A Rehash of the First Day of School

The first day of the Keen Academy 2014-15 school year is done. We made it through the day fairly unscathed. Here's how it all went down:

6:45 - Wife wakes up and starts getting ready because she already hears the baby talking in her crib. The 2nd grader gets up and decides to start her day with a shower and a hair wash (first day of school pictures and all).

7:05 - 3 year old wakes up and she and the 2nd grader decide they want some Rice Krispies. (They, like my wife, tend to wake up hungry and get something to eat right away. The 4th grader and I usually have to wait a little while to eat something). It's also around this time that my wife gets the baby out of bed and nurses her while watching the news for a few minutes.

7:25 - I get up and get ready, and my wife calls in late to work, as she has decided to make us chocolate chip pancakes and help us start the day on a good note.


7:45-8:45 - the 4th grader wakes up and starts getting ready as well.  Here's where things get a bit hairy. During this time, my wife makes pancakes, children finish getting ready, the 4th grader starts her work for the day, the baby falls off the bench at the table and cries, my wife nurses her again, the three year old has a small freak out about brushing her hair, and the 2nd grader sort of cries because she wants to start school, so we just tell her to start "journaling" in her composition book.

8:45 - Time for breakfast.  Whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes.  Everyone eats, we clean up, my wife takes pictures of the girls, and then she goes to work.

9:15 - I get coffee and school work begins.

When my wife and I were planning last night, I noticed that 4th grade is a lot more difficult than 3rd grade. The workload is greater in general (there's even homework built into the curriculum) and there's history and science every day now, instead of once or twice a week, like kindergarten through 3rd grade.

So, we've warned Katie that she will have more work than Annabelle, and we expect that she might feel upset about that as the year progresses, but what can you do? That's the price of growing older.

But, in a way, it's good for Caroline, who we are sort of worried might feel overlooked and start acting out. Today she was fine, though. Once the baby took a nap (sometime around 10ish), Caroline just sat at the table with the other girls and colored. Then, when Belle was done with her work, the two of them went off and played together. This is good for their relationship, I think.

Annabelle was done with her schoolwork before lunch, and Katie was done shortly thereafter. All in all, it was a good day. One thing that we have been trying to drill into their heads is that if they are diligent and hard-working, they can actually finish their work quickly and have more time to relax and play.

We also signed them up for a weekly homeschool gym class at the YMCA that they can look forward to every week. They were both pretty disappointed when we told them they were going to be homeschooled this year (they really, really wanted to go to Christian school), so even though this is an extra expense, I think it's warranted. They are excited about it, and it makes being at home a more pleasant experience for them. We would like to be able to put them in dance or gymnastics or music lessons, but we just can't fit it in the budget yet. This class is not as expensive and I think it will tide them over for now until we can afford other extracurricular stuff.

So, the year should be interesting. Stick around to see how it goes!