Tag Archives: Back to School

Back to (home) School

It’s very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that school is BACK in session. This summer has been so rainy in our area that I feel very cheated in the laying-by-the-pool and playing-in-the-sprinkler arenas. I’m trying to keep my attitude in check though, and face the year with courage! My sweet girls are excited to be FIRST graders and they are definitely ready to meet the challenge. I was able to spend about a half an hour praying in the quiet of my car this weekend (a very unusual opportunity for me) and I can say that I am now feeling better prepared mentally and spiritually! I’m still a bit overwhelmed, but I know we can do it!

This year will be fun as we return to our homeschool “school” that meets two days a week at our church. It’s a wonderful set-up and we are so thankful for the opportunity. They will study core subjects as well as chapel, electives, and PE. I couldn’t be happier with this “best of both worlds” approach to homeschooling. I know that my family would have loved this scenario as homeschoolers in the 90’s! Things really have changed, in a wonderful way. This gives me some time at home alone with the baby, and gives my kids some much enjoyed time with friends and fantastic teachers; what could be better?

For our study at home, we will be using a brand spankin’ new curriculum that I am very excited to explore. This week we will start Dew Learning*, which is the first Christian homeschool curriculum designed for use on the Ipad! My girls are pretty impressed that they will be able to use the Ipad every day for learning! I’m excited that the curriculum is portable, interactive and that all progress is stored online. We can’t wait to get going with it and I am happy to share our experiences each week. Look for more on our Dew Learning Adventures very soon.

Now, what you have all been waiting for: photos of my children in their backpacks and first day of First Grade outfits! I would like to mention, in frank bargain-boast form, that these outfits were each $1 at our local thrift store, and came in the girls’ favorite colors, with lots of lace and ruffles!  I’m definitely addicted to thrifting!

Sophiab2s Scarletb2s

*Disclaimer: I received free products for evaluation purposes in return for my reviews and feedback. You can trust that I will be 100% honest in my discussion of said product and seek to help other consumers make the right purchases for their own families.

 

 

 

Summer failures…..and successes

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The fact that it is now August is really blowing my mind! I have so many things to do to get ready for school….it isn’t even a little funny. Fortunately for me, my girls are really excited to get back to work and are always pretty motivated (easy to say as they are still only 6). Over the summer, I had some grandiose plans of projects, crafts, and educational adventures. In fact, here is a sampling of what I intended to accomplish:

  1.  Finish up all the little homeschooling odds and ends: workbooks, lists, lesson plans, projects.
  2. Completely clean my house and purge a ton of stuff in preparation of the new school year.
  3. Travel and and make great memories.
  4. Start a blog about homeschooling.
  5. Teach my youngest to sleep through the night. Or even halfway through.
  6. Organize all my to-do lists.

Things I have actually done this summer:

  1. Decided that most teachers do NOT finish all of their books, workbooks, lesson plans and projects.
  2. Purged a few things and bought a whole bunch more, mostly unneeded. Barely kept the mess at bay all summer long.
  3. Made it about 30 minutes down the road on a day long road trip and turned around due to multiple factors which need not be discussed. Memories, yes. Fun, not really.
  4. Started a blog about homeschooling. At the same time, realized that starting said blog is certainly the easy part and continuing will most likely be the actual challenge.
  5. Allowed my youngest to slide into the laziest, most ill-advised sleep schedule in the history of toddlers.
  6. Discovered website that might possibly allow a new career in the making of to-do lists but as yet have not actually fully utilized said website. For your consideration: Wunderlist.

In addition to these worthy accomplishments I have: NOT purchased needed school supplies, NOT set up several appointments I’ve been putting off, NOT put the van into the shop for pesky issues just barely still covered by warranty, NOT read any of the book for my Sunday School class, NOT started elimination to diet to get to the root of allergy issues, NOT finally had that yard sale and NOT totally made-over my grocery buying system.

On the other hand I have: played outside with the kids, read to the girls some of my favorite childhood books, spent some time with extended family, made some cash by selling unneeded items, kept the kids fed, clothed, and relatively clean, and lost all the baby weight. So there’s that.

Oh and I taught the baby to feed himself, thanks to the Boon suction Bowl. Actually, he just picked up the fork the one time but as you can see, I was clever enough to capture it on camera so I think I deserve some credit.

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