School Days

Did you go to preschool?  I don't think that I did, unless you count Snookies, my daycare.  Woody didn't either.  In fact, he didn't even go to kindergarten and yet he's still one of the brightest people I know.  Still, preschool is now all the rage.  Some kids go for a couple of years even!  Now, our little Hope LOVES the idea of school.  It all started when we used to sit outside and watch the school bus drop off our neighborhood children when she was little.  It was solidified when she got to visit Audubon Elementary to deliver donuts to the teachers with Papaw Woody and was shown a real live classroom.  That was just before she turned 2.  The wait for her turn to go to school has seemed endless.  Her October birthday further complicates things.  Hope will be one of those gals who starts kindergarten when she is almost 6.  We've still got 2 whole school years to watch longingly at yellow school buses and children with Dora backpacks.  Well, I decided "enough already!" We are doing school and we are doing it right in our home and we are doing it however we want!  It. is. so. fun!  Welcome to Delaware School.  I'm the teacher, Hope is the student and Will is the mascot.

I'll let you in on a little lesson we did.  I really like to read a storybook or even a nonfiction children's book and then do an activity.  Meet Leo Lionni.  He's an author whose books are tailor made for this method.  This book is Little Blue and Little Yellow.  It's about a blue paint spot and a yellow paint spot who are friends and hug and make a green paint spot.  It teaches how to mix colors.

So, we mixed colors.  We used a little blue and a little yellow and sent them out to play with a few little balls.  It makes green just as you would expect.

We also did a little yellow and a little red to make orange.  And let's not forget purple, our favorite color.  We made that one, too.  Here's what I learned about Hope in this experience: She learns by hearing better than doing.  If you quiz her on how to make colors, she remembers best the blue and yellow making green one.  That was what the book was about.  The others that she also got to mix she can remember also, but not as quickly.  Hmm... we'll further test our hypothesis about Hope as school goes on.  Stay tuned for adventures in Delaware School!