Preschool?

Asher missed the school deadline this next year by 2 weeks. My little guy really wants to go to preschool because many of his friends attend and I seriously considered enrolling him in one of the excellent local programs. Here were some of the pro's and con's when we considered what to do:

Pro's

Asher would enjoy a 3 day a week excellent program

Asher could enjoy playing with other kids his age

Asher would develop additional social skills

He'd learn some classroom responsibilities

I'd have 3 hours "off" from Asher care

Con's

I'd miss Asher (he's a great kid!)

Asher would learn more responsibility at home

Jacqueline would miss her brother terribly

It would be easy to focus on the new baby instead of helping Jacqueline develop as well

I'd be driving back and for to the preschool 3 times a week (it's 15 minutes away)

I wouldn't be able to understand where he is coming when books are read and information is taught

Educate two children for the less then the price of one in a formal preschool

More personal teaching and learning by interest

After contemplating and praying about what to do for several days, Rob and I decided to create a home "preschool" program that will benefit Asher and Jacqueline. If Asher were my only concern then I'd place him in preschool but I need to consider all the kids and my sanity.

I've spent part of the past few weeks developing simple lesson plans that we will complete once a week, along with science projects, motor skill development, reading, etc. I've already started taking a more active roll in teaching the kids about specific subjects, here's an example:

Ice

We watched videos about ice caves and ice sculptures. On bath night I had the kids play with ice cubes in the bathtub and we talked about how heat melts ice. Later we put salt on ice cubes with food coloring (to show results better) and talked about how salt affects ice. In a moment of inspiration I had the idea of freezing a plastic container full of water overnight and the next day we made an ice cave with running hot tap water. We painted the bottom of it brown to show that sometimes dirt gets mixed up with the water.

Asher's mini ninja figure played in the ice cave.

 Other Activities

We talked about snow and made salt snowflake pictures

Jacqueline surprised me and is already learning to cut. I steady her hand and tell her to open and close the scissors and she does so.

Jacqueline's turtles. Her first cutting activity.

We are going to have a lot of fun together!