo in Atlanta during the last weekend of July. It was so helpful, as I was able to see the various curriculum options right in front of me and learned about several programs that I wouldn't have previously thought of. After deliberation and research, I chose our Pre-K curriculum last week (Calvert) and it arrived in the mail on Tuesday. I am super excited to begin!  There are a lot of homeschooling folks who say that you don't really need to shell out the money for a boxed curriculum for Pre-K or K... but being as this is our first year doing something we never thought we would do, I want the advantage of guidance and structure. Maybe in a year or two, I'll have more confidence to pull from different resources and put something together myself. But for now, I love that everything is laid out for me.

I am aiming to start after Labor Day, though it could potentially be earlier if I feel we're ready to go. I want to go through the curriculum a little more closely and I am also in the process of getting myself organized in various aspects of home management as well. Really trying to streamline my days and weeks, so I can truly devote the time necessary to educating my daughter.

This is an exciting time! It's funny, Dan and I have joked that we are that "crazy", no-cable-TV-let's-bake-our-own-bread-homeschooling-family. Couple of hippies. *wink*  If you asked me 5 years ago if we would be doing these things, I would've told you that was ridiculous. Ha. Life can take you places you never imagined and oftentimes, those are the best journeys. One of my favorite quotes is: "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." Yup. Here's to a new challenge, a new journey!

I'm not Leah, I'm Dorothy!

Most of you who read the blog already know this, but I still wanted to write about it so that it's in the record books.

Sometime in June, I believe, I introduced Leah to "The Wizard of Oz". Dan had recently shown her "E.T." to which she responded favorably and without anything really scaring her. So, I figured I'd give Oz a try. Needless to say, she loved it. I should have known; the main character is a female who wears sparkly shoes and has a cute little dog. That spoke to her!

Leah soon began acting out scenes from the movie. Naturally, she was Dorothy and she assigned roles to Dan (Scarecrow) and I (sometimes the Tin Man, sometimes the Cowardly Lion) and she had us skipping around the yard while she sang, "We're off to the see the wizard..."  We have one of those crabapple trees in the backyard and she even pretended to pick apples off while the tree got upset. It was very dramatic.

Do you ever see pieces of yourself and your childhood in your own children? Um, yeah, this one's a whole chunk of mine. I also used to watch "The Wizard of Oz" constantly and assigned roles to my family members. I never suggested anything to Leah about acting out scenes or making each of us a particular character or what-have-you, but boy, it is uncanny how Leah is doing the exact same things I used to. Is that kind of stuff passed along in your genetic makeup? She does seem a bit more forceful in reminding family members that she is Dorothy, not Leah. I don't quite remember carrying that out to such an extent but hey, who knows. Maybe I needed the shoes to truly feel the part. And unfortunately, when I was a kid, Target wasn't around to make super cute ruby slipper lookalikes. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the least bit jealous. ;)

Yesterday, when Leah received those awesome red shoes in the mail from Grammy, she was talking about how we don't have the Dorothy dress but that we could look for it around Halloween. I agreed, then glanced in her closet and realized we could put together a Dorothy outfit that was a close enough match. She has been ecstatic ever since. She wore it for the rest of the day and is wearing it again today. She took Toto and her basket to the pet supply store today and yesterday, she even told the Trader Joe's cashier that her daddy is the Scarecrow. Ha!