A Couple of Questions for You

Here we are getting ready to gear up and start school…

I just stopped to count.  I guess this we will be starting my 25th year of teaching the kids at home.  Whew.  I think I’ll go take a nap at the thought.  

We are trying to rearrange some furniture to make more of a home schooling room that I think will work better than anything we have had in a long time.   Or at least that’s my dream.

Switching tables, chairs, deacon bench…

That is one thing about moving into a new home….shelves or cupboards or something that will work to help organize the chaos for everyone and all the grades.  Dw and Graham had built some beautiful shelves with cupboard bottoms in the study in Durango.   They were beautiful {too bad we couldn’t bring them with.}  So now I’m looking around and trying to imagine what will work here.

You guys know what I mean.

And I’m also wondering…..

How many of you have started back to school?

Whether your kids home school or go to private or public school, have they started yet?

Any fun first day of school traditions {no matter if they school at home or outside}?
And our tradition has always been to celebrate with donuts on the first day.  {Almost motivation enough to start tomorrow – haha}.

Are your kids looking forward to starting school?   {Most of mine are super excited.}

Share some of your fun traditions because I want to incorporate some of your ideas into our day because I’m thinking we need another new fun idea to make it a really anticipated day by mom {*smile*} and treasures.

75 thoughts on “A Couple of Questions for You

  1. Just wanted to say first off that I have loved following your blog. I have prayed for your family in the past and enjoy reading about all your beautiful kiddos! We are a family with 6 kids (and one waiting in China) – always homeschooled til last year – one went off to community college, and my two little Ethiopian princesses went off to public school (hopefully for just a couple of years). So we are still all on different schedules. Public school started today, college starts next week, and our homeschool officially starts after Labor Day. We also have always started the first homeschool day with Dunkin Donuts! We also fill out these fun forms that ask the kids all kinds of questions (we have done them for years and it is fun for them to look back over the years to see the changes in their answers – favorite food, what do you want to be when you grow up etc). I also have the kids make first day of school pictures. We always take a picture with all of them holding their posters. Have a great school year! What a blessing homeschool is! Wow! 25 years. I think I am just at 14! lol

    1. Love the idea of a question and answer form. That would have been so fun 25 years ago. Infact I am sure that if one of the questions was "Who do you want to marry when you grow up?" Abi would have said, "Daddy" haha. Wish you could have told me the idea back then…but we will do it this year from now on….LOVE IT. Thank you Julie!

  2. We started public school on Wednesday, let the girls choose their own outfits, ran around taking FAR more pictures of them than was necessary just to give them a feeling of celebration, took them out for supper that night to celebrate the first night of school. They were still a little "freaked out", sad about new teachers, new friends, etc., but our older daughter, just arrived from China in this last year, was blessed with a new friend in her class, adopted from China! Now she talks about going to school to see her "new best friend just like me." How kind of God to put these girls together! Our younger daughter is quite disheartened to learn that her kindergarten class doesn't have nearly as many toys as her preschool class, but she's plugging away anyway. So that's our first week of school in a nutshell. Choosing new backpacks is probably the big tradition around here.

  3. We are public schoolers and we have not yet started yet, in Wisconsin, most years, we do not start until after Labor Day, so we start September 4th this year. My children are super excited to start. On the first day of school we always take pictures by themselves and then take pictures on the last day to show difference and compare them. The first day of school we also have a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (I never make them except for the first day). Good luck on your school year.

  4. Around here we host an annual "First Day of School Pancake Breakfast." Because we homeschool, it always seems a little anti-climatic to just get up and get the books out. So, instead we invite our friends over to help us kick off another year – we eat, play, and usually do some kind of craft. One year we had a pinata, another we decorated mini cakes, another we made acrostic poems with the letters of their names. We all look forward to it – as a matter of fact, the first day of school snuck up on me and I didn't plan our breakfast this year. I didn't think it mattered, but it really does – mostly to me! I need that day to celebrate with my kids and our friends to get me jazzed about another year. So, we are having our breakfast next Monday – a week late, but still expecting it to be a great day with many happy memories!
    May your school year be blessed!!

  5. We are starting our 9th year of homeschooling and I have 2 new students this year as we just finalized the adoption of my last 2 sweeties 2 weeks ago.

    We do a stagger start to allow time for each student to get used to their new lessons, so we have start dates of Aug. 13, Aug. 22, Aug. 28, and Sept 5. On the 1st day that the public schools go back, we will go to the indoor water park or zoo or something like that with no crowd.

