First Day of School Today!

[scrapbookbuzz]

Anyone else?

 

We were going to start last week but I wasn't quite ready. Not sure I'm quite ready today, either, LOL, but considering I have one starting high school on a College-Prep schedule, it can't be put off any longer. The other is in 4th and is eager to start because I told him he had to wait to read the next Percy Jackson book until we reached Ancient Greece in History. :-)

 

Anyone else already started or starting today/this week?

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yep, only my kids are still asleep!  :lol:

 

We're going to do 7 days of school the next two weeks, then we go on a camping trip, then we'll really hit it when we get back.  So we're sorta starting - my goal this week and next is to orient them both to what we are doing/learning this year - lots of prelection in each subject - and working side-by-side with dd10 on some of the assignments that I'll be expecting her to complete more independently later in the year.  This will be the first year of hsing both girls, so I imagine it will take a few days to work out a schedule that is efficient and effective for both of them.

 

It is also the time to start telling myself,  "Relax.  Go slow.  Enjoy it.  Don't rush them.  There is no earthly chance you will get through everything you want to, but they will learn more than you can imagine.  You spent months planning - now let go and take each day as it comes."  And repeat as needed.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Yep, relax and have FUN!

[Mandylubug]

We are! My oldest is having a melt down at his 5th grade work load. He hasn't finished two subjects yet. He melted down because I requested him to use graphing paper instead of regular notebook paper to assist with spacing in Math. I finally sent him to his room. Done with that eye rolling power struggle...woooooooo I need a 2nd cup of coffee

[scrapbookbuzz]

I'm headed home from my own study time in a bit. Wondering what kind of meltdowns we'll have today!

[Ravin]

We started yesterday. We also had 5th grade workload meltdowns. DD only has independent work the rest of the week (Tues-Wed-Fri--She has her enrichment program Thursday and Monday off because it's the last day her step-brothers will be with us before going back to their dad's for the start of school), because I'm not done with my externship just yet. She did enjoy the hands-on project for Geography, though she kept acting all annoyed, aggravated, and put-upon that I made her listen to some read alouds and do some discussion and map-work first. Next week I may try digging into the hands-on activity and doing some of the reading aloud while she works. She might pay better attention that way.

[alisoncooks]

We started today!  

 

We did mostly fun, first-day stuff (so with a K'er and 2nd grader, it involved paint and handprints, making grade level signs and taking pictures).  And gifts (wooden mosaic puzzle, Pattern Play).  We did introduce calendar notebook, did a reading lesson together.  (And my oldest did her Dancing Bears/A&P.)

 

Tomorrow might be a bit of a not-as-fun shocker. :p

[scrapbookbuzz]

Well, we did our PE first thing this morning, which is probably why the grumpies showed up. I woke the kids up at 6am!

The beginning of academics/first day of school announcements,etc, went a bit better until we tried to do actual lessons.

The teacher couldn't find her lesson plans!  :confused1:  So now they are in the Art lesson for today - creating sea creatures with PlayDoh

and planning my daughter's bday party which is the end of this month. That should give me time to find my lesson plans (maybe?) 

and make the necessary adjustments!

 

Should I take the MIA lesson plans as an omen?  :lol:  We will probably take some lunch to Daddy later as a fun first day activity.

(Jean in Newcastle, I'm waiting for you to weigh in! :coolgleamA: )

[Mandylubug]

We finished every subject and my oldest turned his attitude around! Hallelujah!

[My3Munchkins]

Today was our first day.  My almost 2 year old had a major meltdown about 10 minutes into our day (kicking, screaming, stripping of clothes  :eek: ) but we got through it an survived the day.  Hoping for a better day tomorrow!

[threedogfarm]

We started today.  Yikes!  LOOOONNNNNG day.  

 

At the morning break my daughter's dog ended up following a moose scent and we had a frightful hour looking for him the woods.  I knew there was a moose out there this morning and I just didn't think about him getting all excited about it!  Thank goodness he's home safe and sound now.

