preschool

Aiden started preschool. He loves learning and books and art projects and being around other kids (which is exactly what preschool is) so he's gonna love it.

 He was so excited to finally wear his backpack that he got back in April too.  He is so proud to be a big kid.  He keeps asking if the bus is gonna come pick him up too - but sadly there's no bus.  :(

Aiden's preschool isn't the "typical" preschool - some friends and I are doing our own "Mommy's Preschool" (same idea as Joy School, but not Joy School).  The other moms and I divided up the topics we want to teach and we each take turns. All of the kids still have two years before kindergarten so we wanted the topics to be more fun and not too academic (because the kids will get plenty of that soon enough).  So we have a field trip or two planned for each month and we are teaching topics like - all about me, space, weather, occupations, different cultures, community helpers, etc.  It's perfect for the first year of preschool.  I'll probably sign him up for a more academic preschool next year to prep him for kindergarten, but for now, this works great for us.

Aiden's not the only one excited about preschool - I am super excited too.  My siblings and I all did something like Joy School when we were growing up and I always knew I wanted to do it for my kids too.  Some different reasons I like are because

- the other moms each have ideas and strengths I don't have so Aiden will learn so much more than I could teach him alone

- I'll be able to see how Aiden interacts and learns with the other kids

- Aiden will learn to love learning which is the most important thing for a preschooler to learn

- Aiden has a solid thirteen years of schooling ahead of him (before college) so I want to spend as much time with him as possible so I'm glad he's only gone 3 hours a week

- but twice a week for an hour and a half, I get a little time to just hang out with Brennan

- it's cheaper than paying for another preschool 

- it gives Aiden a feeling of being a "big kid" without throwing him into something too structured 

- plus, before I switched majors I was an El Ed major so teaching is right up my alley - I can hardly wait until the month I teach so I can use my creativity :)

We're so excited for the upcoming year!  Aiden's been asking every day if its "preschool day" yet so he's happy it's finally here!  My month to teach is October so I've been looking and thinking up some fun activities for fall and Halloween.  So if anyone has some good ideas for those topics, send them my way!