    Wishing you a great school year!

    1. Congratulations on your two new additions. Love the idea of staggering. So let's see. Maybe I could start Graham on 8/28, Liberty on 9/28, Jubilee on 10/28, Isaiah on 11/28, Elizabeth on 2/28, Elijah on 4/28, right? hahaha. J/k But what a great idea!

  6. Two of my five will be in school within two weeks (son on Aug 29th – private/Catholic – Pre-K and daughter on Sept 6th – public – grade 1).

    We have a wall in our kitchen that is painted black – with magnet paint underneath and chalkboard paint on top. It's an entire chalkboard wall running the length of the kitchen. I have the kids write their name and age on the chalkboard and stand next to it for a photo. I'm looking forward to seeing their writing skills change over time.

    My son is "nervous" and my daughter just wants her kindergarten teacher "forever". Honestly, I'd love her K teacher forever too! Can you say FABULOUS? Yeah….

    But, I'm looking forward to the new year. The twins will start in the same pre-K program later in the year.

  7. Your chalkboard sounds super fun. Send me a picture if you feel like it. I love seeing stuff like that. I want to incorporate some practical but helpful things in to our new home…and that sounds like a suh-weet idea!

  8. We're adding many little blessings in the next few weeks so we're holding off on starting school until October or November. It really depends on how the transitions go, if there are any medical issues that need to be attended to right away, etc.

    Our traditions are for mom to do something secretive as a surprise for them on the first day. Goody bags…one year I did back to school survival kits (http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/back-to-school-survival-kit)…special breakfast, lunch or dinner, do something fun or different (eat UNDER the table!), etc.

  9. I love hearing how other families do school, either at home or at school. We have four kids, but only two in elementary school. We homeschool and my kids go to public school. My children attend a public Parent Partnership School through our school district for homeschooling families. We can sign up for fun classes and the kids get a taste of going to school without having to be there every day. They love it and we have made some great friends through it. We start school gradually around here. We start in August with just two days a week and gradually add more. By the time classes start on September 10th, we are already a month ahead. My kids are excited to see friends again but they don't want to let go of summer freedom.

    Our first day of school tradition is pictures. This year the kids are going to hold up a chalk board with what they want to be when they grow up. Hopefully we can do this each year. It will be fun to see their goals change each year. We are also installing a big chalkboard in our dining room to teach with. I love the donut idea, that will be another new tradition this year.

  10. Here in central PA, school starts on Monday, Aug. 26 (this year.) This will be my son's first year. He'll be in 1/2 day kindergarten and is soooo super excited!!! (And so am I! I can't wait for 3 hours alone to actually get something accomplished around here!) It will definitely be good for both of us. Good luck with your home school room. I hope it ends up being exactly what you wanted!

  11. Growing up, we always took a first day of school picture. My sister has hers from Kindergarten and I'm sitting sadly on the front step because I didn't get to go to school too. When I went to college, my freshman year, I remembered to take a first day of school pic then too. 🙂
    On pinterest, I saw the idea of tracing (and laminating) the kids hands each year to see how much they've grown year after year. They keep them clipped together with a metal ring.
    You can also make a growth chart and record their height at the beginning of the school-year and the end of the school year to see how much they've grown. I can tell you how to make a sweet wooden growth chart for about $5 (if you have some stain/paint already on hand).

  12. We start back in earnest on Monday! We've homeschooled since bringing Elaina home in December 2010 and will be adding a new student as soon as we get TA to bring Victoria home! We've had some school throughout the summer but mostly language and reading. Elaina's more than ready and last week remarked "Mom, I'll be glad when we're back on schedule". Schedule! I don't know how her English has developed so quickly! I'm gonna have to stay on my toes to keep her challenged! 🙂 Elaina, 8 years old, is halfway through first grade and Victoria, also 8, (younger by 1 week) will be starting at K.

    In honor of the new school year we have revamped and organized and colorized our class room. You can see pictures of our work area on my blog at http://www.curlymonkeyshines.blogspot.com.

    Hope y'all have a great school year filled with fun and joy!

  13. I've been blogging a lot about school lately. This is my 15th year homeschooling, but I have 3 in private school, 3 at home, and one (from China) in public school, so our world is EXTRA crazy, LOL! Our traditions involve things like handprints, measuring height, taking pictures by the front door, etc. We're using a new curriculum this year, so I'm still getting the kinks worked out as far as how things are going to flow.

