The First Day of Homeschool

And what a day it was!

My dear littles knew it was coming, and they were literally begging for it to begin for about a week beforehand. The day of, however, was a different story. I'll admit that I wasn't completely prepared for the issues that came up. I knew that Airius would probably immediately pronounce everything to be "booooring" (he did) and that Callie would want to be included in absolutely everything (she did) and that somebody would ask about watching TV or playing DS (they did). But I didn't realize that my children would be anxious in that most negative of senses. I could see for most of the actual "schooling" time that the twins were really reliving the anxieties and fears that had been brought about by their preschool and kindergarten years in the public school system.


Looking for gnomes on our walk

Annie woke up and immediately pronounced every piece of clothing she owned to be itchy or hurty or otherwise unsuitable, including the outfit she'd laid out for herself the night before. She cried for an hour, despite hugs and reassurance and many, many outfit changes, and only came down to breakfast when I said it was time to go for a walk. Airius was on a hair trigger and had mini-meltdowns anytime anything was perceived by him as going the least bit wrong. On our walk we saw some of the children from their former school waiting at a bus stop, and both the twins said they were sad that they would not see their old friends at school today. Airius repeatedly brought up that all teachers are "big meanies" with the unspoken fear that I would suddenly turn on him looming in the background. Oy. I... stayed calm and carried on. Oh yes I did!


The straight line and the curve

Biggest high of the day: Airius realizing he could finger knit! Last year he tried and wound up so frustrated with it that I made him put it away. He refused to pick it up again until today. He spent quite a bit of time knitting today and is really looking forward to making his own needles and knitting just like Mama!


The way he balanced his yarn ball on his feet just killed me!

I had planned to give the whole play by play, but honestly I'm more than a little exhausted and have to wake up early to take the two littlest ones to their well child checkups in the morning. It may not have been what I planned, but I think our first day was what it needed to be. Here's hoping for smoother sailing ahead...