A Classic Housewife in a Modern World

Though our first “official” school day on the calendar was on Monday (Labor Day), our first “real” school day came bright and early Tuesday morning, up before the sun – or so it seemed with the overcast skies that came in with the rain storms from Tropical Storm Hermine. But the pouring (and POURING!) rain did little to nothing to dampen the spirits of my kiddos who hopped out of bed asking where their brand new 1st Day outfits were and “when were the pancakes going to be ready?” Seriously I have NEVER seen my children that eager to start school! (There really is something to making the first day more special, huh?)

We started with mini pancakes & juice boxes, moved on to first day pictures (and silly pictures!!) and then we had a light school day with some calendar work, mental math, reading, picture bingo, coloring, (napping,) and then we wrapped up with science. Things went pretty well & then it all got wrapped up with Princess picking up her new glasses so that she can now SEE her lessons better!

Today we did history instead of science, which we also enjoyed, and got some more organizing of our school space done–so now it’s just almost as tidy & organized as I want it to be. We haven’t started on time so far this week, but we’re starting slow and steady anyway. By the end of the week we should be doing a full day’s work in all the subjects and starting by 9 am. (We’ll see how that goes.)

All in all – not a bad start to the school year! I sure hope it continues that way! =)

EDITED!! OOH! I almost forgot to remind y’all — I said I have something exciting coming this week and I do! I’ll be letting y’all in on it FRIDAY.

This week’s Curr-Click freebie is a ebook called “Organize Your Homeschool” by LeBedz Publishing. Their summary:

“Does it take you half an hour to find the grammar book each morning? Do the kids take five minutes to find and sharpen a pencil? Many people ask, “Why bother to organize? It is too much work!” That has an easy answer: organization equals peace and consistency! In addition, I think that it is much less work to teach in an organized space than to try to find space and tools to teach every day. You reap what you sow: sow peace and efficiency into your homeschool to reap peace and effectiveness. This e-book shows you how to set up an organized homeschool space, even if it’s your kitchen table. You’ll discover the top ten tools and how to use them. You’ll finally be able to tackle the mountain of art projects and math papers. You’ll learn how planning ahead can save you time and energy without being restrictive, and more.”

I’m getting more and more organized with our homeschool anyway, but the title certainly caught my eye so I downloaded it. (I have a weakness for freebies!) There are pages and pages of tips and suggestions in this ebook – from organizing your thoughts, to organizing your supplies to organizing your paperwork for the state (if you need to do that.) I’ve scanned it over and I’m already sure that I’m going to find at least a tip or two that I can implement right away.

Ordinarily $5.95, this ebook is free for the rest of this week — Check it out here.

I’ve got something exciting coming next week!! I just thought I’d give you that little tease.

Just one little hint: It will appeal to Moms with kids with spelling words. =D *waggles eyebrows*

Check back Monday to see what it is!!

I had a little mini panic today. People all over Facebook and Twitter were talking about their first day of school and I immediately wanted to hyperventilate as I thought about our fast approaching first day!! *breathe in, breath out*

Originally planned for next Monday, hubs and I agreed to move it to the following Monday because of some things on the calendar that will make starting school next week extra difficult. So I get an extra week! Yay! And I feel like I need it, too. I still need to order our history curriculum and I’m not mentally ready or prepared to take off with our new schedule and there’s a million tiny little things I want to get done before we begin. AHH!!

*breathe in, breathe out!*

I’m actually feeling much better after a very productive day though! So much better. I spent today pouring over the table of contents of each lesson book and creating a spreadsheet for our first semester. (Number of lessons divided by 36 weeks gives a minimum number of lessons per week, plotted all on a row in a spreadsheet makes for easy lesson planning at the beginning of each week.) I still need to order our history curriculum but at least now I have a rough sketch for each week and I’m prepared to make more detailed lesson plans for our first week back to school.

