Pumpkin Patch

Today was a BLAST! A friend of mine organized a pumpkin patch field trip to a local farm that does it up great every year. We had about 30-40 kids varying in age from tiny babies to middle school. And all the parents to go with it. It was a great group! I met a couple people that I had seen on FB on the different homeschool groups I am in and also got to chit-chat with other moms I know. Here are some pics from our totally fantastic day:

All in all, a great day! I was really excited to see how far our little guy has come with sensory processing today...the cannon was pretty loud, but he didn't freak out, he just covered his ears! Go Lil Mr!

First Day of School!

The first day of school got off without a hitch! The kids were so excited to start this morning that we started before 8am! I didn't figure we would start till around 9am, but they got dressed, ate breakfast and got chores out of the way by about 7:45 this morning.

We are doing some things the same this year and some things different. We are still year round schooling. We had our trial year of it last year and wow, our whole family just loved the freedom in doing it that way. I know there were several people that expressed their concerns to me, but it just seems to be what works for our family right now. I have no doubts that it could change next year or the year after, but that is the joy of homeschooling!

Our curriculum is switched up this year, that is a whole other post in itself. Might write about that tomorrow. At any rate, the kids are enjoying changing up some of their curriculum and my oldest daughter is completely in love with her math which is a first. So glad we found this other program!

Our schedule is flexible but has a flow. In other words, we don't have a set time we do things, but an order in which we do them. We start with Devotions, move onto Literature and Science as a family, then separate to work on Math and Language Arts on their own. When they are done, they are free to work on Extracurricular work. (Extra work with a reward, right now we are doing Scholastic and Kumon's Learn and Earn Program to earn some free books.) Then it's free time and piano practice.

Here are some pictures from our first day:

Lil Mr is in Preschool at home and Therapy School.

George is in Fifth Grade.

Mac is in Seventh Grade.

Bob is in First Grade.

Fred is in Second Grade.

 All my kidlets!

 My oldest was so excited to get 100% on her math that she had me take a pic of it! To understand why she is so excited: she has always struggled in math and this program just makes it so easy for her to understand. What a blessing to find what works for your child!

Back To School Traditions...

Whether you home-school or not, every family tends to have some back to school traditions. We have several that we do. Some are more consistent than others. Here are a couple:

One that has stayed on for the past several years is buying new shirts for the first day of school combined with the tradition of taking First Day pictures throughout the day. Some years we have matched, some years we haven't. Here are last year's First Day Pics and Shirts:

 Bob

 Fred

 Mac

 George

 Lil Mr

As you can see, each kiddo has their own unique style of what they choose for their First Day of School! The kiddos have been asking the past couple days when we are going to get their new shirts and I can tell that will have to be taken care of this week! After all, there is LESS than a week till school starts!!!

So what are your family's First Day of School Traditions?