Back to School 2014!

I cannot even believe that I have a 5th grader and a 3rd grader.  Where did my little kids go?  They are growing so fast and before I know it there are gonna be in high school.  I wish it would go a little slower.  At least I have a whole year with them at these ages and thank God they are home with me so I don't have to miss out on anything!  I am truly one blessed mama to be able to homeschool them.  They are so fun to be around and I love being their teacher.  This morning when I went in the kitchen to make my coffee my girl had already made it for me and put a lovely card next to it declaring me the Best Teacher Ever!  Inside she thanked me for homeschooling her...I mean, seriously, I have the 2 best students in the world. :)  It's only day 2 so we haven't gotten into our groove yet, but I can already tell that this year is going to go so much more smoothly than last year.  I really like the curriculum we are using, even the stuff I picked out last minute.  The kids seem really engaged with all of their lessons so far too.  I think it might be because I have to be more hands on with this approach and they like it when I'm right there with them.  I decided to have them do the same History and Science curriculum to make it easier on myself and I think that's going to work out really well since they'll be able to collaborate on different things.  I'll let you know when the year is over how it worked out.

We did our first day of school photos yesterday.  I wanted to use the same spot as last year because I like the photos to match from one year to the next but they are working on resurfacing the concrete walkways in our building and the pretty fountain is all covered in black plastic and there is caution tape all throughout our courtyard.  I can't wait for that project to be over!  So we headed across the street to the park (they call it a park, but it's not public, it's just a really pretty part of the grounds here that looks like a park minus the playground).  I thought I'd try to use a few props this year since my photos weren't going to match anyway.  It was super last minute and I just grabbed stuff from our house.  I really wish I'd had an apple, but of course, we were out of them.  My girl insisted on doing the photos on the actual first day of school so we just went with what we had.  After much indecision on the wardrobe front we were ready.  I took a bunch, but it was super hot and we were sweaty and one of my students was not in the mood, so it didn't all turn out how I had planned in my mind.  But really, when does it ever?!  So, here you go.  Our first day photos from 2014.

My sweet girl.  She suddenly seems so grown up!

Finding where we live on the globe. :)

3rd grade!  I thought about making them hold a chalkboard with the grade on it, but I figured that would really not match with the previous years' photos so I decided not to.  One of my friends does this cute thing where her kids write what they want to be when they grow up on the chalkboard and I thought about doing that too.  Then I asked my boy the other day what he wanted to be when he grows up and he just shrugged his shoulders.  Then I asked my girl and she said, "I don't know."  So I figured I might as well skip that photo.  I guess I could have put undeclared on it. ;)

It kinda looks like she's waving hi, but that's 5 for 5th grade!

I'm kinda loving the crazy bokeh in the background of this one.

I was looking at last year's photos when I was going through these and this kid looks way older!  It think it's the teeth.  Last year he still had all baby teeth.

Yes, she really bites her tongue like that when she's concentrating.  She gets it from her Grandmama.

She picked two of her favorite books to use.  And she was a pro at balancing those books!

My boy can do it too. :)  Maybe my kids have flat heads.

He's still not a huge fan of reading, but I'm hoping this year will change that.  Our library has a huge selection of graphic novels and comics that he loves to read which has helped.

I think this is my favorite.  I love knee socks and I like that she likes to wear them.

Pretty girl.

I really wanted a photo of them together but they were so over it at that point.  He was standing on a stack of books so he looks tall here.

Had to get a shot of my girl in her new glasses.

You knew this was coming, right?  The collage of every first day so far!  She's grown so much.

Here's the boy's collage.

He's getting so grown up.

Well, 2 days down, only like 200 or so left!  Let's hope they go quick...oh wait, wasn't I just saying how I wanted it to slow down?  Haha....typical, right?!