Happy First Day!

We're off! Galloping along on a new school year. I think last year was a fake out...this year is when it really all begins. I have a first grader and he's almost an independent reader. I'm officially schooling at home at this point, no denying it...the two years of pseudo-school before this were excusable. Maybe I was just keeping my kid home extra long but now, there's no dodging that bullet. My kid is with me in the grocery store in the middle of the morning, time for random strangers to start asking..."Why aren't you in school?!?"

We started the morning of our First Day of School with a celebratory ride around the block to the elementary school. This is where the boys would be going if they weren't being free-schooled outside of the system. We all piled into the van and the boys excitedly noted kids along the route with backpacks and lunch bags, all headed off to school too....and when we got to the school we rolled the windows down and hollered, "Happy, happy First Day!!!!!!!" There was a lot of giggling afterwards and a little bit of extra cheering as we rounded the block headed for home. I think we can safely say that the school year was begun with gusto.

 I totally had the first verse of Revolution by the Beatles going full blast in my head. Most of us only change the world in teeny little ways, this feels to me like some small piece of it for me. I believe in freedom for children to explore the world, for unconventional ways to learn, and for love to be one of the biggest lessons on the syllabus.

We've got all kinds of subjects on the docket for this year: Ancient History, Science Explorations, Name Writing, Reading, Addition and Subtraction, Potty Training, along with a couple of extra-curriculars in the form of an indoor sports education course and a fall semester outdoor wilderness skills class. I think we'll have some very busy, very happy boys at our house.

I have a little pile of genuine school books now. Just like a real teacher. We have safety scissors and glue sticks and lots of erasers in our school bin and there's been an inaugural trip to the library for new story books for the preschool set. I plan to leave off there though, I need  no more traditional teachery items: instead throw in a few sea shells, a Kitchenaid, some flip flops and my camera. We've got all we need. The world is our classroom, and we're all of us teachers, even the short ones with dimples. Wonder what I'll learn this year in my classes?

School Year Leap

I am typing furiously tonight. All is in flux. Its time for a new season! I have decided to scrap all the ideas I had for how everything normally goes and start over from ground zero in every way. Home schooling starts in earnest this year...we have a genuine first grader in the house. In order to maintain some level of sanity, make sure the laundry gets done and assure ourselves that said first grader learns to read his Dick and Jane we need new rules.

Henceforth, starting not this week but the next....if you try to call me in the morning you will go straight to voicemail. If you knock on the door and are not bleeding from an orifice I won't answer and if you are waiting for an email from me, rest assured it won't arrive before noon. I am blocking off all morning hours for housework, reading together and school lessons, such as they are. All our social engagements, museum ventures, errands and other jaunts will be shifted to afternoons. Life will become ironclad and organized.

 

Tell me its smart.

And clever.

And so soothingly arranged.

Will you? 

 

I'm pretty sure its the right thing to do and yet...its a big leap.

This involves letting go of my current art fellowship group and every single other thing we've been involved in.....besides our homeschool co-op. And no...we're not going to become one of THOSE families...I think social involvement for Mommy and kids is extremely key. It just means we're starting completely over. Everything I had in place is gone so we're on the hunt for all new, afternoon events. I'm feeling alternately optimistic and lost.

Spotlight on the Playroom

Whole lot of paint on my fingers and toes lately as we start to really get into Remodeling Land.

Little mini-tour of an evolving room in our house today. I have shown you bits of the playroom before, but today you'll get a little glimpse into its hopeful future too. Right now, we are mostly calling it "the playroom" by default because it is the place where all the toys and many of the kids books live, but it will also be the room where we will homeschool.

The walls are all faux-wood paneling in a dark brown which makes the room feel very close and cave-ish. But, that is changing! We are now halfway through painting the walls with a gallon of flat white paint that, believe it or not, I found in the basement. (How fabulous is that?) The beauty of knowing that everything will be eventually getting painted and that the floors will eventually be refinished is that kids can paint too! No worries about "messing it up" really. The boys think that's the best thing ever.

Finished walls...just trim left.

Art hanging finally! Love that purply watercolor on the right...Dee's work.

Kid measuring chart, a cool housewarming gift from the next-door neighbor

Where I've stopped at the moment...and you can see our new stand globe, the recently hung curtains and our two free chairs that will belly-up to the table I'm still looking for.

I got a gallon of soft periwinkle blue ('Blueberry Buckle') for $5 in the reject paint section and slapping that on some or all of the walls will be the next step. I think once we've opened the space and made it more breathable with the white its going to be fun to add a little character and homey love with a touch of color.

Found this old metal tray and the two wooden crates below it at a free neighborhood swap. Am planning to have Dee help me organize the rest of the Matchbox cars in it.

Other ideas on the way include:

• A thrifted heavy, very large baroque style frame, painted gold mounted on the wall, around a chalkboard, right at kid level. Something like what this woman did.
• This giant zebra rug, made with just glue, scissors and felt
• A big, sturdy table of some kind that I am hoping to find for free on Craig's List or else curbside
• Some of these nature posters
• A cheap cd player/tape player for listening to books on tape or music together
• A frame like this, and a rotatable set of "The Great" artist's works to put inside
• A simple, big  wall clock with hands and numbers
• And...one or both of these very cool cupboards which the sellers left down in the basement