Sorry, Guinea Pig!

Well, we successfully completed our first week of homeschool last week. Ironically, it didn't go according to plan one bit, yet everyone came out smiling!

Our first day was Tuesday, since Labor Day was Monday and we spent it with daddy. On Tuesday we woke early, excited about our first day of Tuesday School with WACHE, the co-op we joined. Complete with backpack and lunchbox, my sweet girl was giddy with excitement. She was enrolled in three classes--Making Christmas Gifts (her choice!), Fun with Numbers, and Choir. The day went well, and all the co-op classes I saw seemed really organized and fun(all moms are required to volunteer in other classes). Ivy enjoyed her classes, but I saw the look of joy in her eyes when she would spot me across the halls. And honestly, she looked so tiny to me compared to all the 5-6 year olds in her classes.

Then, on the way home, it hit me.....she is 3-years-old, and I will blink and tomorrow she will be 18. This is the dilemma of having a gifted child--just because she can do the work and fit into a class with people 2 years older than her, does that mean that is where she should be?? God spoke to me right there on the freeway and said "This is a year for just the two of you. Cherish it. Cherish her. There will be plenty of years for classes outside the home. This year is a gift." So I told her right there on the way home that even though we had a great experience today, I thought that God was telling me that we should stay home and just do school together this year. Amazingly, she agreed. Then later she said it was "because she can eat and drink whenever she wants." Ha ha-- still 3 years old when you get down to it!

So the rest of the week was spent at home experimenting with the workbox system and timing, etc. We learned quickly that it was MUCH easier to do school when Lindy was asleep. We learned that Ivy wanted more boxes each day when we finished school at 10:30am one day (which I thought she would be thrilled with) and she came to me at 1:00pm and begged for more school!! We learned that reading lessons were accomplished much more easily together at a table (less distractions).

And best of all, we learned that we love to learn together....just the two of us.