What a year so far!

Wow! Things have not really gone as planned. Guess that's always the way. Although we got off to a pretty good start it's been rather rocky since then. We had a week that seemed filled with medical appointments (nothing serious, just time consuming), a badly sprained finger on a writing hand, and math and physics angst. Oh, and a horse that had a problem that needed attention twice a day for a week, which really took time out of our day. Now that we've made it through most of that (the math and physics are still hanging around), I think we can move on and hopefully get more school done. Guess it's all been a good lesson in life.

First day of school pictures

So does everyone have the first day of school picture tradition? I've seen some twists on it - taken in the same place every year, taken with a sign showing what grade the kids are starting. I'm just lucky that I can remember to take the picture. Since my kids aren't heading out the door to catch the bus, I have to remember to actually go outside and take a picture of them. It may be afternoon since they don't always (very rarely) get dressed in the morning, but I think I've almost always gotten a picture.

This year, I almost forgot. Well, I did forget. We were going to my sister's for dinner the night of our first day of school which was also my niece's birthday. I was doing something and reminded myself to take the pictures before we got in the car to leave. Totally forgot. So, I took them when we got to my sister's. I thought it was funny that both girls wanted to be in her tree! I took Sweet Pea's picture first while her sister when in to say hi to her cousins. When Rosie Jane came back out, she went to the tree, not realizing that her sister had just been there. Anyway, I was just happy to get their picture taken!

Sweet Pea, first day of 10th grade

Rosie Jane, first day of 8th grade

The "first day" of school

So today's the day the public schooled kids go back to school. I know there's a lot of happy moms right now! They're all probably at Starbucks or Panera. On the one hand, I'd love to be there with them, my kids in school and some time for me (not that I'm sure what I'd do with it). On the other, I'm just as happy to be at home with my girls, hanging out with them and teaching them. The biggest plus is mornings. I saw my neighbor post on facebook this morning that she was up at 5:30 and had to get her son up at 6 to get ready for school. I think he has to leave about 6:45 to catch the bus at the corner. Sweet Pea thought she was doing really well this morning when she got up just before 7 to help me make sweet rolls for breakfast. She did say if she had to be up at 6, she'd do it but I know she wouldn't be happy doing it every day. She'll happily get up that early to go snowboarding but for school, not so much!

The one issue that we've run into is that Sweet Pea fell on the stairs Saturday night. She hurt her middle finger on her right (writing) hand. I took her to the after hours care yesterday where she had it checked and x-rayed; verdict - it's a bad sprain. So now she's got it in a splint, which doesn't make for easy writing. It also means that when she goes to work this afternoon, she's not going to be able to ride and I'm going to have to help her clean stalls. Hopefully it'll be better soon!

Week 1 - DONE

We've made it through the first week of school, mostly in one piece. A couple of courses (physics and algebra II) were a little tough for Sweet Pea, but I think we'll make it. We have yet to actually start everything. I know some families take a slow start like this and ramp up but we usually don't. This year we just weren't organized enough to start everything at once. I added some things to an order a friend was making and a few items were backordered. Hopefully that will come in this week so I can get the workbooks I ordered and Rosie Jane can get started on them. Her science is also delayed. I've finally gone through the science kits and know what we need to order but the website was down, well, not really down but acting wonky and I couldn't order. Sent them an email (I hope!) and hope to get it ordered this week so they (Rosie Jane and her bff) can get started on science.

We still have a week of easing in before things get crazy around here. The girls' language classes don't start until Sept. 10/11 and Rosie Jane's dance classes start then as well. Once we add in French, German, and Russian, that will take an hour out of each of their days. They both enjoy those classes and have been doing well in them. Adding them in just means longer school days than we've had so far. I think school will take longer anyway, now that they're in 8th and 10th grades.

We're set for week 2, we'll see how it goes.