3rd Annual Wolfe Academy Kick-Off

(Alternately titled - the 1st day of school)

We have officially embarked on another year of school. (Oatmeal to feed those brain cells!)

I can't believe that we have started on time (you know, according to the schedule that I have in my brain). Just last week the school room looked like this. But after some moving of furniture, some ruthless purging, and good ole' fashioned cleaning up. We were ready for our 1st day.

I was/ am a little nervous about this school year for a couple of reasons.

1. I now have two home schoolers. Yep, John has started Kindergarten!
2. The other twist is that Sofie has started 2nd grade. Which translates into a more rigorous and challenging academic schedule. This will be my 1st year where we will not be getting done by lunch time. Still, I have to be able to have some of my day for myself or I might go completely nuts. The goal is to be done by 2 - 2:30. And we definitely accomplished that this week!

So what have I learned this week?

1. Kindergarten may be too elementary for John. A perfect example was after one of his writing lessons this week. (The curriculum started him out with a few curved lines that he was supposed to trace, which he got done in, like, 5 seconds!) With out any prompting from me, he goes over to the white board and starts to write some of his favorite words that he has learned from Sofie.

And don't even get me started on the math. I literally feel like I have the reins of a horse that I'm constantly pulling back to a walk. When all he really wants to do is run. So I had a good conversation with Mike. And suffice to say, I think I'm just going to let that colt run. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling. You can go at the child own pace?

2. My plan for the two youngers needs a little tweaking. Caleb is NOT happy to spend any real time in the pack-n-play. So I've been blocking him into the TV portion of our basement and letting him have free reign. Though he's already figured out the I haven't blocked off the access to the school room and has started crawling in to see us. Ugh! With Lilia I think that I am going to put together some easy activities that Sofie and John can do with her when they have a down time. She doesn't do well with boredom...

3. The last two years I have been literally able to crack open my curriculum and go on the 1st day of school. But, with 2nd grade, I actually need to do some planning and preparing. Oh well. I knew that day would come eventually.

Overall we are very excited to start in on school. It has been a true blessing to sit down on the couch with John and read to him and spend some concentrated time with him. He seems to get lost in the shuffle so many times and it has been my greatest joy this week to talk with my son and truly enjoy what a fabulous man-child that he is growing into. 2nd grade is downright exciting as Sofie and I dig into some meaty subject matter. I know I'm biased, but she is doing so well. I can't believe how well she reads! In our reading time she is supposed to read 7 pages a day out of her book. I was very skeptical that she could do this. But she has really enjoyed the story and has been devouring those pages. Absolutely amazing.
Mostly I am SO thankful that Mike and I chose this road for our children's education. I get to be on the front lines watching them learning, growing, and maturing. I love that I get to be this involved in their lives. Yeah! Another school year has begun!