Preschool

One of the main things I wanted to accomplish while I was in Korea, was to establish some sort of preschool experience for Claire. She thrives in a teacher/ student setting, and LOVES to be around her peers. I had heard of other friends doing a joy school a couple of times a week for a couple hours, taking turns in the different homes. I thought this sounded like an awesome idea as it would provide Claire with a preschool experience where I was a more active participant than just sending her to preschool. I love my time with her, and don't feel ready to send her out of the house every day for school yet. She'll have enough years of that. Plus, I wasn't sure what would be available in Korea.

Claire's first day of preschool.

At first, I researched joy school, but never having any experience with that program, and seeing how expensive the program and lesson plans are to buy, I decided against that option. Through a friend, I found this website. Though at first I was hoping for actual lesson plans, I realized that this website was the perfect resource to help me start up my own preschool. It gave me enough ideas and resources but also allowed flexibility for our own needs and ideas. It wasn't hard to find three other moms at church who were also looking for a preschool for their children. So, to make a long story short, after many hours of researching, planning and preparation, and finding the most awesome moms and kids to join in that I could ask for, we have our own little preschool twice a week for two hours each day. We have three 3 year olds, and a 4 year old in the class. There is a year and a half difference between the oldest and the youngest, but they do well helping each other. The kids are learning numbers and letters as well as set topics each class like manners, germs, bodies, weather, seasons, geography/ maps, reptiles and mammals, and much more! We are now six weeks in, and it's going GREAT! I love providing this experience for Claire, and feel extremely blessed to be working with such awesome, dedicated moms.

I was the first to teach, which was a bit scary, but a lot of fun. It is amazing how fast two hours goes. It also amazes me how many hours of preparation go into activities that go by in 10 minutes! Thank goodness for so many wonderful, free, online resources, but it still takes a ton of time. On the weeks that I teach, though very busy with lots of preparation, it is so fun and rewarding to teach the kids. On the weeks when someone else teaches, I either enjoy talking with the other moms, or I enjoy some quiet time at home while Maddie takes a nap. Ahhh, quiet. I don't get much of that during the day now that Claire is outgrowing her nap.

The 4 awesome kids on the 1st day of preschool. The letter of the day was A so they had animal crackers and apples to eat at snack time.

They made animal paper bag puppets as well that day. :)

It has been a while since I have taken charge over something and really made it happen. I was proud of myself for figuring out exactly what I wanted, and doing the research, organization and delegation to get it done. It gave me confidence and a lot of satisfaction. All the kids really look forward to preschool every week too, which makes me so happy!

We talked about Christopher Columbus that day so they were "coloring" boats by gluing on pieces of paper to fill up the picture.

Their finished products.

Claire with her rainbow craft she made the day they talked about rainbows.