School Days!

As I think everyone knows by now we have decided to homeschool Julia. We kicked off our school year back in June right after she had finished at the Little Red Hen. We started then because Julia was excited about it and wanted to "do school." We also know that our kids do better with routine and structure and were sure that just starting off the way we meant to go on would be the best path. And it's been great!!

We had a wonderful summer. We did school work but really, Kindergarten is mostly fun stuff! So while we had our challenges with reading we also just eased our way into homeschooling. And it turns out that it was a good plan. In September we had a bunch of activities and groups start up and  while we had been doing school all along, we still had a bit of the "back-to-school" transition as we adjusted to a new schedule.

We have found a fantastic homeschool group in Rhode Island. We are making lots of new friends and have found them to be a valuable source of moral support and advice, ideas, etc. The group also organizes lots of activities, field trips, and classes. We've found lots of fun ways to break up our weeks!

We kicked off September with a "Not Back to School Beach Day!" on the day after Labor Day. And yes, I was very grateful that day to be packing my kids in the car and heading to the beach rather than waiting for a school bus!

Beach Bum

mastering the boogie board

We also are attending a six-week co-op where I am teaching a Nature class for 4-6 year olds (including Julia and Benjamin) and Julia is also taking a Spanish class. Both kids look forward to it every week. Julia loves her classes and Benjamin likes playing in the huge gym! A couple of weeks ago we had a crazy hat day where Julia's crazy hat made its reappearance.

crazy face to go with the crazy hat 

Benj preferred dapper to crazy!

I'll be sharing lots more of our adventures in the months to come!