First OFFICIAL Day of 1st & 3rd Grade

Kids are so funny.

The Princess has been BEGGING for school for a long time now.

BEGGING for "learning to read with the letters and cutting out the words and putting them in my word book and stuff and everything".

Today was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.

Of course, to ME, that meant getting into a groove, setting up notebooks, All About Me pages and snack and things like that.  I had no intention of doing REAL lessons today.

The Princess came out this morning EXCITED and ready to go.

She had happy tears.

Of course ... she does that OFTEN.  She's my passionate one!

We had some breakfast, fed the animals, brushed teeth and hair and did some chores.

When it was time to start, I suddenly had the idea to make 1st and 3rd grade signs to hold up in their pictures.  This turned into an hour PLUS activity ... but, they enjoyed it.

They each made their signs and we headed outside to take our pictures.

Then, we headed in to start on our All About Me pages.

Eventually it was after 11:00 am and the Princess was TOO HUNGRY to focus any longer.

I had plans to feed them Apples and Honey in honor of Rosh Hashanah, but I really wanted to read the story of Rosh Hashanah first.

I tried ... we gathered on the couch for the story.

We read "Wake Up and Beat the Drums" from the book "Ten Holiday Jewish Children's Stories".

But, the Princess's tummy rumbled and rumbled.  Poor girl ... couldn't concentrate AT ALL.

So, I stopped and broke out the Apples and Honey and set the girls up in front of You Tube for some cool little Rosh Hashanah videos I'd found.  That was FUN!

Okay, it's 11:30 by now.  People seem worn out.  I'm thinking "Let's take a break." and I go on to say, "How about you guys go play outside until 12:00 and then we'll finish up our All About Me pages and call it a day."

The Princess started crying.

She wanted to do "the reading stuff with the letters and cutting out the words and sticking them in my word book and all of that.  I want t do ALL of that school stuff."

sniff sniff

I tried to explain how the first day of school (first week of school, really) usually is all about getting set up, getting acquainted, getting into a groove.  Kids don't usually start "lessons" right away.

Not good enough.

She wants to do the reading lessons.

Guess I must oblige.  HAHAHAHA

I guess there are worse things for a teacher than an OVER enthusiastic student, right?

Anyway, The girls played outside for a bit, blowing bubbles and building things.

They came in and we finished up their All About Me pages ... so cool to see where they'd changed and where they'd stayed exactly the same (personality wise).

They both grew about 2 inches and they both gained about 6 pounds.

We cleaned up after ourselves (I discovered that when we "do school", we are like tornadoes ... making messes and moving on to the next thing ... we'll have to work on that), made and ate lunch and that was the day.

Well, I wished it was.

I still had to do that reading lesson I'd promised.  It was a total success.  She LOVED it.  She was able to read more than what was in the lesson.  But, she still wanted to do the lesson.  Then, she pasted the words she learned into her Word Book and drew a picture of the first line of the poem "Rain" by Robert Louis Stevenson.


Then, we still had to go to the library.

Then, we still had to go to our Handwork Group.

Then, we still had to go to the store.

Then, I still had to cook dinner and clean the kitchen and read to the girls and sing to the girls and ...

Such is the life of a home-educating Momma.

Long, hard, exhausting, yes.

But, oh so rewarding!

So blessed to be a homeschooler.

p.s.  Pictures coming soon ... when I figure out how to empty my camera without the USB cord.  :)