It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a classroom, so when the The Learning Care Group invited me to see what their Tutor Time Learning Center was all about, I was glad to check it out and bring my junior kinder (Glow) and kindergartener (Soul) with me. Glow technically starts kinder next year, but she’s showing interest, so I think she may be ready to start some things alongside Soul. Thus, this will be the first year where I will be intentionally teaching all four girls in their four different grades (though True and Brave are pretty much on the same level and use the same curriculum). Obviously, I will cater to their different needs and levels, but I wanted to see if I could get any ideas from my trip to Tutor Time to aid in teaching the youngest two. I’ve gotten used to teaching the older girls, but starting again back at the basics makes me a little nervous. The early elementary grades freak me out, where as I’m most comfortable with third grade and higher.

We walked through most of the classrooms, except infant and toddler, and I loved seeing the teachers and students at work. It was a great tour and I was able to ask lots of questions about goals and how they measure progress. They value the uniqueness of each child, so they have a Learning Care System rubric to track each child’s growth. Assessments are done every 6 weeks, and based on that, they cater to their specific needs and strengths. While I’ve kept a mental note of where my girls are at, I think it would be great if we worked on setting up a goal sheet together, that way they could clearly see their progress and things they need to work on. I think this will give them more ownership of their learning.

Other great things I want to implement at home are to label objects in our homeschool room for the younger girls, get an easel for art projects (this will help keep them occupied while I work with the older two), and post our goals (not just keep them in my planning book or in my head). At Tutor Time, the goals were clearly outlined at various stations in the classroom and the kids know what to do, why, and their goals; we will definitely be posting our own version at home.

The thing Soul and Glow would love to implement at home is the Village Room, which was this room with facades of different buildings, and in each space were toys that corresponded to those buildings (e.g., workshop, grocery store, post office, apparel shop). That room was playroom heaven for them! They also wished for their own playground and all the toy sets they saw. Those things probably made them wish they didn’t homeschool. HA!

It was great to learn about a different schooling option and how Tutor Time caters to the specific needs of their students. Our neighbor brought their kids here (they’re older now), and she used to tell me all the things her children did, so it was great to check it out in person. Now, I’m on a hunt to find a good art easel. Anyone have a particular one they love?

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