First Day of School

Today was almost a perfect day! Really! Everyone was up and dressed by 7:45. The three oldest children, Kelly and myself all were able to have devotions before we gathered at the table at 8:00 for breakfast with beds all made. We shared what we had learned, had a wonderful prayer time together and a leisurely breakfast. The boys had their stuff by the door the night before, lunches were made on time and theyhad their clothes laid out. We saw these two off on the bus at 8:40, nervous, but looking forward to their day!
After those guys left the rest of us tidied up the kitchen and got ready to start our homeschool day. These are some of the things we did today. Abby and I began a study on Proverbs 31 - she will illustrate the verses and we will, hopefully, end up with a book at the end. The boys did a little math, we worked on French and read the loveliest book, Miss Fannie's Hat. It perfectly illustrated a Godly woman's love for the Lord, what a treat to have 'accidentally' found it at our public library. We took a walk down our driveway (1 mile round trip) for gym class. It was perfect harvest weather. Abby didn't realize how much 'school' she did, she kept wondering when we'd start doing things and I had to explain to her how much we'd already done! We're still waiting for our math books because I ordered the wrong one, which happens to be just right for Sasha. Her English book showed up today so we can begin work on that tomorrow.

Next week we'll begin The Prairie Primer and start reading Little House in the Big Woods, we're going to make butter from start to finish, we are so looking forward to it!
While baby was sleeping we made these! In their former life they were just a plain old notebook and binder, but no longer. Inspired by Ann at Holy Experience we took out some pretty paper, glue and stickers and had ourselves a lovely time making lovely journals to record our days together. I was very taken with Ann's idea to record what we do during the day so I can see where the blank spots are. I still have a notebook that I plan ahead in, writing notes to myself about books to request, events to watch for and so forth. I did a little of that last year with the boys but Ann's suggestions make it much easier to keep it organized and when it's in such a pretty book I can't wait to write in it!

This is the verse I put on the inside front cover, my motto for homeschooling,

"Let my teaching fall like rain

and my words descend like dew,

like showers on new grass,

like abundant rain on tender plants."

Deuteronomy 32:2

And on the front cover, "These are days of miracle and wonder." Paul Simon

The boys' reported a wonderful day at school, enjoying their teachers and classmates. A wonderful day was had by all.