First day of school and a rocky start.

[mommy4ever]

We started school today

 

My older girls were so excited.

 

DD11 was gungho, trying hard to be patient for her workboxes to be ready. She worked well, and asked only a couple questions, the workboxes are doing fantastic.

 

She got to art and the tears started, in school she had minimal art. Last spring we were very free and exploratory with art. This year she chose to be with an academy, much like Seton or other ones like it. She found out she'd have to submit a sample and she lost it. She was so looking forward to this and now she's running scared, freaking out. She doesn't want to do the academy anymore. We can opt out of art with the school, not a big deal, but I don't want her to think we can just drop things because she doesn't care for them, without giving a real effort.

 

DD13 stuff is still a mess, we haven't received everything yet, the website not yet updated, as they don't technically start until the 1st. But she is doing a few things with the academy now.

 

DD6 was excited to start but just a few minutes in she's crying it's too hard. Well, of course it's too hard if you just grab and go and don't look at directions..lol. Of course, she has a friend here in the home daycare that was supposed to have brought her school work(because she was behind in school) and didn't, so she has nothing to do, so it interferes. I'm getting her to sit down to whiz through a few things here shortly.

 

OH, well, it'll get better, we'll get more organized for the kids once the academy is settled. The teachers are just getting back to me about various things.I'm really rethinking how we'll do things next year already.

 

Hopefully it all eases up as they relax into it. They want to do it all, now..lol. :lol: It's just not what they expected. Well, not what dd11 anticipated. DD13 was ok with it all. DD6 will be fine, she just wants to be more independent than she is capable of.

 

Tomorrow is a new day. And mom will recharge and reboot, and start the day with a smile again.

[Faithr]

It is best to ease into things, which it sounds like circumstances are forcing you to do. But frankly I wouldn't make the art academy issue into a character thing, just because you don't like someone's approach, doesn't mean you are giving up, it just means you don't like their approach. I think it is crazy to require an 11 yo to submit an example. That to me is a red flag right there.

 

Anyway, relax and have fun, things are often bumpy at first but smooth out as expectations meet reality.

[mommy4ever]

Well, the day shaped up not so bad. In the afternoon, dd6 decided she was ready to work and we did everything but the planned lapbook project, which is fine. She did it with a smile and a ton of giggles. I'm not sure what the difference was, but it was.

 

We chatted with dd11, and we decided to speak with the instructors to find an acceptable substitute for the art projects that are causing distress, and not quit the whole thing, as many projects she is interested in.

 

And dd13 remained ms. Mellow all day :) She is going to be a joy to have home this year. This is her first year homeschooling. The other 2 started in the spring.