It has been quite the summer!!
Over the last six weeks we have welcomed Keith home from Korea, packed up our home in Kansas, and moved into our new home in El Paso, Texas. Keith started his new job and this week the kids and I began a new year of homeschool.
Whew!! There is so much filling the in-betweens of all of those big events in our lives.
So much to be told at another time or in a scrapbook page.
Right now, I just want to celebrate the beginning of a new school year with my crew! It was a great week and I am so thankful for that. I’m actually looking forward to this school year and the slower pace that we’re taking in it.
I’m going to be sharing about our curriculum choices for this year in the next several blog posts.
Today, I would love to share with you some of the keys to our successful first week.
First of all, I have put some traditions in place to make the first day of school special.
Each year, I buy the kids a first day of school outfit and some special school supplies. This is something that I personally looked forward to when I was in school. Last Friday, I braved Target with my four kiddos for school supply shopping.
We also have a tradition of having a special breakfast on the first day of school. My husband goes into work a little later (if he can) to enjoy this special breakfast with us.
And we take lots of “first day of school” photos to commemorate the special day.
Another key to our successful first week of homeschool is that we have a “slow start”.
For the first week of school, I just focused on covering our Sonlight cores and math each day. This week, I’m adding in our language arts supplements (grammar, spelling and reading). Then next week I’ll add in our science curriculum.
This slow start allows us to ease into the routines of school without getting overwhelmed.
The third key to our successful start, is celebrating at the end of the week.
I planned an even lighter day on Friday, so that we would finish up early. Then we went out for our favorite frozen yogurt at Menchie’s. This was a great ending to our first week of school!!
Our first week of school left me looking forward to another week and even the entire year ahead. For that I am extremely grateful!!!
We have not experienced such a successful first week of school every year. In fact, there have been several years that I can remember tears (theirs and mine) on our very first day.
I’m looking forward to another week of finding out routines and rhythms. I’m looking forward to the slower pace of this year. And I’m looking forward to learning and growing with my kids throughout this year of homeschool.