School

We took the day off of school yesterday. DadV was off of work, and spent the day bringing home parts of a swingset/playground. This involved renting a large van, and all of us working together to unload the boxes into the garage. I will probably be giving a play-by-play of the building of this structure. I will try to keep the profanity mild (hey, I know how these do-it-yourself building projects go).

In January I had done a First Grade math block with KidV2. Last fall she kept insisting that she needed some tougher school work, so even though she is Kindergarten age (both by the state law and by the Waldorf standard which says that you should be in the world for 7 Easters before starting 1st grade), we took the plunge. By the end of the 3 weeks she was sobbing that she was growing up too fast. I don't think this was a concious reaction to the math, I did take it as a sign that I was right -- the best process right now is to do a block of First Grade, then take time off for Kindy "work" (fairytales -- telling, re-telling, drawing). We did do a bit of form drawing during our break, some recorder, and some knitting (although now I'm wondering how I'm teaching her to knit without A First Book of Knitting for Children , which Knitsteel mentioned in her blog; I'm so suggestable when it comes to both craft books and curriculum, so when it's craft books for my kids I'm very easy to persuade).

Last week she (KidV2) announced that she is ready for more math work. As an aside, I'd like to do writing with her, but decided that the battle isn't worth fighting given that we're not doing full-throttle First Grade anyway. So, I've spent the past few days gathering supplies for our second math block. I'm using Donna Simmon's First Grade Syllabus , and she suggests using squirrels to illustrate the math concepts. This works great for us, as we are overrun with squirrels. The problem is finding nuts in shells. Argh! Do any shops around here have them? I had bags full before we moved, but didn't feel like moving them; I dumped them all out in the green-alley behind our house for the enjoyment of THAT squirrel population. I think we're going to be reduced to pre-shelled almonds. In any event, I think she'll enjoy this block. If I were a Good Mom I'd be working on little needle-felted squirrels or little finger puppets right now instead of sitting here in my jammies. Hmmm. Getting dressed and getting going on the day rather than sitting here. Hmmm....