... And Go!!!!

We are 2 days into our new school year and things are running as smoothly as I would expect from a new year. I feel more confident as we have one year of homeschooling under our belts. I've spent my summer planning and preparing, coming up with ideas and revising plans. Yesterday all 4 kids were home for our first day of school. Papa Goose was also home as he worked the late shift last night. I'm so glad he was home to offer a helping hand. Especially since I ended up kind of overloading our first day when I found out what the preschool schedule was and that they were not starting next week, like I'd figured but today. I had a lot of things they'd all enjoy as we're starting our year studying colors (a launch off the first homeschool program's class of colors). I learned a bit of how things would flow yesterday and rearranged the rest of the week accordingly.

We started our day with inspecting our new school room and seeing all the hidden supplies I'd tucked into the desks. We said the Pledge of Allegiance and took first day of school pictures. The pictures then went into "Star Student" frames we made. We then decorated posters I ordered that are all about the things the kids currently like- favorite color, what they want to be when they grow up, etc. It was a classroom-sized pack of posters but will be a fun thing for the kids to do year to year and see how their likes change.

We started on the Colors of the Rainbow Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child. The differences in how dilegently the kids work and attention spans really showed! We had a special snack of Smarties and M&M's for the first day. It was supposed to be Lucky Charms in a bag with a cute label that said "Lucky to have you in my class" that I found as a free printable online. It was really going to be cute until we found we were out of Lucky Charms! On to Plan B (OK, create plan B).

We did the first lesson in Roadtrip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler. The kids aren't too into for right now. When we get to Washington DC and the states, it's going to grab their attention far more!

We did our first PE lesson, assessments, from Family Time Fitness. We did leave off some of the assessments (really, we have a 6, 4, 3, and 2 year old so there are some things that are just a bit beyond them!).

Bug finished her day with her first reading assignment (using Scott Foresman reading books bought used online. Yes, they are for classroom use, but I really liked the cross-curricular components of them and am finding ways to make most of it work for us) and spelling (spelling list #1 consists of color words).

It was a busy day, and the first day we used our workboxes which are really metal magazine holders from Ikea. We liked that they were metal and sturdy, fit nicely on top of the kids Ikea PS desks, and are magnetic, like they're desks.

Today we started our second day taking Buddy to preschool for the first time. He did great, being super-excited and all smiles from drop off to pick up. He can't wait to go back. We started school a bit late as I misjudged how long it would take me to get lunches ready and in the fridge before we started class.

We are off now to do one last activity that I wanted to wait for Buddy for. So far, so good. The new school year has begun and is off to a great start!