Kicking Off The School Year - Kindergarten and 2nd

Lets face it. Every year I cannot believe they are this old. I'm pretty sure I will be in denial their entire lives. So, here we go with the start of another school year.

School Photo Shoot
So, as I was talking to Brittany (GCA friends, Savannah and Charlie's mom) a few weeks ago, she told me she was trying to find a photographer to take Charlie's pictures for going in to Kindergarten. She had a photo shoot for Savannah when she went into K, and you know how we moms like to make things as even as we can! So, I volunteered to do our own little shoot in the backyard right before meet the teacher. (They live an hour away...so that made the most sense!) I already had everything we needed, so it was mostly quick and easy. Oh, and this also meant my kids were going to have a school photo shoot this year. ;)

Meet The Teacher
We enjoyed getting a chance to see where the classrooms were located and meeting each child's teacher. GCA did a great job this year having the event well-organized. We even had a little schedule with our own folder and everything! :) The excitement was in the air as the student saw each other again and they were all smiles.

Makin's Classroom...although I think she already rearranged.

2nd Grade Sisters, Lorelei, Savannah and Peyton with their Kindergarten brothers,
Makin, Charlie and Grayson

Driving home from meet the teacher, Lorelei with her new reader.
"Can you please stop talking mom? I'm trying to read."

First Home School Day
This day went okay. I knew it would definitely take a while to get used to juggling both lessons, although I still don't feel great when it doesn't go as smoothly as I would like! The first thing I learned the first day...each child needs their own lessons plans printed separately! :)
We headed to the lake to celebrate that afternoon!

First Day At GCA

Both kids had great first days.

I feel like Makin was really prepared for Kindergarten. I'm thankful he seemed to have gotten his nerves out of his system going to preschool last year. I think it also helped that he was making copies with me second semester, so he was familiar with the school building and the teachers. I was so, so thankful. He was feeling: brave, old, funny and excited.

I got a report from an inside source the second week of school saying that Makin was a great leader in his class and his teacher was so thankful for him. Words a mom loves to hear. :)

Lorelei was excited to see her friends again at school, but was nervous that second grade was going to be too hard. She was also worried about having a different teacher, and what she would be like. I loved what she talked to me about a day or two before school. "Do you know what I'm going to do at recess the first day? Play with the new kids because they won't know anyone!" Friendship is very important to her and I love that she wants to include everyone. She was feeling: nervous, curious, happy and older.

She really loves her teacher this year as well. She seems like fun, easy-going lady who is perfect for second graders!

Makin chose a sports mat for his quiet time for K.
The football turns into a pillow.

I'm so proud I finally have the mental clarity
 to remember these bags for my grocery shopping!

I have to laugh (or I'll just cry) at the people who say, "Well, what's mom going to do?" While I did have the opportunity to apply for a teaching position at GCA, we did not feel it would be a good fit for our family this year. Attempting to juggle teaching two days a week, plus the side work that goes with planning/responding to parents the other three days, along with home-schooling my own kids three days just overwhelmed me. I knew I could not be the wife and mother I need to be with all of that on my plate So, for this year, I'm going to enjoy two days of being able to volunteer a few hours at the school, run errands kid free, clean my house without interruption and possibly even get in some personal time for lunches/coffees/reading. We don't know what next year will bring, but I'm so thankful for this schedule this year.

Home School Moments

A few minutes of quiet while they both work on handwriting.
Typically I wouldn't want them doing this at the same time, but that was the timing of the day.

Making soup, which later turned into a stinky Scentsy to scare away the wasps.
While it can be distracting, I love that our schedule permits them to still be kids playing in the dirt throughout the day.

Taking math off the page and onto the driveway. :)

Snails - The kids found a tiny snail (likely not the same one every day...) now named Snaily (of course) and have just been loving studying snails and bugs lately. This is how they spend most of their "recess" in between lessons. Lorelei also walked in with a "class pet" one morning, which was a roly poly in a jar. I feel like I have gotten lots of reminders this first week of why I love this model of schooling. So many of these little moments. (Attempting to balance two kid's lessons is why I need these reminders!)

One of my challenges with Makin would be I feel he gets a bit neglected with his school work. While I always go through his lessons with him, he is often still playing legos part of the time because Lorelei's school work takes longer. One morning morning he woke up 45 minutes before his sister, so we seized the chance to start on his first lesson. It was wonderful having undivided attention on him for his work. Kinda crossing my fingers this could happen more often!!!

This picture also shows our new rewards system we are trying this year. For the kid's two least favorite/toughest subjects they have a chance to earn tickets. So far it is working really well. It is great for them to have something to earn to add a little happy to their school day every 2-3 weeks. The rewards vary, they have lots of choices ranging from reading a book by the fire to getting a longer recess for 10 tickets. There are some 20 ticket rewards as well if they decide to save up, like a quick donut run.

One of my goals this school year is to really take advantage of our flexible schedules and have more fun with the home-schooling aspect. This worked out wonderfully this week, when we finished all of our lessons before lunch and had our best home-day yet. Brad had worked some off hours so could take some time and come with us to the lake. So blessed with all of our flexibility to be able to do this as a family!