I have 2 posts in draft mode right now about why we homeschool and our plans for this year -- but I just don't have the time to finalize them right now! I did want to post about our first day, and will get the other 2 posts up as soon as I'm able.

We had a wonderful first day :)

Started the day as usual -- the boys got up, brushed teeth, ate breakfast, got dressed and made their beds. I'm so glad we started this routine months ago so it is considered normal and basic now.

We pulled out their nature journals and went into the front yard so they could make their first entries of the year. N drew a bird flying over a neighbor's home and C drew a fly on a tree. They both dictated to me their entries, but I know that C will soon get back to writing his own. I popped L in a sling and she was content to hang out in the front yard with the boys.

We came back in to math workbooks. C completed one page and N completed 3. We started the 1st grade and K workbooks last March, so we're continuing in those books. C did a page of subtraction facts, while N practiced writing the numbers 8, 9 and zero as well as circling sets of zero.

After math was completed, the boys did a page of copywork. Something simple today -- they copied their full names and our address.

I read from a coloring book about mass, and they colored a few of the pages. We'll continue reading this throughout the week, plan to be completed by Friday.

They colored a coloring page of a dragon. Their dad is currently reading Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher as a bedtime story, so this was appropriate. We decided to mail their completed drawings to their uncle in WI.

It was time for a snack, so I put out the ingredients for ants on a log and they made their own snack. They were both thrilled at making it themselves, and were eager to tell Daddy when he came home how they were learning to cook! I definitely plan to incorporate more "life skills" into our school year.

After their snack, they played a bit. N continued to play while C did a page from his spelling workbook. He then read to me from an Usborne early reader. He had absolutely no trouble reading the book, which helped me decide that he is ready for more writing and some grammar work.

While I was nursing L, we talked about oceans and they learned there are 5 oceans on earth. (did you know that? In 2000, they added the 5th, which was a surprise to me when I was preparing this lesson.) I have a few books and a few dvds on the way from Netflix to round out our ocean studies this week, as well as a few worksheets. They looked at a flattened globe worksheet and we identified where the different oceans were.

It was time for lunch and they helped prepare once again. We had hot dogs on bun, pretzels, grapes and chocolate milk.

After lunch, they completed their binder cover. I printed out a sheet that has "2007 - 2008 School Year" across the top, then a picture of each boy. Under the picture, I printed "Name, Age on 8/21/07, Weight on 8/21/07, Height on 8/21/07, Favorite Color, Favorite Food and Plans for this year." They filled in the blanks and I will put the page on the front of the binder where I keep samples of their work throughout the year. N enjoyed looking through last year's binder, even though I wasn't very good about keeping it updated :(

Our "official" schooling was complete and I was very happy with our day. In the afternoon, C read a book about robots to N and then a board book to L. They also helped around the house by cleaning the big hall mirror and the glass sliding back door. They emptied the dryer twice and carried the laundry to the laundry room.