Saturday School

November 29, 2008

Sorry so delayed; it's been slipping my mind. In this session, we covered fruits and veggies and took the class on the road again to our local Whole Foods Market. Princess P was so cute with her little cat ears on! She's got real style!

Saturday School: The Park (Field Trip)

November 8, 2008

Two Saturdays ago while papa was busy working, Princess P and I decided to take our Saturday school outdoors! It was a beautiful fall day and we just couldn’t resist the calling of the outdoors.

First, please excuse my photography; I only had my trusty cell phone camera available.

Ok…now on with the lesson!

Luckily, we don’t live too far from the train that takes us directly downtown. After a brisk walk, we made it to the station and purchased our tickets that you see P holding.



Silently we enjoyed the short ride through our medical center. Paris spent most of our ride peering through the window.

Finally reaching our destination, we stared at the dusty road ahead to the park.

Lessons of nature were easily inspired from our surroundings. Princess P hugs a tree as she describes the colors she knows and examines the texture.


Next, she feels the difference between the texture of grass and gravel; she also pays attention to the colors.

Under the leaves of a big tree, we studied the differences in contrast of brightness and temperature between light and shade.

First shade, then light.

A break to play!

Interesting enough, some of the toddler playground equipment had shapes built into it. This was really neat to discover. So, let’s review our shapes!

Another tool I used to review her numbers 1-10 was the hopscotch pattern cemented in the pavement.

I would call out a number and Princess P would have to go and stand on that number. It was a really fun review for her!

Now, off to the animals. I had to have something to pry her away from the playground, so what’s better than feeding the ducks?!? As a bonus, there were otters there too! Princess kept calling them rats…too cute!

Before our grand departure, I couldn’t resist taking Princess P on a ride on the newly remodeled toy train. It gives a tour of the entire park (which is huge) and is a great way too cool down after all of that walking! They also conveniently advertise train whistles at the ticket booth… had to get one! I guess the lesson here could be imitating sounds; this sound: the choo-choo train. Whew, whew!!!

We’re getting ready to enter a tunnel. This really helped me build on our previous lesson of light/shade.

Then, our ride took us across the bridge over the beautiful lake. How pretty!


Freemommie and Princess P had so much fun learning!

The Transition

I've been through many transitions recently, first with motherhood, than marriage, going natural, and now homeschooling. Each one has been eventful to say the least, but nothing less than a sure blessing from God above. I've matured so much and learned a great deal about who I was and who I am to become. When I first examined my notion of homeschooling, I believed this would prove to be one of the most challenging because of it's degree of commitment, but than I realize how much everything I do is a commitment. Unfortunately, I like many in society, did not view my marriage as much of a commitment as it was a hassle. Yet, God has done some major construction on my prospective and thankfully so because now I understand that commitment is just as much of a sacrifice as God intended for it to be. It is only my reasonable service anyway, that is, to love my husband unconditionally as God has shown that same love for me.

With my new understanding and corrected vision, I now can go into this homeschooling transition whole-heatedly knowing that sacrifice is only part of the commitment. I've also recently learned the power of a commitment and what that means (Matthew 5:33-37). In knowing all this, I've decided to wean us onto the homeschooling project. I will start with Saturday school. Right now I work full time and attend classes in the evenings, M-F. I know....it's really hectic, but I want to get it done while Paris is a toddler and before we have any new additions.

So, since Sat. is our only day where we have absolutely no pre-planned obligations, I'm going to take advantage of that day to experiment on what works for Paris in the academic arena. We've already been engaging her in studies for the longest; the girl is SHARP! She just turned two in late June and can already identify her colors, numbers 1-10, shapes, many nouns (animals, foods, people, places, etc.) and loves to sing, draw, and dance! Her speech is so clear and reasoning so advanced that I'm often floored. Nonetheless, our teaching segments have been unorganized and occasional. I want to start to establish some structure. So starting this Sat. (Oct. 25th), I am going to experiment with timing, attention grabbers, subjects, etc. and see what tends to get the ball rolling for her. I want to try and figure out exactly what type of learner she is and accommodate her as best as I can.

I haven't set an agenda yet, but I'm working on one...a loose one. Bid me favor in my endeavours as we begin our journey towards homeschooling!