The Joy of Joy School

Rather than try to enroll Oliver in a preschool program midway through the year we joined up with a group of families doing Joy School. Joy School is a preschool co-op. The curriculum is organized around "Joys" such as the "Joy of Honesty and Candor" or the "Joy of Interest and Curiosity" and so on. I have always wanted to do Joy School so I was so happy that it worked out so nicely for us to join this group. There are 5 other families involved, with the moms taking turns teaching each week.

The unit we are doing now is called the "Joy of Trust and Confidence." It's basically about how it can be fun to try new things and that not everybody is good at things the first time they try, but that's ok, because it can still be fun just to try it. Also, that you can do hard things if you put your mind to it (and are helped by people whom you love and trust.)

So, this morning was my first time teaching. We sang songs, did the date and weather, read a book called "All By Myself" and I performed a behind-the-couch puppet show for a rapt audience. I also decided that as part of our lesson (on trying something hard) we would climb  the "mountain" in our backyard woods.

It was sunny and warm and the first shoots of spring are just starting to poke through the leaf litter on the ground. The six little Joy Schoolers did admirably well on the 1/4 mile steep ascent. They encouraged each other and sat next to each other when they needed a rest. I carried Elliot and a bag of juice boxes and goldfish for the requisite snack at the "summit." It is really beautiful at the top, there is a 360 degree view of the surrounding Harpeth Hills and the town of Bellevue. There is also a big tree that toppled over that makes a great bench right next to a fire ring for bonfires or marshmallow roasts. The kids sat down on the log and had a snack while I read Green Eggs and Ham (about trying a new food). Ahhh, I thought to myself, this IS joyful!!

But then Elliot started playing in the charcoal in the fire ring. One little boy started to wander off and it basically went downhill (literally) from there. Oliver felt sick and decided he needed to be carried down. I refused. He bawled the entire way down. Another little boy hit a little girl with a stick. A few of them tripped and fell. I was sweating profusely because it was quite warm and Elliot is getting heavy. As the chorus of sobbing children grew louder around me and I hastily wiped sweaty tears from the faces of my young pupils, I began to question the brilliance of my backyard "mountain climb"  idea. The Joy School handbook offers this helpful tip:

One overall guideline that applies to all aspects of Joy School is the word JOY.
Remember that joy is both the objective of the program and the main method of the
program. By feeling joy that comes through a certain activity, children become motivated
to repeat the joy by repeating the action.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a while before these guys seek out the "joy" of hiking again.