We also rearranged and cleaned the school corner today and there’s really only a few minor things I still need to do in that area. For example, I still need to print & laminate coins for our calendar activities, plan and create a “Pursuit of Education” trivia review game (think Trivial Pursuit meets homeschool for multiple grades.) I need to print and laminate handwriting sheets for each of the kiddos. {Side-Note: I’m doing something completely “radical” and letting them choose their handwriting method (Dnealian, Zaner-Bloser, etc.) and printing off the alphabet in that style for them to refer to during lessons. I don’t mind which they choose, the only catch is they have to *DO* it. Radically crazy, right? Letting them choose their handwriting style? I mean.. IMAGINE THAT. }

Unfortunately, I have to wait for a new toner cartridge to arrive so all printing is on hold until that comes in. Until then I have time to fill in the lesson plans for our first week and plan our trivia game (for use either mornings or weekly, I haven’t decided.) I’m really going to put some thought into that project. =) I think I need card file boxes for each child, tabbed dividers for each subject and then we can create flash card style question cards throughout the year as they learn, to be added to the box. Cards need to get shuffled frequently to keep them mixed and they’d need to get a score piece for each subject to win. How does that sound for starters? Yeah.. I’ll keep working on it.

So…I’m still not ready but I am also OH. SO. GLAD. that I still have two weeks!

I sometimes day dream about yellow school buses and shiny lunch boxes. I remember how much I loved the first day of school, dressing up in new clothes, carrying my new backpack… HAPPY to go back to school for another year.

I was ONE OF THOSE.

I loved school. No, I loved seeing my friends at school. Yes. That was it. I sort of enjoyed some of my classes. I drudged or yawned through some of the others. I enjoyed ALL the electives (because, again, I was ONE OF THOSE.)

The best part was sitting around with friends before school started or chatting at lunch, or hanging in the library during study period.

Clearly – it was all about the socializing.

Because I’m also one of those social butterfly types. I had a lot of friends, A FAIR AMOUNT of drama, a handful of enemies at any given time and pretty good grades. School was never the hell hole for me that it can be for some students. (That it was for some people that I knew.)

And because I enjoyed it so much, I get nostalgic when “back to school” rolls around and kids start picking out their school clothes and talking about their new teachers. Just because I home school doesn’t mean that I hate public school, doesn’t mean that I don’t smile at all the cool “back to school” stuff in the stores.

But for all the fond memories, beckoning school supplies, and adorable young children lining up to go off to school in their hand picked 1st day outfits, it’s not enough to draw me back to the public school setting.

I didn’t choose to homeschool because of bad public school experiences. I’m not going to choose to public school because of good ones (especially since none of them have to do with the actual quality of education and more to do with passing notes and cute clothes.)

One might ask, “If you enjoyed it so much why aren’t you sending your kids there, too?”

I realize that these are the fond childhood memories I have because those are the childhood experiences I had. My children will have a completely different set of childhood experiences – they will look back and remember different good things and bad things. That’s a part of childhood, it’s inevitable. I just want to make sure that there are plenty of good things. I want my kids to look back and overall say that they enjoyed being homeschooled.

I get to thinking about those fond things again. Hanging out with my friends. The first day of school. New school wardrobes. New backpacks and lunchboxes. Extracurricular classes. We can have all that. We should.

As we prepare for the new school year on August 30, I need to start thinking about these things. We’ve always done a special breakfast on the first day of school, sometimes we take pictures, sometimes I forget. This year I definitely want to take first day of school pictures, in brand new first day of school clothes, with new school supplies, after having a special breakfast. Why? What’s the point?

Memories, dude, memories! Special memories don’t happen by themselves.

The first day of school was special because it was unlike the other days before it – though there were many days like it after it. Our first day won’t be special by itself, unless we make it a day different from the days before it, a day set apart from the rest of the days that are to come.

What special things do you do to set the first day of school apart? What are your favorite traditions or your new traditions you are trying out this year?

Photo Credit: Via Caitlinator on Flickr, with CC 2.0