First Day of School 2013

Originally our first day of school was going to be August 26th but at the last minute I bumped it up to the 22nd. I thought it would be wise to have a "soft" start this year which would allow me to teach new procedures, schedules, and expectations without the pressure of getting all our work done. I also wanted to mix in a little bit of fun for our first day.

We started off the day promptly at 8:00. I am a stickler about this. I know from past experiences that if we don't get an early start our day unravels Our day begins with Morning Meeting. This is a time to do calendar activities, say the pledge and prayer, and have Bible lessons. Benjamin was not a fan of Morning Meeting on the first day. He screamed the ENTIRE time which only served to frustrate the kids and myself. Day 2 he found his way into my lap and fell asleep. He may or may not be just a little bit spoiled. :)

Day 1 screaming

Day 2 sleeping

At 9:00, Isaac and Julia head off to their work stations. Isaac's is in his room and Julia's is in my room. In the past I have always had the kids work at the dining room table. Last year I had a lot of problems with the kids wasting time by playing and talking. So now they have their own work space away from distractions (each other). So far it is working. Hope this continues!!

I am using my version of a workbox system. They have 10 drawers and in each drawer they will find their assignments and supplies. They have a time assigned to each assignment and use kitchen timers to keep track of this. I implemented this to help with my kids getting frustrated when an assignment takes too long. This way they know there is an end. If they don't finish then they go back and finish it during make-up work time in the afternoon. I am hoping it will give their brains a break on the more challenging subjects and help eliminate frustration meltdowns. (ex. my oldest and math) One of the drawers will always have a snack/outside card to give them a little break in the morning as well.

While the big kids are at work stations, I get to work with Caleb on his preschool lessons. He is a few weeks shy of turning 4 and very ready to start preschool. He has grown up a lot over the summer. He has a much longer attention span than he did last spring. His lessons include doing a journal, name book, math, Explode the Code, 100 Easy Lessons, Before Five in a Row, Handwriting Without Tears, and ABCmouse. I enjoy this time with him. Being the 3rd, I don't often get to spend one on one time with him so I enjoy snuggling on the couch to read to him just the two of us.

Working on that pencil grip

He drew a self-portrait for his journal

Caleb's daily schedule

The morning went by smoothly and the kids even finished up their morning lessons early so they had time to play before lunch. Usually after lunch I will have Caleb go play quietly in his room while Isaac, Julia, and I work on group work but on the first day of school I had some fun planned so he got to join us.

We started the afternoon taking pictures and making time capsules. Included in their time capsules was an interview, self-portrait, hand cut-out, and yarn to measure their height. These turned out so cute. I wish I had done these all along. Oh well, never too late to start a new tradition. It will be fun to get these back out on the last day of school to see how much they have grown and changed.

Next I took the kids on a mini-scavenger hunt with clues that led them all over the backyard and in the house. The last clue led them to the refrigerator which held the cookie making ingredients. We spent the rest of our "school" time icing cookies. I told them they were to ice a certain number of cookies certain colors but didn't tell them what we were going to do with the cookies. Once they were all iced I asked the kids to hide out in my room while I arranged the cookies to look like this....

A little corny I know, but the kids LOVED it! And that's all that matters! We snacked on cookies and milk then had the rest of the afternoon to play. A very successful First Day of School!

Friday we added in a little more work and less play and had a successful second day of school. The true test will be on Monday when we start full force with everything. Bring it on, I'm ready!

 My prayer this year is...
*to be a patient and gentle mother/teacher
*to listen to my children and not always be the one talking
*to find joy in the midst of ___________ (fill in the blank!)
*to daily be thankful for the opportunity to teach my children at home and to watch them grow

Looking forward to a great year!