As I wrote about Hannah's graduation, I realized that I never mentioned Ben's preschool graduation, which happened last month. I cannot believe that all three of my kids are now old enough for some sort of school - preschool, kindergarten, and first grade! Of course, they have all been learning and "doing school" with me for a long time. Their ages just make it more official.The preschool graduation was held at a local church. I have always loved that this preschool teaches faith as much as it teaches academics. The kids memorize sight words and learn letter sounds, but they also memorize Bible verses each month as well.
Before the ceremony, all of the kids prayed together on stage with their teacher.
Each child had a turn to display something he or she had learned that year. Some kids said Bible verses, and other kids said the sight words. Because Ben reads so well, he read a Thomas book aloud for everyone, accurately pronouncing words like "miserable."
I am very proud of how he has matured as a reader this year, reading Magic Tree House books as voraciously as Hannah once did.In spite of his academic skills, however, he remains all boy - full of mischief and wiggles. About halfway through the program, he discovered that he could pull his graduation cap down over his face, and he amused himself with that new skill for quite a while.
As part of the program, each of the kids received a different award, along with their graduation certificates.
Ben, of course, became obsessed with removing the CD from the book he won, and spent the remaining half of the program concentrating on that task.
This year, the graduation had an extra touch of sadness, since the teacher will not continue teaching next year. Hannah and Ben each attended the school for two years, so we have grown to love her and the school very much. As I mentioned before, Ben was all boy and definitely kept his teacher on her toes, but she had a soft place in her heart for him. At the end of the program, Ben read a poem for his teacher, as a way of saying goodbye and thanking her for her love for the students.
Ben loved his teacher very much and will miss her a lot next year. She always loved him and worked well with him, in spite of his occasional ornery attitude and his more-than-occasional wiggles.
My two big kids, preschool graduate and kindergarten graduate...
I am so proud of them, and I look forward to seeing them grow into bright, confident, and godly adults someday. But, they can stay small for a while longer, if that is ok...
4 comments:
i love the pictures in this post! Your kids are a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! My husband and I have gone back and forth on homeschooling since we had our daughter. She is *very* active, and some days I feel like she would learn better with that constant one-on-one attention from me than in a school with 20-25 other children.
Thanks! It was a tough decision for us, but I think it will work well. My older daughter is a very independent learner, and my son fidgets so much that I think he would get in trouble in school a lot despite his intelligence. I think the one-on-one attention will benefit both of them this school year, allowing them to learn more than they might in a class with other kids who don't know letter sounds, while they are reading well already.
We are into development of children and homeschooling has always been a fascinating subject for us.
In India, the concept has just started picking up with few parents dissatisfied with the current education system, opting for homeschooling.
Though there is one question which has plagued us all this while.
Isn't it difficult to keep the motivation level same through out the homeschooling period?
Also wanted your views on the impact of home-schooling on children social behavior.
Thank you for your comment.
I do not yet have enough experience to know how motivation continues throughout the home schooling experience. I imagine that there will be days when I, as their teacher, will struggle with motivation, and there will be days when my kids will not want to work. At the same time, there are days when school teachers lack motivation to teach and days when kids hate to go to school. I believe that the issue of continued motivation exists in both school and home settings. However, at home, parents may have a wider variety of options to address the lack of motivation - spontaneous field trips, projects that cater to the student's interests, creative instruction that an ordinary classroom teacher may not be able to attempt with a large number of students in her class.
As far as social behavior goes, homeschooling actually has a positive effect, when done properly. Students can take part in various activities, giving them a chance to interact with and serve beside people of a variety of ages. School students remain in classes with only their peers, learning unhealthy methods of interacting, often experiencing bullying and tremendous peer pressure to make wrong choices. Many studies have shown that homeschooled students excel, not only academically, but also socially, above their public schooled peers.
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