Who, Why. How

Who am I?

I am Jennifer Evanchik, a normal mom.  I was a preschool teacher before I left work to have and care for my 2 kids.  They are a 5 year old daughter who's starting Kindergarten in a few days (!), and a 3 year old son who attends preschool a few days a week.  We live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Why am I doing this?

Basically because I want my kids to learn as much as they can about the world they live in and share.  I know they learn in school but they don't learn THIS STUFF in school.  I didn't learn this stuff in school.  I have always wanted to travel the world and learn about it that way, but have come to realize that it's not gonna happen anytime soon and I wanted a fun project to do with the kids.  To keep us away from the TV, to get us to the library, to TEACH us something.  I guess you can take the teacher out of the classroom but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher :)  I decided to share our journey because I thought it might be interesting to others, maybe give some teachers a few ideas for projects, and maybe inspire other parents to take their children's education a step further.

How can you do this at home?

You can totally do this.  Get a world map and hang it up somewhere, or a globe.  Either do a week at a time, or just one day a week and learn about a different country.  Try a recipe, go on a field trip, get a book from the library, read the blog for some fun facts and ideas!  It's not so hard and the kids are picking up bits and pieces that you won't even realize.  They are sponges.  I think of learning as a layered process.  School begins the foundation, they learn a little bit about a wide variety but nothing very in-depth.  Then each new experience, each new year, it adds on to that, whether they learn it at school, on TV, or from just living life.  If they are given the opportunity to become well-rounded, creative, free-thinking people they will blossom. 

We hope you will all enjoy our journey around the world!  It promises to be a fun and education year for us and for you too !!