And So It Begins

School, that is. I did not expect to start school until the week after next. First of all I did not order the kids' curriculum until less than a week ago, and fully expected it to be 2 to 3 weeks before it came in. The math has not yet made it here, but yesterday the mailman rang our doorbell. I'm sure he's never received so many squeals over a delivery. The big girls were jumping up and down with delighted squeals, which caused the 3 little ones to also squeal and run in circles all excited like. I was cracking up because I knew very well they had no idea what they were so happy about. Faith and Hope's excitement was enough for them to know it had to be something good! Of course we emptied the boxes right away, ooing and ahing over every book and every new adventure we get to be a part of this school year. The kids BEGGED (oh, how I wish they would stay that enthused for the entire year) to start school today. I wanted to wait because we will not be doing school tomorrow, not the weekend, and probably not Monday, either. It seemed pointless. But who can look at children begging to do school and not oblige?




School is NOT easy with 3 little ones. I've put much thought and effort into how I would handle it this year. We began the day (after breakfast and chores) with Bible time at the table with all 5 girls. Then Faith and Hope made a journal entry while I taught Charity her reading lesson. I put Blessing and Grace at the bar with water paints, and Charity joined them after her handwriting was done. That kept them busy while I read the big girls their first science lesson. Once I gave Faith and Hope their science assignment, and they were busy working, I set up 3 areas for the little kids. I put one small kid in each station, threatened them with their lives to stay there until the timer went off, and set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer went off, they swapped to another spot. This bought me an hour and 1/2 of table time with the older 2 girls. I had begun training the little ones that I expected them to stay put when the special toys/activities were pulled out about a week ago. They did pretty good today. Better than I thought they would on our first day (they're so nosy about what's going on at the table...it might be more fun!), but not as good as I hope they'll get as the school year goes on.

Lest you think these were some kind of extravagant stations, let me point out that I'm just talking about certain toys or activities that aren't always available to them. If you have any great ideas, just let me know. Obviously, the stations can't be the same everyday, or they will quickly lose interest. Here's what we did today:

Play dishes needed washed. (no one was ready to leave this station even after 30 minutes...those were VERY clean dishes)


These are "Littlest Pet Shop" toys that stay in my room for special occasions.


I have no idea what these are called. They snap together, and there are even little pieces that allow you to make rings, or bracelets. You can just snap them together in a circle for a necklace, or see how long of a line you can make. You might also notice some magnetix on the table. I intended for them to choose one or the other, but of course they wanted them both! ;)