The First Day of School

The first day of school for most of the state was on Thursday. Today the homeschool group I belong to had their annual school-year kickoff picnic/party for the families. I have been told that it is generally the largest attended event for the group, followed only by the end-of-year showcase.

It was a lot of fun and only brought about a mild case of stranger-anxiety for myself. The crowd was huge and lots of other children for MB to meet. So much so that it was a little overwhelming at first. After a quick trip to the playground to compose ourselves, MB jumped in to all the activities going on.

When we sat for lunch, MB introduced me to another girl that she had meet. She leaned over an whispered to me "she homeschools too." I leaned over and whispered back, "yes, everyone here homeschools." Her eyes got reall big as she looked around the picnic shelter, "Wow"

At the end of the event we had a musical performance by some members who belong to a scottish pipe and drum club in the community. The children really enjoyed it and it brought other people who were at the park over. As I was leaving a woman stopped an asked me what was going on. When I told her what it was she smiled and said, "I just wondered because I thought it would be to early in the school year for a field trip." Then she went on to tell me that her family had just returned from several years in Germany and that she had meet some hs families there through a place where she taught English. She thought it was pretty neat to see so many in one place. At this point about 2/3 of the crowd had already left.

Just after that a police crusier pulled up to find out where the music and all the kids were coming from. After they found out what was going on, they happily talked to the children and handed out the little plastic badges and other community stuff they keep on hand. A lot of interesting stuff, some expected and some unexpected.

Next week our 'school year' starts in earnest. I will be adding in the last of our regular subjects to the daily schedule, the bible study. I have picked out a book to use that is actually written for sunday school classes. It has enough different activities that we can do about 4 lessons a week to cover the book in a year. This one focuses on the various bible studies and is to be used with 4-6 year olds, but after looking through it I realized that it will not be too hard to make the lessons work to include K. My plan is to start off the day with it, with all of us participating in the lesson. Then K will have a break while I work with MB one-on-one for a little while. Then MB will have a break while I do an activity with K.

In addition to having our full complement of studies introduced we will also be starting 2 of our hs group activities. Even though we have continued to do school throughout the summer, I have that whole back-to-school, beginnings, flutter in my stomach. Not to mention the nerves of actually trying to do something new this year.

So, to start off the new year I went out tonight and purchased some little goodies of the discounted, back-to-school racks and am going to make little goody bags for the girls to have Monday morning.

For myself, to start of the new year, I would like to be able to spend most of this weekend getting cleaned and organized. We have so much STUFF. It is starting to drive me crazy. And, with the new puppy and a newly crawling baby, becoming dangerous. I have to figure out what to do with the toys, we have a lot of toys for all the age ranges and what we have the girls do play with. But we really, really need to declutter.

Then, there is all the infant stuff. I have no idea where to put it. And until the decision/action is made concerning future family members I refuse to get rid of it (I did that once already and had to replace everything). But right now, EMs room is beginning to look less, and less like a nursery and more like a storage room.

On top of all that family will be coming back through our house, as my sister and neice will be returning to the west coast so my mom will be staying with us for the weekend. I can just feel the stress beginning to climb back into my back.

Okay, instead of whining about it here, I better go and actually do something.

Peace,

Amy