Gearing Up: We're Five!

In Texas, kids don't have to be "in school" until they're aged 6; but most parents opt to put their kiddo-schmiddos into kindergarten at 5.

Five is Big Time. It's official. Five isn't daycare anymore; it's Almost Mandatory. It's getting there.

And K-S turned five last week.

Here in extreme South Texas, "birthday party" is synonymous with "pinata." What kid doesn't love a pinata? The whacking, the gleeful destruction, the sweet treats! And the cool thing about homeschooling--at least, at this age--is that just about everything a kid wants, you can teach the kid how to make. Instant curriculum.

Take pinatas, for instance.

We got a ton of mileage out of making a pinata: blowing up a balloon, covering it with two layers of newspaper strips dipped in flour-and-water paste (add just a spoonful or so of salt to discourage molding), and then decorating it... Much more satisfying than buying one off the shelf, and more educational, too. (I had to dip waaaay back into my science background to remember why flour-and-water turns into concrete, while adding a bit of yeast to the mixture results in soft, chewy bread.)

We had serious fun making cupcakes, too: measuring and stirring and baking and decorating. Stuff that used to be ho-hum everyday, but that nowadays is apparently "curriculum." (I've read accounts recently of a couple of local alternative schools that make cooking part of their official studies.)

Sure, kids are learning math and science and art by pursuing everyday arts-and-crafts--but the more important lesson they're learning is that they can act on the world by realizing their own visions. K-S doesn't have to content herself with choosing one of the TV-inspired pinatas or grocery-store cakes on offer; instead, she's free to imagine whatever she likes--and know that there's a step-by-step way to bring her imagined treats into being.

Home arts won't make up the bulk of our homeschool activities as K-S grows older, but they'll always have a place in our day-to-day instruction.