First Day of School Excitement

 My kids are going to school on Mondays this year through a charter school/homeschool partnership.  It is pretty awesome.  To help us get ready my mom came out to give everyone back-to-school haircuts.  Eli was first.

 Mom had Hailey and Cassidy with her because we all went to a birthday party for Devaney afterwards.  Devaney is my niece--Megan's 2 year old.

 Cowen had a ton of fun riding around with Hailey.

 What a dude.

 Miriam went pretty short for her.  We both love it.  Her hair is so thick that she really only needs to keep it cleaned and brushed and it looks really nice.  She's not a huge fan of hair cuts, though.  :)

 Still a dude.

 Lady Harriet with her moose.

 Emeline's cut.  She's our pixie.

 Sunday night, before school, the excitement was so thick it was like Christmas Eve.  I kid you not.  The kids carefully laid out their first day of school outfits, put their backpacks by the door, and put their lunch boxes on the stove for me to fill the next morning.  Then they went to bed.  And didn't sleep.  And didn't sleep.  And didn't sleep.  It was a miracle they held it together at school the next day.  They crashed and burned the minute they got in the van at the end of school.  They went to bed EARLY that night.

 Harriet eating granola.

 Cowen with backpack and lunch box.

 Emeline's first day of school outfit.

 Miriam's first day of school outfit.

 We found out that Emeline has the same kind of lunch box as Elena.  Much excitement over that news.

 Oh yeah, Miriam got glasses.  That morning Cowen was roughhousing before prayer (sometimes that kid reminds me so much of my brothers . . .) and one of the screws in Miriam's glasses came out.  I was so on top of it that morning that we had time to dash to the eyeglass place for a replacement and still make it to school on time.  Go me!

Eli started preschool with Mom.  We are studying the letters of the alphabet.  The first Monday we learned all about the letter A.  A is for apple so we read about Johnny Appleseed and colored a little booklet about "a" words and did the alphabet blocks on starfall.com.

Last Monday we learned that B is for Brownie.  We made vanilla brownies together and read books about butterflies, boats, and buses.  When Miriam got home and found out what Eli and I had done she immediately started figuring out desserts for all the other letters.  Clever.

My kids are having a grand time with school.  Here are their schedules for the year.

Miriam: lego robotics
              advanced piano
              Spanish
              lunch
              sculpting and pottery
              sewing
              musical theater

Cowen: beginning piano
              lego robotics
              nature studies
              lunch
              line and square dancing (he's in cooking next semester)
              fencing
              musical theater

Emeline: bitty broadway
               awesome alphabet
               nifty numbers
               seasonal science
               fun-tastic fitness
               crafty classics

Emeline's age group (5 and 6) stay together during the day with the same two teachers.  Her class is located right by the restrooms.  So wise of the people putting this together.  A lady in the ward who lives a few houses away has a daughter in Emeline's group, so we are carpooling.  YAY!!

Cowen has been desperate to be in fencing since he was really little.  I'm so glad he's in it for the year.  The first day he came home talking excitedly about piano (of all things) and I said, "What about fencing?"  He said with great disgust, "We talked about safety the whole time."  Poor boy--he had probably envisioned himself dancing about the gym slashing and parrying like Inigo Montoya just as soon as someone put a sword in his hand.

Miriam was very proud of herself in sewing because she said lots of kids couldn't sew in a straight line. I've sewn with her enough that she can at least do that.  Both Miriam and Cowen are loving musical theater and come home and practice their dances.  They also like their piano teacher.  He's young, male (important for Cowen since he's the only boy in the class), and very enthusiastic.  I"m a little unsure of the piano books that he chose and also wrote.  I think they are  . . . overly optimistic for young children.  Cowen especially.  I'll wait and see; I'm hardly an expert pianist or piano teacher.

Miriam talks the most about Spanish.  The kids do Rosetta Stone every day and Miriam adores it.  She'd spend all day doing it if I let her.  She has her dad's talent for mimicking the accent and she loves learning the songs in her class.

So far I'm really pleased with the program and the kids look forward to it all week.  Yay for school!