School is almost out....

These past few months, I’ve come to the realization that school is hard. I should know this; I have an accounting degree and spent many, many hours studying and learning tax laws, balance sheets, income statements and other accounting mojo.

But kindergarten homework is kicking my trash. The amount of stuff they want these kids to learn is overwhelming. What happened to playing freeze tag and slug bug (we just learned those games and our car rides will never be the same)? Secret handshakes and chasing boys at recess?

I feel like we are always practicing sight words, sounding out new words, practicing addition and playing some sort of number bingo. Even the movies we watch have something educational in it. We are starting to loose some of our “sit on the floor, get cozy with mom and I read to them” time. Though it makes me sad, it is apart of growing up.

 (This is our first day of Kindergarten)

I try to make games out of all this excessive school work. I try to be sneaky so they don’t realize they are learning. It is becoming “who we are as a family” – learning in everything we do.

We do this times 3. Even if we spend time before school, it is divided between 3 kids (plus the time we spend in the evenings). There just never seems to be enough time.

Of my three big kids, one requires a significant more amount of time then others. Not that this kid isn’t smart or intelligent, it just takes a little longer. Which results in more school and less play. Kids need to play, run, make believe, get dirty, and be loud (especially when they are 5).

I feel like all my free time is spent looking on the library’s website for new “first reader” books. Making copies of worksheets, making up my own worksheets, researching on the internet to find games to learn all this “stuff”.

But we are getting it! The light bulb is going off and it is becoming easier. It makes me a little sad that we only have one more week of school because I feel like we are ready to race. I just got a few new worksheet workbooks for the summer. I just hope it all sticks!