Back to School

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day.
  Lamentations 3:23 NLT

I look forward to the start of each new school year.  A new year.  A fresh start.  A chance to do things better and the opportunity to continue to do the thing I love!  On the family calendar I have it in big letters with a smiley face.  Funny thing is that usually no one else seems to share my excitement!  Madeline even changed my happy face to a sad face last year!  Little stinker!  A typical year starts in July when it’s too hot to go outside anyway.  We get a few weeks under our belts and then take a week off before really settling into the year the first of August.  This year has been different.  We spent our summer travelling to spend time with Brad and our new church family in Rochester, Illinois.  No summer school or even an early start date.  So I have felt behind all this time, but we’re not really.  We’re just not where I’m used to being in our 180 days of school.

We actually started the week everyone else did here locally in Indiana.  It had to have been the best start we’ve ever had in our six years of home schooling!  This year, the kids were more than ready to start and were so happy to begin.  I think we all needed that stability of a routine once more.  I was so amazed at how it all came together. Many of my Facebook friends proudly posted first day of school pictures but for whatever reason I was afraid of jinxing the first week.  Sounds silly I know, but nonetheless, we just kept our noses to the grindstone and kept moving.   Now I have guilt and feel like a bad mom.  Shame on me!  So while I didn't necessarily do a "first day of school" photo...I did get some pictures during our first day/week of school.  I am a little late in sharing, but here they are with an update on each child.

Keyboarding class day one of school.  He learned later this lesson his book needed to be on the right side!

Neil started high school this year.  Many of you have asked if we are planning to home school through high school and yes, unless God directs us otherwise, that is the plan.  We enrolled Neil in the A Beka Academy program this year as independent study which means, he watches via internet streaming his classes from an accredited school and accredited teachers.   We had the DVD option, but I could just see us lose the DVDs or someone step on a DVD or the four year old launch the DVD down the stairs.  I just didn’t think that was a good option for us so internet streaming it was.  The independent study means I do the grading instead of sending it off for them to grade and it gives us a little more flexibility.   It’s been a good year.  I have transitioned from his teacher to his tutor.  It’s a role I really enjoy.   The middle of our first week of school he came up to me and wrapped his arms around me and said, “Thanks for being such a great teacher, mom, and getting me ready for high school!  I understand now why you had me do all those things you did.”  He gave me a big hug and a kiss and walked away.  It was awesome!  It’s something I will treasure for always.

Reading History lesson.  She is studying the Middle Ages this year.

Madeline is in sixth grade this year and she has had a fantastic year so far.  Some of her SID issues can be a challenge for us in school, but so far…she is having a great year.  Math is still not her favorite subject, but we do still try to sweeten things up with a treat at that time.  This year she’s switched from M & M’s to Skittles and Starburst.  She thoroughly enjoys Science and Literature and you can almost always find her in a quiet corner reading, reading, reading or learning facts about animals. Our library trips are a highlight of the week for her.

My precious little first grader!

Sarah is our first grader and she is probably my most challenging student so far.  She has been reading for well over two years.  It’s nothing I’ve done and it’s not that she is gifted.  She just figured it out on her own.  She loves Magic Tree House books and any chapter book.  She reads everything out loud all the time.  It drives Madeline crazy (remember…she likes quiet so this causes some tension in the Ferris household) but I find it amusing to hear her say new words and decode them on her own.  At night now instead of me reading to her, we partner read.  I hope she always loves books so.

Sam working on his Scissor Skills paper at his desk!  He felt so grown up!

Samuel officially started preschool this year.  He is the one that cries when school is over or when he realizes it is Saturday and there is no school.  I’m enjoying this for as long as it lasts.  He loves to have that one on one time with just me and to do his work at his own desk.  His favorite thing is dressing weather bear during our calendar time.

This year we pulled out of our co-op and we miss our friends so much but with our current living arrangements we need to be available when Brad comes to Newburgh to visit and to have the flexibility to be able to leave and visit him when the opportunity arises.  We have been able to make some early connections in Illinois with some homeschooling families and look forward to meeting new people and making new friends once we can get settled there together.

It’s hard to believe a month has passed by already!  It’s been a great start.  Thank you, God for such a wonderful beginning to our school year!  Thank you for the structure of a routine!  Thank you for healthy minds and bodies!  Thank you for your faithfulness!  Thank you for your mercies new each morning!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

The sunrise Sunday, August 19th.  Beautiful reminder to me of God's faithfulness after our first week of school.