At the beginning of this year, we took E, our 5-year-old daughter, out of preschool. There were several factors that went into our decision, one being that she had been attending either full-time day care or preschool almost her entire life. She had never had the opportunity of completely unscheduled time. And, frankly, neither had I. Honestly, I wasn’t sure we had made the right decision, but now I could not imagine it any other way. We seized a fleeting opportunity.

Candy Shop

Now, our days are fluid. We have the freedom of visiting our local children’s science museum three times in one week if that is what we feel like doing. And, we have been there a lot. This particular museum really lends itself to E’s current interests. Aside from playing with her various versions of little animals, her other favorite thing to do is anything outside. She is very interested in nature these days and constantly has her eye out for something interesting to add to her collection of leaves, sticks, animal bones, rocks, bark, etc.

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