Our First Day of (Not) School!

Yesterday was a very special day for us... It was Not Back to School Day! As I mentioned last post, this year was the first time in five years that I have not had to work on the First Day of (Not) School. It was WONDERFUL. We had a very full, exciting day!

All ready for Not Back to School Breakfast! Each year, I also
give each child a little "First Day" present... small things like
special pencils, stickers, little chocolates, and such. 

We started with a Not Back to School Breakfast... Pancakes! After breakfast we cleaned up and did chores and got down to a little bit of school business. We keep things simple the first day... the kids decorate their binders for the year, and I have each child make a list of goals for the year. This is a fun little exercise... we always look back at the list at the end of the year, and see which things they accomplished and which things they still need to work on.

Since it was 83 degrees and sunny today, we decided to pack up a picnic lunch and spend a few hours at the beach! We met up with another homeschooling family there, and enjoyed having the whole beach pretty much to ourselves! We even wrapped it all up with some celebratory ocean-side ice cream.

First Day of (Not) School at the Beach!

Later in the afternoon, The Man and the boys headed out to the library, while I took Ladybug to her first ever class at a local community college. She is doing their Duel Enrollment program, which is a way for high school kids to earn college credit while doing high school. She was a little nervous at first, but she did well!

First Day of (Not) School ice cream!

We wrapped up the day with a nice dinner, feeling happy and excited for a new academic year of living and learning together. We have so much to look forward to! In the coming weeks Ladybug will be starting some homeschool high school group classes, The boys will be continuing studies here at home, along with some hands-on science classes at a wildlife sanctuary, book discussion group with fellow homeschoolers, and other field trips and adventures. I will be teaching an Art class for a group of homeschooled students, which I'm very excited about. Monkey will also be doing Chorus at our local middle school, and Ladybug and Monkey start up dance classes again at the end of the month.

I feel really lucky to be able to give my kids these opportunities and to be able to be an active participant in their education. Although we've always homeschooled, I feel like I missed so much while I was working full time for the several years, so I'm really excited to be able to give them more of my time and attention this year. Life is good, and we are BLESSED.