Thoughts about Schooling

Here in the Chi, the rule is that your kid has to be 5 before they can start kindergarten.  Specifically, they must be 5 by September 1st of the year they would begin their formal schooling.  This represents a bit of a problem for us, since the Munch's birthday is September 8th...She's already starting to figure out reading (she now recognizes the word 'God'--her first official sight word!  And she differentiates it from other words that start with 'G'.), she can count past 20 without help, and she's already so TALL.  Plus most of her friends will be able to start kindergarten next year...It's hardly fair to hold her back until she's nearly 6 just because CPS has such stringent rules.  Most of her friends will be starting preschool in the fall (if they haven't already), including my nanny boy Superman.  But there's little point in even putting her into a preschool since, again, they would go by birthdate...and she prettymuch already knows everything they'd be teaching her (I should know, having spent 4 1/2 years teaching that age!). 

So the plan is to skip around those rules by homeschooling, from Pre-K through at least Kindergarten, if not first grade.  We'll see how long it has to go.  I've started poking my nose around at some curricula and friends who've homeschooled, and of course I have plenty of my own experiences to draw from!

But I thought it would be interesting to see what she had to think about it, so I asked her what she would like to learn if we did school, and I recorded her answers dutifully (she got after me if I didn't write something down!).  In order, this is what she gave me:

Books! (then a little later she amended and said reading books)

Writing

Balls outside

Music (when asked for specifics, she said kazoo, trumpet, and singing)

Suck on straws

Blow bubbles

How to take showers (By now her eyes were roving around the room trying to see what else she could come up with)

Dance (specifically arabesques--yes, she knows what they are, of course!)

When I asked her if she wanted to learn about more numbers or to count higher, she gave me a resounding 'NOPE!'  Well...I guess she comes by that honestly. ;)  I actually find this list very informative...I wasn't sure what I would get when I asked her this, but she gave me a perfect insight into the type of person she is and is becoming--she loves words, and she loves music.  Ok then, I need a curriculum that sings! :)