First Day of School 2011

Today we kicked off our 2011 school year.  I don't think I remember a day flying by as quickly as today in a long time.  Either I'm getting old and the minutes are slipping by, or we had a lot of fun learning together.  Like the saying goes, "Time flies when you're having fun."

The plan was to ease into school today.  This is the first year I've formally drafted a schedule.  To all the unschoolers out there this is going to sound torturous, but if you have a middle schooler who needs to get through necessary required subjects, a schedule is the way to go.  Having a schedule keeps me on track too.  I tend to be an abstract random, easily distracted kind of girlie and having a check list ensures the required material gets done.  Also, on a positive note, we accomplish a lot more and the kids love the feeling of a successful, productive day.  I can tell they were happy to get back on schedule after a couple weeks of nothing much planned, fly by the seat of  your pants living.

Our schedule is drafted with ample room for grace.  We didn't even stick to it entirely today (not a big surprise for me).  Some subjects took a little longer than planned.  Some were shorter than planned.  The good news is, we were done by 1:30 leaving hours for playing outdoors!

The schedule

The day started off with photos.  Isnt' that how the first day of school goes?  I remember my mom standing me at the front door, with new school clothes on and lunch pail in hand ready for the new year.  I had to do somewhat of the same, just for posterity sake.

Our big boy is looking very big this year!

Next we hit the books.  From the interest expressed today, I'd say we did a pretty good choosing the curriculum this year.  Each child was excited to pull out their new books and get to work.  Our daughter even had a friend over this afternoon and they sat on the sofa going over all her texts.  She seemed pretty proud of her curriculum.  Maybe she's her mother's daughter.

Here's a few of our books.

This is a great planner for the homeschool teacher.

It's divided into 4 sections for 4 children.  I do one for each child and one section for "All" so I don't have to individually record what we do as a group.

After finishing our reading, bookwork, and other activities, we made sugar cookies.  My girlie loves her sugar cookies!

Making fall leaves

The start of school means fall is around the corner.

Tomorrow may be decorate the sugar cookies day as our afternoon activity.  At the end of Day 1, I'd say we're off to a good start.  Let's hope the enthusiasm continues!