  14. My kids have always been in public schools and we started last Thursday. I guess our biggest tradition, and not just a first day thing, is to pray before they get out of the van (we don't ride the bus so I can do this specific thing). We pray for our teachers, that God would hand pick our friends, that we would be a light for all to see, etc. If for some reason I forget – because maybe my phone has me talkin' or something – the kids will remind ME to pray! What a blessing that is, that they aren't just tolerating mom doing that, but they actually want me to do it!!!
    Blessings to all who are starting school whether it's home, private, or public!!!

  15. We are homeschoolers and we've schooled all summer but with a casual, light routine focusing mostly on language and reading. We are starting full schedule on Monday. Elaina said this past week, "Mom, I'll be glad to be back on schedule". "On schedule"? The depth of her English continues to amaze me! She came home in December of 2010. In honor of the new school year we have de cluttered, reorganized and revamped our school table. You can see pictures of our school area at my blog http://www.curlymonkeyshines.blogspot.com

    Elaina, 8, is about halfway through first grade and her sister Victoria also 8, (younger by one week!) will be joining us as soon as we have TA from China 🙂 She will begin at Kindergarten. We love our school time even though it can be filled with challenges! I would love to hear from more home schoolers and what their school day may look like.

  16. We started school last week on Monday (home school). I'm expecting a baby, due in the spring, so I figured we better start early and plan for interruptions. My daughter is second grade and my 5 year old son is Pre-Kindergarten. She is excited about school; he says his 5 minute reading lessons are "sooooo long." We did a special baking project together our first day and also made paper airplanes and had airplane races. And of course took first day of school pictures.

    1. When the kids are young focus on just doing things together..baking, walks, hiking, going to visit senior citizen homes, anything that will allow you to spend time together. Limit book/workbooks…read to your kids…and just ENJOY every minute with them…promise he will not be "bee-hind" one bit. {That's a money back guarantee.}

  17. Linny – this is our second week of public school for 3rd grade. We just got back from back to school and M is super excited with all her friends in class and a funny teacher who talks a lot and tells lots of jokes. Our traditions – hm – we had a last hurrah before school started. Just some extra playing tennis and went to an art museum and had lunch. For school, things have been pretty normal, but M seems thrilled with it all, except for the pages and pages of homework each night. She is slower at it than most kids, so its hard.

    I am also starting this year's env. ed. program for work. I found some cool items and Christian materials in Oriental Trading that would be useful if I were homeschooling. So excited for this year!

  18. We are starting public school for 3 of my kiddos on September 4 and my oldest will be homeschooled for the first time on September 4th. We are super excited, sad about the other 3 I wlll be missing all day though. We always take a picture and eat ice cream sundaes. We do this on the last day of school as well. Then they are ready to pass out by 9 am from all the sugar!
    Love
    Jill

  19. We send our kids to a local church school conveniently located a mile from our house. We take photos outside on the first day of school and have something hot for breakfast. This year was pancakes. We started yesterday. My kids were excited…except #3 who misses me…but she's usually fine when she gets there.

  20. Love all of your ideas for first day traditions. My one and only treasure starts school on the 3rd of September (can't believe he is five already). I'm definitely doing a special breakfast and first day photos. I don't think I know any homeschoolers doesn't seem to happen as much here in Ireland. I'm so impressed that you have homeschooled for 25 years, Love Susan

    1. I was looking at pictures of Ireland on the internet yesterday. Someday I might just have to visit. It is spectacular looking and I think I may have to see if it's as pretty as they look or photoshopped {haha}. xo

  21. We are starting our 6th year of homeschooling on Monday. We are starting a new schedule this year, taking 1 week off per month. I've tried to hustle through the school year to finish by the 1st week of June and it has N.E.V.E.R. happened. Who am I kidding? I really do homeschool year-round. So now, we're going Aug 27, 2012 – July 26, 2013.

    New binders and pencil boxes that they get to pick out, and First Day pictures at their workspace are our only traditions. I like the question/answer, first-day-last-day pix, and donuts ideas. I think I'll be sending my hubby out for donuts and coffee on Monday!
    Have a great school year, Linny!
    ~Michelle

  22. No ideas here! Like your family, we homeschool. We tend to start early with just a little bit of school (usually math) so we don't have to do it on days we are running a lot or field trips. We don't usually have an official first day or traditions because of that. Doughnuts sound great to me! 🙂 But I appreciate you asking others and will enjoy reading their answers.

