first day of school

First Day of High School

Moose started his freshmen year of high school this morning! It’s not the way we had planned, as his campus moved to distance-learning for at least the first few weeks of the school year (only after we had already made the decision for him to learn from home for at least the first semester, though), but he’s still officially a high school student!

First Day of Twelfth Grade

I can’t believe that Turkey and Bunny are in the 12th grade!

How is it possible that it’s our 13th year of homeschooling?

And a look back at their first day of school here, way back in 2008 when they started kindergarten:

Time moves awfully fast!

Schultüte 2020

Things may different this year, but I made sure to keep our favorite back-to-school tradition going…the schultüte!

I think I came up with some nice additions, including Animal Crossing pins for everyone, and new Lego minifigs. I also included some needed school supplies like pens and pencils and tape.

The Fab Five seemed to like them!

Turkey told me this morning that if I could find a way to keep doing this when he’s in college, he wouldn’t complain, and that made me happy…I created a fun and appreciated tradition!

The First Day of School 2020

We were up bright and early this morning to begin our 13th year of homeschooling!

For once, we all started school on the same day in the same place, as Moose started his freshman year of high school today via distance-learning. Turkey and Bunny are, of course, seniors this year, Ladybug is in eighth grade, and Chickadee is in third. The motto for the day was:

“I cannot be everywhere at once, people
I’m in dire need of assistance.”

As always, I had schultüte waiting for the Fab Five when the bell rang:

Our other favorite first-day-of-school tradition is building a Lego set…this time, the skyline of Dubai. I especially love the Burj Al Arab.

We all had Animal Crossing shirts this year…even me!

This year is going to be different from any we’ve had before, and I imagine it will be challenging, but we’re going to take things one day at a time and try not to look too far into the future, while learning as much as we can!

Ready for the First Day of School?

I’m not going to lie…I’m not really sure that I’m ready for the 2020-21 school year. If I’m totally honest, I’m kind of dreading it for several reasons, and the top reason actually has nothing to do with COVID-19. Instead, I’m apprehensive because it’s Turkey and Bunny’s last year of homeschooling. That’s right…this experiment that we began in 2008 when they started kindergarten is now coming to a close, at least for them. And I’m afraid I’m going to spend the entire school year crying, as each “last time” comes up.

But, our homeschooling experiment is far from over, especially now that Moose is joining us at home while doing distance-learning for at least the first semester of his first year of high school (which, again if I’m honest, is a little scary to me), so one way or another, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for our most unique and challenging year of homeschooling (which includes two twelfth graders, a 9th grader, an 8th grader, and a 3rd grader) yet!

First, a look at some of the fun we’ve had in the last week of summer vacation, including Lego-building and cookie-baking. We may not have been able to travel this summer, or even do the usual local stuff we would during the summer, but we still managed to have fun experiences!

Tonight was our annual “Farewell to Summer” dinner, this time a mail-order meal from Portillo’s, which mirrors a dinner we had shortly before summer break began.

A summer classic for dessert…root beer floats:

Plus some Frango mints, another little taste of Chicago:

This year’s first-day-of-school outfits are Animal Crossing themed. It’s a good reflection of our summer, and they were pretty easy to get in a time when clothes shopping can be a little challenging.

The school room has been cleaned and organized…it looks pretty much like it did for most of last year, with the keyboard being the most recent (but not really new anymore) addition:

I prepared the schultüte for tomorrow, too:

So that’s pretty much it. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, and our 13th year of homeschooling begins bright and early tomorrow morning!

First Day of School 2019

The 2019-20 school year is officially underway!

We had our traditional first day of school, which was more fun than work. The Fab Five opened their schultüte:

And built a new Lego set to display in our schoolroom. This year, I bought the Hogwarts clocktower to go with the Great Hall that they built on the first day of school last year.

Most of the rest of the day was spent getting new books, organizing desks, and prepping for the new year…tomorrow the real work begins! I’ll leave you with our theme verse for the year, which is always appropriate, but even more so in a world that often seems crazy scary:

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

Schultüte 2019

It’s time to take a look at one of my favorite traditions of the whole year…the first-day-of-school schultüte! Not everybody got all of the things pictured here (for example, only Ladybug received a calculator because Turkey, Bunny, and Moose already have their own, and Chickadee doesn’t need one yet), but most things, including the pencils, pens, highlighters, tape, crayons, micro Squeezamals, and Hershey’s bars, were found in all of the cones:

The children are always so excited to see what’s inside:

It can be a little challenging to come up with new things every year, but somehow, I keep finding fun items to include!