It Ain't Easy Being a Princess. . . .: 1st Day of School

I think pretty much everyone knows this already, but this year we decided to do another round of 1st grade. Not because Roo didn't do well enough the first go round, she did great, but because we truly felt it was the best thing for her. A long, long time ago, when she was just a wee little Roo, we had planned on doing two years of kindy. Why? Because we wanted to give her time to be little. Plus, anyone that knows Roo knows that she is not in any hurry to grow up, which doesn't bother us a bit; we love that our little girl is still just that. It is also nice to know that by the time she graduates high school, she will be 19. If you have a daughter you probably understand why we like this idea. But alas, by the time we got to kindergarden, she was reading fluently and could count to a bazillion. It seemed kind of silly to put her through two years of "circle all of the As." But first grade. . . first grade is hard. Neither Daddy nor I could find any reason not to do it twice. We want to make sure that all of those important foundations are laid nice and firmly. I feel so blessed that we are able to make these decisions for our child and that I am the one at home with her each day assessing her strengths and weaknesses and fostering her passions. So here we are, round 2, or grade 1.5 as we like to call it.
We are doing a lot of different curriculum this year and I am really excited about what we have in store. The past two years have really been a learning experience for me, figuring out the way Roo learns best and the methods she doesn't respond to. This year, I feel much more confident in my choices. I have figured out that she really responds well to a loose Charlotte Mason approach, so we are working in much more narration and note booking about what she has learned. I don't have a need to test. I know what she is retaining based on what she is narrating back to me and by what she is drawing and writing about in her notebook for each particular subject. Another thing we are doing differently is no textbooks-except math, because last year we found a math curriculum that took us from tears to "I can do this!" In leu of textbooks, we are using living books-real books that allowing learning through the beauty of the story itself. As a book lover, this makes me ridiculously happy. Just seeing her reaction to her new school materials lets me know that I am making the right choices. I cannot wait to see what the year has in store for us.
For now, here is a peek into our first day of school. . . .

We started the day with breakfast and dancing to some great 50's music to get the wiggles out. I don't have pictures though because I was too busy dancing myself!

Afterwards, we set some goals for the year:

1.Learn cursive

2. be the best reader I can be.

3. get really great at math so I can be a professional and solve hard problems.

4. do the best I can at auditions

5. have a really good time at school this year.

For tot school, we did a little coloring.

To kick off our space study (using Apologia Astronomy) we tried a little astronaut food, ice cream sandwich. It was yummy!

For math (Christian Light Education. LOVE this math!), we played a dice game in which we took turns rolling and had to either find the sum or difference of the dice based on the sign rolled. Then we had to figure out whether that number was odd or even and color in the appropriate square. It was great review and a lot of fun.

As a fun surprise, I got her a "Draw Write Now" book that showed her how to draw a particular thing and over the next few days has her write progressively harder sentences, then a paragraph about whatever it was she drew. She loves this type of thing, so it made her happy!

For History this year we are learning about early American history using Queen's A Living History of Our World. I am so excited about this and so is Roo. The stories are fantastic and best of all, it utilizes an amazing notebook full of opportunity to draw and write about what she has learned. Every time she peeks at the books she says, "Mama this looks so fun! I can't wait to start it!"

Today we kicked off our history by reading an old North American folk tale and then Roo illustrated her favorite part.

Phia practiced her new skill-throwing away her own diapers. She loves to "trash" and before I am even done changing her she is saying "trash! trash!"

After school and nap, we met up with PapaGigi for a little Mexican lunch and a visit with the puppies.

Papa, Gigi, and puppies?! Phia was in heaven!

Yep, homeschool days can and do include trips to Walmart! Lots of learning about addition and money.

And a little aggravation.

For Phia, the day ended with walk around the block and a dip in the little blue
pool. Aunt M was at our house by this point, so that was even more fun!