    1. Field trips are so fun…except when the kids get in the upper grades and really need the days to complete their work. But do the donuts – the kids love that probably most!

  23. First of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog. I read it every morning when I get home from work. I have been homeschooling for 5 years and we are actually about to finish a 4th grade year and a preschool year. My 9 year old will start 5th grade in January (gasp) and my 4 year old will start K4 in January. We like to do our homeschooling from Jan-Nov because we live in Texas and since it is so hot during the summer, we like to stay indoors. We take our time off during the holidays to focus on visiting family and studying the real reasons we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas…plus it's not so friggin hot outside and we can actually go out and do things. I know many people who are starting back and their anticipation is growing and we are finally winding down our year. I love being a little different. Anyway…just thought I'd share. Happy Homeschooling!!

  24. Mine have all staggered back to school already. Public school started the first of August and my homeschoolers have been increasing their workloads as books arrive in the mail. LOL I love that I get to enjoy the best of both worlds in my home. I have a 6th grader, 4th grader, & two pre-schoolers in public school and a 2nd grader and Kindergartener at home, plus two bonus 'tot'-schoolers. Backpacks and pictures and reading special books… the excitement and fun of venturing out on their own for the first time… and the special times spent at home together snuggled up reading and playing and sneaking bites of batter while cooking chocolate chip cookies to eat together when the busses bring everyone back home… very glad I get to enjoy the best of both types of education in my home. We let them hold signs with their name, grade, and what they want to be when they grow up for a couple of the pictures…. I've enjoyed reading some of these ideas… I definitely need to start some fun traditions… I wanted to throw a neighborhood back to school bash but never got around to it… guess there is always next year.

    1. I once asked Tyler if he wanted to go to public school? He looked at me with a funny expression and said, "Are you kidding mom? I would miss the chocolate chip cookies with the history lessons." That says it all. There are many perks and we make sure that we practice them often! {Cause this mama loves her chocolate.}

  25. Haha, it's funny you ask… Yes we have started school, we start whenever Daddy does (he's a public school teacher). Our tradition is to take off on birthdays and today happens to be mine!! Woohoo, our first holiday!! 🙂

    1. Happy Birthday sweet friend!! I pray it was a wonderful day of honoring YOU…because you were made in the image of Almighty God – and He always makes everyone beautiful!

  26. Our kiddos have been back for just over a week. They go to public school and are in 1st & 2nd. In our home, daddy takes the day off. We have a breakfast buffet (fruit, pancakes, eggs, juice, etc) because that first morning can get hectic. We always have signs printed that they hold with grade, year & teacher's name on it. We take pictures by the tree in the front yard. Then, at school, we take a pix with child & teacher. (That picture then gets used for a teacher gift at Christmas!)

    We walk to/from school, so we always have a fun snack to have while walking home. We do roses/thorns (like/dislike) about the day…friends…classroom…teacher.

    We have a place for notes/papers from school & they kiddos know they have to unpack their lunchboxes when they arrive home, too.

  27. My kids have always gone to public school and we love to do the special traditions of pictures, a new outfits, special breakfast, and they get to choose what's for dinner the first day of school. The one tradition, though, that I think you need to incorporate immediately is that each daughter took flowers to their new teacher on the first day! My husband and I included a card letting them know how excited we were to be in their class and how much we looked forward to being in the classroom and praying for them during the year. Double blessing for you to be the Mom and the teacher! HA

    Love – Stephanie in Apex NC

  28. Well, you are certainly YEARS ahead of me in homeschooling… this is officially the beginning of my 11th year (I think!). Our traditions have varied over time since our family seems to be morphing and changing year after year… this is our first year that we are starting school with Foster kids in the house (including one very precious prayerfully-treasure-to-keep baby who is 8 months old). We spend time for the weeks leading up cleaning up the classroom (and yes, I am very blessed to have a space to school…don't know how successful I would be managing it on the kitchen table…). I try to have everything set up and clear so we can start on a good note. I let the kids choose notebooks, pencils, folders, etc on the first day. We start the year off praying together and with a peaceful (? 🙂 family breakfast (the kiddos usually choose choc chip pancakes).

