Have I mentioned that we have a return date set? March 29th we're headed back to Seattle! I'm already working up my list of books to request from the library and what I'm currently interested in are books about parenting and/or children that address the way in which kids learn and grow from say, ages 3 and up.
You see, Peanut is currently attending a 2 year-old class at a nearby preschool and she is loving it. As in, she walks in the door, doesn't look back or wave good-bye unless prompted by the teacher, and excitedly chatters on and on about school all week long until that once a week 1 1/2 hour session rolls around again. She sings the songs she learned there, she shows us how she's learning to use scissors, she tells me about the stories they read, shows me her dance skills, etc.
Up until now, Gboy and I had been taking a wait and see approach. Rather than make any decisions about how or where to enroll or educate Peanut (from preschool through high school) we figured we'd take it one step at a time. We wanted to see how her personality developed and try to find a way to give her the social and intellectual stimulation that suited her. Needless to say, her love of preschool has really forced the issue of education and socialization to the forefront of our minds.
At this point, I'm open to all kinds of possibilities. We aren't sure where we'll be living at any particular point in the future and this makes the decision of a Japanese vs. American or private vs. public school challenging. Thus, it's not so much the specifics that I'm interested in learning about; rather, I'd like to explore all kinds of ways of teaching and raising our kids.
One way of looking at this is to learn more about home schooling, something I'd never given much thought, but seems like an interesting possibility. But I'd also love to hear any and all ideas that you might have regarding books or materials or philosophies that you've read about or used for parenting that have helped to guide your family's mission and have helped you to think about how your children are growing and developing into unique individuals.
Thoughts?
I wish I had something helpful to offer, but I really don't! We absolutely love our co-op preschool, I enjoy attending class with Bean and I think it's a good ramp-up to kindergarten. He's been thriving there and has come a long way since the early days of clinging to me the entire 2 hours.
ReplyDeleteMany women in my LLL group homeschool their children. I am very impressed with what they do! They have formed a group and they share the expenses (like buying one microscope) and go on outings together to learn and explore. It's too far away for you, of course, but I think when you get back to Seattle you can tap into your own network and find information about something similar closer to you. There are so many options out there!
I used to think that homeschooling would be something I'd like to do, but seeing how Z loves her preschool, and seeing as how she is much less willing to do structured activities with me (or really, to listen to anything I have to say) than she is with outsiders, I can see that traditional schooling is definitely in our future.
ReplyDeleteYour situation is certainly unique, since you don't know what your options will be. Homeschooling sounds like an excellent fallback plan, if not a first choice.
I have no advice on this. Pretty mystified myself! We don't do any formal stuff on this right now. She does take a pre-tennis class, though.
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