First Days of School



Every year, I start out with high hopes for our homeschool year.  You may recall this pic from my school supply bargain-shopping post.

I order curriculum, wait for it in the mail, and with bated breath, open the orange bubble mailers that arrive at my house one at a time.  I organize each child's workbooks and school supplies, then stack them on the homeschool shelves and wait.

While counting down the days 'til school, I hop on the internet to find more resources.  I find a couple new websites to use to further learning without mom's help.  www.abcya.com, www.pbskids.com, and www.starfall.com are our three favorites.

After that, I sashay over to YouTube, saving interesting videos and subscribing to new channels I think the kids will like.  Music, science videos, How Things Are Made, history videos - you name it!  YouTube may be my favorite free homeschool resource.  Netflix also has some great videos - my girls like to watch the Bob Ross videos (art with out the mess?  okay!  and we get to hear about the happy little trees).



Then I hop onto Pinterest and...watch out!!  I'm pinning ideas left and right.  I'm a blur as I click on fantastic science experiments that can be done using kitchen ingredients, marble mazes, magnet activities, Lego STEM challenges, and when my science geek persona has been satisfied, I move on to crafts.  I am terrible at crafts.  I mean - no - that's not exactly it.  Honestly, I just don't like to do them.  Yes, that's more accurate.  It takes prep, supplies, lots of glue and a big mess when we're done.  But that doesn't stop me from pinning away cute ideas for holidays, birthdays, and regular ole' school days.  At least then I feel that the science and arts categories are somehow fulfilled, even if I never follow through with any of them.  We do a few of them during the year, but it is really all we can do to get through the 3 R's most days.

We begin with first day of school pictures.  Okay - so I was going to begin the day with school pictures, but it was chilly and it had rained.  I had planned to help the kids make chalk drawings on the driveway, depicting their grade, as per the perfect world of Pinterest.  Instead, we had to wait until the cement dried, so we did school first.  After lunch, we headed out to tackle our school picture project (I counted this as art, by the way).

This is how the Pinterest picture looked (my inspiration):


This is how our pictures looked (reality):




Art for the day was designing their number to pose in.  By the time we were ready to snap some shots, the sun was in their eyes.  Oh yeah - then it started raining.  This is how things go in real, not Pinterest, life.  Note to self: next year, put the hose away, don't put my finger on the lens, and take the pictures when the sun is at a better angle.  Oh yeah - and check the weather forecast.

I could've cropped these, but I think they're funnier this way.  Especially the one with my 4th grader, which turned out well, except my 1st grader was still lying dead as a jellyfish on her spot - she was upset about something and didn't want to move (par for the course).  If nothing else, I can look at these and have a laugh when I need one, which will be week 2 of homeschool.  Photographer, I am not.


The actual school part went fine.  I had 3 subjects for each child picked out and they designed their own journals.  Success!



To add to the fun and challenge of homeschooling, we were dog sitting last week.   Keeping canine peace and taking two dogs out to potty many times a day affects how we do school.



Never fear - improvisation is here!  Homeschooling is all about figuring out what works, so we did!  We discovered our large, furry house guest loves to be outside.  I set up a table and chairs out in the yard, attached both dogs to long leads, and proceeded to work on school with the kids.  Bonus: we were able to enjoy the beautiful weather, complete with nature sounds.  I think we will do this more often, regardless of doggie guests.


And there you have our first days of school.  5 down - only 175 more to go!





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