We're Preschooling!

I get the "is Poodle going to preschool this year" question quite often, as she is turning four next month. The problem is that she is turning four after that magical Sep. 1 date which precludes her from joining the other 4 year olds. So, that means that she'd need to join a 3 YO program. And, we've chosen not to enroll her thusly because that will be too tight on the budget, especially since it's not absolutely necessary.

InSTEAD - we're going to "homeschool" this year! Well - pseudo homeschool. Four year olds don't need all day structure. They need a lot of free play and a lot of imagination time, and the learning stuff can be snuck in when they aren't paying attention.

However, it makes some folks feel better to hear that we're "homeschooling", and that Poodle isn't going to be "just" sitting at home playing with Mommy.

We're even going to be involved with one of the local homeschool groups that a lot of the families from our church belong to, so that Poodle can see her buddies more often. Do some cool stuff. Field trips and the like. We won't try to do too many things, because we're just not "go and do all the time" kind of people right now. But we'll pick the stuff that she'll enjoy. One of her swimming class buddies will be in the group, too!

Now, I'm sure saying all that has raised some questions. So, let me answer them:

1) No, this doesn't mean that we are officially homeschooling forever and ever, amen. We will probably "hs" again next year, assuming things go well this year. But when it's time for her to start 5 yo kindergarten, (which won't be for 2 more years, as weird as that sounds), we'll seriously evaluate everything. Make decisions then. Year by year - as long as the kids are getting what they need. Not saying we will - not saying we won't. Just taking things year by year.

2) No, we're not about to buy a goat and start making all of our own clothes out of hemp. Okay, we've JOKED about a goat so that Jmk doesn't have to cut the grass in the backyard. But then we'd have to deal with the whole neighborhood covenant violation thing.....

3) Yes, I do think about homeschooling "for real", but we live in a fantastic public school district, so we are blessed with a lot of options with schooling. I like the idea of a private school quality education without the private school cost, but homeschooling isn't for everyone - and I don't know if it's for me and my family or not.

4) No, I really enjoyed school, personally. Good experiences and most excellent teachers.

5) Yes, I agree. Technically, any parent who keeps their young child at home is homeschooling. Even if they don't give it a specific label.

6) Nope. Not using any type of curriculum. The stuff we need to learn to color inside the lines can be obtained from the dollar store. And magnet boards are fantastic for practicing letters. Again, she's only 3-almost-4.

7) Yes - she's still our little social butterfly. I have no intention of changing that about her! Okay, maybe we can curtail her tendency to go up and hug complete strangers (who happen to be in the 3-5 year old range) in the mall.

8) So why call it homeschooling? Mostly so that everyone understands when I can't always answer the phone right away, or it takes me awhile to answer an email. If we're going to introduce some structure to Poodle, then Mommy has to be willing to focus on creating said structure.

So...... there we are. All of y'all out there who have kids near Poodle's age, puh-leeze feel free to keep me posted with what they're doing or did at their preschools. I may not be trying to structurize (like that word? just made it up.) her entire day, but I do want to be sure that she's getting all she needs. Being all she can be. And all that.

Happy New School Year to everyone!