This kindergarten malarkey is doing my head in. Especially the concept of home-schooling. I ordered a few books, and am overwhelmed by all the information. I mean, I’m not really considering keeping Noah and Lil G home indefinitely, to act as their school marm. But I am seriously thinking about education in general, what can I, as their mother, teach them? Besides the obvious of values and morals. Educational goals.
I was already able to read when I started grade school, because my mother taught me. It didn’t make learning to write easier. I still sucked at maths.
I want to give my sons the same love for books that I have (perhaps minus the paper part, perhaps I can instill them with a love for Kindle?). So literature. We’re doing very well, Noah has an instincual love for rhymes, I guess all kids do. Dr. Seuss is a favourite right now, as is Where The Wild Things Are.
Then we need to think of my reasons. Do I want them to have a head-start? Is a head-start really necessary? Is it even the right word? I want to make what was for me a depressing, negative experience as positive as I can for my lads. Wouldn’t it be something if they liked school. If they even got good grades. At least, good enough to not be terrified of every test.
So this is the first book, and it’s chockablock full of ideas and games and different ways to introduce many different subjects.
We’ve also started the subject of healthy eating. Talking about it, raising awareness of it in our house. So Noah has a chart taped to the freezer door, one that shows pictures of different food groups – fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, dairy and water. Every time he has one of these things, he puts a star next to it. So far so good, when he saw that there was no sticker next to the grains picture, he asked for some bread, ate it, and stuck his silver star up.
daily. doings. 