Preschool

 Preschool starts on Tuesday! I have been thinking about starting an in home preschool for a long time and can't wait to see what its like. We had our preschool open house last Tuesday and it went so well.  We read the story the Kissing Hand, made a Kissing Hand craft and ate a special kissing hand snack.  (Handprint sugar cookie with a hershey kiss in it-- I was going to win those kids over!) I will have 4 kids including Lydia.  2 girls and 2 boys. My schedule is set, books are checked out, the classroom is set up, the outside space is set up, parents have paid, and my first 2 weeks are planned. Its been a long process and taken a lot of time (and money!) but I am excited to begin this new adventure. Lydia is super excited too.  After our open house last week she told me that she loved preschool! I reminded her that preschool is 3 hours not the 1we just spent together. I hope she does well with sharing our stuff with these preschool kids and realizing that she won't get to just play with whatever she wants when she wants. We will have lots of play time but we are going to do other stuff too. Each morning since Tuesday she has asked me if the day was a preschool one.  We have a chain counting down but she just wants it to start. I do too!  My preschool is fairly traditional with a little Montessori thrown in for good measure but really focuses more on social skills than academics. They are 3 years old, not getting ready for kindergarten. 3 of the 4 kids are the youngest in their family so all their sibling have gone off to school so I think it will be nice for them to have some other kids to play with and somewhere set to go. The oldest little boy will turn 4 in October and the youngest girl will not turn 4 till after preschool finishes. Again, I am excited to see what it is like to teach preschool!

Mark has been so helpful with all my little projects.  I have always "worked" since I have been staying at home but my other "jobs" didn't involve making things, or set up, or spending money to do it. I feel so fortunate that I got enough kids signed up to run preschool and that Mark has been so supportive of me.  Working from home has been a real testimony builder for me. I always planned on staying at home with my children while they were little and going to work outside of the home once they were older. It was what I wanted. When I got my patriarchal blessing when I was 16 there was a part that said I would have many opportunities to help provide for my family in and out of the home. I was so disappointed when I heard that. I didn't want to have to provide for my family. I wanted to marry someone who would have a job that paid enough.  I wanted to be secure financially without needing to work outside the home. When Mark and I began dating with both of us going into education I knew this part of my blessing would play out.  We really have been blessed with opportunities for me to work and be at home with Jared and Lydia.  I never make very much money. Its always just enough to cover what Mark's salary did not. We have had so many prayers answered and know that me being able to find jobs to allow me to stay at home was a direct result of us paying our tithing and the many prayers we said about finances.  We have always been able to take care of ourselves.  When we didn't think we would have enough money more always came.  It been a huge testimony builder and starting this preschool is one more example of it.

Here are some photos of our classroom. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Circle Time space (minus the TV it's  not really part of preschool) 

Reading Center. I love these bookshelves!  Bookshelves that have the covers facing out are my favorite. I was very happy with how my ABC banner turned out. I know I could have bought one but this one makes me happy. 

Literacy Center.  

That rainbow cart is full of fun things for it. I love how these pom-poms turned out. I had never made them before and I think they make the spot look nice and cheerful. 

View from circle time area.  Looking at Block Center first then Dramatic Play Center. 

Mark helped me make these 2 boards. One for hanging pictures or papers to take home and one to hag up backpacks and coats. I love them.  They make the space feel more professional to me. I also now have a little shelf under them for shoes.

View from stairs of whole space. 

Outside space.  I love that we have this whole deck to play on.  We have a water table I found at  garage sale this weekend.  A small slide, a chalkboard Mark and I made, (its under the lattice on the far side of the picture) and our sandbox, plus some big trucks, balls and a bubble machine. The sandbox is just around the corner of the house, behind the opening between the deck and lattice.  It would have been nice to have it on the deck but I also wanted deck space for when we are not having preschool. I plan on standing near the chalkboard so I can see the whole space. I would actually like to get a cute little bench for the area but kind of don't want spend more money....

I hope we all have a great experience.  There will be some rough moments I am sure and it will take some time to get used to it but I can't wait to try it out!