    This year we have to juggle 3 fosters and my work schedule in there so I am praying to keep myself together and organized. We have several co-ops that we are involved in, so my kids always look forward to seeing their friends there again too.

    I have also learned that each of my children need their own "place" to school. Having their own spot – using their own (handmade) pencil cups, etc, really helps them feel like it is their special place. Also our treasure box filled with trinkets keep the motivation going for those good grades!

  29. My step-kids, 4 of them, started last Thursday in public school. I am already sick of the amount of homework all the kids get. And it will soon increase because they will begin their IEP stuff this week so we'll get their regular homework plus IEP homework and also anything they missed from regular class while in their IEP class will come home to be completed too…UGH. I love the break from their wild and craziness while they are at school but I hate spending HOURS on homework every night. We don't really have any traditions for back to school though we really should and the kids were not really too excited to go back to school because it is very hard on them and me most the time.

    1. I know I am starting to wonder that myself. Little too scared to take on that task for 4 of them at the moment though I love the idea of being able to tailor the work to them. I personally don't find it fair that they sit through working hard most the day and then have to spend half of the night getting homework done then go to sleep and start all over again. Thank goodness they mostly don't have homework on weekends!

    2. Funny! I just made this comment to a good friend of mine. I prefer to just do it with them the first time… no worries about homework :o)

      Prayerfully set up good routines and rewards for timely work. I had (seems like a lifetime ago) my step-children in public school and I felt like we were in survival mode most of the time. Don't let this precious time go by… help those little ones start loving to learn.

  30. I am a Granny now but I used to take a picture on the fist day of school. And my daughter did that too on Monday with her Kindergartener. Also I would put notes in her lunch box for encouragement. I hope my Daughter will too! I will pray for you as you teach your Precious Treasures at home! Janet

    1. My boys started school last week. Our tradition is having ice cream for breakfast on the first day of school and the last day. They are 13 and 10 now, but they still love it!

  31. We started in the middle of July. We are just south of you in Tucson and the schools here go year round. We homeschool and loosely follow their schedule. We love a big break in October and this year we are heading to Tha^land to get our daughter! We always take pictures on the first day and swim or slip in slide with friends in the afternoon.

  32. The summer is so hectic for us that we don't get to keep up with the tradition of bedtime stories. So, on the first day of school the kids look forward to end of the day when we read the first chapter of whatever book we have chosen for bedtime stories. For our two year old we pick a very simple, 3 minute read. Our 10 year old (special needs) got a chapter from a Paddington Bear book, and our 12 year old got read a chapter from 'Elijah of Buxton'. (A very funny book and so much fun for me to hear his laughter as I read) I start reading at 8 o'clock, take a short break to put the girls to bed around 8:20 p.m., and then finish reading to our 12 year old by 9 p.m. I was homeschooled all the way through 12th grade and my mother always read bedtime stories to us, no matter our age. (There were 8 of us kids!) I remember her reading through 'Little House on the Prairie' series, 'Anne of Green Gables' series, 'Cheaper by the Dozen', etc. It didn't matter how old I got, I always loved to listen to my Mom read…especially because she was a firm believer in making a story enjoyable by changing your voice for each character. 🙂 (Something I do for my children as well 🙂 ) Granted, each of us growing up all heard from the same book, but we loved it anyway! Because we only have 3, for now, it works out okay to read from separate books. Some of yours are pretty close in age, so you could probably get away with just a few different books a night. 🙂 Love making memories with my kiddos, and love your desire to do the same! Hope you have a wonderful year of homeschooling!

    1. I love reading to my kids too, but confess reading to each {separately?} sounds like I would likely be asleep by about the 4th kiddo. She must have drank Rockstar before starting. haha.

  33. Because our summer is so hectic we don't get to keep up with the tradition of bedtime stories like we normally do during the school year. So, on the first day of school my children look forward to the end of the day when they each get read a chapter in whatever book we have chosen to start the school year off with. Our 2 yr old gets a simple 3-5 minute read, our 10 yr old (special needs) got a chapter read from Paddington Bear, and our 12 yr old got a chapter read from 'Elijah of Buxton'. It is a very funny book and I love hearing his laughter as I read. I was homeschooled all the way through 12th grade and some of my best memories are sitting with my siblings (8 of us all together!)listening to the bedtime stories my mom would read to us. She couldn't read separate books for each of us, but it didn't matter to us, we loved it anyway!…especially because my mom was a firm believer in making a story enjoyable by changing your voice for each character. (something I do for my children as well 🙂 ) I remember hearing her read through the Little House on the Prairie series, Anne of Green Gables series, Cheaper by the Dozen, Chronicles of Narnia, etc. I love making some of those same memories with my kiddos, and I love that you have a desire to make some fun ones of your own with your precious kiddos! Praying you have a wonderful school year!

