Kindergarten

Some how, it seems very huge to me, that Felicity is officially "at the table" for school with us now.  Monday marked her first official day of school!  It feels kind of funny to call it her first day of Kindergarten as we don't pay too much attention to grade labels around here, but, for the sake of journaling, that's what it is.  Felicity is now in Kindergarten.  I don't quite know how that can be!

This seemed like a bigger milestone than when Logan started his first official day.  Maybe because with Logan, I technically did homeschool preschool with him, so a bit of a routine was already in place.  But since then, my feelings towards that have changed and I like the idea of just letting kids be in those early years.  Letting them PLAY.  Besides, she has the benefit of jumping in to "do school" with her big brother whenever she feels like it.  Lately that's been more and more, which is what prompted this official start.  We plan to take October off for the birth and babymoon of this sweet one in the belly, and it made no sense to start schooling her in September, school her for a month, and then take at least a month off.  September?  That's just a date the school system uses.  Oh, its so ingrained!  :)

We started down ANOTHER new homeschooling path this week.  A path I've always wanted to try, since before I started schooling Logan, but one that I lacked confidence in.  Basically, we are doing Mama made unit studies.  Some direction, some unschooling, some paperwork, some "free" work, but all "organized" by me.  Funny how I feared my lack of ability in this area yet I pick a time where I'm throwing in the new aspect of now schooling multiple kids, while pregnant, to really finally go for it.  Well, all I can say is we've tried many roads (as you know if you follow this blog), and I'm just trying to embrace where we naturally go.  Logan is currently interested in the solar system, and of course, whatever big brother is into, the others follow.  So everyone is quite excited to be learning about the planets.  Imagine that.  We'll see how this Mama "organized" plan goes.

 It occurred to me that not only is Felicity old enough for Kindergarten, technically, Kian is old enough for preschool!  Again, how does this happen?!  But, like I said before, I really just feel like play is very important for these little ones.  They soak up so much without any effort anyways!  But he asked to "do school" so I made him up this little sensory tub so he could sit at the table with us and feel included, but still get that play in.  I didn't know how long he'd last with this and was shocked when he sat there absorbed for nearly two hours!  And he's learning right along with the big kids just by listening to what they're doing.  He knows all the planets' names and I wouldn't be surprised if he'll be able to recite them in order once this unit is done.

 I have to say, it was very sweet having them all at the table together, focused, and ENJOYING their work.

 As you can see, I have one proud Kindergartner.

And since she loves that label, we'll go with that.  :)

I'm really looking forward to schooling her.  I've felt distant from her lately.  She's a very independent one, and even when she's in need, she often won't admit it.  She's not one to seek out snuggles, for example.  Logan needs me to help him with school, and Kian needs me because he's still little, but Lissy hasn't seemed to need me for much lately, and I feel there's been a distance placed between us that I've been fighting to get back.  I think school will allow us time to fill that gap, and I'm really looking forward to it!