1st grade

1st grade. It means all day at school. It means leaving the sheltered little Kindergarten world behind and venturing out to the rest of the big school. We're at a different school this year, and we don't really know a lot of people! But he's ready!
We tried to get a few school year traditions going this year. The first was a father's blessing. Dillan and Leah both got blessings. In the morning we made a special breakfast and Dillan got to choose what we had for dinner. Something new we tried was we made a big cookie for the first day and decorated it with the year in school for a surprise dessert.
Dillan's teacher this year is Mrs Hall. On the first day we lined up with other parents and kids, so we could meet the teacher and give her our info and paperwork. Dillan found his desk, slapped on his nametag and got to work like he'd done it a million times.
Many of the parents lingered, but we skedaddled and left our big first grader to his coloring.

When he came home, he said he was exhausted because he had done sooooooo much work at school. He talked about the boy he sits next to in his class, and the rule for using the bathroom. We look forward to a great year!

Leah, unfortunately is NOT going back to Ms Carol's school this year. It was a difficult decision, but we're confident it was the best choice. And if not for the move, we'd be part in a joy school, the two of us. Darn. So, on Dillan's first day, she got dressed and put her backpack on because she was ready to join in the fun, too. As we were walking to Dillan's school I explained to her how she's not in Kindergarten yet, but next year she will be. She then asked, "So what school am I going to?" I asked her what she would think if Mommy was her teacher. She jumped up and down with excitement. Totally not expected. When we got home, she sat at the table and started calling me Teacher. She asked what we were going to do today. Ummmm, Mommy's not EXACTLY all the way organized to figure that out, so I told her to color a picture. Then she wanted more. She called me teacher all morning and kept asking when lunch was. So, I promised by Monday I would have something figured out and we would get started. Officially. I figure it's a good home schooling experiment to see how much she will let me do with her in getting ready for Kindergarten. I know we will definitely have to get some play dates organized, so she'll have more fun. She's pretty social anyway.

Lots of fun times!