Anyone else have their first day of school today? How'd it go?

[Halcyon]

We school year round, but August is very light, so I consider today our first day of school. It went great! Older got through everything on his list--all in took about 4 hours. Younger read an entire chapter book (one of the Rainbow Fairies books) and also did his Spelling, reading comp, math and history. We are all feeling happy here, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop around day 4 :lol: Posted more about it on my blog

 

How was YOUR day?

Edited August 24, 2010 by Halcyon

[Annie Laurie]

Not the greatest. But that's okay, we took a longer break than usual and I think we'll be returning to year round schooling- it was hard on them getting back into gear. We'll take the next two weeks to slowly ramp it up.

 

http://independenceacademy.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-day-of-school.html

[Amy+2]

Not so great here, either. Ugh. Why do I do this again?!?!:tongue_smilie:

 

We do light schoolwork through the summer so it's not so hard to get back in the groove. Maybe I need to rethink "light" schoolwork and go full guns year round so I don't slip into this funk. :glare:

 

I only have two, yes two. Two boys who are COMPLETE and TOTAL opposites. My worst fears always seem to come true when I try so hard to do most of the work together. It just is not. going. to. work. Try as I may, it just doesn't happen. I cannot seem to find the balance, nor the bliss at this point in the juncture.:lol: I guess it's back to the drawing board for a new game plan. I may have to rethink workboxes. Somehow I always seem to be talking and helping and searching with everything and by noon I am DONE. I need to pull my big girl pants on and get down to business. More organization, more independence, more chocolate, I don't know where to begin. One would think after homeschooling for 5 years, the 6th year would just flow smoothly...:tongue_smilie::001_huh:

[Tiberia]

We had a pretty good day. I added a mini-trampoline to the classroom, so dd6 gets to jump for spelling and math. She really liked that, and requested more spelling words!

 

WWE1 went fine, considering it was our first day with a new book. We will start First Language Lessons 2 and Song School Latin tomorrow.

 

The highlight of the day was the "archeological dig" in the sand box to go along with SOTW1. DD and DH dug up some "artifacts" and cleaned them and "restored" them (glued broken cup together). It was a simple thing, but dd LOVED the joy of discovery and piecing together the artifacts.

 

So, I'm happy with today.

[Food4Thought]

We had our first day today. It went much smoother than I expected! Mondays are light days, as we ease into the week. DS totally *loved* Daily Language Review and was thrilled to get back into Math Mammoth work. I'll introduce history tomorrow and science on Wednesday.

 

Today was my first day with the filing system, and DS totally loved seeing what we will do this week (I showed him everything, so he knew what to expect). DD stayed at the table with us and drew pictures too. I also started a chore chart system (using fridge magnets), and both kids happily did all the chores that were assigned.

 

I only hope the rest of the days will go so well. :)

[kpnick in nc]

Good day! Had decorations up and breakfast cookies made before DS woke up (DD was up at 6:30!). Made it through our schedule, with very little struggle - DS did preschool for past 3 years, while I worked pt, so this will be our first year with all-week, hopefully-consistent schedule.

DD2 could not make up her mind whether she wanted to feel like she's doing school or go off and play on her own. I'm sure when the novelty wears off, she'll get settled. We have all year to get into that groove, I guess!:)

[delaney]

We started by going to IHOP and the girls got pedicures to ease the pain of not joining their friends at the bus stop this year. After that we came home and I introduced them to the various things we will be doing in small bits so they are familiar. I actually spent the most time on history! I did the first reading in SOTW2 and went to the library to get a ton of books. Tomorrow we will go more into math and reading more and continue with history by starting the lapbooks. They love the cut and paste stuff!

[Miss Marple]

Yes! My 9th and 10th graders survived - I didn't even yell at them...not once! And we got it all done. Now I'm driving them and friends to the pool (bribing works well around here).

[thowell]

Great day here! We are using the filing system with workboxes. The kids loved thier new workboxes. They had everything finished by 11:45 except Spelling and Science which we do together after lunch. We took a break until about 12:30 and then finished up spelling (today was our first lesson with WRTR) and science. WWE2 was a huge success with dd11! All in all today was great. Oh, I also made up these cards with the names of different programs we have on the computer. Each child was instructed that if they didn't have anything to do that could be done independently and I was busy with someone else they were to pull a card a set the timer for 15 minutes. Once they are done I am finished working with whomever I was with. This worked GREAT! Dd7 played Math Heroes for 15 minutes and later in the day dd11 played Timez Attacks! No interruptions for me and no wasted time for them!!!!!

