First real day of school... sort of

Our first day of school went well. But then, I admit to setting us all up for success by actually not doing much at all. Children sorted through the school supplies, getting rid of what we didn't need for the year. I passed out new books, explained the year's schedule, and gave them their only assignment which was to decorate their notebooks for geology and Ancient Rome as they saw fit. It's hard to go too wrong with a morning like that. Oh, and they also started the Draw the World book which we are doing instead of cursive this year. They were pretty amused because to begin to learn to draw the continent of South America, it involved just two little squiggles on the page. Yes, the total sum of their learning for the day was to draw two little squiggles. 

Oh, we also did a little bit more I guess. I also spent a little time with each child as we went over how they were going to each approach their individual learning projects for the fall. We looked at their main books they will each be using as a resource, discussed mapping out what they would need to do when, looking ahead so they could tell me if they needed supplies, etc. Everyone seemed pretty on board with the whole thing. 

Finally, we managed by sheer chance to finish Haroun and the Sea of Stories yesterday, so on our first day of school we were able to also begin the first chapter book I had planned, Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. I had looked at it a couple of weeks ago, and it didn't seem to suffer from the same faults as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, so we're giving it a go. The first part that we read today elicited several chuckles, so that bodes well. 

The whole week is looking pretty much the same as today. (I did plan it that way.) Tomorrow we head to our co-op, then on Friday I'm going to give everyone time to really begin work on their learning projects. Monday we will crack open the math and grammar texts and begin our unit studies in earnest. I'm hoping by then the shock of having to get up and do something other than lounging will have worn off. We'll see...

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