So, I bought the whole My Father's World kindergarten set months ago, and took my time organizing it. Recently I was debating whether I should try to start my girl on it this spring or wait until fall. The program runs on a five day schedule, and I know we will have enough other activities going on next fall that we definitely won't be sitting down to do school work five days a week. With community bible study one day and Friday school another, I really only picture us doing formal lessons two or three days a week. So I was trying to figure out which would be better: to start kindergarten now and work through it slowly as it works out (mainly on days when I'm not already babysitting) or wait until fall and try to cram it all into one year anyway, or start in fall and go slowly anyway and try to accept that it may take longer than a year.
My daughter helped me with that decision when we had an unexpected free day recently (but no gas or money, so no ability to go out anywhere). I asked her if she would like to do some kindergarten school time and she got very excited. So I got out the stuff and we sat at the dining room table for probably an hour. The first lesson is on the letter S. For this lesson, we talked about the sun, how Jesus is the light of the world, did some tactile S activities, handwriting and sound discrimination games and worksheets. She enjoyed cutting out picture cards for the letter S, dot painting a picture of a sun, and covering a letter S with stickers. At one point I thought we had done enough for one day and she protested about school being over already, so we continued on.
After the lesson, we snuggled up on the couch and had some reading time. Between the library and the library book sale, I had collected a good supply of children's books about the sun. We enjoyed a nice storytime together that went along with the theme for this week.
I think we have found a great balance in just starting Kindergarten now and working through it slowly. She does not recognize all the letters and their sounds yet, but the reading lessons in this program focus on teaching those, so I appreciate having something that lays it out step by step. My girl also has an interest in learning to read right now. In the program, learning to read starts halfway through the year and I don't want to skip ahead. But I recently got some simple, tiny first reader books from the library and she is quite satisfied with learning to read those (through memory since the text is predictable). I figure things like that to build her confidence are good.
The kids by our homemade sundial, one of our fun science experiments with the S is for Sun Unit
Jaren just chilling, letting his sister feed him on a nice day, having lunch outside
One of my spring cleaning projects recently- cleaning up and reorganizing my daughter's desk, which is also in my kitchen. The cluttered look of it was driving me crazy. I bought almost everything to redo it at the Dollar Tree. I'm quite happy with the end result. Doesn't that invite creativity?! Before and after pictures here:
Spring Adventures
This Spring has brought some adventures our way. In March we travelled by train (for ten hours!) to Washington to visit Mom's side of the family. We remembered enjoying the train ride the last time we went over there (when Joelle was 8 months old). It was a fun ride with pretty scenery this time too, but also quite exhausting with a toddler who wants to be on the go all the time! By the end of that day we were happy to be done with the travelling. Natalie joined us all for the weekend and we had a nice time visiting with everyone!
Riding the train:
Fun day at a kids' museum:
Jaren, Natalie, and Grandma Chase:
Four generations:
Easter Fun
This year for Easter, I made matching outfits for the kids with some help from Mom. This was a very hard project, the patterns were complicated, and it probably took at least 20 hours total if not more. But, the did turn out very cute, and it was pretty satisfying to see outfits I made on my kids!
Wearing their homemade outfits
Joelle enjoyed dying some eggs with Daddy, and after church we had our big get together at my parents' house this year. I think the kids were quite spoiled with around 400 eggs to pick up (you can't really call it a "hunt" when it isn't). We saved our dozen hard boiled eggs for our kids to hunt in the back yard later. Chad started that tradition last year and it continues on.
Egg dying fun
Cousins
Cousins and Grandparents
A Getaway for Two
At the end of April Jaren and I flew to San Diego to visit Sara for six days! Joelle and Chad spent lots of time with his parents for that week. It did not sound like Joelle missed me very much since she was having such a wonderful time with her grandparents! Jaren was a wonderful, easy-going traveler, which was really great! I was really nervous about flying alone with my busy toddler, but overall he did really well. Out of four flights, I just had one where he cried for the last ten minutes of the flight. I was sure the whole plane could hear him, but everyone was friendly to us and understanding. We thoroughly enjoyed the beach, the nice weather, and a great visit with a cherished friend! This kind of opportunity is rare with our financial situation and juggling family life, but I'm so glad we were able to make it work!
The view from the place where we had breakfast by the beach
This boy loves the sand!
Day at the San Diego Zoo
All tired out!
That is all the news for now. We are looking forward to summer and lots of time outside! Here are some more pictures of the most beautiful children in the world:
Since Easter was close, I also had the resurrnice days
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