We had our first co-op today, which the girls enjoyed very much. I was not sure how they were going to do when we got there as there really were quite a few people, very few of whom they know, and they were in an unfamiliar environment. They dismissed us from the gym where we had all gathered for a first-day hello, and Pilly had to leave first with the preschool. I walked her to the back of the room, she was very hesitant, but she followed the rest of the kids right out and never even looked back. Pnut just smiled and waved and left. She has a friend from Sunday School with her (as does Pilly but it is different when you are bigger). Co-op is three hours long. Three very long hours as I have nothing to do. Since LB is under one, I do not have to help monitor any classes or clean so we just hung out in the nursery pretty much the whole time. LB did not take a nap, which is no good. He was a mess this evening. I think next time I am going to try to have him ready for nap as soon as we get there so that he sleeps at least some. I did meet some of the other moms, although I really am very bad about talking to people; I just let them talk around me. I end up feeling like I know people very well and they end up not knowing me at all! Hopefully next time I will talk more. In my mind, I do a lot of talking:) The girls both enjoyed their time! Pnut was telling us things she learned about the sun, and she seems really excited about choir. She isn't as thrilled with gym...she prefers to just run around rather than play organized games. Pilly learned about owls, which she seemed to like. She also claims to have taken a nap, but she said that she watched VeggieTales, which was on when they were napping. Both of them were very tired this evening and went to bed quite nicely at 7. I don't know what we would do with Pnut if she were in school all day. She would practically have to go to bed when she got home!
One of the things I really appreciate about homeschooling is the ability to set your own schedule and make school work for you, not wrap your life around the school schedule. I have noticed (more like slap yourself in the forehead duh) that when I am tired or getting impatient things just do not go well. I was a little tired this morning for some reason so we just did reading and then came up and I laid down for 15 minutes since I knew I wasn't going to get to this afternoon. Reading went well, but I didn't want to test us too far beyond that. And that is great because the girls are learning well as we are able to maintain a good attitude about it!
Last year I was doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Pnut, and we ended up stopping around lesson 50 because she wasn't enjoying it anymore. I was thinking that I wouldn't do it with Pilly probably and just do kindergarten curriculum with her, but as I am teaching Pnut, I am realizing how much that book helped us out already. She can already read quite a few words (if she wants to), but it did a great job of teaching how to blend sounds and taught her some things that she is just doing unconsciously that I believe are really helping her out. So I think I probably will do it with Pilly. She will turn 5 in January of 2013 so she will have 8 months until she will start kindergarten and will probably be ready to be doing something. If it gives her a bit of a head start and makes my job easier in the long run, I am all for it!
Those are just some of the thoughts that are running through my head right now. I also have 2 recipes to share and 2 more shops to feature, but that is not happening tonight! I am ready for a warm bath and some relaxing in this nice, crisp weather!
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