another first day of school

Here we are again, starting another school year. Homeschooling still feels like a bit of an experiment to me, so it’s crazy to realize we’ve already completed a whole year, plus some, and now more. 

Lucy is starting 5th grade. It feels significant because it is her last year of elementary school. She loves our read-aloud time on the couch each afternoon, and I love her big reactions when anything exciting happens in the book we’re reading. She’s already started her first report of the year, a paper on Mesopotamia, and I am already so impressed with her quality of work! 

Zinni is starting first grade, what a special time. I am most excited to watch her explode into reading. This summer she’s carried chapter books around with her because she wants to be as into reading as her big sister is, even though she can’t quite read them yet. But our first day of reading together, she worked so hard and read so well in her “Elephant and Piggie” books. I love seeing her read signs, book titles at the library, or sticky notes, and also love to watch her write more and more. 

Johnnie is just so excited about his “ba-pa” (backpack). It was mine when I was his age, and it was lovingly filled with goodies like play doh and stickers from the girls’ mom and a bit from me. He loves getting it and bringing it to the table. He did NOT love the first day of school though, after a long summer of enjoying mom’s undivided attention while his sisters played with each other. He’ll adjust! And most of all, I’m so excited with how much he already loves letters, at 22 months! He can recognize over half the alphabet already and loves pointing out the letters. And he’s signed up for the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge! 

It’s going to be a wonderful year. :)