Charlotte's first day of school: Pre-K

Charlotte, our big four year old started Pre-K two weeks ago & I am still recovering from that trip to West Palm Beach which is why it has taken so long to catch up on blog posts ; ) 

Here she is on the first day....

Charlotte & I went on a special night before the first day of school date to pick out a new dress & eat some ice cream....two things we both enjoy. She was so excited about her new dress that she was in it, at my bedside before 6am saying "is it time to go to school yet?" I wish I was raring to go at 6am! So, we rolled out of bed, enjoyed some breakfast  & headed out the door. It was actually kind of nice to not be rushed sue to our early morning wake up call. 

It is rare that I get a picture of both of these girls looking at the camera at the same time. I was taking a picture of Charlotte when Eloise insisted on joining her. Precious girls.  Charlotte looks so old to me.

And then of course Eloise wanted to pose by herself....

Oh, and I wanted a picture too with my big girl on her first day....

We are really excited about our decision to begin our homeschooling adventure this year! Since moving to Florida our family has been surrounded by multiple families who have chosen to homeschool & do it amazingly well in a variety of ways.  For this year, we decided on joining a community called Classical Conversations where Charlotte will be a part of a Pre-Kindergarten class once a week. One exciting part of Classical Conversations is that I get to go to class with Charlotte! 

Many have never heard of this so, to quote the website:
Classical Conversations is a leader in the home-centered education movement. It is a mission: To know God and to make Him known. It is a model: Classical Conversations combines the classical method of learning with a biblical worldview. It is a method: Classical Conversations families meet in communities where parents train parents to implement home-centered education well.

Everything about it sounded appealing to us as we explored our options. A once a week commitment outside the home sounded just right for our family at this time, connecting with other families that are doing the same thing is a major plus but what really blew me away was the method & content.  

The classical method of learning begins with the grammar stage where students learn the terms & facts associated with a subject.  Each week a new set of memory work is introduced by the tutor. The memory work covers six subjects: timeline/history, geography, math, science, Latin, and English grammar.  Anyone that has a child around this age could say they have been surprised by their ability to retain information.  They remember all sorts of things...even things that have zero significance.  This memory work includes things I don't even know or don't remember, specifically the history sentence for each week. When I sat in on a class in January while considering enrolling Charlotte I thought "Why on earth would my preschool aged child need to learn to label a world map or memorize historical events & dates or the eight parts of speech?" 

To address this question, my favorite way it was explained to me was something like this: Imagine your child's mind is full of file folders. This method provides a framework for information intake. They memorize facts & file them away. They don't have to understand details about each subject but once the fact is committed to memory, it is there & ready to be explored in more detail as they mature. 

I mentioned the six subjects we focus on for memory work but while we are there we also get to do a hands on science project & study fine arts which includes drawing, music theory & exposure to classical composers. At home we add in reading, phonics & math which at this point I am still figuring out how that looks for us. One part I am really excited about is the History Timeline. It is 161 events in chronological order that integrate world history with bible & church history. Each event has it's own laminated card with a picture to cue the brain : ) We learn 7 or 8 new events each week with hand motions & it goes along with a Timeline song that may sound a little hokey but WOW, we (the whole fam or at least those who speak) already has it stuck in our heads all the time & can be found singing parts of it randomly.

Back to Charlotte's first day. I mentioned that I get to go with Charlotte to her class which means there are three other children that need to be cared for.  There is a nursery provided for a small fee.  Due to a little miscommunication I arrived on the first day ready to drop off all three & was told that babies under one year old need to stay with the mom. Haha! Actually in that moment, there was no laughing, I almost burst into tears & told the lady that we would have to go home (and never come back).  They felt awful for not catching that I had twins in all the emails that went around. They were SO very kind & arranged some moms with older children to help me manage the boys. I had the Ergo so I kept one with me & traded off with those who love babies.  One mom told me that her son was 185 pounds now & it had been years since she cuddled a sweet baby boy : ) I can't even imagine little Owen weighing 185 pounds ha! 

So, once the childcare situation was squared away, I snuck into Charlotte's class to find her sitting quietly listening to her teacher. I was SO flustered & within the first hour I texted Rob telling him I had almost burst into tears multiple times & asked him to pray for me.

Charlotte's buddy Hannah is in her class. They both felt about the same & were a little stand offish as the rest of the kids jumped right into class. Charlotte even ran over to me more than a few times when she felt unsure of herself. 

Another part of our time in class each week is listening to each child do a presentation that they have prepared prior to class.  The goal of this is to get children comfortable with standing & presenting in front of their peers.  Charlotte was SO excited to practice her first one for the FIRST day of school & had it down pat. It went like this: "My name is Charlotte Valentine. I have sister named Eloise & twin baby brothers named Owen & Anson. I like to eat macaroni & cheese for dinner & pancakes for breakfast with syrup. My favorite sport is to play tennis with my dad." She had a little piece of paper we made together that had drawings that were reminders of what to say. She taught Eloise how to do the same presentation & we heard it over & over & over.

