Sunday, March 19, 2017

"Involve me and I learn"

I can't believe we are almost done with the first year of homeschooling. Wow. Between working at BK and juggling homeschooling schedule, my day is incredibly full... and so as Frido's. I am pretty lucky if I get to bed by midnight and yes... I totally feel sleep deprived occasionally (especially in the late afternoon... and during kid's bedtime) But I am glad that we are making it happen through a process of trial and error.

Being on the east side of Los Angeles, we are finding that there are many kinds of homeschooling supports and groups and we are lucky to be in close knitted friends who also started their homeschooling journey as we did last year. I can't imagine our experience would be the same without them. We are at home learning few days a week and out and about on other days. Kids learn at home, on the road, during our field trips, with friends, and on their own... We took the concept of the weekend away from our family conversation because I work on Sundays and we consider Saturday and Sunday just another day to explore and learn. Sometimes our week feels too busy and chaotic and I take a note to myself to take few things off our plate in the next season. Other times I notice we can use more time with friends and a bigger circle of community and we seek out for the experience.

Few weeks ago, we took a learning field trip to The Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert with friends and it was magical. Kids got to really take in and experience the zoo and its environment in their own pace. They watched a cheetah catch a wild rabbit that happened to pop out of the ground when we were watching. We saw a warthog family come out of their barrel as morning got warmer. We found an empty patio/picnic table area right next to the camel exhibit and spread out to do some art while admiring how beautiful camels were. One of our highlight was to visit animal hospital on site and get a little tour from the main zoo veterinarian Kevin. The tour took about 30-40 minutes and kids were so focused, attentive and curious and it blew me away. After the tour, we spent the rest of the day at the zoo playground and they played with all their hearts in.

Every kid is different and they all have different ways of learning. I am seeing that our girls enjoy learning so much... especially if it's is mixed with play. They can focus on topics they are interested in as long as they have other time before and after to let loose and be kids. Satchi enjoys that she can choose to explore a topic as long as she is interested in and she is an integral part of how we decide the day/week/year to feel like for us.

Probably the most importantly... I am learning about Satchi and Coco so much through this experience and am reminded how wonderful they are as two growing human beings with big personalities and so much love to contribute to the world.