in which i declare our homeschooling intentions

this my friends, is what i have been preoccupied with lately. :)

Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking.

Crazy lady. She has her "hands full" already and now, HOMESCHOOL?? Really?

Or perhaps.

Poor June. She is never gonna get out of the house/write that book/work/wear real clothes again.

Or perhaps.

What about the SOCIALIZATION??

Or maybe.

Dont you know that people go to school for years to dedicate their lives to teaching? Why can you do it any better?

First off.

I totally acknowledge all of this. I have in fact held off this post for weeks, months, not wanting to delve into all of this, but seeing as I have written about dilating cervixes on this blog, why should I hold back now, HA.

So. Here we go.

Ummm. Where do I start though?

I do have my hands full. Sure. (Full of baby goodness! Right?? HA.) But, here is the thing. I think home is the best place for my kids. With me. And dada. With a daily rhythm that breathes in and out. With baking and cooking and crafting. With as much outdoor play as we can manage. With some art and a bit of letters thrown in, maybe a little math. With little sweet stories, lots of imagination, talk of flowers that are alive in the sunshine, waking up with a kiss from each of their fairies. Brave knights and castles and kings and queens and quests. Tree forts and dirty knees (yes, even the baby) and hair that smells of sunshine and wind.

This is the childhood I want for my kids.

We applied to a few half day programs. We didnt get in. And really, really, my little man is not ready for a full day of activity away from home. He is academically at kindergarten, moving into first grade, with letters and finger math, and sounding out words, and nature studies, but he is still my little man. Gentle and sensitive, rambunctious and dramatic.

He needs us.

And little miss needs him too. All of us together, breathing in and out of our days as the unit we are.

This is not meant to knock public schools or the hard working teachers out there that work under such difficulty to give each and every kid a great start in life. I totally acknowledge that effort.

And someday sure we will do the whole classroom thing, in a proper school, with desks and such. I might even bake cookies for a fundraiser (or maybe dada will). And I will support the teachers and watch friendships flourish.

But for now. We will do this. We have already been doing it, quietly for a few months. I am thinking of now as kindergarten, and sometimes next year we will switch it up to more first grade stuff. But slowly, we are integrating it into our day. Being intentional about it.

And we have a move coming up, to who knows where within our city, or maybe even the country? Who knows, so there is that. And possibly details to the East Coast with dada's job, and maybe even, MAYBE a short stint in Hawaii, once again. We want to be able to take advantage of all of this. And "homeschool" allows us to.

No, its not for everyone, but I was homeschooled, and am around many homeschoolers. We have support, friends for little man to play with, a community around us, even a group of other moms to meet with to do a co-op. And you know me, I have been "pinning," researching and going nuts over resources, books, curriculum, etc. I am going at it, whole hog, as they say. A la Waldorf style, because it just rings true to me, and dada too.

So. There you have it.

And you lucky ones get to watch as it all unfolds, ha ha!

You are your child's first teacher - a great parenting/Waldorf basics resource
Joyful Movement and Kindergarten with your 3-6 yr old - Christopherus curriculum
Beyond the Rainbow Bridge - childhood from a Waldorf perspective
The Kingdom of Childhood - lectures by Rudolph Steiner, founder of the Waldorf edu. ideas
my book, where i am writing down all the little bits that inspire me

my book, in which i am collecting all the nice memory verses, stories
poems, etc. i have one for little man too for when we "start" in the fall

our little nature table, decked out for spring

the little woolen birds we made the other day, step by step post coming soon!

our little explorer

happy fat baby goodness