Purpose

I'm starting this, my millionth blog, to create a record of the things we do in school. I have a 7 year old, G, who is just finishing up first grade, and an almost-3 year old, S, who is desperate to do paper work like her sister. We have been doing homeschool for two full years at this point. I'm hoping to share awesome things we have done, struggles we are working through, and cool resources I've found or created.

I have a degree in Elementary Education and 8.5 years of classroom experience, although most of that has been focused on older children. My last full time job was as a librarian in a K-8 school, and I loved it so, so much.

When we started, G was a kinder, newly five and accustomed to playing and doing what she wanted all day long (I hadn't worked a full time job in over two years at that point) and S was a very fussy, Mama-milk obsessed 13 month old who never slept and refused all solid foods and bottles. My Mom had just retired, so she came over twice a week to attempt to distract the baby long enough for G to get some real school work done. 

Both my girls love to learn, but their very strong little personalities insist on most things being done on their terms or not at all. Finally, after two years of painstaking struggle, G is reading pretty well. She loves to giggle over Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems and anything by Sandra Boynton. It has been one of my great joys to find her reading after bedtime (I know, I know). My whole philosophy of education centers on the idea that children learn best through play, so it's been challenging to engage my toddler in play-based learning when she is insisting on paper school work. I've found some great preschool activities that seem to satisfy her most of the time.