Round up of the last year

Well here we are again after another long absence. We'll finally nearing the end of the alphabet, just a few more to go. To be honest I'm whizzing through the last ones as she knows them pretty well, I just like to finish what I start. I may go back to I and L as she's a little hazing on differentiating the two but otherwise is more of an act of ticking them off the list.

Mischief is learning so much all the time it astounds me. I never had any contact with kids before having one of my own and their development fascinates me. I never thought I'd find this aspect of being a parent so amazing and rewarding.

On Christmas Eve Mischief's daddy said to me 'I thought we'd decided we were homeschooling' this took me rather by surprise as I didn't know we had made a decision. And esp as he was the one resisting it and he's the one that's taken the impetus to make the decision. So the Christmas break was filled with thoughts on how that would look going forward.

In the new year, to make space for the Christmas and Birthday presents we had a toy cull and boxed up everything that is now to young, no longer used or close ended. We are left with four main 'activites'  a few smaller bits and heaps of puzzles. She has a massive trunk in her room, which we can now shut and have additional space in, and we rotate out a marble run (biggest hit of Christmas), farm set, train set and Lego (another great hit).

This has led to much more focussed play and we can see her problem solving, concentration and coordination coming on leaps and bounds. I truly believe less is more and rotating in this way means she enjoys the toys that are out rather than floating from one thing to another. This has also had the benefit of improving her imagination as she is now making up stories for the people on the train or in the Lego houses. 

One of the things I made for Mischief has been a felt solar system, inspired by Counting Coconuts. I gave this to Mischief for Christmas and she loves exploring it while we read about the solar system.

She decided to do this in my bedroom while i was getting dressed a week or so ago. I told her the order of the planets and she found the right one and laid them all out. Then she matched up the pic on the three part cards and then matched the words. She did it all by herself and I was so impressed.

Finally, she has just started classes at the local gymnastics club. I've been wanting to do this for so long but been putting it off to fit in with daddy's treatment but the time came we just had to do it. The local homeschool group does classes there and I thought it'd be a great way to meet other families locally, esp as her friends are going to preschool more now. She's still a little young for the homeschool group but I hope she can move up in a few months. She's already earned her first badge after just three sessions! Proud mummy and daddy.

Well, there is tons more I have missed over the year but I think that's enough for now.