Back in August of 2012, my sister-in-law, Cassie, sent me some information about a Mommy-and-me preschool class offered not far from where she lives (in the town next to us). She had been taking her son, Zeke, for a while and had been really happy with it.
I started following the class FB page, and then messaged just a bit with the teacher to find out more information. The class is called Fridays with Ms. Shelly. It meets for one hour on Friday mornings, and is for ages 2 1/2 to 5 years old. It costs $7 per child per week, you pay only on the days you attend, and you sign up one week in advance for the class if you want to attend. There were so many things about this that appealed to me, so I signed Brianna up! She was right at 2 1/2 when we first started attending.
Miss Shelly has a degree in education and even owned a teacher supply store for a while. She definitely knows what she's doing, and I'm always impressed with how she uses the short time she has with the kids. Each week has a theme - often based on a book - and she does fine and gross motor activities, colors, letters, numbers, sequencing, patterns, crafts, etc. all based upon the theme. The parents are present to help their child when needed. I was concerned about this at first since Bren was still a baby when we started attending, but it was easy to balance caring for him and helping Bri when she needed it.
As he got older and used to going to class, Bren started enjoying it so much! He would soak up everything going on!
For a while, the class mostly had only girls in it. You can see our cousin, Chloe Jo, next to Bri in the photo below. It seemed that all the little girls could sit still and listen so well EXCEPT for Brianna. Girl is just a mover and a shaker . . . she could answer questions with no problems, but sitting still is still difficult for her!
Thankfully, Miss Shelly incorporates many activities that include movement! In the photo below, she was throwing a beanbag into the holes.
Fridays with Ms. Shelly has become part of our weekly routine. Our week feels kind of off when she doesn't have class or if we miss it for some reason, and we've grown to love Ms. Shelly! I'm generally too busy in class to take photos, but I have tried to photograph the kids with their artwork from the class. I love all the projects, but I just can't keep everything. I feel like this is a good way to preserve the memory!
Miss Shelly is always doing such neat things in class. This day, she had the kids help her make lemonade!
She let Bren have a turn even though he wasn't technically part of the class yet.
We started attending the class in September 2012, and all of the photos up until this point in the this post were taken throughout 2013 (you can see the progression of Brianna aging as well as the seasons in her clothing and projects :-).
At the beginning of 2014, Brenson became an official student in the class. Miss Shelly and I visited a bit about when Bren could start participating, and we decided that he would be ready about the time he turned two. He's mature for his age and was able to sit, listen, and participate fully even though he was a little younger than her minimum age requirement. He was ready and has done SO well! All the photos from this point on in this post are from throughout 2014 (which I obviously did not do as well at taking photos of the projects as in 2013).
I'm not sure why I don't have a photo of Bren with this project . . .
In this photo, you can see Brianna (in the floral dress), Bren next to her (in green stripes), and our cousin, Zeke (in the white shirt). I can't remember what Ms. Shelly was doing this day, but it must have been interesting!
Again, something interesting was happening! Brianna is in the teal stripes and Bren is number 35.
No matter what the theme for the class is, Ms. Shelly always has a book to read to start the class!
Her felt board also gets lots of use!
Ghost projects for Halloween!
Turkeys for Thanksgiving!
Pin the nose on the reindeer for Christmas!
As my pregnancy with the twins has progressed, it has become increasingly difficult for me to take Bri and Bren to class . . . especially since I get down on the floor with them to help them with their crafts. Chris and I decided that we'd take a break from the class until after the babies arrive. Although I know it's the right decision, I feel guilty about it because the kids miss Ms. Shelly's so much! I'm hopeful that we'll start attending the class again not too long after the babies are born (I'm hoping for April). We'll see!
I think the class is fantastic, and I know my kids have learned so much from it. This class is one reason that I'm not worried at all about Brianna not going to traditional preschool! I'm so thankful we got involved, and hopefully we'll have many more years of Ms. Shelly's in our future :-).
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