First Day of School and then some....

Today was our first official day back to school. I felt wonderfully with how smoothly today went. I am so thankful that God guided us every step of the way. I had prayed that it would go smoothly and that he would help me be a good example and to exhibit patience with loving and caring words. I really felt like God held me up all day. We woke up pretty smoothly and got started on chores by picking up, getting laundry going, kitchen straightened, boys' chores, etc. We then started up. I stayed up last night until approximately 1 a.m. preparing for today. I got their workboxes organized and set up for their day. Here is a shot of Christian's workbox system set up for tomorrow.

This year Cullen is doing Grammar/Comp, Literature (all Abeka), math (Teaching Textbooks 5), history (Lifepacs) along with Drive-Thru History America with Chrisitan , Vocab/Spelling/Poetry (Abeka). I have ordered Switched-On Schoolhouse Science but it has not made it yet. We will start as soon as it gets here. I think that about covers Cullen. Here is a shot of Cullen working on his 5th grade math. He was so proud of starting 5th grade math as he is "officially" in 4th grade. Math is a strong point for him and he is proud to be moving up to a higher level math.

Christian is in 9th grade this year. I cannot believe it, really. Life just flies by so fast. He is doing pre-algebra with Teaching Textbooks, Abeka Grammar/Comp/Lit along with spelling/vocab/poetry also with Abeka, Drive-Thru History America. He is also attending The Potter's School (TPS) for the second year. We absolutely love it! He is taking Apologia Physical Science, Writer's Workshop, and Thinking Like a Christian through TPS. His Thinking Like A Christian class does not start until second semester. His classes are once a week for an hour and a half. He then has to keep up with assignments that are due. It is university based and is very rigorous. I definitely feel he will be prepared for college when he graduates by using TPS. It is definitely a keeper and worth every penny! Here is a pic of Christian doing some of his school work in his favorite position....curled up in a tight position with a blanket!

Clara started Tot school today too. =) She began the day by watching her Preschool Prep Meet the Letters DVD . She then moved on to some craft time. She used scrap construction paper, glue stick, crayons, and paint dot art. She worked on her ABC puzzle, and her shape puzzle, along with a new block stacker toy we got at Target. The pic is of a Melissa & Doug stacker but we got the Circo one...just like it but cheaper. Here is her day in pics.

Her final work of art. Cullen was the big helper with this project. He wrote on her paper that it was her first day of school. He then put it on the fridge and outlined it with all of our alphabet magnets like a frame. Clara has such GREAT big brothers!

Also I didn't mention that I forgot we also had a dental appointment for all 3 of us to get our teeth cleaned at noon. So we got all our schoolwork done, made a trip to the dentist, a trip to Target, and a trip to the local health food store for more bread. =) I also made dinner. So it was a very full and eventful day as are most of our days. =)

Here are a few shots of Clara's different sleeping positons in her new toddler bed. She is doing wonderfully in her new bed and loves it. She fell out of it for the first time tonight and all it took was for Daddy to go in there, love on her, and off to sleep she went. The first pic I think was in the morning...it could have been nap but it has been a few days and I forgot. She cracked me up sleeping half off the bed. It did not phase her one bit.

This one I think was a nap time. I came in to find her right by the baby gate. We put the baby gate up outside the door and then almost completely close the door. She was all wrapped up in her blanket as usual. The next couple pics of when I got down on the floor on the other side of the baby gate and started to talk to her to wake her up. Too Cute!!!

Prayerfully, our day tomorrow will be as smooth. We do have produce coop so Christian will be staying home helping with Clara (who will nap most of the time) while trying to do most of his schoolwork. Cullen will be going with me to help and we are taking his schoolwork. We only have coop every 2 weeks so we shall see how it goes. I will try to take pics of coop too b/c it is a pretty neat process to see how it gets here and delivered to people in our local area. I do feel really good about setting up the organic produce coop. I feel it is a ministry to serve those that want to make healthier options but b/c of our small town do not have the selection and variety that the coop offers. Hopefully I will make time to blog it all tomorrow.