Dot Day is almost upon us! What is that you may ask…

Only a really fun international book day that you do not want to miss out on!

It is based off a book titled “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds. As many of you have probably already gathered, he is one of my favorite children’s authors.
The Dot is a book about art on the outside shell, but as you unpack the story it is so much more than that! It gives people worth. You ARE good at something and you CAN always do SOMETHING. It doesn’t matter what age or skill level. We all have something to offer artistic or other. “Make your mark and see where it takes you”. This quote from the book brings us all together to create and be unique.

There is a website for this special day where you can visit and learn more. There are handouts and printouts for all kinds of activities to do. The website is Thedotclub.org.
Out little school has been sharing in this fun for years. We do something different each year to keep it fun and something to look forward to. We have many copies of the book floating around to keep us inspired. As well as many of Reynold’s other books. They all have a fresh perspective to offer to children. One year all the teachers made dots to hang in the hallway and another year we made thousands of frozen yogurt dots for the kiddos to snack on; it was a great mess with different colored dots to choose from. We always wear polka dots and have the children put their own artistic spins on making dots during art with all different art mediums.

It is just a fun little day to highlight a great book, an amazing author, and have a themed day of joy. Make sure to sign up as a participant on their website. It just adds you to their running tally of people around the world joining together. Many then post pictures of their dot fun. We would love to see your creations on their website and our Young Scholars Academy Facebook page as well! 2020 needs some more joy. Let’s give our kiddos one more day to be excited about; it is also something that can easily be done at home with a little internet connection.

Ms. Brooke
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Literacy Coordinator
Curriculum Coordinator

This is by far the most personal and vulnerable thing I’ve written in awhile, but I feel that in my position as Parent Connection Coordinator, it’s pretty spot on for what we’re dealing with as parents right now. I’ve worked in Infant A here at Young Scholars Academy for 2 years. Before that I stayed home with my two boys, and before that worked with infants and toddlers for 7 years. Ask me anything about infant feeding, sleep, development, car seats, etc and I either have the answer or I know where to find it. Most of my knowledge base is invested in those topics because they are what I’m passionate about. My boys are 6 and 3 though, so as a mom I’m in uncharted territory. My 6 year old is in 1st grade this year and the entire mess of trying to figure out schooling truly started this past spring when everything shut down and schools were forced to implement a last minute e-learning schedule. I felt it right along with other moms (and dads too!) when the stress of all the decisions came into play. I’ve been stressed along side them. We’ve all seen the memes and posts on Facebook about no decision being the right one or the wrong one, but for our family (and so many others) it was extremely difficult.

My 6 year old has special needs, some of which we’re still in the process of screening and figuring out. These make it very hard for him to process and regulate the flow of sensory input and how his body reacts to those stimuli. The first Zoom meeting we had with his teacher this spring ended about 30 seconds in when she un-muted all the students so everyone could say hi. He slammed the laptop down and ran away with his hands over his ears and needed about 30 minutes to regain his composure and talk about what had happened. We didn’t attend anymore Zoom meetings after that. The other struggles of simply getting him to do the assignments seem to be echoed by so many parents that I actually felt a smidge better. We didn’t know what e-learning was going to look like until kids could return in person, but we knew we didn’t want him in school quite yet. Sensory issues were going to make so many things more challenging and I didn’t want to put that on him or the teachers and staff.

Less than a week before e-learning was to begin for this school year, a schedule was released that included quite a few Zoom meetings everyday, and that set my panic mode and my mom mode into overdrive. I needed to find the best solution for my son and our family. This schedule wasn’t going to work for him with me at work full time, but I also really love my job and didn’t want to have to leave to make this work. Zoom meetings were a nightmare and his ability to work independently has been historically disastrous. It looked like a lose lose situation for quite awhile. I think I must have googled “can you home school and work full time?” 3 or 4 times before it really started to look like a viable option. I know I annoyed my poor co-teacher talking myself from one decision to another, then to yet another. It’s like I felt if I could convince her it was going to work, then it was going to work. Really though, I was trying to convince myself.
We attended back to school day and left even more confused and uncertain and the next day we sat down to talk. Our options were to push forward with e-learning and hope that someone could convince him to do his work and get through the zoom meetings, or I could pull him from school and home school. Ultimately we decided to pull and home school. I found an amazing curriculum for core subjects and have the flexibility to supplement with other subjects like STEM, art and music in ways that I know he’ll enjoy. It’s actually been a huge relief going this route and connecting with many more families who have done the same thing. An amazing bonus is that I still get to come to my amazing job every day.

None of this is to say that I appreciate the teachers, staff and administrators any less. This entire situation has been insane and everyone is getting through it the best way they know how. Ultimately though, giving myself the permission to make the hard decisions that are in the best interest of my son was amazing. There isn’t just one right way to educate children. One child may learn a different way and won’t fit in to one mold. While we prove this everyday at YSA, once the kiddos are older it’s hard to see there are other paths. A very big piece of the puzzle is having the support to carry out those plans and to figure things out. So, while things are still uncertain and hazy going forward, know that YOU are going to be the best one to make decisions about what to do for your family. It’s so true that there isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to school right now, but supporting each other and our kids is the first step.

Thank you for reading.

Ms. Amy
Infant Nursery Supervisor
Parent Connection Coordinator

While trying to think of ways to keep your preschooler engaged during the summer, consider planning a summer scavenger hunt that could be done in your neighborhood! This could be accomplished all in one weekend walk or spread throughout many walks over the month. As a family, work together to create a one of a kind list. Get materials to create your list, such as poster board or paper, markers, and stickers to decorate. Depending on the age of your kiddo, allow them to help as much as possible. The more they are involved with creating the scavenger hunt list, the more they will want to do it!

Some of the items on the list could be things youd like your kiddo to work on that you would see in your neighborhood such as numbers, colors, shapes, and animals. For an extra touch, ours also is going to include random acts of kindness! I think it is a great way to have fun with the kiddos and spread some joy within our neighborhood. To start, I explained what a scavenger hunt was to my preschooler. We then talked about the different things he thought he would like to add to try and find within our neighborhood. You may even need to explain what a neighborhood is to your kiddo if they do not know or need a refresher. As we began to explore colors, numbers, shapes, and animals to find on our hunt, the list grew pretty quickly! He was able to come up with some neat things to try and find all on his own! One of the items he came up with is trying to find a big dinosaur! Maybe he will! 😊

I then told him I wanted to also include kind acts which we could add to our list to spread kindness in our neighborhood. Some of the acts of kindness we came up with include: Draw 3 chalk pictures or kind words in front of a house, Leave a happy picture/note on someone’s door, pick up 5 or more pieces of trash (gloves and sack needed that day), find a neighbor walking and give them a compliment, share some chalk with neighbor kiddos, and say hello to 3 people on the walk. He was thrilled to add these to the hunt and I was excited he was so involved with coming up with the ideas to create the entire list.

By having the conversation of kind things we could do in our neighborhood, it led to a bigger conversation of how to be kind in daily life to others! The activity of forming this scavenger hunt really kept my preschooler engaged and eager to start! So we started right away!

He was so excited to go on his hunt, we picked a few things off the list to search for on our first walk. While we were out we got to talk to new neighbors, met a few new kiddos, and overall had a great time! I am excited to see how much fun he will have with this throughout the rest of the summer and how proud he will be when it is all finished!

Ms. Whitney

Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator