homeschool

you know me, i'm always up to something. well, these days i've started a new project that is more enjoyable & rewarding than anything i've endeavored before. homeschool. that's right. after weeks of researching preschools in the area & debating i finally decided to keep cooper at home this year (for 2 main reasons 1. all the preschools in the area are fulltime. i couldn't bare to have him gone 30 hours a week 2. the more time he is at school the less time he has to explore & enjoy the island 3. he has already completed 2 years of prek so it really isn't necessary). we have been trying out this homeschool thing for 2 weeks. we are doing prek/kindergarten lessons. so far he has made a lot of progress. and both coop & i love it. it's our quality time together. no brothers allowed. we spend about 45 minutes a day going over reading, writing, math, & lifeskills (that's the social worker in me). then we move on to the fun stuff. each week we focus on a different topic & each topic has something to do with hawaii. throughout the week we go on adventures (or fieldtrips as coop prefers to call them) that involve our topic. our first week we studied tropical fish. he went snorkeling at 3 different spots around the island & came across a variety of fish. the second week we studied volcanoes. we visited a dormant volcano & a extinct volcano & saw the cooled lava flow from the last eruption on maui. i am learning so much as i teach him. and most importantly, i am loving the one-on-one time with my big boy. he is such a delight & everyday he amazes me with the creative little things he thinks of. we try to fit school in 4-5 times a week. but he asks to do it everyday. this week he requested we study sugar cane & production. silly little guy.