For the past 18 years, I’ve been a full-time working professional mom. Other than the 3-months maternity leave when Nolan was born, I’ve always worked full-time. I’ve worked in large companies, small companies, I’ve been a Vice President, an individual contributor, and a consultant, I’ve traveled extensively, working in an office, and worked remote. As I look back, my career has been a journey of adventure, passion, and even disappointment at times.
Having a successful career has always been important to me and I don’t intended for that to change as we travel. However, I am going to be taking on a new role as well — School Teacher. Now there’s a role, I never thought I would have??
Nolan will be 5-years old during our year of travel and if we were back home in Indiana we would likely be sending him to the local public school or perhaps the International School for his Kindergarten Year. So, as we travel, our goal will be to exceed the Kindergarten standards, so I started researching.Have you ever stopped to research the actual standards for Kindergarten? I was a little surprised actually.
- Identify and produce rhyming words.
- Read common high-frequency words by sight
- With support, retell familiar stories, poems, and nursery rhymes, including key details.
- Identify and sort pictures of objects into categories (e.g., colors, shapes, opposites)
- Write most uppercase (capital) and lowercase letters of the alphabet, correctly shaping and spacing the letters of the words.
- Listen actively and communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
Nothing about Math, Science, or Social Skills. No wonder the US is falling behind in Global Education Standards.
And so my journey begins. We leave in just a month, so I have to work quickly. Professionally, I am a Software Consultant, so I find myself tackling this the only way I know how:
I need to spend a bit of time really thinking about what I want Nolan to learn on our trip. While numbers and letters are important, I also want to focus on the social aspects of our trip. I need to think a bit more.
I need to identify how I will meet my objectives for Nolan. Do I need curriculum? Can I use my surroundings? Do we need a structure or scheduled? So many questions here ….
Finally, I need to work the plan. As we start our trip, we need to work the plan, but also understand that no plan will be perfect, so iteration will be important.
I hope you stick with me through our journey! More to come.
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