Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Teaching preschoolers about St. Patrick's Day...of course...G-Rated, is fun and can be exciting!

First, we talked about shamrocks, rainbows, and pots of gold. Then I introduced them to leprechauns! I told them that leprechauns like to create mischief around the house and that they hide a pot of gold at the end of rainbows!

We did some coloring pages and learned the order of the rainbow colors. Then, to make it all sink in, we made rainbow cupcakes with fluffy white clouds on top!

Even Dear Hubby got in on the action!

Play Date Round DEUX

Alright, so this morning, Turbo and Tank went with me to a play date. The idea is to have SweetPea, a spirited 3-1/2 year old girl, and Turbo to get to know each other in hope that a homeschooling co-op of some sort emerges.

Whew! When both mommies are OCD and both kids are NOT! it is a recipe for ticks to begin to develop and nerves to be shot. Overall, it was a great morning. Mommy and I got to talk and chat. Tank slept through EVERYTHING, which by some degree is a blessing, especially if you know Turbo and SweetPea.

The morning started out as the two chillin's playing dinosaurs. Yeah...ROAR to you too! Next up, jumping on the bed. OH! and while you're at it, throw every stuffed animal on the floor. Next up! CLOTHES! "Mommy, you need to come and look at this huge mess we made!" cries SweetPea! Please note, that before both mommies said, try not to make a huge mess...only a medium-sized mess, please. Well...I guess you can say that our chillin's definitely have learned sizes: Small, Medium, Large...however our children are advanced as they made an Extra Large mess. Top that you private school mommies! ;)

Well, the morning wouldn't be complete until Turbo climbed too high. High enough where he couldn't get down and sent SweetPea for help! Oi! Well, we just asked them to shut the door and play. All the while our OCD capacity was shattering the ceiling!

The next thing we know, things are quiet, and we notice that both kids are quiet. RED FLAG, anyone? We realized that they are in mommy's room and we cautiously walk in hoping that they haven't...well...use your imagination! SweetPea and her mommy live on the second story of an apartment building. Wouldn't you know it, Turbo has enough strength to open the window and "suddenly the screen fell out!" So our kids are on their hands and knees looking out an open, un-screened window, I'm sure contemplating the height, velocity and angles as to how far and fast they would fall should they happen to jump out! Well, Physics class was completed for the day! SHEESH!

After that, we lost all hope of having a medium sized mess, and just hoped that the next size up wouldn't be gigantic! Little did we know, that they thought the same thing and realized that there wasn't anymore room in SweetPea's room to play, so they decided to take EVERYTHING on the floor in her room and pile it up in the hallway blocking the doorway! Class dismissed: Problem Solving mastered!

Alright! The morning ended with Physical Education as lunch was served and the furniture served as a jungle gym...I'm sure it is a shocker to everyone that Turbo lead the way on this one! Not to mention Roxy the cat, served as the Energizer Bunny...she kept going and going and going...AWAY from our dear, precious Turbo and SweetPea.

The morning ended with smiles, toy pick up, which by the way both children can count to 30, which is the amount of toys they each had to pick up in a 30 count time limit! I forgot to mention that they played with oversized balls. Which consisted of tummy slides and "gerbiling"...which is ankle biter talk for "dribbling". We will work on PRONUNCIATION later in the year.

Overall, I think this homeschooling will go pretty well! We mastered many subjects in a short amount of time. At this rate our precious little lambs will be geniuses attending Ivy League schools by the age of 9.

....Pray for us....

School:ReTHunk -- Day 1:

My son, who is 4, aka "Turbo", is in preschool, and a pretty good preschool I might add. He loves it there, and I love him there. In fact, I dread holidays and time off from school, just because he is home with me. His brother, "Tank", is 3 months old, and I cherish those mornings with him when Turbo is at school.

Turbo is exactly what his name implies. He doesn't stop, nor does he waste any time doing things that moms wants him to do. So why is it that I am attempting to homeschool? Simply put: 1) I have a Master Degree in Education - I am paying for a college degree that I am not "technically using" at the moment being a SAHM. 2) I am paying another teacher, who might I add, has a degree to teach. She is getting paid to teach, by a teacher who can teach! YIKES! But most of all, I really feel that my DH and I had kids to raise them ourselves, and not someone else; education included.

So this marks the start of Homeschool. Granted, I have no clue what I am doing, much less have any advice to offer anyone. But...nonetheless...Turbo's first day of Homeschool will be February 22nd. The first official Monday he is home. I figured that I would document my "ReTHunk-edness" so that when his brother, Tank, is old enough, I will have conquered the Homeschooling Frontier already, and won't have to bat an eye when it comes his turn. (Sarcasm at its best).

Well, Day 1 didn't turn out to be the greatest...at all! I had a friend over for coffee in hopes to collaborate with her on how we can homeschool together. Create a beautiful, peaceful, enticing and inviting Co-Op that our beloved angels will absorb like sponges all kinds of information. WHEW! What a disaster that turned out to be. Not only did we have HORRID mornings with our children, that when we finally did get together, 45 minutes later than the said start time, I had an unexpected trip to the Social Security Adminsitration! This was a Friday, mind you, right about lunch time and there was not a second to lose! Distracted by this daunting task of going, my friend and I juggled a HUNGRY 3-month-old, aka Tank, a bossy, but sweet 3-1/2-year-old, and a Turbo-charged 4-year-old. Needless to say, they are no longer allowed to play together in a playgroup that was especially designed for THEM!!!!!! Oye...this is going to be a long school year!