Pinterest has been one of my favorite apps, but sometimes to my disservice.
My favorite thing to do was to find activities that I could make and do for the kids, and I started collecting so many things.
And then I would make boards for food, parties, business ideas, backyard renovations (are half of those real anymore? The one where they bury a bus and build a whole structure inside? But do I still watch them because they’re fascinating and really cool?… Probably. Yes), Christmas ideas, all holiday ideas, clothes, crafts for myself, and the list goes on.
But the thing was that I would create all these boards, pin so many things to them, and then never actually go through with them or make anything.
However, when I saw all the crafts and activities for kids, I wanted that for my daughter, as she lay there trying to reach the dangling toys on her play mat, not even able to roll over yet.
I wanted her not just to sit in a classroom at school, but to learn, explore, and discover. When number two came along, the vision was still strong.
Then came number three and a move, not just to a different apartment (which we had done 3 times already since my oldest was born) but to a whole new state.
It was hard, and I lost some of that drive for homeschooling while trying to raise the three kids and my husband working full time, and how would I do it (I did use some of the Pinterest ideas though, pat on the back to myself!) with all three at home.
When I was pregnant with number four, I searched for and found a really good charter school. I really liked their teaching philosophy, and, most importantly, the kindergarten teacher was amazing.
The way they structured their classes, the student limits, and how they met the children where they were was all important to me.
It wasn’t the perfect homeschool I wanted, but it was a good choice for where I was and what I could personally handle. My daughter did so well, and the next year my son was there too.
In the back of my mind was still the nagging feeling that I wanted them to not just be sitting in a classroom, but to be exploring and learning through play, not focusing so much on academics.
Now my oldest is going into fifth grade. She has some great friends that she’s met, and she has been blessed with amazing teachers and has loved every one of them. However, the school goes until 8th grade, and then you have to go somewhere else for high school.
Many of her friends are leaving in sixth grade, and she told me she doesn’t know if she wants to go there beyond sixth grade (this was at the beginning of last year, when she was entering fourth).
So my mind went into full gear trying to figure out where she could go and what was the best school for her, and worrying like a mom does that she would be the new girl (I went to two different elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools… so maybe projecting some of my childhood and feelings onto her, ha) and if she would be able to make friends (which she’s amazing at that and is much more like her dad than me!).
I didn’t find one that hit all of those things, and I still haven’t yet (even though, yes, I’m still looking!).
So I decided that I would build my own school that focuses on becoming rather than doing.
I’ve created that as my core philosophy.
I have the structure of the school, the week, the day.
I know how it will all work, and what I want the focus to be.
I have the plans, am working on the curriculum, and am actually turning it into something real.
It’s still two years away, but I’m planning for it now, so that when my daughter is ready, this school will be ready for her. I’ll be documenting the whole process here… the research, decisions, ideas, random rants, all of it.