Preschool Days

Welp, it's official.
We have started the "school days" with our three year old.
Well, not really official.
Homeschooling is something that both Jonah and I have prayed over in our own family. We felt at this point in our lives it was the option for us. I had a great peace about doing it (since I'd be teacher at home) and I was excited too! It's always a sign that God is in it when He ushers in those two things. I knew that this is what we were going to do, but I didn't (and still don't) know how long. We will take it each year with prayer and see where God leads us.
For now though, since Oliver just turned three this summer, I felt it was time to start preschool with him.
I have been introducing him to some schooling since he was about 22 months old or so. I made some ABC flash cards for him (here) and did several activities from handy sites like these.
But now that he's a little older and has shown me signs of readiness I decided it'd be good to start something consistent with him. So after searching out options I considered a couple and finally decided to go with ABC Jesus Loves Me. The curriculum is free (always a plus) and comes with lots of additional ideas, aside from a weekly plan. You can do as little or as much as you like. A few things I liked about this particular curriculum, it's Bible based, it includes physical activities (for both gross and fine motor skills, both being preliminaries for writing) crafts, songs and verse memorization, amongst other things.
For us, it was a good fit. I am only in week 2, but so far so good!
I printed out the lesson plan for last week, and spent some time in the evenings thinking through what we would do each day. Any crafts or special activities I wanted to include I made sure I was somewhat prepared for. SO, last Monday we officially began our "first" day of preschool :)
I have to also say that I had been working with Oliver (loosely) to memorize Scripture, learn shapes, colors, numbers and even a little counting prior to our first day. Again, he showed interest in it all and I never pushed him to do it, but encouraged it when I saw his interest. He loves learning and was so excited to do new things with me. I think this showed me signs that he was ready for something consistent.
I had a few friends ask about me blogging our experience here and since I haven't picked up this blog in a while, and since I forget what happens day in and day out, I thought I would attempt our journey into these early homeschool years. Do I know what I'm doing here? Not really! God is good and helps me when I feel like I am stumbling through an unknown territory. He has given me the desire to do this and I am encouraged when I see Oliver light up with excitement over learning something new. I pray it continues to be this way as we make our way through the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, I also hope our documentation of this whole thing proves to be an encouragement to other moms that just don't think they can do the whole "teaching your own kids" thing. You are a mom to your own kids because God made it so. It's a blessing and He will equip you with what you need. Sometimes it just takes strength and faith to step out. Those first steps are always the hardest!