Posted on September 3, 2008 - by
Our First Day of School
Since so many of you who read my blogs are my friends, and so many of you are asking how our first day of school went, I thought I’d answer you all here instead of retyping it in 12 different emails. 
Ethan's 1st Day of Mother's Day Out
Many of you know that we decided to put my 3 year old, Ethan, into a local Mother’s Day Out program this Fall so that Kate and I would have some time together to be able to concentrate on school work without being interrupted by little brother every 5 minutes. So, Ethan started yesterday at Mother’s Day Out at the church around the corner from us – it’s also where Kate went last year and loved it. He has a huge class of about 12 kiddos his age and 2 teachers. They said he did great and only got weepy at nap time when they wanted to help him take his shoes off. He, of course, would have NO one touching his new shoes and got defensive and whiny for mommy at that point. Too funny what kiddos will get hung up on, huh? Other than that, he seemed to have had a great day and he said he liked it and had fun. His favorite? The kitchen play area. Hmm. Do we have a future chef on our hands?
We dropped off Karis (my almost 2yo) at Mimi’s house today so that she could have a playdate with her cousin, Ariah, who is one week older than she is. They had a great time playing together, coloring, and making maracas, and Mommy was able to have wonderful one-on-one time with Kate. Thank you, Mimi, for giving us that special time together.
Our 1st Day of Kindergarten
Kate (my 5yo) and I had a blast doing school today. It was our first official day of homeschooling for her Kindergarten year (a modified Year 0.5 with Ambleside Online which uses Charlotte Mason’s Educational Philosophy). She only complained a couple of times, but I figure even that is good, because it showed me where her attention span was maxed out and I needed to back off a little bit. The lessons we’re doing are only supposed to be 5-15 minutes each, so it was interesting to see how on some of our lessons, she was ready for WAY more, but on others she was definitely done within that time period. She said her favorite thing was actually an impromptu craft that Mimi gave her when we dropped off Karis. It was a butterfly mobile that we punched out, tied together with string, and hung in her room. (Thanks, again, Mimi!)
If you want to know more about the specifics of what Kate and I did on our first day together, you can read our weekly plan here or just click on the ‘Our Curriculum’ link at the top and you’ll see our plans for each week.
Overall, by the end of our time with ‘official school work’ Kate was sad that school was over already! That made me feel good. “Always leave ‘em wanting more” as my wise husband always says. Plus, this morning she drew me a picture with a note that said, “Mom your the best teacher”. I couldn’t have asked for a better review of our first day together.
Shawn asked me later how I did with it all. I have to say that I was really excited most of the day, but also really relaxed – it just felt comfortable. What was interesting to me was how easily I slipped into ‘teacher’ mode with Kate. It was a different feeling – not so much the Mom role that I’m used to. I told Shawn the thing that struck me the most was the increased level of patience that I experienced during ‘school time’. I figure that won’t necessarily always be the case, but in general, that’s a REALLY good thing!
Daddy & His Girls
I’m really looking forward to another school day tomorrow. No, seriously. It’s already been a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see how we do again tomorrow. Not something I said very often when I was a public school teacher, unfortunately…
So, what about you? How was YOUR first day back to school. I’m looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences, too. Just leave a comment below…