[Wendy Inman]

It went great! We added 2 new things this year so far... CW Aesop and cursive... and yet we were done way earlier than i had thought! DS and I were happy throughout the day :)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We had a rough day. DS is one of those kids that if his day doesn't start right he is quite cranky for the rest of the day. His morning did not start out right. Between that and 2yo dd's potty mishap this morning the day did not start well. We weren't able to get everything done that I had planned, but the things that we did do went well.

[skueppers]

This was our first day ever of formal school. It had its ups and downs.

 

We dropped her younger brother off at preschool around 8am (his first day of preschool for the year), and then headed to a cafe for second breakfast, something we both thought would be a nice "first day of school" activity.

 

Since the weather was nice, we went to a nearby playground with the idea that she could do school interspersed with running around. Our house is about 30 minutes away from the school, so I'm experimenting with trying to find places to do schoolwork that don't require us to go back home every day.

 

This would have been fine, if a wasp hadn't decided to keep visiting us. She's scared of wasps (and was stung by one earlier this summer), so it was bad for her concentration. We also had challenges with her getting upset when she didn't know something immediately. This is an ongoing problem, but she was especially fragile about it today.

 

We left the park to get away from the wasp, but the library we intended to go to was closed until 1pm due to budget cuts. Oops! So we did a bit more work in the car, and then picked up her brother.

 

Sum total of schoolwork accomplished today:

 

* She completed one Miquon Lab sheet, on subtraction.

* I read one chapter of a book on Antarctica aloud.

* She spent 15 minutes reading a book about penguins aloud.

* She found the South Pole in our atlas and marked its position on her map of Antarctica.

* She read the first 35 of the 100 "sight words" Kindergartners in our local schools are expected to know by the end of the year, but didn't want to continue after she didn't know word 36 (been).

* She wrote the first three words of a story before we ran out of time.

* She did enough running around at the playground that I'm considering it an instance of "PE".

 

She may have a piano lesson later with Dad, and I'll do a German read-aloud at bedtime. She'll probably also read aloud herself for another 10-15 minutes then, as that's been our habit. Oh, and she did two mazes and several complex dot-to-dot puzzles this afternoon for fun.

 

Anyway, I feel as though we encountered some snags, both in our circumstances and emotionally, but we did make progress, and it was only the first day. Tomorrow we plan to come home after dropping her brother off, so we'll see how that goes!

[Tonia]

Our first day went well - we mostly just reviewed things so there wasn't a ton of new stuff. I wasn't planning to start until September but dd wanted to start early (weird kid!) :D

[Hockey Mom]

We started our day with breakfast at McDonald's with Daddy. We jumped right into our routine and all went well. We added SOTW 1 this year, and the "Introduction" activity was a bit boring for the boys. That's only because they've been dying to get into the Mummy kit I purchased. LOL

 

I'm missing the workboxes (we went with filing) though, and may end up returning to those. We'll see.

[JMDRAD]

Considering the baby had a well checkup this morning, our first day went rather good. My dd Lilli is excited to learn to read and was already sounding out short letter a words. I'm glad to be back in the routine.

[Surfside Academy]

Today went fairly well. We're just starting off with math and language arts this week. Figuring out how to add another kid into the mix is always a challenge but we'll get there.

 

They even did 45 minutes of quiet time today. It's a Christmas miracle! :D

[Faithr]

I didn't plan to start today but my three boys set up their own schedule and worked on stuff they wanted to do. They focused on memorizing poetry, writing, practicing music and learning game design. My 9 yo dd and I are still having summer :) Academics will start up next Monday but it is great to have the boys displaying a work ethic! It's really because of my 18 yo who was away at music school all summer and suddenly can't abide idleness. I think he discovered he likes being busy! He also took himself off job hunting, which was another very nice thing that occurred today!

[anissa]

Man, am I tired....And we didn't even attempt to do a full day.

[brijen97]

Today was our first day too although all we did was history! We are slowly starting up. Last year we seemed to finsih everything but History dragged on forever so this year we are doing that first and hopefully it will all fall in as we go! All went great!

[mommy4ever]

We started today. We were off to a rocky start. But this afternoon, in a little over an hour, dd6 and I completed her whole days work. Don't know how it worked out, but it did and it was done with lots of giggles.

 

DD11 got over the early meltdown, and tackled another month of her math project.

 

DD13 was ms. mellow over the whole day.

 

So a rocky start this morning, but it turned out okie dokie!

[JennW in SoCal]

I dropped my baby off at community college at 7am this morning so he could crash a math class!! He got a spot in the class and likes the professor, so a good start to his first ever college course and a good start to the school year.

