School

So we've pulled Analee from school as an experiment.  (Anika wrote to the acting superintendent today telling her of this fact.)  We've had a lot of fun, but I fear we waited too long.  Babe's attitude has changed, and not all for the better.  I fear my little girl is a lot like her mom; change isn't easy for her. 

When Analee went to nursery, she loved it, but came home with some pretty weird ideas of how the world works.  Like she figured if she beat up on her brothers, she'd get what she wanted.  After all, it worked for some of the kids in her nursery class, so why wouldn't it work at home?

Apparently the squeaky wheel gets the grease in public school, too.  Analee figures if she pitches a big enough fit over something, we'll change plans.  She's mistaken, and learning it the hard way.

Alternatively, the silent wheel in the public school system appears forgotten.  Analee figures that if she doesn't want to do something, all she has to do is fly under the radar and we'll let things pass.  She's mistaken again.

Despite sickness and us being newbies to this whole teaching thing, we've had a lot of fun learning.  Every night, we ask Analee what she wants to learn about the next day.  Then we focus on that and offshoots of that plan for our lesson.  For example, on Monday, she wanted to learn about ballet.  So we watched a documentary on Russian ballet, and a quick how-to on how ballet shoes are made.  Then we spent a lot of the rest of the day dancing around.  Today, it was cats.  Not house cats, but lions, tigers, and leopards.  So we watched a documentary, again.  Then we played "big cats" and rolled around biting each other's necks, as big cats can.  You see, big cats don't put all of their pressure on the prey's neck; instead, they put just enough to cause death by cutting off blood supply.

Tonight, we asked her what she wanted to learn tomorrow.  "Dogs, Dickens, and ducks."

Wait, what?

Dickens?

Did our 5-year-old ask for Dickens?

Sweet!

So we'll watch Disney's "Mickey's Christmas Carol," which has dogs, Dickens, and ducks all in one film. 

I'm amped.

When we move (to wherever we're moving) in a month (-ish), we'll probably re-enroll her in public school.  Until then, we're having a blast.  I love it!