Hey guys,

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This is a longer post than usual, so please bear with me.
I mentioned this many times: sharing stories and moments from our lives is not just for the others, the audience, the ones who read it. Blogging and writing is also medicine for the soul, for the one who's writing. When I put my thoughts together on here, I feel somehow better. I also love the idea of reading these lines years later. It's like a diary and it's meaningful. 💗

The last month of June until today included, was a really stresful period of time with lot of things happening, some good and some bad too.
I've experienced a wide range of emotions, to say so, and I'm not even sure if I'm back to my inner peace, for many reasons.
Good thing is that we're all ok and thats what comforts me. The rest will be solved in some way, some day.

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Now, one thing I've been stressed about was that I had to choose or better say, decide what comes next with my son's education and which way we're going to: kindergarden or homeschooling.
Honestly, I don't know exactly what we'll be doing next year, like 2023-2024 school year round, BUT I know what we do this summer. (I'll tell you about it in a sec) and also I'll tell you about what else have we done lately.

Let's start by saying that last year I took Caleb to kindergarden. More precisely, that is since last July until end of April this year. He didnt get to "graduate" his first school year because there were some health issues we had to consider and we decided to end it in April. Thats all.
Also dont imagine he went every day. I think that...if I put all weeks together, he maybe went a total of 4-5 months max out of 10.

The kindergarden Caleb went is one of the top in our city. Shortly,it has it all. However, both me and my husband felt we dont belong there. I dont know if that's because the kindergarden itself or its about us and our lifestyle, our way of thinking and our principles.

My son is already soo sooo smart at four and a half and he knows so many things the majority of kids at this age dont know. For example, he already knows how to read and actually, he started to read in English too. He writes full words and sentences all by himself, he knows Math, Science, Geography, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Human Body, you name it. I don't bragg about it dont get me wrong, its just the truth.

And this first thing right here, it makes me think that, other than social interactions and social skills in general, these are the only thing he'll get from kindergarden. I dont want to sound all too dramatic, but I've seen what they do in kindergarden. Ok, they play, they have games, they have fun with all the kids and do activities that one kid alone can't and they're happy together. But in the end, the main objective of a kindergarden is to help kids get ready for school: Math, counting and numbers, letters and reading, writting. And my son, at 4.5 old, he knows all these things. And its just the beginning. So why not keeping him at home for at least one year more, having endless moments together? I can teach him all things he learns there, even more than that.

And also I'm thinking that there will be two more years in total for him, learning the things he already knows. And I'm so frustrated about it because I dont know what to do. I feel guilty thinking he would have been happy going to kindergarden, but I also feel its not going to benefit him to the fullest.
I know they have fun, they do games and all these educational activities, but somehow its not enough...am I wrong? I dont know what I'm looking for. And I'm feeling so sad and stressed out for not being sure what to do in the future....please help me out, mammas.

Because of all these things mentioned above, I decided to not enroll him to kindergarden next fall. I still have this upcoming year where I get to decide what to choose: kindergarden or homeschooling,because in Romania the kids must follow, mandatory, the first school class: called Clasa 0. Its like a preliminary class to Class 1, usually starting around 6 yrs old.
As parents, by law, you have to send your kids to school. You know that. Is just that school, these days, its not what I want for Caleb.

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I'm considering to take him to severall activities next year, so we can compensate social interactions, fun with other kids and also benefits him. I'm looking for activities right for his little brain, for his cognitive growth.
I am still taking care of him and his education, his needs. We still work together and do games, worksheets, activities, learning things every day. In the end, I graduated University of Pedagogy,I know some things. And I can learn some more...

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So this is the plan. As a conclusion, we refuse kindergarden this year and embrace homeshooling + some extra activities in the city like chess and other kids clubs.

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When I say Homeschooling, its not the formal version. At least, not just yet. I didnt have time and energy to look around and do my massive research, but I've started already. Maybe I'll figure it out this summer, if its not too late to enter a preschool program in fall.
The question is: do we really need a homeschool provider? Is there something I can't provide at this age? Legally and technically, I can proceed with home education without an accredited provider.

Also, I thought that having this one more year, it gives me time to decide, so I better do my research and be prepared the next one.
For now, I'll have a plan, a strucure of topics to teach Caleb, a curriculum for my son's age and I'll give all my best to implement it efficiently.
Its not the easiest here in Romania with homeschooling, but its not impossible either.

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Finally, these were all my thoughts and my concerns about this topic. I am still stressed out and I'm looking for solutions and answers everyday. All advices and your sincerely thoughts will be appreciated! 🤗

Now, if you're still with me, I have more to share!

