First Day of School

About ten days ago I thought today would be a great day to start the school year. I know I'm not the only person in the city doing our history curriculum and I thought starting soon would make it more library that library books would be available. As the time drew near I wasn't ready. If I didn't have those library books in hand I would have postponed. Since I'll be losing time every day that I had previously used for cleaning, I wanted to clean the house thoroughly and get to the long neglected areas. I wanted to reorganize the basement since that will be the schoolroom and playroom. I also wanted a schedule. I tried really hard but I didn't finish any of those tasks. I'm exhausted and the house is a little bit cleaner.

I was surprised at how helpful Nyla has been with the cleaning. Wednesday afternoon, an apricot pit from out trip became wedged under the front door. It was extremely difficult to remove and it gouged the floor. I was hungry and frustrated and told the kids I was tired of living in a dirty house. Since then they've been helpful. Nyla put new toilet paper in the bathroom without being asked. She cleaned up a spill Cora made. She's been picking up toys and making sure her dirty clothes go in the laundry basket. The basement is much less of a mess. The kids like it too. Having a clean space inspires new play.

To make things even more challenging for the first day, Bohdin had a cold this weekend which Cora developed last night. She was not in the best spirits this morning and was quite tired so we had to rush a little. Bohdin had five subjects to cover before he or Nyla could play. It went quickly since nothing was really challenging. He had math which was just a continuation of the math lesson from last week, spelling, history, handwriting, and reading comprehension. Later he will be required to read silently for 30 minutes. I don't have a plan for tomorrow yet. I'm thinking we will do one unit of history per week which should take two or three days, one day of science, one day of art instruction, five days of reading, math, and handwriting, and one spelling lesson per week with the other four days as review. At some point I would also like to add music, nature study, and a handcraft but we need to get in our groove first. I am awaiting shipment of Nyla's stuff. Today she made three thank you notes and played with pattern blocks. I have no clue what I will do with her tomorrow or Cora Destructo.