Tag Archives: School

11/10/12
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Updates

I think maybe a small catch up post is necessary!

I didn’t realize it had been almost a year since my last posts. I am currently on a two hour car ride so I have some time to type things out on the iPad :)

I am just going to start with September this year! Little Man and Little Princess were back to preschool and so excited to go back to the same teacher and some of the same classmates. Little Princess was a little nervous as we found she has an astigmatism and so glasses were in order over the summer. Little Man was just ready to see all his friends again! All went well and both were doing so well at the start of school, we were so happy to see both enjoying school!

Little Princess is back to gymnastics and in t he big gym, she loves it for that reason! Little Man tried tae kwon do but he could not handle it very well and it was suggested we try again in January when he and Aaron can take the class at the same time, so he will be back in January!

In September, the whole family started Korean school, to say that they love Korean school is a massive understatement. They love school and look forward to it when they are at home, but they ask constantly about Korean school and when they get to go! Aaron and I love it as well but Korean is not an easy language to learn, so thank God we have a very patient teacher! Little Princess has always been obsessed with all things Korean and so we hope this co nines to foster that love in her! We need to get her on Skype with unni so they can talk in Korean and I can impress unni with my counting skills haha! Little Man is obsessed with learning his hangul letters and writing his Korean name in hangul!

I think that about catches us up or basically gets us there haha!

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This picture is an iPhone picture from when they went to vote with me and got to vote as well (they had special kids ballots obviously their votes were not counted)! I wanted to Remeber this as 4 years ago they were t heir when I voted as well!

04/21/11
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Unanswered Prayers

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You have all heard that song with the line, sometimes we thank God for unanswered prayers, well I am today! In case you missed it Little Man and Little Princess did not get into the “dream” preschool. At first I was devastated, but then in less than a few hours, I found our real dream preschool. See I have wanted to home school for some time, I have taken quite a bit of flack for that from some but if you know me that will do nothing but push me more towards the goal of home schooling. The first “dream” preschool was a magnet school and the kids would have been there through high school with a prayer of any further children also attending that preschool. Looking back I am not sure what makes that school so great…I just thought it was.

The second dream school, it is a co-op school. Only for preschool ~ ages 3,4 and 5 (due to birthdates being late in the year). The parents are ALL hands on, the teachers are hands on (which visit a few preschools and you will see what I mean here), class size is only 10 kids at the moment if even and so much more. You have never heard of a co-op preschool? Neither had I, but the minute I saw co-op I thought this might be more my speed. I called the school and talked to one of the parents (co-op parents help out to keep costs low) and the director for well over an hour. I explained my situation and what I was looking for and received an invitation to come and attend class, bring the kids and my husband and see how it works! We made an appointment to talk and then stay for class as long as we like for today!

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So today I went to see what it was like, actually we all went. An even though we were late it was amazing! EXACTLY what we were looking for! Pros:

(1) I get to help with class as much as I like and if there is a time the kids need me there no one will say anything and I can stay with them ~ we discussed that I would not sign up for a shift for a few weeks (each family has to volunteer to help one class a month for our specific class ~ Aaron is just as excited about this as I am) and for the first week I will sit in the office where I can hear and kinda see but the kids cannot see me, if necessary I am then available BUT we are giving them an opportunity to get used to class without me before I start showing up and if necessary I am RIGHT there.

(2) The class is every afternoon Monday through Thursday and then every other Friday the whole school meets and you are welcome to join or not join in as you see fit.

(3) this is a child run preschool, no they are not running wild and free, but they are not required to sit and color for example for 40 minutes if that is not what they want to do. Today we painted, made a craft, played Connect 4 and Sequence for Kids, played in the sand box, played cars and animals and played in the make believe dr’s office (this changes every month so next month it could be a pizza parlor or a post office) this was all before circle time, when we sat and sang songs, read a book and learned about months and days of the week in english and spanish. We also had a recycling theme today so a story and then a lesson about what trash does to the water around us was in order. See the children are not required to sit and do anything, there were some on computers etc… I can say that while they were not required to they wanted to do all of the things the teacher had out and she made sure even my kids visited every station to play and learn! The parent helper was just like the teacher and he (yes it was a dad) had all the same values everyone else did! ANd postive reinforcement and as close to zero negative as possible, no is used but there is so much more acknowledging the positive than anything else!

