1st Day of School

So I'm a little late for the "first day of school" post. But we did indeed start school. Another year of homeschool. I went into it kicking and screaming... somewhat literally. The result of my tantrum was quite worth it. I figured I usually end up at some point in the year kicking and screaming so might as well get it out of the way in the beginning :) My fit lead me to change my curriculum all together.  I have a close friend who is doing Tapestry of Grace with her girls who are Taylor's age. In my mind I was going to wait till Rylee was in first grade to begin such a program but I just wasn't satisfied with what I had.   I knew that somehow I had to have T, T & R studying the same subjects as much as possible if I was going to make it through sane.  I took a very fast crash course in Tapestry, found the curriculum used, the Lower Grammar books were offered up for me to borrow (PRAISE GOD) and I went ahead and purchased all the upper grammar books for Taylor. Let me just say this was the BEST DECISION EVER! We are on week 8 and loving every minute. It's just so rich! Taylor gets deeper into the subjects with her reading while I stay mostly on the surface with Trevor & Rylee but I don't feel like I have my hands all over the place. Each week, all three kids study the same thing. For instance, we just finished up learning about the vikings and onto the crusaders. I like Tapestry because it takes what I love about the classical approach and using living books approach and combines it all together. Once you learn how to read through the teacher's manual it's really easy to lesson plan for the week. In addition, unbeknownst to me, there are three other families in our church that are doing the same year in Tapestry. We are combining together to do a big medieval feast to celebrate the end of unit 1 in mid-november. Let the costume making begin.

So keeping in first day of school tradition I made pancakes for the kids. I found these awesome pancake molds 75% off at Williams Sonoma and knew they'd make my star wars loving kids happy. Here's what the pictures looks like. Beautiful fluffy pancakes.



My, *ahem*, second attempt at making these. Which took up ALL of my pancake batter. Here kids.... here's one pancake for you all to share. I think Chris was waiting for is this a "laugh it off moment" or is this a "she's going to cry". I wasn't too sure which one it would be myself. I was a little fragile those early days of starting school. Thankfully I had grace to laugh.



Just to keep myself humble... here was my first attempt. Who knew the pancake would get terribly stuck in the mold. Nice. Now you can laugh at me too.


It was ironic how much my pancakes reflect my efforts in homeschooling. I start out with this great, glorious picture of what school will look like. The reality is more like my second picture. A faithful attempt. I'm doing good if I can keep it from looking like the last picture :) It was good for me. Kill all my expectations of what we can accomplish on day one and aim for faithfulness. Looking back at the past couple months I can say that's what we done... faithful. So here are my students.

Reading at a 2nd grade level, Rylee. I love this kid. She's all kindergartner with her ability to still still and focus, or lack there of, but boy once she does is this girl smart. She can read like none of the others have been able to this early on! What a blessing. So basically kindergarten is over for her and everything else this year is extra :) Takes the pressure off of mom.



My math whiz kid, Trevor. Starting the first grade. I'm super pleased with how well his reading skills have progressed! I think he is feeling the challenge of having his younger sister reading so well. Nothing like getting some competition for a boy :) He is super smart in Math! Working on a third grade math book right now. He so impresses me with his ability to remember and work with numbers. Didn't get that from me that's for sure. That's ALL Chris.


And Taylor. The reader, writer, singer, loves mysteries, Taylor. She is eating up her new Tapestry program. Devouring every book given to her.


There they are. My three school beauties. Some days I love them, some days they make me cry... but all in all I wouldn't trade teaching them at home for anything.





After school was over we took them to the Peoria Space Challenger Center. We are studying astronomy this year for science so this was a way to kick it off! Nothing like a field trip on the first day of school.















For those of you who are interested in school type stuff we are using Tapestry of Grace, Year 2 for history/literature/worldview/church history
Apologia Astronomy for Science- LOVE IT!
First Language Lessons for T & R
Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading for T & R
A Reason for Handwriting for T & R
Taylor is using IEW for writing. They have a Medieval ages writing curriculum that goes nicely with our Tapestry.
Trev & Tay are using Teaching Textbooks for Math and Rylee is using Horizons K

Pictures of our salt map, scrolls, castles, knight drawings, and solar system to come :)