Joy school Days

I have been meaning to write this post for a while and have just now got to it. This last school year I decided to start a "Joy school" (precurser to preschool) with the kids Haken's age in the neighborhood. I was determined to give him a chance to interact with other kids, hoping this would give him an outlet of play time every week and me a break for an hour or two. I think it turned out to be a success on both regards.

We had a group of a bunch of boys and one girl (our cute Dani). They met once a week on Wednesdays from 9:30-11:00 AM and we switched off houses, taking turns doing the lesson. I don't know how much the kids really learned, or what they will remember about the last year, but I think they had a great time anyway. The best part about it was that it was FREE and I only had to teach every 6-8 weeks and even then the lessons were pretty low key (like 45 minutes, activity and all). Mostly the kids just wanted to play. Isn't that really what kids need at this age anyway?

Here are a few highlights from the past year (or at least what I was there for):

October

Our first field trip was in October (compliments of Mailee). We went to a pumpkin patch and farm just outside of Tremonton. The kids each got to pick their own pumpkin and we saw a few animals on the farm. We had string cheese and beef jerky as a snack as we looked and talked about the cows; I thought that was cleaver. Afterwards we went to a beautiful private park on the farm and had pumpkin cookies while we played. The kids loved it and the weather couldn't have been better.

I loved watching the kids pick out their very own special pumpkins. Of course we had to set a limit on how big they could be since they had to carry their own. The boys wanted the biggest ones they could find.

If one kid climbs the fence, they all have to. Typical.

Mailee feeding the kids like little birdies, squirting water into their mouths.

March

The next little field trip was in March, again compliments of Mailee (I think maybe she was the only one brave enough to take the kids out). I wasn't there, but my friend Shauna came along to see how the Joy School thing works for her son Kason next year and took some pictures for me. They learned about all the different parts of a bus and then got to ride around the block a few times. Haken was sooooo excited to finally get to ride a school bus after seeing them pass our house a million times. He asked me when he will get to ride one to school.....I'm afraid maybe never since we live like 100 yards from the elementary school. We'll see buddy...

Doing a puzzle together all about transportation

April

In April I had the preschool right before Easter at my house. It was a fun one to do. We read Easter stories, talked about the Easter bunny, made bunny ears and then had "bunny food" (vegetables). We also colored coffee filters shaped like eggs and made them tie-dye and had JELLO beans for a little treat. I think the bunny ears turned out to be a big hit. Haken had them on all day hiding eggs everywhere, pretending to be the Easter bunny.

May

May marked the end of the school year and our Joy School. We had a closing social on the 25th at Park Meadows. We had potluck treats and played a great game of tee ball (thanks to Elijah's cute grandma for bringing that!)

I love the snow boots he insisted on wearing that day. 3-yr-old's crack me up!

Elijah's grandma was so much fun. She could run circles around those 3-yr-olds! It wore me out just watching her.

Everyone was so great that participated in the Joy school! I am glad that it was a success. Now comes the real preschool class next year. I can't believe how this year flew by! My little boy is not so little anymore.