(4) If we find it necessary for the kids to not go to kindergarten next year, they will not, they will stay here and keep learning and go to preschool next year instead of kindergarten. And the kids are taken at the level they are ~ so Little Man does not be made to feel bad since he cannot name all of his letters and Little Princess can still work on her reading and neither are made to feel like they are better or worse than anyone in the class! A plus for me as I want them to know that it is ok that they learn different and can be at different places in their learning. This was very important to me!

(5) The kids LOVED it. I actually was not in the room very much was getting a tour, seeing the 3s room, and talking to the other parents there and not once did I hear MAMA (but daddy was still in the room though since they were split up he was not with both of them). Little Man was sooooo upset when we had to leave, he had made some new friends and wanted to go outside and play with them but we needed to go (Little Princess would have had to sit it out and I didn’t want that.) Little Man is still talking about school and cannot wait to go back. Which we will do one more time after Little Princess is fully walking!

(6) Most of these families then go on to home school, well probably closer to half or at least they let the child make the decision (which is my plan…if they are set on school we will find one we like and enter them there)

There are a million other things I loved but those are the majors! I cannot believe I stumbled across this school! The cons are so similr to may other public schools (this is not a public school) but there are fundraisers and such (which I did expect) and the worst con is the location of the school but they stay safe and in our town the location they are in is really not HORRIBLE it could be a lot worse. Everyone who comes in contact with the kids has a TB test and is fingerprinted etc :) But I am so happy for unanswered prayers right now because if not for the unanswered prayer this would have never happened!

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04/4/11
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Preschool, maybe…

April 15th is supposed to be a bad day…you know tax day, when we all pay Uncle Sam or in some people’s case Uncle Sam has paid or will pay us. This year April 15th cannot get here fast enough for me that is the day they mail the acceptance letters to the dream preschool for the kids. We applied for both to attend, if they get in they will attend magnet school for all their school years. The school is everything we want in a school and well to get in your pretty much have to get in to preschool and go through that way, after preschool your chances of getting in fall to less than 10% per class as it is there are so many applicants that the chances of getting in are around 40%. They do have some chance of getting in but only because they are Asian and our town does have some what of an Asian population (the school tries to have the same make up as the city). And we have been told if one gets in the other does as well!

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(from before the break)

The part I am worried about comes after the acceptance (yes I am thinking positive….this would be a great opportunity for our kids). To be fully accepted they have to attend and get through a preschool screening. If I could video Little Princess she would pass with flying colors, she knows all of her colors, shapes, letters, some basic words (plus a few more difficult ones like oh say princess) and is just starting to write all of her letters! We have a pesky issue with her though, she HATES and I mean HATES strangers, she will not talk to them, refuses to acknowledge them period. Now that said once she is used to you and you are not a stranger any more she will show off everything, ask her nastics teacher who didn’t hear her speak for 8 weeks and just last week she wanted to go even in her cast just to say Hi as she missed her. Same goes for Mr. Dan (my best friend from law school) and Ms. Alison. I wish I could let her get to know the tester as I am sure she will do better then because I am pretty sure they will not allow me in with her and which at that point will cause a massive meltdown.

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Then we have Little Man ~ how I love that little boy, but he only tells you what he thinks you need to know OR repeats what you say to him. Really??? How am I supposed to have any clue what he knows or does not know? Other than going over some of his games on his Mobigo and realizing unless he is a VERY VERY VERY lucky little boy, he knows way more than he is letting on as he hates it when we help him with anything and he is way beyond the basic levels. If he will not tell us what he knows how the heck are we going to get him to tell some stranger? Everyone assures me boys are just further behind girls at this point and eventually they do catch up (even friends who would love to not say that). I think he is a little behind his sister as I am pretty sure he cannot read any words (unless he is hiding that as well) and I have never seen him write a letter unassisted. Unlike his sister he has always taken his time to learn things, she walked in 24 hours he took 6 months; she ran within hours of walking he didn’t run until he saw her do it and was like oh wait I might be able to do that too! I am pretty sure he is on his way but maybe it just is the boy genes in him.

So I am anxious to just get them accepted and get them through the screening and go from there… anyone have a funny story about when their kid was screened for preschool to make me feel better before then?