 

Another hiccup to this morning was my open-and-go WWE3 (am I the only one who didn't bother to even look at FLL or WWE before the start of school aside from seeing how many lessons we had to complete by the end of the year?):  I opened to the first lesson and much to my surprise the passage that I thought I was going to read to my kids wasn't there.  Um, no, the passages are read silently now by the kids and then they answer the question.  Oops!  Thank goodness I have a fax machine that I can copy on so we could all do this at the same time.

 

But all went well, even with the new independent work.  Tomorrow, hopefully end up being shorter and without any animal issues (or 5th grade math tantrums--yes, I had those too)! 

 

And to think I was so proud of myself for our on-time start at 8:30--kitchen was clean, I had vacuumed, all the animals were fed and I had even done some gardening. . .maybe I was feeling a little too smug.

[DragonFaerie]

What is it with 5th grade?  We had our first day today, too.  Despite a relatively early (for us!) start, DS is still working on his writing and has three things still to do!  Agh!!  I spent my early afternoon planning out a daily timed schedule to see if that makes things (okay, HIM) move faster.  Anything not finished when it's time to move on becomes "homework".  That hasn't worked much in the past but what the heck (see definition: insanity.....).

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

(Jean in Newcastle, I'm waiting for you to weigh in! :coolgleamA: )

Oh, all right.  But I'm not starting today!  We're not totally done with last year's school.   :leaving:   It is becoming obvious that we're going to have to loop two classes around to next year's schedule.  Anyway - we aren't starting next year's school until the end of September so that we can actually get a few weeks off.  

[FromA2Z]

Well tomorrow is my first official day of school for K! But we're keeping it off with an extended field trip as my dh has a business trip to CT/MA this week into next and we'll be tagging along.  So we'll be doing a little bit of phonics/math review while we are gone.  I'm excited to be doing doing our first official "rows" for FIAR - Make Way for Ducklings and Paul Revere's Ride while we are on the road.  We'll be in Boston for a couple of days and will get to go to the Public Garden, ride the swan boats, visit the "Ducklings" Statues, see the Capitol Building, Revere's house and North Church.  I've also made plans to go to the aquarium and take a harbor cruise.  I got the complete series of Liberty's Kids to watch on the drive there.   I'm hoping for a fun and enriching 1st week of school.  

[scrapbookbuzz]

Well, we're back from taking lunch to Daddy, who had all of about 8 minutes to eat with us. *sigh*

However, realizing that it's my daughter's FIRST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL I decided to let the kids pick something

special to do/somewhere special to go to commemorate the day. They chose Hobby Lobby! B)

They each were given permission to pick ONE thing $10 or less (I had two coupons). And I bought stuff that was already

50% off. PSA: Fall Picks and Scrapbooks are 50% off this week! Take advantage if you can! I had dd pick out an album

to use to commemorate her high school years.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Well, we're done with school for the day . . . mostly. Daughter still have Biology and Math tonight.

That's so Dad can help her if necessary. I'm sad to say the end of the day did not go well. I'm more tired

of this summer heat than even I thought. By the time we got home from taking Dad lunch and our trip to 

Hobby Lobby I was worn out and couldn't find a necessary book. Then I gave instructions to my kids of what 

to do while I looked for said book. To which my 9yo ds responds, "What? Huh?" I lost it. yelled out of frustration.

He erupted into tears. Lovely. Is it wrong to want a drink mid afternoon?  :tongue_smilie:

[Ravin]

To want, no. To indulge, quite possibly.

 

Poor your DS and poor you!

 

We had a big math meltdown yesterday. Did I mention that?

