Oldskool, Newskool, Trueskool, Homeschool, Preschool!

I'm sure I told many of you guys about the new Montessori school opening up in our neighborhood. "How perfect is that?!"--I thought to myself when I found out it was opening, being walking distance away from our home. I wanted Miles to attend preschool there and possibly kindergarten until I found out about the cost (practically half of a person's mortgage). Unfortunately, it costs way more than we could afford--which is $Free.99-- so Miles will not be attending. I was disappointed, thinking about how important a good education is, being a product of poor public schooling in Vallejo myself. Why can't a good education and learning environment be accessible to all? 
One of the reasons why we chose to live in Napa county is because of the good reputation of the public schools. Justin has had experience with the students, families, and staff that work at the schools here because of his old job. So when there was a preschool opening at one of the schools where Justin use to work, we decided to give it a try.
Last week, Miles started going to this school. He was curious about the classroom, teachers, and the students who would become his new friends. But he was also concerned about homeschool, asking, "Since I'm going to a new preschool, does that mean no more homeschool?" I reassured him that we would still have our art sessions, science experiments, and projects at home. He was relieved, "Oh good mommy cause I really love homeschool." I do too!
Miles went from going to bed at 11 pm to going to bed at 7:30 pm. He woke up for his first day, excited, happy, and full of energy.

We got into a rhythm of his new schedule. Miles even helped choose the route we take to school, looking for his favorite things along the way such as...

The weeds growing from the sidewalk.

The prickly pear cactus.

The giant Aloe.

One cool thing about the school, is that it's by small farms so he gets to see animals on the short walk from the car to the school. He also has a routine of checking out a few more of his favorite things as we walk to his classroom...

More prickly pears!

He really loves looking at weeds especially if they have thorns.

And we both love this row of birdhouses and of course, more prickly pears.

After his first day, we celebrated this new chapter in Miles' education--at The Joy of Eating, a hole-in-the-wall spot in Vallejo that serves delicious bread.

Darrien celebrated preschool life with us too!

"What are you drawing in your picture Darrien?" I asked.

"You, Aunty Maricel, with a baby in your belly...and that's me!" (I hope Darrien is not predicting the future anytime soon)

Miles is into his second week and loving it! We are happy with it too. His teachers are really great. One of them told me that he has been doing really well and has added to the class with his knowledge of the ocean. Before bed, he told me, "Mommy, today I made some new friends. And I love singing the Skitta-marinky-dinky-dink song!"

At home, we continue the things we've done before he went back to preschool. With the fall season here,  Miles has found new favorite things to add to his nature table.

Mini Indian corn

Fall nature table

He was inspired by the bumpy gords we saw at the grocery store and wanted to recreate them...

He's been practicing his scissor cutting at home. He wanted to make cowboy cactus puppets and did a show with talking gords and cacti!