34/52: Back to School 2019

Name: John Paul
Age: 10
Grade: 5th
Most excited to: Do basic trigonometry in lesson 30 of geometry.
Future occupation: Probably a computer programmer.
  Name: Cecilia
Age: 8
Grade: 3rd
Most excited to: Go on field trips.
Future occupation: I don't know.

Name: Elizabeth
Age: 6
Grade: 1st
Most excited to: Do Nature Study
Future occupation: A Sister.Name: Mary Claire
Age: 6
Grade: 1st
Most excited to: Do Nature Study
Future occupation: Mom.

Name: Peter
Age: 4
Grade: Pre-K
Most excited to: Do Atrium.
Future occupation: A mountain climber.Name: Edith
Age: 2
Grade: Pre-K
Most excited to: Go to Grandma's house.

Future occupation: A mom. ("AND I WILL HAVE BABIES!!! And I will NURSE my babies!"

Name: Lucy
Age: 6 months
Grade: Trouble
Most excited to: Crawl!
Future occupation: Professional curly hair model.
The first week of school is officially in the books! (And the second, actually...) Despite a couple children forgetting how to do math and needing to be walked through nearly every. single. problem, it's gone pretty well so far, with minimal tears. We're in the middle of a two-year cycle, so we just picked up where we left off with our books, and the older kids haven't minded the added responsibility that comes with a new year (TWO written narrations a week for John Paul, and Cecilia will start dabbling in written narrations soon as well).

I bought a Nature Journaling Course to provide us with a little bit of guidance and accountability and so far we've actually done nature study two weeks in a row, which is a record! I've also arranged for a monthly nature study gathering at our house, with a couple local teens who will be acting as guides, and I'm really looking forward to the kids being able to explore deeper in the woods without me having to drag toddlers and babies with us... So far lots of friends are interested in joining us, but we'll see who actually shows up when the time comes!

Lucy is most definitely the weak link in the whole rhythm of things, so it's likely I'm going to have to dedicate some time to "nap training" her in order to get a solid chunk of time in the morning to get school done. It worked really well for me to nap train Edith around this age, but she was already a tummy sleeper, so it was just a matter of me laying her in the pack n play with my hand on her back until she fell asleep, until eventually I could just put her straight in and she would fall asleep on her own. It was magical. Lucy, however, is still swaddled and mostly doesn't like sleeping on her tummy, so it might be trickier. Why do babies have to be so different?? Wish us luck!