 

Can't believe we're already doing dual enrollment -- wasn't I just teaching him to read yesterday?

 

I really loved reading about everyone's first day. Cheers, everyone! :cheers2:

[Beatusduo]

I hear you on the chocolate. I went through a whole bar today. We started school on Friday, so this was our second day. Although the day went well, the chocolate always helps. I have a Mom's only stash for school.

I am starting a lot more organized than last year. I plan out my whole year on a schedule. Blocking in each subject, field trips, appointment (that I know about), and special days off. It helps me to look at my whole year, then I am ready for whatever comes my way. I also don't fret if we I take a mental health day, fun day or whatever is needed down the road. I have ramped up their curriculum since they are getting older, DS12 (7th) DS 9 (4th).

I constanately evalute our schooling. Making sure if they reasons we started schooling are still valid and making necessary changes to the curriculum. I have found that over time our reasons for schooling have evolved and changed. I am still glad we are doing it and definately would not change now. I am not too excited where are nation is going and the changes and/or beliefs in the Government having the power and control over the schools.

I hope other had a great day!!!

 

Susie in Ohio

[Elm in NJ]

Not a full schedule today. My 9th grader did Math, English and Health. My 6th grader did CLE Math 608, CLE English 601 and he had an online writing class with Home2teach. My twins (4th graders) did CLE Math 502 and CLE English 401.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Elm in NJ

[Halcyon]

 

They even did 45 minutes of quiet time today. It's a Christmas miracle! :D

 

 

:lol::lol:

[momtolgd]

Our first day back was pretty good...except for math taking an hour and a half (UGH...note to self, don't take 2 months off of math ever again!!!) We got everything done that we planned to do...it just took 4.5 hours, which was longer than I thought it would.

 

DS 10 did math drills on the computer, a math lesson, started Megawords 1, read through about 40 pages of Grammar Island (which he billed as too easy because he already knew it all...we are doing a quick version of Island level before moving onto Town because he is not familiar with everything that is in Island.)

 

DD 7.5 did a math lesson, 2 lessons in GWG (trying to finish it this fall and start Island level in January), began lesson 1 in Rod and Staff spelling (which she said was fun!).

 

Together we did lesson 1 of week 1 for Sonlight 3's 4 day schedule. They enjoyed the read aloud, and their readers. DD got to put her first figure on her book of time (pocahontas) and DS now wants to join in with it...she is doing the regular readers and he is doing the advanced, so they are on different books. I think it was a great start!

 

DD had a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so we got out and about.

 

Looking forward to tomorrow! Also going on a field trip on thursday!

[Deece in MN]

Had a great day. Dropped ds off at the local cc for his first day of classes. Went really well.

Dd is doing a light week as I didn't intend to start school for another week or two. She did LoF math for an hour, spelling (yes at almost 14yo we still have to work on this), grammar, chemistry and Mapping the World With Art.

We also got in a few episodes of Big Bang Theory (love this show!).

I was pleased. :)

[abrightmom]

:DToday was our first day . . . ready or not. It wasn't too shabby. We had our moments of chaos, noise and Mommy saying (O.K., I was shouting), "Nobody is listening to me!" But we did Adventures, math, reading lessons and read aloud!

 

It will never be perfect (today certainly wasn't) but it wasn't as terrifyingly awful as I'd anticipated!! It was pleasant overall! We even made zucchini bread and did our chores. I honestly don't know how that got done!!! :001_smile:

 

We are easing in and that helped take the pressure off. We took the time needed to figure stuff out. I am going to phase stuff in s - l - o - w - l - y this year. Bit by bit until we find a rhythm we can handle.

 

DSBaby is into everything and that is a new dynamic. Not sure how that will affect our daily routines . . . :D He's tearing up the house!

[texasmama]

We had good first day here. I have tried out a new system of giving the boys their own page protected weekly schedule to check things off. (I have one in particular who thrives on this and one who needs to learn to be more organized and see how his day will go.) Timez Attack was a HUGE hit. Typing Instructor...not so much. Spelling, Bible, Reading, History, Math, WWE, FLL and piano lessons were completed with very minimal issues. The hardest part was folding in the four year old. She did handwriting and tagged along today, no other lessons for her...and that is okay.:001_smile:

[truebluexf]

Our first day started last night....when DD2 woke up at 10pm and was up until 3am...ugh. We were going to start at 9am this morning...let's just say that didn't happen LOL!!! We got rolling around 11am. DS whined and cried with math bc he just doesn't want to do stuff. Then he was excited for spelling but cried bc he didn't know every single thing for AAS 1. He was already upset he and little sis were starting on the same level. Oy. It was kinda rough, but overall ok. DD1 was SO EXCITED about school today and the best student ever!!!!

