joy school 2011

it's a good thing it wasn't my first day of school today- because this morning i woke up with five interesting red spots on my face (read: zits) and a stomach ache. interesting the way stress manifests itself in our bodies: extra oil and gas. i wish instead i got like extra wiper fluid and a blast of A/C- but whatever.
ok, you know you're nuts when you type something that makes you laugh at yourself- yet you're positive no one else will get. again, whatever.

what i really meant to say when i sat down here at my deformed computer (my keyboard is now missing a spacebar, a #6 key, and my left, right, and down arrows. which means i have to touch the little sensor every time i make a space. it's horrible. which is part of the reason my computer presence has been a little shifty lately. kids and electronics- a nuts combo, i tell you. man i'm taking some awesome detours and tangents today.) was this:

Ellie started Joy School today!

{isn't she so cute?}

hooray!

now, i'm sure you remember, we did such a cute little co-op last year,too. we decided then to just form our own curriculum- since we didn't want to fork out the money for the official Joy School plan, and since our kids were so young (Ellie was only 2!). it worked out great and we had a really fun year with our little friends. for Ellie, it was instrumental in helping her develop socially. before Joy School, she'd cry any moment i left the room. or even when we'd leave her at nursery. she wasn't all that interested in playing with kids- and honestly wasn't very good at sharing. thanks to sticking through the hard times (and my friends for sticking through the hard times), Ellie is so much more confident with other children. she still isn't the best at sharing- but what three year old has it totally mastered? (at least that's what i tell myself) still, she is amazing at it compared to before. and mixed in with all the social stuff were cute lessons and songs centered around letters of the alphabet and numbers. overall, it was a great first-exposure experience to learning and structure.

 {our cute lil squirts from last year at our end of year party}

this year, we have a new little group- of four adorable girls! all little girls Ellie has become friends with through dance. one of the moms had done the actual Joy School curriculum with an older daughter of hers- and with her experience, encouragement and knowledge of the program, we decided to adopt it. do you know much about it? i'd heard of it but wasn't too informed before. one of the selling points to me was one of the first phrases that explains what Joy School is:

Tthe central belief of Joy School is simply that children, while in their most impressionable years, should be taught life's most important thing, various capacities for joy. A related belief is that children suffer not from being started in academic learning too late, but in starting too soon, before they have a basis of social and emotional self-esteem.

doesn't that just make sense?
i was sold right away.

so basically, Joy School has very structured lesson plans addressing 13 different Joys to teach these little preschoolers about: The Joy of the Body, The Joy of the Earth, The Joy of Honesty and Candor, etc etc. all things that i totally want Ellie to learn- and i guess embarrassingly enough just assume she should know already...
there is tons of other info about it on their website that you can check out here.

i'm seriously so excited about it and all that Ellie will learn this year. she is such an emotional thing- and i am thrilled to have this program that will help her recognize and express her emotions in a more positive way...and with three of her best little friends!

and i can't lie: i'm pretty dang excited to have a little more structure in our lives- as our other school year activities (including Mom's Morning Out and Dance) have also begun. while saying goodbye to summer is sad, welcoming fall just might be my favorite thing- since it includes some my favorite things:

-routines
-colorful leaves
-cooler temps
-which means tall boots and cute sweaters and scarves (ok, here we don't really wear any of that till like November or December...it's wonky)
-caramel apples
-tons of birthdays (maybe a tad biased here)
-Halloween
-pumpkin patches
-pies
-the school hustle and bustle...

so let the school hustle and bustle begin!

oh, that Ellie!
she really is such a sweet and sassy little thing.
being her mama is definitely one of my sweetest joys!

xoxo