kindergarten, first day.

we just finished our first week of homeschool at our house!

this is roman's third year of homeschooling. i did two years of preschool with him at home and now to my amazement, he has somehow gone and become a wonderful, happy, round-faced kindergartener! we always wait until after labor day to start school, which i love because i'm not even ready to consider the thought of summer ending until at least september!

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we have started off the first day of school the same each of these three years. i have roman color a sign  and take a first day of school pictures. of course, we always include asher who has so far completed "baby school" and two years of "toddler school" ;)

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i also have roman draw a self-portrait and write his name. then i trace his hand and i have done the same first day of school interview with him all three years. it has been so fun to compare each year and see how he has grown and changed!

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it's very strange to feel the years passing by through this ritual. i still remember so clearly roman's first day of preschool at 3, when asher was still a tiny newborn in his little white jammies sucking away on his paci while we made play-doh.
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it has been such a blessing to stay home and be with my boys everyday and to teach them and care for them. it has definitely not always been easy especially with our wild spirited child by our side constantly trying to undo any and all school progress.
but it is indeed a blessing, to see my little roman's face light up on the first day of kindergarten with the most genuine smile in the world.
peeking out of the covers saying, "is it school day mommy??"
and to know that i don't have to pack him up and ship him off, just yet.

these boys are my heart and i feel so happy and blessed to be able to have them home with me. ;)

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i went back and found our first day of school photos from last year to compare. and here are some photos from where we were this time 2 years ago!

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homeschooling thoughts.

(washing shells)

i officially started doing preschool at home with roman this past fall. so far he LOVES it, and asks each morning, "do we have school today?"

on the last day that i did school with him before our decided Christmas break, he was so bummed. i, however, was very excited to be off the hook! i was starting to feel throroughly overwhelmed and inadequete as a homeschooling mama. as much as i try to set aside time to plan, i never spend nearly enough time doing it. although i have a million ideas swirling around in my head, i feel too overwhelmed by all the choices in front of me.

i decided that over Christmas break, i would really sit down and take some time to PLAN and ORGANIZE. i was going to pick up that huge box of preschool books from my mom, i was going to spend hours making lesson plans and schedules.

did i do that? no. the box is still at my moms. i spent hours editing photos in my holiday free time instead.

some moments i start thinking, "maybe roman would be better off in a REAL preschool." then i realize, wait, what he heck is so REAL about preschool that isn't REAL about being at home? having worked in daycare/preschools, i saw that those teachers are figuring it our on their own also. they are bombarded with a million choices, and have to come up with lessons on their own too. they make changes as time goes on. they find things that work, and things that don't. they have children who won't sit still, who are bored, who don't like the activity that they've planned. there are good days and bad days in REAL preschool too.

so, we've started school back up again. i am pretty satisfied with our first two days back.  i am still NOT happy with how little time i spend planning.  that is something i need to work on. luckily i'm really good at coming up with activities quickly, all those daycare and sunday school teaching days paid off!
however, i want roman to have the BEST i can offer him. which is defiately better than what i've been shelling out lately.

however, he loves to read and write. he is learning his letter sounds. and this morning, even though he is sick with the flu, he asked, "do we have school today?" so it's not all bad, right? :)

life right now.

we started roman's first year of homeschool preschool. it has been hectic, but special to see him learn and grow. asher is in love with his "busy bees". he cracks us up as he lays under them and smiles away. he also likes his animal mobile now, but not as much as the bees of course.

 roman loves to makes us "presents" which consist of various set ups of his toys placed somewhere in the house for us to admire. i love having little boys. i'm always saying that to aaron. when i was first pregnant with roman, i couldn't imagine having a boy. now, i can't imagine it any other way.

we've spent the end of our summer taking lots of drives out to the country and painting at our new house. there she is, complete with massive bushes and a crooked little address post.