This week we had our first official day of "school." Since we homeschool, we were able to postpone our start date to coincide with the end of our summer travels.
Because I greatly enjoyed the hedonistic free-for-all that was our summer has been, I was a bit apprehensive about making the transition from Mommy to Teacher. I honestly did not expect the day to go well.
The girls were actually excited about going back to (home)school, a drastic change from last year’s online school that stressed us all out.
After breakfast and chores were over, Adelaide rang our little brass school bell and we commenced. We sang the good morning song and wrote the date on the whiteboard in the classroom.
Then the girls made up our class rules to post on the wall. With no coaxing from me, they made this list. I couldn’t have done better myself!
1 - No B.A. (bad attitudes)
2 - Obey
3 - Focus
4 - Be kind
5 - Have fun!
Sadie and Josie then grabbed their math notebooks, Jed played on the floor and Adelaide busied herself with Play-doh. After math, they took a break to run around outside and then we did our reading/spelling/language.
They loved the math. The curriculum we chose included lots of little teeny blocks in a rainbow of colors, and they raced through the first 10 pages in their books without ever slowing down.
Amazingly, I didn't hear any complaints about the writing parts either. Sadie even made a joke: one of her spelling words was "Duck." She had to read it twice, once in block print and once in cursive. So of course after she read, "Duck, duck” she added in “goose." We couldn’t stop giggling about that for a long time.
Next we headed to the kitchen where they chose from the new "What's for Lunch?" board on the fridge (a ready-made menu of what they can have, so I don’t have to play Twenty Questions three different times. I guess that would make it Sixty Questions.)
Sadie made her favorite chili beans and Josie (insisting on wearing a plastic hair-covering “like the lady at Sam’s Club”) and Adelaide made themselves bean and cheese burritos. While we ate, we talked about goals for the year.
In addition to getting through our math, reading and other subjects for the year, Josie wants to focus on swimming, karate, learning to read and memorizing the poem Hiawatha's Childhood.
Sadie wants to learn more ballet, memorize the names of lots of animal groups (did you know a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance?), learn proper swimming techniques and take horseback riding lessons.
Adelaide wants to learn her ABCs, her shapes and how to swim.
After lunch, we headed outside to a blanket under our big tree. Josie practiced Hiawatha while making up tribal dances on the driveway. Every time she starts reciting she announces, “Hiawatha, by Henry B. Swap.”
Henry B. Swap was a character in a book we read last year. He was the very first Henry she ever “met,” so now she can’t seem to switch over from “B. Swap” to “Wadsworth Longfellow.” It cracks me up every time.
Later we had blueberry popsicles, ran through the sprinkler, read stories and blew bubbles.
When I checked over their work that night, I saw that one of the questions on Sadie’s language worksheet was “What is your teacher’s name?” She had filled in, very carefully, “Mom.”
Not bad for a first day. Not bad at all.
from my 9/18/11 article for www.mentorpatch.com
