Day #1 = Success!

Well, the big day came and went - and we had a fantastic first day of school! The girls were up absurdly early this morning because they were so excited to get started. Each of them found a sign at her place on the kitchen table this morning, and they got right to work coloring them while I made breakfast. Afterward, we went outside for our annual first day of school pictures. I still just can't believe that my Rachael is a second grader now! She's pretty proud of the fact, though:


And then there's my BABY, who somehow has gotten big enough (despite my demands to the contrary) to want to "do school" as well. I'm wondering if it's significant at all that she didn't color the letters on her sign at all, but rather the spaces in the center of the letters. Hmmm.


Of course I got one of the two girls together! I got about a dozen, actually. I like this one best. :)


After pictures, we went inside and got to work. Each girl has an age-appropriate devotional book that we'll begin our mornings with. Rachael's book asked her today to make a list of her family and friends that she wants to remember to pray for. She made a pretty lengthy list and didn't forget many people - immediate family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, even some friends' parents made the list! My thoughtful little girl.

She was a little apprehensive when I took out three books for language arts, but quickly came to the conclusion that this was "eeeeeeeeasy!" Princess Smartypants missed one word out of twenty on her fourth grade spelling list. Not that I'm proud of her or anything.

While Rachael worked on her language arts stuff, I moved over to Milly. We talked about the letter A and the sound it makes, and she took very seriously the task of coloring a big letter A:


We also read books, went on a scavenger hunt for different colors around the house, talked about the number one, and read the Bible story of Adam and Eve. (Her thoughts? "Ewwww, snakes!") And we sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" no fewer than ten times, although I'm not even sure now how that even came up.

Back in the kitchen, Rachael and I did some math review...she had been dreading math all morning, but was relieved to find that she hadn't forgotten place values or how to add after all. Read some from her history book, and read the first lesson in her health book, about how people are unique. One of the activities was to talk about the student's wishes for the future...so I grabbed the video camera. Whew, this kid is a wildcard - I never in a million years would have guessed that first answer! (Never mind the Milly background noise...)

As soon as her book work was done, Rachael rushed upstairs with a piece of paper and her new pink sparkly pencil to tackle her first ever book report. I had explained the concept to her this morning, and even jotted down a sample (title, tell about the plot, did you like it and why) to make it easier for her. And I told her that she had to do one book report per week, in her own free time and without being reminded, to be turned in on Friday. This, rather than reading a particular number of books (because the girl always has her nose in a book) is how she'll earn her Book It! rewards this year, and she wasn't taking chances on forgetting about it this week! Granted, it was a less than thorough review of Green Eggs and Ham, but I'll let it slide this week. It was a wonderful first attempt. Next week, I'll request that she review something a little more meaty. ;)

I also need to take a closer look at BookAdventure.com, which offers quizzes on lots and lots of children's books and allows them to "earn points and prizes for their literary successes." Sounds like something she'd love!

Finally, after her newly-mandated daily piano practice (not too much, mind you - she doesn't have but so many pages to practice), school was over for the day. We cleaned up and the girls went outside to play while I started on supper. I thought something special and fun was in order for two little girls who had done so very well on their first day of school, so I made pizza and...

...strawberry milkshakes. :)

One last special thing wrapped up our day - the iCarly doll that Rachael had ordered online with the gift card she won from the library finally came today. I picked her up at Walmart on my way home from a Girl Scout leader's meeting, and the girls got to play with her just before bed.

Inexplicably, Rachael insisted that Carly sleep with me tonight. I'm still not sure why. She said it was because I got it for her, and I reminded her that she had actually bought it. She said it was because she wanted me to be happy, and I told her that the smile on her face made me happier than anything else. But still...she insisted. So now Carly and I are going to bed, so we'll be ready for another beautiful day tomorrow at Regalia Academy. <3

'Twas the night before homeschool...

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except for the mommy, who was printing coloring pages, browsing preschool curriculum sites and mentally gearing up to get back to work first thing in the morning. :)

My girls are both crazy excited to "go back to school" tomorrow. Milly thinks she's grown since she'll be "doing school" too - even if it is only pre-pre-school. She's mostly looking forward to playing with her new pink V-Tech laptop from Gramma! She already has a great handle on basic shapes and colors, so we'll be going over those this year, as well as learning letters and letter sounds, numbers, etc. Lots of books and songs and rhymes and art projects. I'll be piecing together a very loose "curriculum" for her from ideas on two websites - Letter of the Week (which focuses mostly on letters and numbers) and Hubbard's Cupboard (which focuses primarily on the Bible.) Both of these sites are just amazing - they have fully planned out, year-long preschool curriculums for several age groups, and there are a ton of fun ideas. If you have a little one at home, check them out!

Rachael was a little more apprehensive about the first day of school. She had it in her mind that she'd forgotten everything we'd done last year, and that she would have a test and not know any of the answers. I have no idea where she got that idea, but I assured her that there would be no tests on the first day of school! In fact, most of our first week will be spent on refresher material. But then, she's a lot like me - just having new books, even if they're school books, automatically equals fun. :)

One big change may occur at Regalia Academy this year...I'm contemplating a switch from the traditional August/September through May/June schedule to a more year-round schedule. Six weeks or so on, one week off, repeat repeat repeat. The regular breaks would keep us from getting burnt out on schoolwork, and the lack of a huge break during the summer would help us maintain a sense of normalcy. All three of us girls went a little crazy this summer with no sense of routine at all. The only big problem I have with a year-round schedule is my own little touch of OCD that requires clear-cut beginnings and endings! More about that when I reach a hard and fast decision...

For now, I'm finishing up my plans for tomorrow morning and looking forward to a fresh new school year!