It feels like a bit of a formality, at this point, but today is Daphne’s last day of preschool!
Given the whole COVID-19 pandemic and sheltering-in-place, Daphne hasn’t actually attended preschool since March 12th. While we had the option to still send her (the school remained open) we opted to keep her home, partly because Eloise was home from school and partly because we didn’t want to take the risk of her exposure from school friends.
So we have spent this past 14 weeks at home attempting to do as much “school” as possible. And really, for Daphne, she was in a play-based preschool where there was absolutely no academic focus. That isn’t to say they didn’t read stories (they took weekly trips to library story time!) or sing the ABCs or count or talk about colors, but the main focus of her school was to play (including lots of art projects and daily nature walks).
We spent each weekday morning doing a “morning activity” which was generally academic-focused. Daphne had never done worksheets or a workbook before, but since that was what Eloise was enjoying for some of her school work, that is what Daphne wanted to do too. So I got her preschool-aged ones which included tracing lines, shapes, numbers, and letters. She knows all of her colors, many of her letters and numbers, and is super verbal and chatty!
In addition, her head teacher from school started sending us art projects – two per week – for the girls to do with me at home. There were instructions and most of the supplies needed which was wonderful. Despite me not really loving to do messy art (read: paint) we managed to do quite a few bigger art projects over the past weeks.
And as much as Daphne really did miss her school friends and teachers, we always joke that she was really living her best life during this quarantine. She loves nothing more than the entire family being home, and with Eloise home from school and Aaron working from home, she was really in heaven. And seeing the girls play together every day (and usually without too much fighting) was really a joy!
And here’s Daphne’s first day of preschool in September. She’s grown up so much!
Happy Summer Daph!
M