[woolybear]

First day here. Despite filing, I am still not ready or completely organized. Getting there, though. Today was light, but it went well. Ds said, "This is fun!!" So, if nothing else, that was a good thing.:)

[Hedgehogs4]

we started today in spite of the fact that i woke up with a raging sore throat and a cold. i tried not to set my expectations too high, plus we had piano lessons in the afternoon. i think i'm just glad i made it through--now i'm going to bed! ugh.

 

tomorrow should be better. at least my throat doesn't hurt so much.

 

:tongue_smilie:

[Tree House Academy]

This is not our first day, but this is our first real week since we started back. We did two days 2 weeks ago, 3 days last week...so now we are getting into the groove.

 

Lets see...how did today go? Ds6 finished in 3 hours with a wonderful day in Little Hearts for His Glory. Ds11 finished up tonight at 9:45 pm. Enough said. LOL

[TXMary2]

Not so hot over here. DS14 was great....ds 6- ummm NO. I blogged about it and I posted it on the General Board. I am glad I found this thread because I thought we might be the only ones with a crummy first day. It wasn't all bad, but ds 6 really killed the day for me.

 

http://winecupchristianacademy.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-day-of-school-2010-2011-school.html

[MelissaMinNC]

I think the right answer is ALWAYS to begin with more chocolate. Just for what it's worth.

 

I'm sorry your first day wasn't awesome, I think the beginning of the year is always challenging - and every year is different and brings NEW challenges. Give it a couple weeks, and maybe things will smooth out.

 

Take care,

Melissa

[pamd]

We had our 1st day today. I decided this year we where putting God and learning about the bible and how to have a relationship with him first. Praise God it went well. We decided to even do a schedule this year, as I hate mornings. lol We started out with just review and ds did Timez Attack and Math trainer (Math is fun.com) He really enjoys those thanks to this forum. I feel really good about what we covered and just really want to go slow. Dear ds still has problems with trying to talk his way out of work. He is going to be a salesmen I know.:lol: Plus I am a pushover, fighting that this year trying to stick to my guns. Love to be able to share my day as well as read about everyone else. Praying for all of us and another good day. One day at a time.:tongue_smilie:

[Georgia On My Mind]

I share the homeschooling of my 10th grade dgd with her Mother. They started two weeks ago doing Saxon Advanced Math (Art Lee), Bible and economics they started in the summer. She was also reading Huckleberry Finn for me but she didn't start school until today with me. Her Mom drops her off to me at 10:30 each day after they have done their math, Bible and economics. I will do the remainder of her academics.

 

Today was an intro to Literature and Composition. We are doing the Teaching the Classics Club with Adam Andrews for Huckleberry Finn. I had planned for us to set up her Literature Notebook, assign grammar review and watch the first 30 minutes of the Adam Andrews video. We tried running the dvd on the computer in the classroom but it kept getting hung up and stopping. We cleaned both the internal and external dvd players on the computer but it still stopped in the same place about 3 minutes into the class. We moved down to our den and guess what, my husband had rewired everything that is hooked to that TV to setup his Roku and hadn't left us instructions. We couldn't see the picture of the dvd, only hear the sound. Not to be outdone, we moved to the downstairs guest bedroom and eureka, it finally worked. By that time we had wasted most of our alloted time for the first day of school. Stuff happens in our homeschool day. How about yours? I gave her the Apologia Chemistry textbook and the first assignment and her new pens, pencils and Post It notes that I had gotten on sale and she was out the door because it was time for her ride home to arrive. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and we wll survive. We will not be in full swing until after Labor Day (our plan from the beginning was to start slowly). We will plug in World History, Latin II and SAT Prep after Labor Day. We have a very heavy schedule this year and have to find the proper balance for all these subjects and teachers (some on dvd).

 

In all my almost 30 years of teaching, I have learned one thing that I find most important, make your plans but when the day and the plans don't match---remember to be flexible so you won't loose your mind and your peace. Tomorrow IS another day and things somehow get completed by the end of the school year, at least the important things do.

[kzdaisy]

Our first day went great dd finished around noon and said Is that all? I am so happy.usually she drags it out to 3 or 4 o'clock.

[ABQmom]

We had our first day today, but we are taking it slow--only math and science this week. My poor little first grader, who was so excited to start first grade, fell ill today and spent most of the day on the couch with a fever. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for her.