2019 First Days of School!

Well another school year is off to the races! We had some bittersweet changes this year. Last year our beloved little 2-day-a-week school made some (really positive) changes. Namely, they are now requiring students to attend 3 full days and, for various reasons, it just wasn’t a great fit for our family. I think the school is heading in a fabulous direction and we were all a little (or a lot!) heartbroken that we could see God didn’t have us on that path. We had many months of WONDERING, praying, researching, visiting…trying to discern where the Lord was leading us next. And, as He always does, He provided a really, really sweet combination of school options for us. So, the kids are attending two different one-day-a-week schools and, like usual, we are homeschooling the other three. One day is pure enrichment and one day is a very small classical Christian community that’s set up like a co-op. So despite the fact that we (all!!) miss doing school with our dear friends from our last school, we have been so extraordinarily blessed and thankful that the Lord provided something new and special.

As for me, I have never been so happy homeschooling…although I’ve always loved it, the curricula I have this year is a much better fit for me and for the kids. I will admit that the first week felt a bit like my first year of teaching all over again (except about 1,000 times less stressful, ha!) in the sense that every single subject has a new curriculum and we’ve added a good five subjects to our day! Whew!

The other interesting thing about this school year is that we bumped the kids up a grade for the Christian co-op we’re a part of, but they’re still in their “normal” grade on the enrichment day. It’s a long story…and although I feel pretty confident that we made the right decision in doing that, it is really hard for my brain to remember what grade they’re in! “What day is it? Okay, so what grade are you in today??” Hahaha!

P.S. Assuming I did my math right…the kids both grew OVER an inch this summer!!! Is that even possible?? Although I record their heights at the beginning and end of each school year, I don’t think I’ve ever taken the time to do the math to see how much they have actually grown. I was floored.

Here’s our sweet girl, as excited as ever for the school year!

 

And here’s our mighty man!

I tried to shape their bacon into their grade level…

Lest you think it’s always peaches and roses around here…seconds after taking this lovely photo of the two of them, Selah squeezed Elliott just a liiiitttttle too hard… One of them isn’t too happy about it…I’ll let you guess which one.

And here are some shots from their OTHER first day of school when they are in their OTHER grade levels…

And here are their self-portraits from the first day of homeschool…

I must point out that Elliott drew himself in something OTHER than overalls!! My parents got him a shirt with turtles on it and it is officially his absolute favorite shirt of all time. If he didn’t have to wear a collared shirt for school, he would have definitely worn his turtle shirt for his first days. Look closely at his self-portrait and find all the turtles on his shirt… And raise your hand if you can spot the turtle crawling onto his foot…

 

Happy new school year, Everyone!!