First Day of School

I always loved the first day of school - new clothes, new supplies, a fresh start.  Even though we homeschool, I wanted to keep some traditions, so we go "school" shopping, and the kids pick out one outfit.  I also get them new supplies for the new school year.  For the last few years, we've taken pictures of each of the kids and have a special breakfast on the first day of school.  The kids picked cream of wheat - go figure!  Each year it seems that I have more on my plate, and this year is no exception.  At least we're not in the midst of a move, like last year at the start of September.  Here are some pics of the kids:

 Our 3 year old, Elsa, wants to be a princess when she grows up.  At least, that's what I think she said!  She certainly has the dance skills necessary.

 Dominique, our 6 year old, has always wanted to be a mommy - how dear!  The most noble job of all, and I know it requires an immense amount of skill.  She loves school and is the quintessential student.

Zoli, our 7 year old who would rather be playing with legos or building forts, may make a fine engineer some day!

I don't know where he gets the idea of wanting to be a brain surgeon??  Our 9 year old Sandor is always reading, mostly science books.  Maybe that's where he gets it from.  Guess he's a chip off the old block!

Now for a silly pose - school can't be that bad

Just one more, and they'd be the three stooges!

Dominique mommying her sister

In the schoolroom opening up new supplies

We've got a lot planned this year.  Some of what we're doing includes:

For Bible, we're working on scripture memory using this system http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/

memorizing the catechism for children, reading through the Bible for the older ones

For math, all the kids are using different level in this for math drill http://www.schoolmadesimple.com/calculadder.html

and this for grade level math

http://www.mathusee.com/

For reading/phonics/spelling, all the kids are using this system put together by a local curriculum provider

http://www.bhibooks.net/swr.html

This year we're trying something new for writing, less focus on the grammar and more on writing with this

http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/

After the basics, we're using Sonlight for History/Geography/Literature

http://www.sonlight.com/core-c.html

For science we love apologia science and will be using their botany book for elementary students

http://www.apologia.com/

The kids all love art, but I've fallen down in teaching it, since that's not my forte.  We're going to try to go through this book that we've had for awhile http://www.artisticpursuits.com/1110books.html

Some of the kids are also doing piano with an excellent teacher that is coming to our house, and Sandor is going to start Latin http://classicalacademicpress and typing http://www.amazon.com/Individual-Software-Inc-8037781-Instructor/dp/B001UHMVKO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346969889&sr=8-1&keywords=typing+instructor this year

All in all, it should be a busy year, but fun!