Home Schooling Island Style

And so, the homeschooling adventure begins! 

Yes, just 10 days ago, we were driving half an hour to our small, reasonably priced, developmentally appropriate, and supportive preschool where the girls (and parents) were very comfortable. But you can’t take it with you! Instead of spending an hour in the car and rushing like crazy to get there on time three days a week (this is preschool, after all), we flew to St. Thomas and moved back onto our sailboat where we operate almost entirely on a schedule that feels natural and right. 

 

Last year, our oldest went to a nice Montessori school nearby, and that was fine. While I liked the teacher and other students there, what I mostly enjoyed was going to the library every day after school with the girls and getting to meet other grown-ups. But between finances being tight and my own hypercriticism of schools in general, it seemed that homeschooling was the best option for right now. So far, I’m not regretting it.

Wednesday, our Montessori friend and her mommy met us at Latitude 18, our favorite local spot, for a ride on their swing set and some princess juice, which turned into a nice long lunch and hide-and-seek in the field. Thursday, we met up with other homeschoolers at Magen’s Bay beach and were really embraced and welcomed. After swimming and picnicking, the kids did a white elephant exchange where they will trade homemade or recycled items. We’re planning to make our new friend a name plaque from seashells or coral on driftwood. 

The girls really like the idea of Mommy being their teacher, so we had a semi-structured home-school session today. We learned about sorting (the laundry), which is easy to differentiate for the two girls, 3 and 5 years old. Next, while the older one reviewed the terms “plus, minus, and equals,” before tackling addition and subtraction problems, the younger one and I practiced accurately counting the stuffed animals. Then, I read to the younger, while the older filled in missing beginning letters of short words. I had to laugh when I learned why she wrote vird instead of bird next to the swooping bird picture. Not sounds she usually mixes up. “What is this picture of?” I asked her. “A vulture,” she replied. Who can argue with that? 

But back to the library. We have a fair number of children’s books onboard. It would save space to put them on an ereader, but I’m not trying to give them a lot of screen time. Besides, there’s something really special for children to be able to walk to a shelf, select a book, and hold it in their hands. Since she was about 2, we have routinely searched for Mariana onboard, only to find her sitting down below in the rear of the boat by herself, carefully paging through a book. Now at 3, she has been looking at the pictures and telling herself the story aloud, quoting the characters and whatnot. Very fun! But it’s nice to have variety in terms of reading material, and I (usually) like it when they can self-select. While I haven’t heard much positive news about the island’s actual public library, I have heard that there is a surplus of books being given away from Montessori, and I have now secured a space to keep them on land for all to share. So, while the school’s books are not yet a definite, another mom has already piped in to share her used books. Very exciting! I’ll have to post photos when it becomes a reality.