Back to School 2019

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom" - Socrates

It's that time again!  Time to sharpen pencils, grab our books and get ready for another wonderful school year.  Tonight we held our favorite back-to-school tradition, Back-to-School Night.  This is now the 5th year we've observed this tradition and I love how each year it looks a little different.

The kids decorated the table, their lunch sacks,

made their lunches, and gathered together to discuss the new school year. 

After that, we went into the classroom to have Father's blessings and then opened our Back to School books.  

Looking at the 5 of them, with wonder in their eyes and excitement in their hearts, I am once again so grateful to have this time with them.  I'm reading in a book that I love called, "The Call of the Wild + Free".  It's like someone opened a window to my heart and is reading straight from it.  At least someone knows how I feel! 

Sometimes I get questions about why we homeschool.  I get the odd look, the strange glance as I take my school-age children out into public during school hours. I wish I had the words at my disposal to show everyone just how peaceful and magical this journey can be.  I want to scream: 

"You can join them on this learning journey as a guide through life and education, and sometimes the other way around.  You can show them how to push through hard subjects, how to navigate relationships, and how to interact with the real world every single day.  You can offer hugs and kisses or a listening ear.  You can talk with them about anything, no matter what else is going on.  You can get them outside help when you need a hand or when they simply need a break from you and you from them.  And you can love them and believe in them like no one else ever could.  Because you know them best." (The Call of the Wild + Free, Arment, pg.12)

So as we start this brand new school year, I may not be able to shout it from the rooftops, but I CAN keep it close in my heart and remind myself every day as I  gaze into their eyes. 

Grant- Age 4.  1st day of preschool.  Loves The Little Blue Truck, the color green and macaroni and cheese.  He wants to be a "builder guy" when he grows up. 

Cash- Age 6.  1st day of 1st Grade.  Loves What the Dinosaurs Did at School, the color red, and cake.  He wants to be a fisherman when he grows up. 

Ava- Age 8.  1st day of 3rd Grade.  Loves Time Jumpers, the color pink, and any kind of salad.  She wants to be a vet when she grows up. 

Vance- Age 8.  1st day of 3rd Grade.  Loves Dinosaur Cove books, the color green, and Indian food.  He wants to be a Paleontologist when he grows up. 

Kurt- Age 9 3/4.  1st day of 4th Grade.  Loves Treasure Hunters, the color blue and orange, and pizza (of course!).  He wants to be a LEGO designer when he grows up. 

"Homeschooling doesn't exist to replicate the classroom in the home.  Homeschooling is about realtionships, about individualized education, about freeing kids to learn what they want at their own pace- becasue we can."(The Call of the Wild + Free, Arment pg. 23)