homeschooling thoughts.

(washing shells)

i officially started doing preschool at home with roman this past fall. so far he LOVES it, and asks each morning, "do we have school today?"

on the last day that i did school with him before our decided Christmas break, he was so bummed. i, however, was very excited to be off the hook! i was starting to feel throroughly overwhelmed and inadequete as a homeschooling mama. as much as i try to set aside time to plan, i never spend nearly enough time doing it. although i have a million ideas swirling around in my head, i feel too overwhelmed by all the choices in front of me.

i decided that over Christmas break, i would really sit down and take some time to PLAN and ORGANIZE. i was going to pick up that huge box of preschool books from my mom, i was going to spend hours making lesson plans and schedules.

did i do that? no. the box is still at my moms. i spent hours editing photos in my holiday free time instead.

some moments i start thinking, "maybe roman would be better off in a REAL preschool." then i realize, wait, what he heck is so REAL about preschool that isn't REAL about being at home? having worked in daycare/preschools, i saw that those teachers are figuring it our on their own also. they are bombarded with a million choices, and have to come up with lessons on their own too. they make changes as time goes on. they find things that work, and things that don't. they have children who won't sit still, who are bored, who don't like the activity that they've planned. there are good days and bad days in REAL preschool too.

so, we've started school back up again. i am pretty satisfied with our first two days back.  i am still NOT happy with how little time i spend planning.  that is something i need to work on. luckily i'm really good at coming up with activities quickly, all those daycare and sunday school teaching days paid off!
however, i want roman to have the BEST i can offer him. which is defiately better than what i've been shelling out lately.

however, he loves to read and write. he is learning his letter sounds. and this morning, even though he is sick with the flu, he asked, "do we have school today?" so it's not all bad, right? :)