  34. We do a lot of the things already mentioned! I have a second grader that starts the day after labor day, and a preschooler a week after that. I do believe homeschooling is in our future, but we aren't there yet. We do pictures with the chalkboard announcing their name and grade, and on the first day we always go get ice cream after school. I also am in school (here's hoping I graduate someday haha) and I start next wednesday! Oh, and even for my itty bitty who is 5 months old, she gets her picture taken with the chalkboard, too, something clever like "first day alone with mommy" 🙂 I've loved reading through the comments, some great ideas!

  35. Ok, well. Ever since my oldest son (14)was in Pre-K (4 years old) we have watched the Winnie The Pooh Movie on the first day of school and talk about how the year passes and "ends" (in the movie) with school starting. It is the most wonderful part of our school year. I have 3 homeschooled, 1 in private school, 1 in public school and an infant. We have all watched that movie every year and we never get tired of it! Now we see who can get the most lines correct as we recite along with the show.

    On another note, we have had a "school room" since we started homeschooling and it just became a dumping ground as the kids did "school" all over the house. We just got rid of it to house a college student who needs a family. (our 7th child. ) So, we will see how we do without that space for the first time. My opinion was "people over things" and I am pretty sure God can bless this one if He chooses!

    1. We don't have a school room, but will use our dining room, which is the room you walk in the house and stands directly in front of you. I just don't want it to look like a dumping station either.

  36. I take a photo of each child on the first day of school, standing outside our front door. I repeat the photo on the last day of school and the kids LOVE to see how much they have grown during the year!!

    We also always start the first day with a super healthy (NOT) breakfast at McDonald's and the children always take in flowers for their teacher.

    Now… the LAST day of school, I pick everyone up and we go to Red Robin's for a Mile High Mud Pie!!

  37. Our bigs go to public school these days though I did homeschool them until 6th, 4th and 3rd grades, respective to their ages. My littles, I've decided, will be homeschooled through 6th before they are given the choice between homeschooling and going to public school. I also told one of my bigs that if he doesn't have a better year this year than last that he will forfeit his choice to go to public school. (<— none of which answers your questions!)

    My bigs started school last week. My littles will start homeschooling when we order their curriculum in September. We are using the A.C.E. curriculum this year.

    Our only tradition is a first day of school picture!

    The bigs were very excited to start, and the ones that haven't started are also excited. I am looking forward to it and dreading it a little at the same time. I struggle with consistency, which results in a lot of guilt, but I'm learning not to let one day knock me off course for a week or a month, or dare I say, longer. God has brought me a long way in the last 18 months, using the most unrelated and horrific of circumstances to do so! Which is to His glory that he can bring healing and good through any circumstance, I know you know what I mean!

    Happy schooling my friend!

    1. Yes, he totally has! Jesus changes everything! I know you don't always get to reply to emails, but did you get the lengthy one I sent about the end of our case about how beautifully our holy God orchestrated that day? Just wanted to make sure you knew how it all wrapped up since I know you prayed for our precious girl and family.

      Did I ever tell you we made his full name Mr. Notmee Idunno Darcy? That way when things happen around here (which they are prone to do), and I ask, "Who wrote on the wall?" (or whatever the occasion calls for) and my children reply (which they are also prone to do) "Not Mee!", "I dunno!" I calmly answer them, "Cats don't write on walls!" (or, you know, whatever the occasion calls for). It's a very convenient name for a pet! And better by far than Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy!! 😉

  38. This is my first official year homeschooling. My daughter started kindergarten 5 weeks ago. I needed to start early to make up for 3 weeks gone in September. I should have come up with something special for the first day but when I realized I needed to start like the very next day, I just got out the book and made it happen. 🙂 Next year, I'll be better prepared! I like that fill out of sheet of questions idea. Anyhow, all I did this year was dress her up just like I would have if she were leaving the house for school and took pictures (planning on end of year photos as well). She was SO excited to start school that I really didn't need to do anything special. In retrospect, I should have also taken photos of my 22 mos old since he's been "doing school" with us too. 🙂

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