School

Ever since she went to VBS a few weeks ago, my daughter has been begging to go to school. I'd already been planning to start a low-key unschooling preschool program with her in the fall, but her incessant, "Can we please, PLEASE have school today?" pushed the start up about a month.

Since we're starting earlier than I was planning, I haven't really done all the research I was hoping to do. I don't know all the buzzwords and I can't spout off the benefits of various educational philosophies. On the one hand, I think that's okay. I am a well-educated person who really enjoys learning new things. My daughter picks things up very quickly and gets a kick out of having "school" in her bedroom. Besides that ... she's only 4. If I were planning to send her to public school, she wouldn't be starting kindergarten for another full year anyway.

The anxious mother in me, though, doesn't quite agree. If I haven't fully researched all my educational methods, she tells me, I have no business trying to teach anything. What will I do, she wonders, when I get into bad habits this year because I haven't fully committed myself to one philosophy?

For my own piece of mind, I've decided to write down what we do every day that might be considered school stuff. I figure this way I can at least see what we've covered and what areas maybe need some more work.

Today's list says:

• language arts
  
  • practiced capital letter formation by tracing A-Z and writing a shopping list
  • practiced lowercase letter formation by tracing a-z
  • read aloud Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish and Fritz Siebel
• religion
  
  • read aloud James 1:19-25 (paraphrase)
  • discussed what it means to listen first before talking
• physical education
  
  • visited the park and played on the slide, swings, and climbing equipment
  • reviewed basic ballet positions and practiced foot and arm placement
• science
  
  • discussed body parts of a spider
  • labeled picture with appropriate parts
• art
  
  • colored picture of a spider
  • identified shapes and traced around them

I'm trying to save all the things she makes (completed worksheets, art projects, etc.) to round out my records. I figure that's enough for my first week. Maybe next week I can actually plan a lesson or two in advance. Or maybe not.