New Play Area - Odaiba/Venus Fort

On Wednesday some friends picked us up in a car (aw, a car:) and took us to a mall nearby with a new play area that opened this summer. The kids had a ball and since it is new, all of the toys were clean and very nice. Miss M said her favorite part was the magic mirros, you know those carnival mirros that make you look really short and fat! She loved those and the kids probably spent 15 minutes laughing at themselves in front of them. Another highlight was driving some fun little cars but the K Man got frustrated as he was too short and had a hard time pedaling. He enjoyed the train table, when he could have it to himself, and the large tunnel slide. If you are in the area, I highly suggest checking it out. There is a small hamburger joint nearby where we grabbed a quick lunch and our friends brought us home. 

On Monday this week, we started our homeschool program for kindergarden. The planning and decisions for curriculum have been hard for me, as I have not wanted to be too easy on Miss M, and at the same time I have not wanted to push her too hard. I want to find the balance of giving her a love for learning and creating an environment where she thrives, and at the same time I want to give her as much time to play as she can as I know each year with school gets more demanding. I have had lots of phone dates with friends both in Tokyo and the US who homeschool and am thankful for their input. I finally feel like I have my bearings and we started this week on Monday. No, I did not take a first day of school picture and then post it on facebook. Maybe I should have, but I did not. We are slowly easing into the entire curriculum, so this week we have been doing our read alouds (books we read out loud together every day) and our math lesson. We also read together each night before bed, and I have saved our Bible reading for that time along with a few other books the kids choose. The hardest part is simply teaching her to sit and focus, so often we do the reading stories while eating breakfast. Then while I clean up breakfast she gets a break to play and after that we do math. Some days we have activities to get to for the K Man or Japanese lessons, so Miss M will have to get it all done in one sitting, but on the days we don't, then I am happy to let her play in between different subjects. Next week we will add our handwriting curriculum. On week 3, we will add our reading/phonics program where she is learning how to read. We will do that for two full weeks with all of the basics, and if I see we have time for more or she would like more, I have a science program I can do with her. I am thinking of doing 2-3 lessons of this a week because she is really interested in science matters on her own and I think she would enjoy it. She does like knowing that once she finishes her school work, she is free for the rest of the day. I was impressed today when I asked her to do a practice math sheet for writing the number 1, she quickly did it without complaining even though it was later in the day. Four days down, and we have made it! Each day will bring new trials and lessons, but I do actually look forward to it more than I thought I would.