[melmichigan]

We had the usual meltdowns, luckily we aren't doing full load right off the bat. I've learned to ease in to it. ;) I made the mistake of taking them to the library after lunch, so no one wants to do anything but read!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Awright, I gotta share, though I'm not trying to annoy anybody that had a bad day . . . .we had a totally idyllic first day today!  My 2nd grader got through a whole day's work with a minimum of goofing off, and a good attitude about the whole thing.  My dd10 slept till 9:30 (I let her, b/c I was focused on working with dd7) , so she got a late start and only did about 1/2 day's work, but on top of that we did prelection in every subject, worked out a schedule and how she'll use her planner, and introduced her to the resources she's using in every subject, so I"m pretty happy about it as a first day for her, too.  Then, about 3:00, we took off to the local regional park, spread a blanket in the shade by a pond, and spent the next two hours catching fish, frogs, watching birds & dragonflies, trying to convince the turkey vultures we weren't dead, and generally just enjoying a beautiful 80 deg California afternoon . . . in August, of all things, when it should be like 100 deg here.

 

It was so lovely.  Progress is not linear, and we will have our share of tough days, but I"m so happy today was a good one.  I've been nervous about school, depressed about finances, and generally stressed out the past few weeks, so I really needed this!  I can come back and read this post on a bad day, right?

[scrapbookbuzz]

Rose, I am totally thrilled you had a great day! That time at the park sounds lovely!

Just don't kid yourself about the rest of the week! Regardless, we know it will all come together,

Right?

[Piper]

I'm feeling so much better after reading the posts in this thread!!  It was our first day too, and it went really well, except for...yes, the math meltdown from the 3rd grader!  Honestly, I was ready to tear my hair out after fighting her increasing math resistance all last year...to see it crop up again on the FIRST DAY was majorly frustrating!  (Not even one day where the novelty outweighs the resistance??)  Maybe it's time to chuck out the curriculum and start over, but that's a topic for another thread...

 

However, apart from the one math issue, there was the declaration that "School is *fun* this year!!" from her, and complaints from my 1st grader that it finished too soon and he wanted to do more...gotta be a good thing!  And long may it last!!

 

I've been pretty nervous about this year - I've changed up quite a lot from last year (but maybe not enough in the math department) - so I'm really relieved it went so well today.  Hooray for a good start! :)

[SuzySparkle]

We started today also! This is my first year HSing my DD10 (5th grade) and DD7 (2nd grade).

 

My hubby flew out this morning for 2 weeks so I let the girls stay up late to hang out with him last night. As a result, we got started a little late, but the girls hung in there and managed to accomplish A LOT today! I was so proud of them both.

 

DD10 was a little taken aback at the amount of work she had compared to her sister, but I explained the whole 3 year grade difference thing and she seemed ok after that. She did have a couple mini hissy fits over Chapter 1 of R&S English 5, but I knew that would might happen and was able to talk her down. (She's my S-U-P-E-R sensitive child.) Having just read someone ask about whether they should move their child down a level from R&S 5, I was able to show her how she would begin covering all the stuff she didn't know starting with Chapter 3.

 

DD7 was a champ all day long. I love her with all my heart, but she is a child to whom most things come easy. She learns quickly and is very affectionate so having her at home really helps to even out everyone's nerves. :Angel_anim:  She was actually thriving in PS but liked the idea of staying home with us so I really want to make sure she has a great year and isn't upset by the power struggles between DD10 and myself!

 

Anyway, we got through all of DD7's work and missed only Science for DD10, but I'm not worried since we watch BOTH Latin DVDs today (SSL and LCI) and they were L-O-N-G!!! I think I'll try to do those on different days from now on since the girls enjoyed watching each others (well DD10 did anyway!).

 

I'm excited and nervous and gaining confidence all at the same time. :tongue_smilie:

[Hoot]

We had a pretty good first day yesterday.  About 15 min. in DS14 had a bit of a meltdown but then he pulled it together and the rest of the day went well.  He accomplished a lot, though while reading for science he ended up falling asleep for about 30 min., which was probably a good thing.  :)  By the end of the day, the only things we hadn't gotten to were watching a particular movie and Teaching the Research Paper.  I'm not sweating it though.