Observations & Joys of Our First 2 Days

OBSERVATIONS

1.  It's a good thing to ask others to pray as we begin our school year.  I haven't been more terrified of a first day of school since....well...never!  But, I asked people to pray and many dear and true friends did.  I am so grateful to each of them for it is because of their prayers for me and my family that our first day went so smoothly.

2.  It's a good thing to lean on God.  I have reached the point where I truly realize that this is all God's deal.  I have six children in school this year with grade K-9.  I will fail miserably without God's help and I'm holding onto Him for dear life.

3. While I was terrified of our first day, Gloria was excited for her first day ever.  She still loves it. Ok, so it's her second day into 13 years, but....

4.  Long gone are the days of school being done by lunchtime.  School is taking about 6 hours.  On the up side, this makes me feel like they're getting a great education!

5. I have a lot of kids.  And, I have a lot in school.  And, I have a lot of grades to help teach.  K/1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9.  The youngest is learning to read while the oldest is doing experiments on the kitchen table for Physical Science.  This all adds up to one thing....

6.  I'm no spring chicken.

JOYS

1.  My son, the struggling learner, took his first science test today.  He made sure he got a head start in school this year, and he's been working diligently.  Anyway, he only got ONE answer wrong resulting in one of his best science test scores ever - a 93%!!!!!!!!  What a great way to start my morning!!!!  All the helps I got him are paying off!

2.  My 2 oldest are working together in math.  Today, they were trying to figure out a riddle/problem.  Mike was downstairs while Cassia was upstairs.  Just as he was beginning to say, "I GOT IT!" Cassia came bounding down the stairs exclaiming the same thing!  Smiles and a sense of accomplishment - THAT's what makes this mom happy.

3.  Yesterday, my husband said homeschooling is a thankless job. For once in his life, he was wrong.  Gloria, a few hours after finishing her first day of school, thanked me for doing school with her.  Make my heart melt, kid!

I'm exhausted, we're only 2 days in, but I'm less stressed and more excited about this year.  With the Lord's help (a lot of it!), we will succeed happily!

The First Day of School - Delayed

So, I was going to begin school today, until I looked at the calendar late last week.  Turns out, my son had an eye exam scheduled for this morning.  10:15.  Prime time for school.  Who wants to break up the day and mess up the schedule on the very first day?  UGH!

Today, I took my 4 year old to his exam and then went grocery shopping.  Just he and I.  I figure that, as he is the only one not in school this year, he'll start getting less attention once school begins.  It was good to have him all to myself for a few hours - though I found that if he had been our first child, I probably would have been to exhausted to have had any more!!!

Once I got home, I started a spontaneous meal-prep session. I got 4 meals prepared and, tomorrow, I'll prep for at least 2 more.  This should make dinner-time a lot easier these next couple of weeks.  I'm hoping to continue this throughout the year.  I usually make a weekly menu in order to avoid the stressful, last-minute decisions after a long school day.  But, if I can actually get the entire dinner made ahead of time, or even just the majority of the prep-work, life will be even easier...and I'll have more time in the afternoon to get other things accomplished, whether it be chores or rest!

So, tomorrow is our official first day of the school year!  Pray for us!

First Day of School

Today was the big day.  I must say, it was the best first day we have had in a couple of years.  I don't remember ever being so nervous about the school year beginning, but I felt about as panicked as a new teacher in a classroom of 30 students! 

Until last night.  Last night I finally felt organized enough to start this year off on the right foot.  I still have much of the yearly lesson planning to do, but I'm well under-way.  I have the whole week completed, so imminent catastrophes have been avoided. 

We took a family trip out to the stores last night to buy school supplies.  That is something I realized I never really did last year.  We just kind of used the old stuff and did a quick job of clearing off the old materials to make way for the new.  I made sure this year to get the kids new pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, etc., whether they needed them or not.  They'll use it all eventually and new things give them a positive sense of anticipation.  With all of their school shelves cleaned up and brand new books setting on them, they could not wait to get under-way with school.  My 8th grader had two subjects completed before 8:00 this morning!  Always a great start!

I listened to kids read, instructed the younger ones with their math & English, and the kindergartner with her letters until about 1:30 this afternoon.  Other than feeling a little numb, I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all.

No complaining, no arguing, no lost pencils, and all work done before 2:00.  Whether or not that will happen ever again during the course of this year, I don't know.  But it made for an excellent first day of school!

Hope yours goes as well.  Would love to hear about it!