Back to School

I originally had planned to officially start our new school year on August 29, but in light of the fact that we are going on vacation for a week in September, I decided to declare August 22 our first day back. This is my first year of keeping track of school days because in Pennsylvania you have to keep track once the child is eight years old. Today was technically Nadia's 18th day of school because I counted things like our field trip to the Museum of American History (in DC) as days of school. What I meant by "first day" of school was that today we did all the subjects (except for art). Oliver wanted to be doing school work also. He took GREAT pride in declaring himself a kindergartner. I kept telling him FOUR year old kindergarten. Hopefully he won't be disappointed to still be in kindergarten next year when he's five. Anyhow he did a really awesome job with his cutting and some coloring by letter pages. We are hoping that maybe next Monday night we can have dinner at Bonanza (meaning he learns all his letters by then). Ian finished his schoolwork in 90 minutes which was awesome - science, Bible, social studies, math, reading, handwriting, and spelling. He had regressed some with his reading skills over the summer, but otherwise I didn't notice much regression. He is reading me the 27th Magic Tree House book - Thanksgiving on Thursday, which I picked to prepare him for our trip to Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower next month.

Nadia woke up the latest, and we had to leave at 10:45 for her appointment at church, which meant she wasn't done before lunch as usual. She met with the church's lower elementary children's director for about 40 minutes to discuss the meaning of baptism and to make sure Nadia really is ready to be baptized. She passed the "test" and is scheduled to be baptized on September 25! After lunch Nadia finished most of her work, but before she finished we walked to the playground for the first time in months. It was only in the 70's so I opted for the playground rather than the swimming pool although the pool is only open a few more days this summer. It felt great to get a little exercise, although I still miss running. When we got home Nadia finished her last few math problems and practiced her piano a little before dinner. The boys had their first soccer practice on Thursday night, but Nadia's first practice was this evening. The boys and I dropped her off at 5:30, and Paul will be picking her up at 7:00, hopefully. Her U10 practices are on Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30-7:00, and the boys practices are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the U10 level they have goalies, which will be a new experience for Nadia.

As I got out my camera I realized I hadn't used it for 10 days as the last picture I had taken was at the Kalahari Resort on August 12. Ian still said he wanted to work for the Lego company (what he said last year as well), but Nadia changed from astronaut to teacher. Oliver doesn't seem to have any ideas yet so I didn't do that picture with him yet.

I am hoping and praying that the kids and I will have a great year together. Although there are a few days now and then where I wish I was sending them on a school bus (like last Friday), the vast majority of the time I am thrilled to be able to homeschool them. The subject Nadia is adding to the routine this year is Language arts (meaning more time on grammar and writing skills). I also plan to start teaching her to play the recorder later in the year. Similarly, Ian's new "subject" this year will be the start of piano lessons. I gave Nadia and Ian a challenge to earn a trip to Friendly's (since Oliver has been working to earn the family a trip to Bonanza) - Ian needs to be more thankful (less whining and complaining) and Nadia needs to show more perseverance. She gets frustrated very quickly if something isn't really easy for her. She also is prone to starting MANY things (books, crafts, etc.) but not finishing them.

 To see how much the kids have grown lately - here is the back to school post from last year and the one from two years ago.

I am doing Bible, art, and social studies with Ian and Nadia together, but for all the other subjects they are each doing their own thing. Nadia is the only one doing Spanish or typing (she does both on my laptop  and just does one of those each day). I read aloud to all three of them. In Bible I am planning to read the majority of the Old Testament to Nadia and Ian this year. We did Genesis 1 today. We are studying Creation to the Greeks in Bible/Social Studies. All three kids will hopefully enjoy the many field trips we plan to take! A few upcoming field trips include a trip to Lancaster this week, a trip to Hershey on September 21, Landis Valley Museum on October 20, Port Discovery and the Maryland Science Center on October 21, Mystic Seaport on September 10, Plimoth Plantation on September 14, Museum of Science and Boston Children's Museum on September 11, etc.