This morning we will begin week two of our school year. Child number one is eating breakfast while child number two has fallen back to sleep on the couch. This may not be the most ideal way to begin a school week. You know, being half asleep (or all the way asleep) doesn't really lend itself well to the learning process. I'm not quite ready either, so I'll give her a few more minutes.
It was a grand first week of school. My gusto was a little lacking for all our first day of school traditions, but the kids love them, so, in true mommy fashion, I pressed on. Truthfully, I think it was less about school and more about where I am emotionally over the past week than anything else. Having my mom's birthday the day before we started school left me feeling less than upbeat, and it was a double whammy week with my parents' wedding anniversary on Friday. They would have celebrated 38 years. By Friday, my son's 12th birthday, I was fully immersed in covering up everything I was feeling since 12 sounds so very grown up and I was already rather off-kilter. Going to Zanesville didn't help, but I won't take the time to explain that.
Grand first week of school. That's what this post is about. I can't remember when last we began a school year so prepared for learning, so organized, so ready to get down to business.
That just can't happen without thinking about the reality that is our new normal, and our school week was definitely in the shadow of those things. There was hope in our week. I planned well. I taught well. I checked off every single thing in the plan book (I don't recall that happening since...um. I don't know). We re-established old routine and reinvented new routines successfully. We explored new curriculum and read poetry and great books about Pizzaro and Rumplestiltskin and smelly shoes. We created art projects which are displayed beautifully in my dining room and wrote first day of school journals that just make me smile. I couldn't have asked for a better week, and it has me looking forward to getting this new week of school started.
We'll be adding more into the schedule this week. Science, full history (we just read last week), and language arts all added to our daily schedule, and we're diving into a new co-op on Thursday. Between phys ed class and co-op, the children will complete four hours of school on Thursdays away from home! Ava is taking art, music, and science, and Lukas is taking guitar and science (this science will be in addition to their science at home). We'll see how it goes.
So we wrapped our first week with great success. Lukas loves his new language arts curriculum (Total Language Plus), and I had fun learning with him last week. Ava loves, loves, loves using Teaching Textbooks for math so far and has been begging to do extra lessons each day (honeymoon stage). I am already excited by what I'm seeing in both of them in just three days. They have grown, and they are ready for new challenges, and they are both rising to the task already.
These are the signs of a God-lead start to the school year, of God leading us toward the right curriculum, and that feels great. We made a lot of changes for this school year, and God is honoring that.
Because He is awesome.
And so shall this school year be.
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