Meet Kris Carmichael. She is wife to an Air Force officer currently deployed to Afghanistan, and the parent of a Pre K Scholars student. Kris is excited about the Pre K Scholars curriculum—we’ll be following her story overseas, and posting about her experiences. She has provided the following as an introduction:

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I am mom to 3 kids: Maeve, grade 4; Skipper, grade 3 and Raines, my PreK scholar. Living the military lifestyle means we get to move often, generally every two years. We’ve had the pleasure of living outside Phoenix, AZ; Guam; Tampa, FL, southern Spain, and now Ramstein, Germany. While we love having the experience of living overseas and taking in the new cultures, it can be difficult. We don’t always know the language (especially in smaller villages), the foods can seem so foreign and scary to try, and it can be hard to be so far from home and family. It is also difficult to find a good solid preschool program that is affordable and has an opening. Where we are, there is a Montessori program and a more traditional preschool, both of which are not inexpensive. The options offered on the US Air Force base, as well as the Army post, are affordable but the waiting lists are long based on a list of criteria to meet. We do not meet the criteria for a higher position on the list, unfortunately, and the cost of the local economy options are prohibitive.

Out of our three children, Raines is the only one who hasn’t been to preschool. The older two were in a wonderful program run by the College of Education at University of South Florida in Tampa. There they learned the skills so needed for entering Kindergarten. I didn’t think twice about what those skills were. But one day I was sitting with Raines, trying to get him to stay with me for more than a page and a half of a book, and I realized I never had to teach my kids these things. I Googled “kindergarten skills”, knowing Raines was one day going to grow up and go to school, and found the info I was looking for. Raines would need to know how to use scissors, sit still for a story, button and zip and tie, know his numbers and letters. Well, we had recognizing numbers and letters but did he know anything about them, what they mean, sound like, the role they play? And I had a long way to go on teaching him the remaining skills. Further searching led me to PreK Scholars and while reading the description of the program I thought, “This is exactly what I need to help Raines!”

So here we are today. Living in Germany, taking in the culture, eating wonderful treats from out local bakery, figuring out what schnitzel is, recognizing that “apfel” is German for “apple,”and preparing for the beginning of our Pre K Scholars program. We will begin in July, when I also begin homeschooling my other two children, helping Raines to have the skills needed for Kindergarten. We are all looking forward to this journey we are on.