Never Say Never

Growing up, I swore I would never homeschool my children. And, although my sentiments are much the same, I am the first to admit... never. say. never.

A lot of people have asked if I'm nervous about moving to the Caribbean and the short answer is no; I am ecstatic! When else would we have ever had this opportunity!? Perhaps it is that I've already lived internationally, or that I'm not an overly anxious person, or even the fact that I'm secretly (or not-so-secretly) looking forward to a "break".

But, the one thing that has caused insecurities and nervousness is making sure Adi thrives in all areas, especially academically.
When we first made the decision to matriculate at St. George's, I started doing research about the various educational options for Adrielle. She had already been in a year of an academic-based preschool and if she had stayed for a second year would have read at a third-grade level going into Kindergarten. I was a little apprehensive about where to send her, and whether to enroll in Pre-K or Kindergarten, so I started to learn about options.

From what I found there were four viable (private-school) options:

Grenada Montessori, a private Montessori school with a school day from 8:00am to 3:30pm. It was the most expensive option at $250 US a month, and it had excellent pros including a Spanish-immersion program, individualized attention, and great math curriculum. Cons however included being less teacher-led, a long school ay for Pre-K/K and the fact that cursive was taught first.

Grace Lutheran, a private Lutheran school with a school day from 8:30am to 1:30pm. It was less expensive at $180 US a month, and also had great pros such an after-school program, a classroom setting, but it also had a long day as far as American standards go.

I was left a little hesitant so I kept looking.

Miss Pat's, was a great little option. It was a less-structured, private preschool that was cheaper and flexible, but not as academically rigorous as I hoped.

And finally, the GAP that I had heard so much about turned out to be the Grand Anse Playgroup; a nice daycare and play group for significant others and their children.

When all was said and done we were heavily considering Grace Lutheran; but something in the back of my mind kept nagging.

Finally I decided to call Mrs. Herrera, Adi's preschool teacher, to seek some advice. During our hour-long conversation, I felt very strongly about a thought that had crept in over the few weeks I had been researching, and decided that at least for this Pre-K/K year I was going to homeschool Adi. Mrs. Herrera said she would be happy to help in any way; she had homeschooled her own five children.
I immediately felt a mental burden lifted and felt confident and happy with our decision.

We decided if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right, so we invested in Brainquest flashcards and workbooks for Pre-K and Kindergarten, sight word flashcards, math workbooks, fake coins and clocks, Dover educational coloring books, maps, an iPad, Hooked on Phonics, an abcmouse.com year subscription, and a plethora of art supplies. I even threw in a small American flag. Overkill? Maybe, but considering I have to have everything I might need 4,000 miles away, I think I'm good.

Plus, the Grace Lutheran extracurricular activities are something in which others can participate, so Adi starts dance on October 1st.

So there you have it, I'm a [temporary] homeschooler.