Beginnings

This blog is, essentially, an accountability measure to help me stay on track with afterschooling my daughter. We have been afterschooling her since she was born, as I imagine most parents have, but I wanted to take on the task more seriously. I was inspired to start the blog by another mom's Suzuki/homeschooling blog, Nurtured by Love.

Many of JillyBoo's Christmas presents were purchased in anticipation of the launch of my afterschooling initiative. For example, she received Quoridor for Kids, Mummy's Treasure game, sewing and knitting kits, art supplies and fun non-fiction books for kids. Also, I started to purge her old toddler toys, while organizing the remaining toys more meaningfully. After the presents were opened, and the tree was cleared, I was able to set up an afterschooling area.

Below is a picture of her "desk," including storage for writing materials, paper, pencils, workbooks, Hot Dots pen and phonics cards, colored pencils, a new pencil sharpener and glue/tape.

This was the already existing afterschool area, which is now set up in a more functional way, and includes more educational games, labeled and sorted baskets of books (for social studies, science, phonics readers and magazines).

I'm finding that while it should be inexpensive and easy to afterschool, you really do have to either hit Craigslist and garage sales/thrift stores religiously, or you have to just dig in and spend some money. I haven't lived in an area with a decent Craigslist...well, ever, and while our thrift stores are pretty good, I don't have the time to visit frequently enough to make much of an impact.

To help myself stay motivated and to prioritize my purchases, I've assembled a list of wants, which I will try to purchase 1 per month over the next few months.

Some of my wants include:

Digital Blue Microscope

National Geographic Globe

Earlybird Math Set for Kindergartners by Singapore Math

Some sort of preserved butterfly samples would be great, and prepared slides for the microscope.

I have a feeling this list will grow as she pushes me to find new experiments and directions.

Last night, in a burst of excitement for my new project, I ordered Vol. 1 of the Story of the World series, and the Theory Time primer book to support her music education. I realize that, at some point, I'll have to read The Well-Trained Mind, but I'm putting it off in effort to try and pace myself!

Later this week, I'll add some samples of JillyBoo's work and some examples of activities we're working on.