First Days

So I find myself having a difficult time explaining Canaan's Kindergarten year.

We are homeschooling.

But he's also going to a little private school a couple days each week while I'm working (a local school that takes homeschooled kiddos).

We're hacking his education a bit over here!

And so with the school year finally upon us, this has been a big week of firsts!

On Monday, Canaan went to his first day of outside-the-home kindergarten. He usually won't be in school on Mondays, but I wanted him to join in on the official first school day there so he could learn the ropes along with everyone else. Somehow I missed the dress-code memo so last minute we made a Target run to get him in uniform. One of Canaan's biggest school adjustments is going to be keeping his collared shirt tucked in! This boy is pretty used to learning in his underwear (on our best days he's in a t-shirt AND gym shorts) and peeing in our backyard (country folks here), so it's a an adjustment all around. ;)

First day pics!

The morning Bible study / prayer time we're just getting into the routine of. It requires my getting up early (starting the morning ready instead of frazzled), but it's been so worth it. This is one of the sweetest times of my day with him. :) Doesn't he just look so... GROWN?!

Highlighting the verse for the day

All dressed and ready to get going! He wanted hair gel. It turned out... a little crazy.

So up next, this morning, we kicked off our first day of HOOOME....SCHOOOOL! (said with jazz hands and a snazzy singing voice, because I am a dorky embarrassing mom and my kids are just going to have to deal).

We're doing homeschool kindergarten for Canaan, preschool for Ezra, and "toddler school" for Lainey (we can't leave her out! This girl loves to learn!).

Certificates to commemorate the first day!

They found out all the new things we'll be learning this year.

We made and ate sprinkle-filled muffins, and they got to pick out one book each from the Scholastic catalog.



I also had plenty of go-with-the-flow moments. When Canaan walked down and saw his new homeschool books, he was so excited that he immediately picked up and read the first chapter of "The Boxcar Children". That wasn't my "plan", but okey-dokey!

Later, Canaan was working on his morning work and Ezra got the idea to check out the page through their mini microscope. The lesson quickly turned to how images can be made up of tiny dots, like they are when printed. This wasn't on my radar to talk about today, but we were able to flexible and go with it!



And then later this afternoon, Ezra had his first day of (outside the home) preschool!

My poor sweet girl. She was so convinced that she was going also. She insisted on a backpack like her big brother, and when we got to school she followed him down the hall and hung up her back alongside him.

She would love it, I know. But she's also only two and there's plenty of time.

Little man did awesome and had no trouble at all saying goodbye! He even tried to get another kiddo (who was feeling a little scared and shy) to play with him. I was so proud of him!



Preschool is going to be so so good for Ezra and we know he's going to LOVE it! And it's going to provide a little extra quiet time (while little lady is sleeping) to teach Canaan phonics & math.

So it's been a crazy few days! I'm looking forward to settling into this new arrangement and having it all be just our new normal. I am most excited about the extra time we'll all have together this year!