It occurred to me the other day that there is just over one year left in which I have unimpeded influence over my child. Before I know it she'll be in kindergarten, then 1st grade, and the majority of her day will be spent away from me, being taught by someone I don't know at all. Now, part of me thinks about this and wants to break out in the hallelujah chorus. I love my daughter, but she is quite demanding on my time and patience. Honestly, we always like each other more when we have little breaks from each other. But the other part of me is thinking "Wait! Not yet! There's so much I need to teach her before I send her out in the world! There's so much I still want her to experience when our lives are still calm and unstructured."
This year Livia has gone to joy school two days a week, and it's been a good experience for us. I like that it focuses less on learning numbers and letters (though those are important, too) and more on experience and discovery--finding joy in so many aspects of life. She will learn the bookish things, I have no doubt of that. In fact, I can hardly restrain myself from trying to teach her to read at her rather young age, and just yesterday she figured out how to spell yak all on her own. But this will be her last year with LOTS of play time, and LOTS of one-on-one time with me, and I want to make it count. A big part of that will still be just playing, both on her own, with friends, and with me, because I believe that play is one of the most essential aspects of childhood. But I also want to provide her with enriching experiences. I want her to be out in nature--real nature, not our manicured parks, love them as I do--to start discovering music, and art, and sports. To go apple picking, or visit a farm, or just dig in the dirt! I've also been working hard to take advantage of teaching moments: to not dismiss things as unimportant, but to use what happens to us and around us to teach politeness, kindness, faith, honesty, etc. (So far I haven't noticed much of a difference in her behavior, but I think it'll sink in at some point, right?...Right?)
And so I've been brainstorming and searching online for some supplemental classes/programs/experiences to have with her. I've found some, but I thought I'd also open it up to you for suggestions. Do you know of any good (inexpensive) programs? Free activities? Cool and simple science experiments/activities you can do at home? Nearby farms or ranches? And does anyone want to join me in some of these things? We are 99% sure we're going to do joy school again next year, and since that's only 6 hours a week we'll still have quite a bit of free time to fill.
Let me know!
1 comment:
Let me know what you find. I feel this same way, though I have TWO (AHHH!!!) more years with Kenna because of her late birthday.
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