Twenty-Fourth Passage

School has started! We've survived the first two weeks, but the house has not. Seriously, I don't know how to spend hours a day with the boys doing school, and still manage to do more necessary housework than dishes and laundry. Especially when you add canning and dehydrating into the mix. (Not that I've really done much of that...)

Here are some pictures from the first day of school.

The three boys. Luckily, I posted these pictures on Facebook, otherwise they would be lost forever, along with my other 200+ pictures that I stupidly deleted after failing to transfer them all to my computer, which wouldn't normally be a forever thing, but since I have an iPhone, they are virtually irretrievable because of the lengths apple goes to make their products un-user friendly. :(

And, of course, my fairy princess Lydia needed a picture. She got the shoes for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson, and LOVES them. Always wears them.

After breakfast, and hygiene, and chores, we start school with a little devotional. Songs, prayer, scriptures, and pledge of allegiance. Then we move on to reading and writing.

Morgan:

William:

And Owen:

After reading and writing we do math. Then, depending on the day, we learn some anatomy, or about a state, or we do a craft or science project.

Lydia can make things a little more difficult while we do school. She often colors or plays with toys, but she prefers to get into the boys' pencils or crayons, or make messes of the toys, (our school room doubles as a toy room) or steal away to my closet to try on all my shoes, or go somewhere else in the house and be quiet, which is the scariest of all. Who knows what she could be doing?! But I usually actually just find her playing with her toys in her bedroom.

After lunch we read a book together. Right now we're reading Hole's by Louis Sachar. And we do P.E.

We have sticker charts. If the boys do well all day long, they get to put up a sticker. Once the chart is filled, I'll take them to the dollar store or something, and let them pick a prize. Most days they have all gotten a sticker. William has had tantrums during writing when he gets discouraged, and so missed. Owen has repeatedly colored on the table, so missed out. Morgan threw a giant fit over playing leap frog during P.E. of all things, so didn't get a sticker. But we're learning.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't ever think of the convenience I am giving up in order to keep the boys home for school. Some days it would be really nice to have a whole morning with just me and Lydia and Owen, when I could be productive and get things done. But I don't doubt that it will be worth it in the end. This is what I want. Remember Melanie, this is what you want! 
Yay for homeschool.