Joy School Day 1
Today I hosted Joy School for the first time. Joy School is Avigail's preschool co-op: "Jump for Joy School." My friend who babysits her while I work got her into it when another little blondie moved away, since her son is already in it. The moms rotate, each taking a Tuesday and Thursday morning 8:30-11:30, one week out of six throughout the school year. They like Avigail so much that they finagled a way to let me join even though my work schedule interferes with joy school time -- have a summer session!
The nice thing about summer sessions is that attendance will be low and sporadic. This week I will recycle the whole lesson plan because only one kid besides my own will be attending -- conveniently these are the same two kids who opted out of the planned activity (making red, white, and blue paper chains). As a teacher who has recently been working with kindergarten and TK (Transitional Kindergarten -- a California thing, pre-K offered only to kids born September 1-December 1), I figured I would totally have control over this. But I do need to refine my plans and technique. I rearranged our toys into learning centers and aside from a brief time of songs and story, the kids mostly just had free-for-all playtime and I worked with them one-on-one to refine their scissor-using and name-tracing skills. (I was so pleased to discover that even though Avigail is the youngest in the group, she can trace her name like a BOSS.) The worst thing that happened was when we all ended up in my tiny backyard to play, Avigail climbed deep into the hallway closet and emerged with a fistful of Dum-Dum suckers that I had no idea were there, and she passed them out to all of us with careful attention to fairness. I see why the other moms like her. She really is a sweetheart. (We went to a birthday party last weekend and when Avi noticed the birthday boy pouting, she said, "Blake? Do you need a hug?" and chased him around trying to hug his blues away. She has so much love for everyone. It amazes me.)
I owe about three weeks of hosting time so far, and in theory I'll be hosting for a full six weeks this summer. So that makes it nice that the attendance will be low! Only four kids came over today out of the eight that could have come. We're also hoping to do lots of outings with the moms along (blueberry picking? fire station? post office tour? etc.), and overall the moms agree that summer is an a-okay time to be extra relaxed. So yay! :)
The three moms of these four kids all arrived right on time at 11:30. And I was grateful. They know it's chaos. They know.
I had somehow assumed that little William would go ahead and just play alongside the preschool crowd, but he spent most of the morning clinging to my side. Toward the end he really needed his nap and I really couldn't slip away to his room to nurse him to sleep like I usually do. :( I hope future times go better.
He had a fitful nap, and when he woke up he felt quite warm. During Joy School I'd thought he clung to me because he was overwhelmed by all the people (which may well have been the case), but maybe he also wasn't feeling well.
Tomorrow an occupational therapist is coming to do a gross motor & fine motor evaluation for him. He really only needs gross motor, but they cover all their bases, I suppose because comorbidity is so prevalent.
Oh. Did I mention that after the kids all left, I poured myself a glass of wine? It just felt right, and surely it was five o'clock somewhere. Hahaha. :)
The nice thing about summer sessions is that attendance will be low and sporadic. This week I will recycle the whole lesson plan because only one kid besides my own will be attending -- conveniently these are the same two kids who opted out of the planned activity (making red, white, and blue paper chains). As a teacher who has recently been working with kindergarten and TK (Transitional Kindergarten -- a California thing, pre-K offered only to kids born September 1-December 1), I figured I would totally have control over this. But I do need to refine my plans and technique. I rearranged our toys into learning centers and aside from a brief time of songs and story, the kids mostly just had free-for-all playtime and I worked with them one-on-one to refine their scissor-using and name-tracing skills. (I was so pleased to discover that even though Avigail is the youngest in the group, she can trace her name like a BOSS.) The worst thing that happened was when we all ended up in my tiny backyard to play, Avigail climbed deep into the hallway closet and emerged with a fistful of Dum-Dum suckers that I had no idea were there, and she passed them out to all of us with careful attention to fairness. I see why the other moms like her. She really is a sweetheart. (We went to a birthday party last weekend and when Avi noticed the birthday boy pouting, she said, "Blake? Do you need a hug?" and chased him around trying to hug his blues away. She has so much love for everyone. It amazes me.)
I owe about three weeks of hosting time so far, and in theory I'll be hosting for a full six weeks this summer. So that makes it nice that the attendance will be low! Only four kids came over today out of the eight that could have come. We're also hoping to do lots of outings with the moms along (blueberry picking? fire station? post office tour? etc.), and overall the moms agree that summer is an a-okay time to be extra relaxed. So yay! :)
The three moms of these four kids all arrived right on time at 11:30. And I was grateful. They know it's chaos. They know.
I had somehow assumed that little William would go ahead and just play alongside the preschool crowd, but he spent most of the morning clinging to my side. Toward the end he really needed his nap and I really couldn't slip away to his room to nurse him to sleep like I usually do. :( I hope future times go better.
He had a fitful nap, and when he woke up he felt quite warm. During Joy School I'd thought he clung to me because he was overwhelmed by all the people (which may well have been the case), but maybe he also wasn't feeling well.
Tomorrow an occupational therapist is coming to do a gross motor & fine motor evaluation for him. He really only needs gross motor, but they cover all their bases, I suppose because comorbidity is so prevalent.
Oh. Did I mention that after the kids all left, I poured myself a glass of wine? It just felt right, and surely it was five o'clock somewhere. Hahaha. :)