All Its First Day Glory

Well, it finally arrived, the day that has been quickly approaching ever since summer break began - the first day of a new school year. I have to admit I've been a bit frantic this past week trying to make sure we were all prepared. Since I did most of my curriculum shopping and big picture planning work in March (I know, crazy, right?)I thought surely I'd have plenty of time. But it turns out that with extra time comes procrastination (who knew???). There were actually quite a lot of things that, in March, made me think to myself "it's way too soon to worry with that! Better save it for summer." Then summer came and went and it was almost New School Year's Eve! And I had not yet compiled a list of copy work! Or purchased supplies for all those great history projects I planned to do with the kids (or - gasp! - even put together a shopping list for them!), or realized we really did need markers for some things. So...let's just say I've been busy...

One tradition we're starting this year (that I wish I'd been doing all along and not just picking up two years later) is a first day "All About Me" page from Thirty Handmade Days. 

These are adorable and were so much fun! They're designed for traditional school kids, but we just filled in "mom" for teacher and went on. They cover the basic stats and current favorites, as well as "when I grow up I want to..." I was half expecting one of the boys to finish that sentence with "explode stuff and live off candy", but nope. They opted for "be a race car driver" and "be a fireman". Go figure. Anyway, I thought it would be a great handwriting sample for the ones who were old enough to write, and a great snapshot of them through the years. There's even a place for you to attach a picture of them on their first day, so we snapped some pictures after lunch (good practice for me since I've been learning to use my camera on manual instead of full auto).

Snaggle-toothed little Miss Teflon herself

Cy the Guy with the Big Blue Eyes

My mischief maker, Felix

Hmm...definitely seeing a family resemblance!

I have to admit, besides the mad scramble for last minute readiness, I've been dreading the First Day for another reason. You see, it's my first year teaching more than one kid and I've been more than a little nervous about how this whole "teaching two kids while a third runs amok" thing would go. Last year was challenging enough, what with our oldest's microscopic attention span and superhuman ability to fall out of any seat (Just call her Teflon Girl! Able to slide off a chair without even noticing! Able to hit the floor with more force than the laws of physics allow!). Okay, so it wasn't that bad (in fact it was pretty great), but she is quite the wiggle worm and Ms. Social Butterfly has trouble tuning out her overly exuberant little brothers during lessons because, well, it's more fun to talk to them. So adding a kindergartener to the mix was something I was secretly kind of dreading. How on earth was I going to get them both to stay on task at the same time?!

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. I should have known better. It went great! Everybody had a great day! Of course they did! My kids are awesome! Gwennie has figured this school thing out and Cy has better powers of concentrations than most grown men (that's his super power). AND we were done by 1:30! I can't remember the last time we were done by 1:30 even with one student! Amazing. So with that little ego boost I'm now feeling like I might have this homeschooling thing down! Until Felix starts Kindergarten and I have a Kinder, a 2nd grader, and a 4th grader at least... Dun dun duuuuun!!! 

Now just to maintain that level of fantasticness for 179 more days...

~ Krystal