First Day of School: I’m an Eighth Grader with a Kindergartener

It was back to school for the Davidson kids yesterday.  It was Trey’s first day of kindergarten and he was insanely excited to be going to the same school as his big brother.  No worries.  No tears.  He climbed onto that school bus without a moment of hesitation and wildly waved good-bye with a ginormous smile smeared across his face.  He makes things easy on a mama’s heart.


Toby’s a big 5th grader this year.  This will be his last year of elementary school.  Toby always enjoys school, digs his teachers, and looks forward to seeing the guys (and the girls :)  Yesterday, he was mostly excited for Trey. 

Sharing some last minute advice at the bus stop:
 
My favorite moment of the day:  On the school bus (which my kids love), the kindergarteners sit in the front, and the older kids sit further back based on grade.  Toby was finally big enough to sit in the very back (where all of the good stuff happens).  Instead, he independently and happily sat in the very front seat with Trey, right in the middle of the kindergarteners.  That kid makes my heart gush.

Sammie started her 8th grade studies yesterday for her second year as a homeschool student.  We had a great 7th grade year and I anticipate this year will be even better.  We will be visiting a few high schools this fall so she can explore her options.  We’re both torn over what to do next year.  We’re leaving it up to her.  However, for now she’s quite happy to do her studies curled up in a blanket, take long walks with her mom over the lunch hour, and still spend four hours a night at the gym with the sweetest group of friends a girl could ask for.  We both think she has a good thing going.

We made a few changes to the curriculum we’re using this year. 

In case you’re curious, here’s what we’re doing:

Math: Teaching Textbooks.  Last year we did Math 7 and Pre-Algebra.  This year it’s Algebra 1.  I could rave about this program all day.  I love it.  I even have Toby doing Math 5 and he likes it!

History:  The American Republic by BJU Press

Science: Earth Science by BJU Press.  Of course, it rocks!

Language Arts: Daily Language by Evan-Moor, Easy Grammar, and Wordly Wise

Writing: Sammie is working with a writing coach through the Write Guide program.

Bible: Bible Truths by BJU Press

Spanish: Rosetta Stone

It’s ridiculous how excited I can get about textbooks, science experiments, and lesson plans.  I keep telling Dave how smart I’m going to be someday.  It’s so much easier to be an 8th grader when you're 39 years old.


Here’s the recap I got from Trey about his first day of kindergarten:
“I loved school.  It was so fun.  My teacher is nice.  I have lots of kids in my class.  One was naughty.  It wasn’t me.  We had cheese pizza for lunch and we wiggled to a song in PE.  We have a fun slide at my school, but no swings.  I wish we had swings.  At story time we read a book about a dog.  Or maybe it was a bunny.  It was hard to tell.  I rested at naptime, but I did not sleep.  Two children fell asleep.  One was a boy and one was a girl.  I do not know anybody’s name.  My favorite part of the day was snack time.  Oh, and lunch time, too.  I love school.”