We survived the first day of the new school year! You would think that after doing this for a while (I’m beginning my twelfth year), I wouldn’t be so nervous. But, since I do have several years’ experience, I know that things don’t always go according to plan…in fact, they practically never do. That means I just have to roll with it. Since I’m a “planning” type person, this “rolling” is difficult. *sigh*  I’m a work in progress.

Already, I can see that we’re going to need to tweak some things along the way. But I’ve learned that life is really about having a strong “Plan B”. Every year, I see that the Lord has something for me to learn from homeschooling.

We began the day with our yearly ritual: PHOTOS!

Growing up: L-R: Mitchell, Laci, Leslie, Lauren, Matthew

Lauren, 11th

Mitchell, 8th

Leslie, 5th

Laci, 3rd

Matthew, Kindergarten

He did this on his own, and I thought it made a cute photo. 🙂

All ready for day one!

Of course, I wanted to snap a photo of Matt doing his first day of Kindergarten. Shortly after I took this, he was coloring and said, “Do you think you should video this?” Oh boy! We all cracked up! I think I’ve been taking too many videos and photos of him! (blushing) He had the other kids laughing at his facial expressions and comments. For example, he shouted out “WOOOOOHOO!” as we all gathered for prayer time. While I was telling him about the letter “I”, he said, “I love you, Mom!” and gave me a kiss! I can see that I’ll have to work with him before the others start their day because he’s too much of an adorable distraction. One good thing is that he’s done with his work quickly.

We began using Notgrass History (and Bible and Literature) for the older ones today. So far, so good! I liked seeing Mitchell and Leslie sharing the book to complete their respective assignments.

It felt like a long day, but really, we were all done by noon. I still had some grading to do, and the preparation for the next day, but that didn’t take long. I’m a little nervous about how it will go when we have piano lessons, band practice and sports practices to work around. I’m reminding myself to just take one day at a time! I think that’s what my Father has written in my assignment book. 🙂

With love,