Juggling Cats

Oliver is slowly easing into kindergarten. He's only four, but I'm following the same plan I used for Aidan, skipping preschool entirely and doing two years of kindergarten. Most preschool curriculums are designed for kids going to some sort of group school, public or private, and the emphasis is on tying your own shoes, buttoning your own coat, standing in line, raising your hand when you want to talk, etc. etc. Really, it's all about making life easier for the kindergarten teachers of the world, which is very useful if you're going that route but of no use for our family. Hence, we spread kindergarten out over two years.

I slip subjects in one at a time (both with Aidan and now with Oliver). This serves two purposes: it's such a gradual process there is very little rebellion (I can't imagine going from 0 hours school one day to 3 or more the next), and it gives me time to adjust my own schedule. When Aidan started kindergarten, Oliver was a baby, so I had to fit Aidan's school in around naps and feeding times. Now I have to fit Oliver's school time around Aidan's school time.

So, juggling cats.

Oliver only does phonics and math. He has a preschool workbook from Target that has other activities, but that's mostly for fun. 10 minutes of phonics, 10 minutes of math. Sounds easy, right? Well, the minute I start Oliver school, Aidan immediately forgets everything he ever knew and is incapable of finishing his task without my help. I re-explain the concept to Aidan while Oliver shouts, "What about the number five! What about the number five!" (The things Oliver shouts about don't necessarily need to have a corrollary in the real world. He just likes to shout). I turn back to Oliver to resume discussion of the number five, but Aidan needs me to explain the concept he's working on one more time.

And so on and so on.

And there are homeschoolers with ten or more kids! I don't know how they do it.

On the upside, Oliver has mastered all the short vowels sounds and is moving on to consonants now. His phonics program is all rhymes: "A is the first vowel that we say, /a/ is the short vowel sound of A." So guess what's on the permanent loop in my head?