At Least the Weather is Nice

I was just revisiting older posts about the other five years of back to school and this start to the year definitely sits at the bottom. We are definitely at a disadvantage starting the day after coming back from a vacation- it usually takes us all a week to recover from a week away anyway! MiniM.E. is in third grade now and between seeing the curriculum come in that I've chosen for her and hearing tales from a neighbor, I think she knows this year is the real deal. LittleL.G. is excited sometimes to start kindergarten, but unlike MiniM.E. who came in blind, she's seen how school goes at our house- she is excited for the one on one Mommy time, but not for doing the work. SlimJim doesn't know what's going on, but even though we didn't start back in full force, he knows something's up and he is NOT happy that there is a period of time during the day where I am not paying him attention and giving someone else attention. Like most kids, he's only wants it when he can't have it. I'm sure it will just take some tweaking. And still, our total school hours of formal learning and direct teaching from me are about two, with MiniM.E. having another hour or so of work to do on her own. So even if it's a challenge, at least it's a small fraction of our day.

BUT... 

At least the weather is nice. We have lots of time in the day to play outside. The girls are thrilled because their best friends down the street will be homeschooling this year as well, so that's a ton of extra playtime for them; every day so far!

Things are already improving over day one. With four kids to figure out this year, it might take us a bit longer to get in the groove, but I'll take "not as terrible"! To celebrate and get the kids outside while the weather lasts, I threw them in the car for a couple hours at the beach.