"I've got some big shoes to fill!"
A math lesson at the library
A present from Emmy at the park
Making carrot juice for the first time!
"Did you start kindergarten this year?" Emmy shakes her head no. "First grade?" Emmy shakes her head no again. Confused looks abound. "What do we do, Emmy?" I ask. "Homeschool!" she says. All sorts of reactions follow. "Don't you do first grade curriculum, though?" one friend asks me. "Oh, that's great! So you get to pick your own grade!" a bishop comments. "Oh....." says another friend and quickly changes the subject.
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE asks my child about school. If dogs could talk, they would ask her, too! I guess it's the thing most people ask all children. At first she was really shy, but she's starting to get the hang of it. I told her that if people ask if she's in first grade, she can simply say "yes" if she wants to. Then if they have more questions, they can ask me.
Actually, Emily is in what A Thomas Jefferson Education calls "Core Phase". So are my other two, in fact. What is Core Phase?
"This consists of the lessons of good/bad, right/wrong, true false and is accomplished through work/play. The acquisition of 'scholarly' skills is not as important as these lessons during this phase. A child who plays at and practices learning throughout the Core phase will approach skills acquisition at the self-appropriate time and pace with relish and self-confidence as her aptitude increases and the meaning of the tasks gains context through her experiences. Home is the ideal venue for the Core Phase, and "homeschool" in the Core is a product of the structure and flow of family life." -A Thomas Jefferson Education pg 32
Put into my own words: In Core Phase we learn what is right and wrong, good and bad, true and false. We work together, we play together, we read together, we learn together. We don't have a set curriculum. We pick and choose from different "curricula" but they are second to the all-important, essential lessons of the core. Our family life and structure and our personal examples teach more than any textbook at this crucial beginning stage of life.
"In proper sequence, first comes the knowledge of God and his program, which is the way to eternal life, and then comes the knowledge of the secular things, which is also very important...
Mortality is the time to learn first of God and the gospel and to perform the ordinances. After our feet are set firmly on the path to eternal life we can amass more knowledge of the secular things..." -Elder L. Tom Perry
"Secular knowledge, important as it may be, can never save a soul nor open the celestial kingdom nor create a world nor make a man a god, but it can be most helpful to that man who, placing first things first, has found the way to eternal life and who can now bring into play all knowledge to be his tool and servant."- President Spencer W. Kimball
Here's to a fun and enjoyable year together!
