Our 2 little girls

So our family is laid out as follows:

Kevin and Laraba:  parents

Naomi and Lydia: the "big" girls

Isaac and Joseph:  the boys

Miriam and Angela: the "little" girls

Sarah:  the baby

Miriam is 5 and will be six soon.  Angela is 4.

If we sent our kids to public school, Miriam would probably be in kindergarten this year.  She wouldn't have to be, legally, but she would be ready.  Like all of our girls so far, she has been excited about drawing and coloring and even forming letters.  She is starting to read.

At the beginning of the year, I had vague plans to do kindergarten with Miriam and "preschool" with Angela.  And ... I guess you could say I am. But I spend very little time teaching them. 

There are 2 reasons for this.  One is that the older 4 children take most of my time and energy, especially Joseph (age 7), who is learning to read, write, and add. 

The other reason is that the little girls LOVE to play together.  Love love love it.  Fairly often, a homeschooling mom finds herself chasing around the preschoolers.  I chase the baby a lot, but most mornings, Angela and Miriam disappear into our playroom and play very happily for literally a couple of HOURS.  It is really amazing!  I sometimes feel guilty like I should be interacting with them more, but they are happy!  When I do pull them out to read to them or do a little preschool work, they participate gladly but are eager to go back in and play some more.

So...sometimes, often, having kids close together makes it much easier for mom to get stuff done because there are built in playmates.