Jammies School - Part Two

The name “Jammy School” was conceived one day when I was sending pictures to Nana and Papa of their grandchildren at “work”. As I uploaded the photos, I realized the kids were in their jammies in many of them. It occurred to me, then, that the natural flow of our mornings often included impromptu lessons while Nina and Luke were still in their p.j.’s. So, I referred to the set of photographs as “Jammy School”.

Later, as I was thinking about developing a more formal pre-K experience for the kids, I realized that my youngest had just enjoyed a spontaneous lesson on colors and one-to-one correspondence by matching Silly Pin bowling pins with corresponding color cards from a defunct Candyland game while my eldest snoozed away in his room, gratefully catching up on sleep after several late nights of celebrating summer festivities. Immediately, I found myself thanking God for the blessing of being together most mornings without the rush of having someplace to be fifteen-minutes-ago.

Upon further reflection, I realized that as long as I am not too vigilant about sticking to self-set schedules, and provided that I remember not to commit to too many outside activities, our little family can continue to relish the flexibility of comfortably attending to growth of mind, body and spirit in an unhurried atmosphere. In fact, regardless of how we are clad, we can fortify our faith by offering all of our daily activities – educational and otherwise – up to God, trusting that he will provide not only the means with which to attend to them, but the time in which to do it all. All we need to do is obey his commands and welcome the natural rhythms He has blessed us with.

And, thus, the name of our family preschool was set: Jammies School. This name honors the blessing of being afforded time to relax together in our p.j.’s most mornings. It also reminds me that our preschool teaching and learning need not be as regimented and carefully planned as my Type A, teacher-trained brain often thinks it must be. True learning can – and does! – happen in our jammies. In letting go and letting God more often, I will truly be able to train up our children in the way they should go.