Big Thoughts While Doing a "Make and Play"

A few nights ago, in the midst of doing kindergarten homeschool with Tiny B, the kids and I had a sudden urge to do Mother Goose Time. It was later at night and I was tired. But we needed something fun and creative. We needed to breathe. So we took out a "Make and Play" and began making turtles for our Pond theme.



We had just gone on a field trip to the zoo that day so our minds were filled with thoughts of animals and their homes and habitats. We talked about turtles and their shells and I told them all about how my grandad loooooves turtles and collects turtle glass figurines.

We were having a great time. I was just amazed at how much Tiny B has grown since we started MGT. She's getting to the point of being able to do the projects almost completely on her own.

And then I started thinking about how sad I will be to stop Mother Goose Time this summer. Strong B was premature, so where his birthday falls, he should attend kindergarten in the fall. He would be the absolute youngest. If he would have been born on his proper due date, he would be in transitional kindergarten or have another year of preschool. Tiny B's birthday was exactly the same and I chose to "keep her back" which really meant that she went to kindergarten when she should have gone if she hadn't been premature. It ended up being the perfect decision for her, and therefore, I am doing the same thing for Strong B. While I sometimes daydream of his going to kindergarten at an actual school next year and I can start working in our business, I know the reality, which is that he would only be going because he was premature, and that my heart wants to homeschool, so he shouldn't be going to a daily school anyways.

So what I'm trying to say is that I don't know exactly what charter school we will be attending because of our move (and I don't even know where we are moving!) but I do know that Strong B will be "doing transitional kindergarten." And up until this moment I thought that I would move on to the charter school's TK curriculum.

But I don't know if I'm ready to stop Mother Goose Time. This program has carried me through Tiny B's transitional kindergarten and it continues to be a part of her kindergarten experience. We integrate it into her fine motor practice and we write about our themes. Strong B has grown so much with it through his preschool year.

As we were doing this project, they both kept talking about how much they loved Mother Goose Time. 

 

 

 

And the 2017-2018 themes really, really interest me. 

 

I have a lot to pray about for sure. God has guided me so well every year ever since I first enrolled Tiny B in the public special needs preschool at 3 years-old. As a tiny girl she attended that school four days a week and took the bus to and from school, a thought that I can't imagine now. But God knew that it was exactly what she needed. So I trust Him now to tell me what to do next year. 

My prayer is that I will always be open to whatever God wants me to do with their education. If He wants me to send them to full-time public school, I will be ready, just as I'll be ready to pull them from charter school and fully homeschool under my own name. 

Every year is an adventure in trusting God.