Good-bye, Pre-k!

The “official” 2014-15 school year is over, so our first year of homeschooling has come to a close! Although we’re continuing on a year-round basis for what works for us, especially with a baby coming next month, we’re still going to be sticking with the grade labels on the public school side. Therefore, J has now graduated to Kindergarten!

This pre-K year was a big risk for us; it was basically us deciding if this was the lifestyle that we wanted and could handle. It went far better than we expected, and we’ve been far happier being outside the school schedule than when we were in it for J’s preschool years! There are definitely days when I would be glad to be rid of them, but it’s usually G that I’d prefer to ship off for the day than the older one! Overall, it’s been a great year. I’m really looking forward to the year ahead. Being in Kindergarten doesn’t really change much around the house, but it does open a lot of opportunities for him around the city. I’m certain we’re going to get more clicked in to our local homeschool community than we already are, and we’re all excited about that.

Taking a look at what our Yearly Goals for this past year, it’s exciting to see how far we’ve come.

My goals: I’m certain that patience will forever be at the top of my list, but I don’t think I did TOO terribly with it this year. My biggest struggle was organization and staying in a routine that works for all of us, but we have managed to find something that works right now. I’d like to think that the majority of the issue was the pregnancy, so we’ll see what happens next year. J has requested more routine, and I think we’ve figured out a way to make it work for both (all) of us. Again, this pregnancy forced me to stay in the present much more than I likely would have if it hadn’t forced me to slow down/stop altogether. I can for sure get caught up in planning, but I wasn’t really allowed to do so this past year since I had so many set-backs!

J’s Goals:

• learn to read at a basic level- check!
• read a clock/tell time –check!
• ride his bike without training wheels – we haven’t really worked on this at all, so it moves to a summer goal!
• write both uppercase and lowercase letters with ease, as well as numbers 0-9- he has his mix ups every now and then, but I’d still say that he has reached this goal, as well
• continue to work on sharing (especially with G) and other similar virtues – he’s pretty good at this, I will say. It will, however, forever be on his goals list most likely!
• tie his shoes on his own -haven’t worked on this at all. His feet are still small enough for velcro, so we haven’t had to deal with this yet
• regulate his impulses and activity level – a constant progress for J
• to find new interests and passions and build upon current ones– I’d say he found a passion in dinosaurs, so check!

G’s Goals:

• recognize all the letters in the alphabet and numbers 0-9 – check!
• work on small motor skills in preparation for writing- check! He’s even writing some of the easier letters
• continue to increase vocabulary – check!
• find interests of his own apart from what J is interested in – He’s definitely become more independent this past year, but I feel like this will always be a struggle for both of them since they’re so close. He, however, is not as into dinosaurs as J is!