ANTS!!! The beginning of a project through one tiny six-legged idea

Springtime in the DC area signifies the arrival of ants: itty, bitty, creepy crawly ants. They are everywhere.  They are a perfect non-partisan pest as they creep into homes of every political persuasion within the beltway.

This ant invasion has been an opportunistic learning moment for Hannah.  In our adult minds , we as parents believe that a garden will be a wonderful learning opportunity for our children.  As my husband and I  put our new plants into new soil, Hannah found a hill.  A very tiny and special hill.  Her ant hill.  As our neighbor sat across the fence pulling weeds and planning her garden masterpiece, Hannah asserted her tiny voice in an effort to discuss her new found friends.  Thus began a conversation between child and neighbor that has since evolved into a project that she has continued to discuss with the same vigor over several weeks.

Throughout my career as an educator, I have heralded project based learning as being the quintessential method by which to engage young learners.  As I venture into a new role as educator of my children, this philosophy bleeds through. My daughter has provided such a opportunity for me to see my previous theories in action.  Ahh, I now feel first hand why Piaget studied his own children.

I have in turn shifted my focus of including my child in the cultivation of the plants that we have interred, to nurturing the idea that has sprouted from her discovery of that very important hill.  This tiny sprout has since bloomed into an idea that guides a great deal of the daily conversation.  So the project begins as Hannah hones in on what she needs to help her expand her knowledge of ants.  We are ready to map our starting point and begin our journey.

As we begin to wander and to wonder

How does one begin a blog? To be honest, this is not a platform of social interaction of which I am a fan. I am a fairly private person, yet I have a firm belief in community. I think a quick departure from my comfort zone is best: deep breath, hands above head, legs outstretched, breaking through the surface...

I have spent this past year trying to figure out the myriad space that exists within the preschool mind when combined with the mother/child dynamic and have surprisingly (or perhaps this is not so great an epiphany) decided that my preschool-age child will learn best at home. Phweeew, I said it. Amidst the social pressures to put ones child in school as quickly as possible, I have stopped engaging in the creative verbal dance that ensues as people, when hearing of my daughter's age, ask about preschool. I have finally become confident and, I might admit, openly confrontational about my choice to excuse myself and my daughter from the preschool racket. This is not to say that I am not in support of public education. I believe that a public system of education is one of the most important institutons within society. Unfortunately, preschool is not a universally, publicly funded option. I often reflect on how fortunate I am to be able to be home with my little ones. With this luxury in mind, my little philosopher is not quite ready to be bogged down by the institution.

So begins my own journey into a realm I never thought I, myself, would dwell. The world of the blog. It is with the education of my daughter at home that I have found the journey worth sharing. I am an educator. I am a mother. I am an educator who has chosen to stay at home with my children and be their first teacher. This blog is is the map. The odyssey belongs to my three (almost four) year old as she wanders through the wonders that help her to make sense of her world.