First Day of School 2020!

The first day of school 2020 has arrived, and this was, perhaps, one of our calmest, cheeriest first days yet.  The demeanor of the teacher has sure improved over last year's first day, and I would say I've learned a lot over the years about what to expect from a first day.  Natalee, Xavier, and I started their history curriculum two weeks ago and that helped a ton with how today flowed.  We already had an established routine and had gotten the introduction to all of our new books under our belt.  I didn't overload the lesson plans today, and took care to include a sweet art project that everyone could enjoy.

I tried to get up before everyone and start my day, but Evalynn heard me, so she was up with me, too.  It was nice having Mike home before he left for work to help jostle her as I got going this morning.  I had purchased canned cinnamon rolls (my kids love these) and made those with sausage links for our first day of school special breakfast (and chocolate milk!).  We sent Dad with his breakfast to work, hot from the oven, and he prayed for us before he left.

cheerios and sausage for this girlie...

Actually the first morning of school started the night before when I laid out a few new things for my little scholars and made sure my lesson plans were polished and ready.

New boxes of crayons for everyone.  Yes!  And they'd all had the same folders for 2-3 years now and were due for some new ones to hold random school papers.

The calculators had zero value to actual school but my kids love to play with them, so I guess they were more of a treat than a supply.

After breakfast, we headed to campus to take pictures.  On the way the kids said, "Mom, it's sprinkling."
Nah, that's just a gray cloud - you're fine.
Turns out they were kinda right and we got caught in a little cloudburst.  We waited under a tree and, as I told them, they were fine.  You can see it in the girls' hair, especially, though, that there was moisture in the air.  Curls and wisps.

Evie.  Zayden.  LOL

Zayden outtake...

Dad met us to take a picture with his crew.

After our pictures we walked home in the mist to get to our work.  Evie went down for a nap.  N and X started with subjects they could do independently or with little help from me.  I started with Zayden's reading and Mia's math and sat in between them.  Then they played a reading game together and we switched to Zayden math and Mia reading.  This worked really well and I'm hoping to repeat it in days to come.

look at that number formation!

We continued on steadily, but in no hurry, and enjoyed our morning.  I stayed at the table with the younger two while the older kids alternated between their rooms, the living room, and the math computer.  Zayden took a gonoodle break, and then he and Mia started their social studies unit.  We are going around the world using Cottonridge Homeschool's free lesson plans.  This morning they both got their passports and first passport stamp and we read How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.  They colored the covers of their traveler journals and are excited to see what tomorrow brings!

I am going to alternate social studies and science with these guys this year, so we won't do a science unit until we end our around the world study.

The last subject for Mia and Zayden was reading Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Beginning, which we are doing as a fun biblical read aloud this year.  We read chapter 1 and can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.  Xavier was done with his independent studies by this point and sat in to listen to the read aloud.  We are really working with Zayden on focusing his mind and paying attention.  He's great at tuning out the world and letting his mind drift.  He seemed really interested in the story and paid attention very well!

Evie woke up from her morning nap and Xavier got her out, which was great timing because this was the younger pair's last subject (besides our art project later).  It was also close to lunch time.  

Evie realized no one was paying her any attention and decided to remedy that...

I got lunch around and while we ate we listened to the Thorton Burgess Bird book on Librivox.

After lunch I decided to do art so that I could dismiss Mia and Zayden to go play without needing to call them back.

I had planned water color self portraits for our art lesson and I love how they turned out.  I showed the kids how to use the space on their paper and to do a portrait of just their head and shoulders.

I'm not artist, but so much of teaching art is inspiring children's inner artist. (I think.)

I let Evie watercolor/finger paint so that she had a picture for her frame about our whiteboard, too.

Little red hand print in the upper left corner.

After art, I put Evie down for her afternoon nap, and the older pair and I did our history lessons and then I introduced them to our new writing series, WriteShop Junior.  They seem excited about the writing and I hope we enjoy it.

Then, we were done.  Whew.  It was 3:15 when we finished.  We "lost" a bit of time doing pictures and art that we won't do on the norm, so I don't think it'll be that late when we finish everyday.  We will do more art, but we are planning on doing it on "Fun Fridays."  We also didn't start until after nine and took almost an hour lunch.  Because #homeschoolers.

I took a bit of a break and Marco Polo'd with a friend, and then we all went outside.  Swept the garage, played outside, and watched the college kids practice baseball (Xavier dreams of playing for WPU).

Zayden mastered his fish face!

And when Mike finally got home....Mom climbed in the hammock and took 15 minutes to herself.

It was a great day.  We all had good attitudes, there were no meltdowns, and everyone was excited.  We're praying this follows us through the school year.  Tomorrow and Wednesday we get to throw Natalee's therapies into our schedules and try to balance around those, so it'll be interesting to see how that all works itself out.  

Natalee's favorite part of the day was breakfast!

Xavier's favorite part of the day was writing!

Ameliya's favorite part of the day was art!

Zayden's favorite part of the day was reading!

Evie was a good girl and took both of her regular scheduled naps.  She was ready for me to be done teaching and have some book reading time when she got up from her afternoon nap.

Cheers to a great year.  Which starts with a well rested mommy.  Which means I need to get to bed....it's 11:52 pm as I finish typing.......