First Day of School

Finally, we have started school! Gloria is so excited to be starting Kindergarten! She won't be five for 8 more days, so she's very proud of herself. :) Thor is in 2nd grade (although I keep thinking he's in 1st) and Cecily is in 4th grade. Knut is in 6th!!! and I am just starting High school. Bjorn and Rosemary? Playschool. They teach themselves to play and get into mischief.

The first week of school each year is usually an adjusting week where Mom works out the schedule, gives piano lessons, and is stressed out although she tries not to show it. We have to schedule piano practice very carefully since there are four kids who need to practice and only one piano. Computer time is another difficulty, since Knut, Cecily, and I all want the computer right after History. I'm planning to do my History in the evening at 9:00 every night. The computer is available then! High school History is no joke, I have just discovered. I also listen in on everyone else's History reading, but that's no big deal since it's just part of the Circle Time hour.

No one knows what I'm talking about, do you? I forgot that I'm not blogging on my other blog where it's just friends and family who are familiar with our lifestyle. It may take me awhile to get used to this! Anyway, Circle Time has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of circle. It's the time in our school where all of us get together to sing our hymn of the week, learn Bible verses (more often chapters), listen to a chapter of a book Mom reads aloud that somehow ties in with our History, and, as I mentioned before, listen to Mom also read the History lesson for that day. After that we break and do our independent work.

School is never boring at our house. As well as having the best teacher in the world, the little ones and the kitties make things interesting every day. Some things which have happened frequently in the past are Bjorn smearing himself (and the kitchen) with peanut butter and/or flour, or one of the kitties bringing in a live garden snake (maybe they thought we wanted to study them for a Science lesson, or maybe they thought it was 'bring-a-friend day'). Anyway, school has gotten pretty exciting sometimes.

One thing I absolutely love about homeschool is that you can personalize it for each student. For example, I absolutely love to write. (That's why I'm the family blogger!) It's my hope to someday write books and short stories, so Mom always gets me Language Arts curriculums that are designed for people who love to write. As for Knut, he doesn't do well with long hours of worksheets, but he's great at hands-on crafts, and he's very good at building. He often goes along with Papa to work on construction jobs, and has learned so much through that, it's astounding. Cecily loves art and piano, so Mom gets her the Draw Write Now books for her handwriting and makes sure she has time to practice for half an hour every day. Thor doesn't care what curriculums he has, as long as they don't take him away from his play for too long! Gloria, like a typical Kindergartner, likes the three S's: Songs, Stories, and Snacks!