Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Little Scholars!

The boys started preschool today!

I was really hoping we'd get into Head Start since it meets Monday through Friday (not to mention they are fed breakfast and lunch!) which would have been great to get them ready for starting kindergarten a year early (if we so decided to go that route). But they said we made too much...GASP! I know right?! They obviously don't take into consideration that we have three kids of the same age. Sure we could send one kid to a good preschool, but three? No way!

I was not without a plan B though. After doing some research I found some more affordable options and while I liked the idea of a co-op preschool, I didn't love the idea of having to, well, cooperate (or volunteer on a regular basis). So I decided on the preschool at our local community center which meets a couple times a week for a couple of hours.We got the last three open spots, whew! We applied for a scholarship and I was thinking that we may just have to home school full time if we didn't get any financial assistance. But what do you know, we got it! We still pay but only about half what we would have had to, yay!

It works out pretty good because it gives me a break, well really just time to run errands or say, go to the dentist on a more regular basis. And I'll still have plenty of time with them at home. My goal is to be more structured this year on days we don't have preschool. I want to have planned learning activities in reading/writing and math (and of course we will be doing all our learning in Spanish). I would love for them to start reading sometime soon (really just being able to sound out words) and to be able to do simple addition and subtraction problems. Can we do it? I don't know, but we'll sure give it a good try! They have a good basis for it since they know all their letters upper and lower and the sounds that are associated with them. And numbers seem to come easily to them so I'm very hopeful : )

So back to our first day, they loved it and had zero separation anxiety! It helps that they went to nursery school and that they have each other because other kids weren't fairing so well. Their class is made up of 12 three and four year olds. So the boys make up 1/4th of the class and the funny thing is that there is only one girl in their class. In any given order the class is structured with: learning station time (free choice) where the kids can learn though exploring the different stations set up in class, circle time where they discus new themes through stories, songs and discussion, snack time, arts & crafts, physical activities, and story time. Preschool will be great for them (as much as it is for me too) because it'll get them out of the house more frequently and learning new things under a more structured environment. They are more than ready for it!

ETC all ready for school!
The teacher appreciated that the boys are color coordinated but asked that I put name tags on them until she can learn which color goes with which boy : )
Back pack contents include: water bottle and a spare change of clothes
They wasted no time at getting their education and found a station that interested them : )
When I picked them up they were getting a scratch and sniff sticker before going home
Can you find their names?
(each line indicates a preschool class, so there are four that meet in this classroom)
playing in the park outside after class
This was before preschool orientation night last week
Our latest Costco finds! Life gets expensive when you have three boys that wear the same size (no hand me downs from siblings!) so I was more than happy to not only find a great deal on winter jackets but also in three different colors and in the right colors! This is a total parents of multiples problem, ha!

1 comment:

nan cee said...

Very hard to believe that they will soon be 4! They grow up so fast. Looks like they are ready and looking forward to class! I am happy for you that they were able to get enrolled in the pre-school. Great for them and for YOU!
Love you all,
A.Nancy