1st Day of School

Day 1 is in the books!

 

 

 

I wish I could share that the entire day was a huge success, but sadly I can't. :( Before we "go there", let's hit the highlights first.

All the kids got up this morning ready to start their first day of school. They had their jobs and even their chores completed before breakfast. That is nothing short of a miracle in this house!! Isaac and Julia even had time to play a little before we started school at 8:30. Beautiful start to the day!

We began with group work. We will always start our days with prayer and Bible. After reading in Windows on the World and discussing John 3:16, we went for a short walk in our neighborhood to pray for our neighbors. I could tell that the kids we a little embarrassed to do this; afraid someone might see them. We prayed over and over that God would show us how to love our neighbor and be God's light in the world around us.

The rest of group work time was spent on Geography, Science, and Music. All of which was very introductory, but enjoyable at the same time. We even finished all of our work 45 minutes early which gave the kids some "time off" before individual work time. I am loving the breaks throughout the day! Gives me time to re-group and even get a few chores done.

Isaac working on a Geography pre-test

Because we are going to "travel" around the world through geography this year, the kids applied for a passport and mailed it to the Passport Office c/o Me!! Do you like my last minute mail box?!

I was most nervous about how Individual work time was going to go. This is a time that I leave Isaac and Julia to do several subjects of work on their own while I teach Caleb. With their handy dandy workstation set ups, I have to say that they both did wonderfully. Stayed on task, worked hard, and even got their work finished ahead of schedule again!

Julia's workstation

I had a little surprise waiting for them in their workstations.

During this time, I worked with Caleb on some basic pre-school skills. This week he is learning the Nursery rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle". We are reading Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See? and learning colors. Today we focused on brown and red. He got to finger paint and color the bear and bird from the story. Caleb also sorted cereal and made a rainbow, of which he was very proud! He was such a trooper. He actually didn't feel well and was even running a fever. After we finished with these few things, he asked it he could take his DD (blanket) and go lie on the couch. You know your 2 year old is sick when he asks to be inactive!

After lunch Caleb headed to bed for a nap, Julia had some free time, and Isaac and I sat down for our one on one lessons. I structured our schedule this way to allow me to focus on one kid at a time and really be able to teach them. It really draws the day out by splitting the kids up like this, but I feel it is necessary. When Isaac's lesson time was over, we switched and it was Julia's turn. School was not said and done until 4:00! Much longer school day than we are used to. For the kids, they got plenty of breaks and time off throughout. For me, I didn't and I am exhausted. Not to mention I am 6 months pregnant and am used to resting every day. This is going to be tough keeping up with the pace of school this year.

So that's the highlights. And now that we are to the not so great part of the day, I am frankly too tired to go into much detail. I have a pounding headache and a discouraged spirit. One of my children can have very trying behavior. I tried to be very prepared for that today and did my best to work towards success in this area with this child. Simply put, it didn't happen. VERY discouraging on the very first day of a new school year. We have been battling these very same issues for years and I am at a loss as to how to get this child past these struggles. What I do know, is that God's mercies are new every morning. He will not leave or forsake me. I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. I will cling to these truths and promises. I will wake up in the morning and be ready to obediently do what God has asked of me, which is to home school on the good days and even on the not so good days. I will lean on Him to be my strength and I will pursue His wisdom in this area.

Wrapping up day 1 and ready to tackle day 2! I will post again at the end of the week to fill you in on how the rest of the week went. 'Til then....