First Day of School

What is a first day of school without the customary child-beside-the-door-with-backpack-and-lunchbox picture??? Here's our version of it...child beside the door...little brother close by (who wants to do everything big brother does in Learning Time)...no backpack...no lunchbox...barefoot...proudly holding up some new books. After we took this picture, instead of sending Josiah off to school in a bus or driving him myself in our minivan, we opened the door, walked back inside, and had our first day of school. I didn't even shed one tear--didn't have to cry because, joy of joys!, I get to keep my boy a little longer...get to be the one to see the lightbulbs come on in his head...get to be the one to guide his heart as he deals with the frustration of not tracing a "c" perfectly in his writing book...get to be the one to cuddle with him and read great stories and poems...get to be the one to answer his multitude of questions (his question of the day: do boys ever marry their mothers? he was concerned because the only two girls he can think of marrying are me and a college student named Amorette...we haven't seen her for a while, so Josiah was getting desperate...I reassured him that only God knows who Josiah will marry, but Daddy and I have already started praying for her...then I told him that when Daddy was his age, his future wife wasn't even born yet!). I think I've said this before (I feel like I repeat myself and constantly circle around the same few themes!), but I am thrilled beyond words that we get to have this year of homeschooling together!!!

~ how cool is this that my boys get to stand on the same steps I stood on as a wee little girl on her way to kindergarten for the first time! the sun sure was bright out there and shone right in the boys' eyes, so we cut short our outdoor pictures and headed inside
~ Josiah wanted to take a picture with ALL his new books, so we took lots of pictures! this picture Bible was given to me when I was 8, and I loved it! today after we finished reading one story from it and moved on to other reading, David sat for a long time and flipped through the pages of this book

Here is what we did today during Josiah's first day of school...

~ read a story from a picture Bible

~ read some pages from Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose book

~ read from Why Do Roosters Crow?, a Q&A book about farms

~ did the first lesson from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

~ did a page of handwriting from a Dick & Jane workbook

~ did two lessons from the Horizons Math K book

~ did a page from a new bilingual sticker/coloring book that a friend gave Josiah for his birthday

~ had a piano lesson

Oh, and we also...

~ snuggled

~ prayed

~ built memories

~ expressed love

What a wonderful way to begin!!!