First Day of School 2011-2012 & Our Routine

Our first day of school was Monday 8/8/11. I had high hopes but was also grounded in reality that the boys had a "true" summer vacation this year, so it may he hard.

I wanted to make the day special for the boys so Daddy went and got us donuts (it is also "D" week for Gator-Tot- reason enough right?) and coffee for the teacher.

They got dressed and were all excited for the first day of school pictures.


I have a new routine this year.

Morning Time

*Morning Board with all the boys: pledge, calendar, number of days in school, weather, Bible verses, ____of the day (shape, color, letter, trait, animal, and state), and singing the Books of the Bible
*We are not doing workboxes (they were great but a little teacher intensive for me). Senior has a list of what independant work he needs to finish before lunch. They include: Math U See, math drill for 15 min (from the Math U See site), A Reason for Handwriting, a Complete Book of Animals worksheet, 15 min. of recorder practice, and 30 minutes of book basket.
*This is when I work with the little ones. I keep Freshman happy with toys while I work with G-Tot on ABCJLM work. Freshman does like to be included in some of the crafts.
*The past two days they have been finished with morning work by snack time (10am) and have free play until lunch. Senior has to have everything finished before he can join the little ones.
*Sometime before lunch I also read from G-Tot's book basket. Senior always seems to gravitate to us at that time ;-)

Here are the pictures from our first day. This was before snack time.

I only set up one tray for Freshman but he loved it so I will have to get back in the habit.

Lunch

After lunch Freshman and Gator-Tot both get stories then take naps. They are usually down by 12:30 and up around 3:30.

Afternoon

This is the time that Senior and I work 1 on 1. We need to cover: All About Spelling, BJU English, and our ECC Geography, Science, and read aloud during this time. Daddy teaches the Bible lesson the night before. The past two days we have been done by 2pm! Then Senior can play outside with friends, free read, or play Wii (if he has earned it).
I'm not going to lie...the first day was rough!! Senior pretty much revolted, ha ha! Even my sweet little Gator-Tot had to test the water and disobey. Thankfully everyone seems to be getting settled into the new routine. The past two days, I have even had the thought of "are we doing enough because we can't be finished already?".

I prayerfully believe that we are going to have an amazing year!