It’s official. We have a 7th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a pre-schooler. We began school this week. At exactly one day into it, I can say…so far, so good!
Here we are at our traditional “take your list, get a basket and pick out your school supplies” day. We try to do this the Friday before school starts to keep the excitement alive!
I spread out all of our books and organized them for the year…
See that USA puzzle up there in the picture? Last week when we were putting the final touches on the school room and getting supplies put away…I was getting SO frustrated. I was trying to get the boys to put their folders and notebooks away, but instead they grabbed the USA puzzle, dumped it out all over the floor and started working on it. They were up and down looking at the big wall map, talking about which state went where in the puzzle. I couldn’t get anyone to listen to what I was trying to say!
Just about the time I started to scold them…it occurred to me: Hello Laura! They are learning and loving every minute of it. They can put their glue sticks away later!
The instant they finished putting all fifty states back into the puzzle, they dumped it out again and started over. Then they started looking at all of their new books on the shelves and getting SO excited. They could hardly wait for Monday to come. (Actually, I saw Elias sneaking into his math book that day and writing in the first three answers and grinning at me like he’d really pulled a big one over on me!)
I love that the boys get so excited about school and learning! We have our moments...trust me. If the boys really, really had a choice, they’d play computer games all day long. But I wish you could have heard them this morning as we sat on the living room floor with the globe and maps and colored pencils. You would have thought I was throwing them a party. (A loud party.)
Many of you commented or emailed that you couldn’t believe I was starting school on my birthday. It really was the best way to spend my day: On the floor…surrounded by boys and books. It doesn’t get much better than that!
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I get back into my classroom tomorrow (just to set up). It’s exciting to start fresh every year! I hope you all have a happy school year!
Sounds like a wonderful day! Happy Birthday!
Laura, you are doing more for your children than they will ever know! I grew up absolutely HATING school. And school is a large part of childhood! So the fact that your kids get so excited about school is both a foreign feeling to me, and a very, very heartwarming one, too. I hope someday I can instill that positive attitude toward school in my own children…as you have instilled in your four sweet boys! “Good on ya!” as they say…
Happy Birthday, and Happy Schooling :-)
Laura, I need to remind myself to NOT visit your blog this time of year. I still remember your pictures from last year and how much I fell in love with your school room. It’s so beautiful I could cry!! I seriously want to come do school at your house.
I hope you had a wonderful birthday. It sounds like it was a great day!
Enjoy the new school year!
Happy Birthday! Glad you had a wonderful day!
There so many things we are grateful for at the end of this day. Everything from our beautiful daughter and wonderful marriage, to the great blessing of friends we have found in Matt and Laura. You guys are an inspiration to us and we were honored that we got to spend an evening dinner with you. We are also grateful for all the blessings as well as challenges that our lives bring to us in order to grow our faith. We are grateful that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us and we are forgiven. Blessings 2u all.
Sounds like so much fun for everyone, but a lot of organising and hard work for mum.
Happy Birthday! And Happy First Day of School, to! :) It’s a wonderful thing to see the kids so excited.
Love the picture of the boys and their baskets!
Great pictures and post!! Happy School to you! :)
I came over here from Lori’s blog, Shine Like Stars.
We are new! Thanks for having us. Happy Birthday!
Yous school room is awesome! Last night Lucas asked me what we were going to accomplish today and I had no idea. You have inspired me to organize my school room. We don’t start school for another month but I NEED to get organized. Have a great day :)
That sounds about right [smile]. Happy Birthday, and may this be your best year of homeschooling yet!
~Luke
My mom homeschooled my sisters and me…your post reminds me of how exciting it was to start the new school year. :-)
Happy Birthday!
We don’t start till after Labor Day but I am also in the process of organizing our stuff to see what we have so that I’ll know what NOT to buy!!
Glad you had a great birthday as well as a wonderful first day of school.
First of all….Happy Birthday! Secondly…I also have an Elias!! I never hear that name anywere else. Also, congrats on your first day of school! I am still working on the planning phase. A couple of my boys are excited, and a couple are not so much, my daughter can’t wait. I also love the excitement of books, and seeing their eyes light up!
I start school next week. Looking at your pictures and my full supply drawers makes me want to start this week! LOL
But the reason I’m waiting — and the reason I’m grateful this Tuesday — is because my husband is home from Afghanistan. He only has 6 days left out of his 2 weeks. Right or wrong, I don’t want to spend what little time the kids have remaining with him doing school.
So sweet! I’m grateful for your blog and the things that I’m learning through it. We started school this week too and so far it has been two teary-ended days for me. I’m still trying to figure out how to organize my day so that I can teach my six-year-old and occupy the 4, 2, and 11 month olds. Not going too well yet…but I am grateful for God’s new mercies every morning!
Thank you for all your great information! I would love to hear your thoughts on Teaching Textbooks, I believe you used it with your oldest last year. I am thinking about using it next year for my 4th grade daughter. Right now I am happy with Math U See for the lower grades, but possibly looking for something different for higher grades.
Have a blessed day!
Keep posting like this! I want that enthousiasm, flexibility, and perspecive to be mine as a home school mama. I know I have a long way to go, but at the rate she’s growing, it will seem like next week!
Blessings. Thanks for sharing. We have such a short time to impact our children. You are doing a great job!