Friday, June 09, 2006

I felt like changing the name of my blog to something more expressive and distinct. In doing so, I thought I might give a brief overview of who we are and what we're about.

This is the diary of a family of 5 in New York City. We are A and B, married 13 years, and have 3 kids: K(12), J(9), and W(5). J went from Catholic school to public school, to gifted school, and now has been homeschooled for a year-and-a-half. W has done 2 years of preschool and will be a homeschooler as soon as school is out for the summer on June 28th. His preschools have been non-academic and I really just consider it a 2-hour playgroup. K is almost finished with 7th grade at a progressive middle school and has chosen to go back there next year as well.

J and W are unschoolers. We don't use a curriculum. They learn through living life and following their own interests. I am the facilitator, provider of resources and opportunities, and answerer of endless questions. Living in this city is a fantastic adventure and the learning opportunities are endless. We love being on the go, wanting to fully experience the city. At home the kids like science experiments, art projects, crafts, reading, writing stories and poems, dancing, putting on puppet shows, playing "store", creating their own websites, learning HTML, playing online games, sending emails and chatting with friends on IM, playing Monopoly or Battleship or cards, watching Animal Planet, scrapbooking, and even doing educational workbooks. Our favorite places to go are The American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Queens Museum of Art, Central Park, The New York Hall of Science, a nearby Japanese restaurant, walking around Greenwich Village and the South Street Seaport, local playgrounds, different libraries, and to lots of ethnic grocery stores.

J is in the Company at her dancing school and goes to 4-5 regional competitions each year and a National competition in the summer. Last year the group went to Orlando, and this year it will be in New England. She was chosen to be a member of a special performance dance team and will perform in various venues throughout the year. She also is a semi-finalist for Title at this year's Nationals. K and W take recreational dance classes at the same studio and both have decided it's something they love and want to stick with. K had tried everything from karate to gymnastics to healthy cooking classes over the years. W tried baseball this year, but tired of it after a couple of months, as he much prefered hip-hop dancing. The studio wants him to compete next season with his own solo.

B works in the advertising field on Park Avenue in Manhattan. I just got a part-time job (after being a SAHM for 12 years) working evenings and Saturdays and I love it!

That's us in a nutshell. Hope you all stick around and enjoy this adventure with us.

1 comment:

Mammal_Mama said...

I think I missed the post where you told about your job.