Charlotte listened to about 6 of the other 8 students in her class do their presentation first. A couple were comfortable, a few sat in their chairs & whispered into the tutor's ear. When it was her turn she told me she wasn't going to do it. Big surprise ; ) I grabbed her hand & we went up to the front together. I knelt down with Anson in the Ergo & wrapped my arm around Charlotte.  I asked her to tell everyone her name. She hid her face against my shoulder.  I basically did her presentation for her but I will give her credit for saying that the baby brother I was holding was named Anson. I felt the heat myself as an adult who is fairly confident in front of others so I understand how it made her so nervous! When she I finished her my presentation everyone clapped. Charlotte HATES when people draw attention to her with clapping (or singing "Happy Birthday"). Charlotte started crying & ran for the door. I thought we would step outside & talk for a moment.  Instead she took off running around the courtyard while I chased her. Again, I felt like crying & like I didn't know what to do. I caught her, calmed her down eventually & we re-entered.

Since I am so slow at updating the blog right now, we had our second day of school last week.  Her presentation went much better this time around! The tutor had her go last which I am thinking she thought would be helpful since Charlotte was so nervous the week before Instead it was pure torture for this little girl! She kept walking over to me & saying  "I'm not doing it!" after each person presented. There were still a couple kids that were as nervous as she was. When it was finally her turn, she got to share about a bible story & although I still knelt next to her, she did more talking & was really proud of herself.  We also asked everyone to hold the clapping which they so kindly did. Charlotte returned to her chair with a smile on her face after giving me a high five & a hug. It was really fun to see her feel like she accomplished something that she was terrified of.

I didn't get a picture of O & A but their lady friend, Miss Lilah Leigh, Hannah's sister got to spend the mornings with us too. She is 3 months younger than the boys but outweighs them both & is perfectly squishy.

I just love Charlotte for many reasons, one of those is that she is so different from me.  When I told Robby about her first day he said that nothing surprised him.  In new situations I am more chatty than ever while she is a quiet observer but really soaks in information even when you think she is not paying attention. She got much more comfortable when we started the fine arts portion & she got to do some drawing. We worked on some tracing & then followed the tutors' instruction on drawing a castle. Charlotte drew the very same castle about 50 times during the week following her first class. She was so cute (and so meticulous) about it & she only wanted to draw with a red marker since that is what she did at school!

Annie, Hannah's mommy is friend I love spending time with & am overjoyed to be doing this together. We exchanged some glances (and muffled laughing behind our hands) during the first day of class as we watched our barely four year olds jump into a class full of kids that seemed far more advanced due to the fact that most had an older sibling that had been in Classical Conversations before & had been exposed to the memory work.  The fact that younger siblings are pretty darn smart has been proven by Eloise & Lawson (Annie's two year old) who are like little parrots repeating the information they are hearing. The first week we learned a history sentence about Charlemagne. We say it & then we sing it to some strange little tune that ends up invading your mind for weeks. Eloise is constantly requesting to hear the "Charlotte's mane" song. She too can say half of the continents after a week of this. Hilarious & intriguing. Owen & Anson's first word will probably be Charlemagne ; ) So these other super smart kids, some of them were boys who had just turned five but were doing Pre-K instead of Kindergarten the there are others that are closer to five instead of just turning four. We are still working on writing Charlotte's name instead of drawing a world map from memory but I am guessing we will catch up by the end of the year. Even seeing all of the other kids write their names so quickly made Charlotte really interested in writing her name. Poor girl has triple the amount of letters than some kids ; ) She is getting the hang of it though!

Here is her pal Hannah yawning as she watched the tutor draw. This was a lot in the first day for the oldest child of each of our families that is used to spending time at home while younger siblings nap & even taking naps themselves.

The day following our first day at Classical Conversations was our first day of school at home. We started with reviewing the memory work & I was SHOCKED at how much Charlotte remembered. We sat down with our world map, rolled out seven little balls of play doh, one for each continent. She labeled them correctly with her flags that have the name & the shape of the continent in no time at all then proceeded to tell me the names of at least half with no prompting. She was super excited to practice what we had learned & do anything with dry erase markers ; ) Each weekday we practiced our memory work & worked on writing some letters....oh and we drew a million and one castles.  Our schedule was really not even a schedule. We just did 15 minute chunks here & there when others were occupied....the beauty of home schooling! I do plan to get into more of a routine this week though because I think it will be helpful for me, the woman who loves check lists. 

Approaching week two of school I was a little nervous to return since at the end of our first day there I was considering never coming back ; ) Charlotte was awake by 6am again, dressed in her cute little outfit & forced to lay in our bed until 6:30 when we let people act like they are awake.  My parents were in town so they came over to stay with the boys.  It was quite a bit easier to be there with just the big girls! 

Charlotte was delighted to be in her class & even smiled with Hannah!

The first time the tutor asked if anyone would like to volunteer to come up to the board & point at numbers while we practiced some skip counting Charlotte jumped up immediately & did what she asked. I was in shock. She was so comfortable & when nervous would glance at me & respond to a thumbs up instead of running to me (most of the time).  

Here she is at the board practicing drawing some shapes...

Here we are, two weeks in & looking forward to another fresh start for the week tomorrow then heading back to class later in the week! I have to add that I read through a Classical Conversations magazine a couple months ago & remember that a woman said that learning in this way alongside your child is like getting a new brain. I thought to myself in the postpartum fog "that is exactly what I need....a new brain!" Three cheers for a new brain for mommy & filling these young minds with information! Pre-K here we come!