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Wondering what else we've been up to lately? Here it is. 🔆

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We've been gone in vacation for two weeks, here in Romania, to the shores of the Black Sea. All the three of us. (me and husband have had others just us alone)...

This summer was a bit different and it started differently than I expected, so we ended up in Constanta for two weeks.
We dont have a real educational plan for this summer (other than some extra activities like chess and mental arithmetic classes), and I thought that travel and experience new things, learning from other environments than home works too. And it works great for us.

We'll be gone again for another three weeks. So, I expect enough outdoor time, learning and observing nature, lakes, mountains, caves, castles, the sea.

In this trip to Constanta, I took Caleb to Dolphinarium and a micro reservation too.

There were plenty of things to learn and see: animals, dolphins, birds in their environment, delta landscape, sea shells picking, crabs picking and observe, play in the sand, bath in the sea and more.

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Free play and learning through play time

This is how our days look like and Caleb always finds something to do and play with: puzzles, being the doctor for our cat (poor thing 🙀😿), building a sort of tetris, creating figures out of cardboards, outdoors time and play, cooking "hamburgers" out of emoji flashcards, creating words with our wooden letters, etc etc etc.

Worksheets

From time to time, I print this kind of worksheets.
Actually, these two on Math, that are a bit more complicated, are the first ones to give him resolve. I wanted to see how it goes.
It was amazing.

I thought I'll finish the dishes but Caleb was done before me. 😄

Cooking time together

Well, there's learning in everything kids do at this age. He wanted to help multiple times,so I let him, even though it took me longer. 🙀
But I noticed he is creative in the kitchen and actually he's good with measurements, using the scale, mixing or pouring liquids.

Reading time all year round

Reading books are included in our sleeping routine. I started to read books to Caleb at bed time since he was 8 months old...and we're still reading now at 4 and a half.
We're reading very often educational content, even at bed time. And only by doing this, we get new information.

Watching Tv

Watching Tv is a controversial topic.
When we're in vacation, and there are certain boring momemts for Caleb (for example when the adults are talkikg for hours and there's no much to do), I tend to be more permissive.
But I dont let him watch crap. I insist on watching good content.
For example I personally like Dr. Binocs or Story Bots. Also we have some reading books channels and a Romanian educatational channel where are multiple topics like: Earthquaqes, magnets, why to eat veggies, how tree grow, water, plants, animals etc.

Coloring

This is something I personally choose to do when our energy levels are really low.
We mostly do this together cause I enjoy it too.
Else, Caleb would be bored coloring alone. I noticed he's not too interested in this anymore, but if I color too, then its fine.
And yet, coloring has multiple benefits, so I embrace it in our routine.

Chess

Well, this activity is our main focus this summer.

Caleb learned how to play chess at the age of 4, well 2 months earlier.
Since then, we continued to play chess and he loves it.
Which is why, we decided to take him to a chess class. This is both for learning this logic game but also to have fun with other kids, being around kids.
He'll go once a week. For now he'll be going this summer but if things are working out, he'll go all year round.

This is one activity we chose instead of kindergarden. He'll get social interaction and put his brain at work too.

Mental arithmetic

This is another activity I'll take Caleb once a week.
He's the smallest in his class, the other kids has 6 yrs old, minimum.
They say they'll keep an eye on him, see if he adapts to the group.
We dont worry he wont face the cognitive part, there are other aspects he may not be ready for.

In case you wonder what this is,
the invaluable maths skill of doing calculations in your head, without the use of any tools, such as a calculator or pen and paper, or fingers!
The kids use an abacus or soroban, used in an ancient Japanese method.
I'll share some more if we'll continue this activity.
I like that Caleb will be around other kids anf do what he loves: calculations.
This Japanese method of using the abacus develops both brain emispheres.

This is an abacus, in the photo below.

On season activities

I'll be posting more on this one, for now I'll only share these photos.
We're coloring sea shells, painting them, counting them, learning about corals and more.

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All these activities mentioned above, I consider is not little for a kid. Learning is happening in our homeschool too, is just that at the moment, in this summer, I wont have an agenda.

We'll see where roads will take us.

Buttom line is that our main activities are Chess and Mental Arithmetic.
The rest will follow. *Playing, cooking together, reading and having long talks about things, visiting places, worksheets and coloring, experiments, I think we're good for now.

I'm trying to implement a routine from now on too, well maybe starting from September. We need it desperatly, the both of us. All kids need a routine. And sadly, I didnt manage to create one....our days, even months were...messed up.

I hope that, by the end of my post, you made yourself an idea about our plans, our routine and day by day activities we're trying to follow.
Our homeschool summer plans aren't fancy or many. I'll keep u updated.

Thank you all for reading.
🥰❤️