First week recap

Did ya miss me? PHEW! That first week hit me HARD, but it is going GREAT!  I actually stayed on top of my MRA workload, kept current with all our lesson plans, almost met my writing quota and threw in a surprise trip to Hartford during the middle of the first day of school to get two tires replaced after I ran into a curb, breaking a steel belt in my back tire. We had a busy but GREAT week!

I don't want to jinx anything but I really feel like we have turned some odd kinda corner attitudinally (it's a Jamism... deal with it!)

Noah---- will always vocalize his dislike for school (however, I feel some of that is remnants from the icky traditional schooling experience he had and I am hopeful that every year it will dissipate a little more.)  He is not "thrilled" about school on the outside, but my teacher's eye can see that he is a little different. His blogs are MUCH more verbose. He is VERY engaged in his math. While we haven't yet started social studies, I can tell he is excited... he is studying the weapons from historical wars this year and that is RIGHT up his alley.

Jeremiah... he REALLY loves school. He loves the Bible. He loves AWANA. He loves just about everything. He has such a sweet teachable heart and does some of the most amazing things. Today, he and Elijah got into trouble. I really don't know what it was as I was doing laundry and daddy was handling the situation. I came into the living room to hear him saying, "Dad I want to take Elijah's punishment." John said, "Jeremiah why do you want to do that?" Crying, Jeremiah said, "Dad, I just don't want Elijah to have to be sad." I don't know why I was lucky enough to have that angel straight from Heaven dropped in my lap, but I am GLAD to be blessed with the teaching and the raising of him.

Elijah... He LOVES school. He LOVES school. HE LOVES SCHOOL!  He is SO excited to finally have his own e-mail and be blogging. He begs me thirty times a day to let him check his e-mail. He loves being in THIRD GRADE! He is so glad he gets to start learning cursive this year. He is also RACING along by leaps and bounds in his reading, doing great in math and excelling in his penmanship. His year is DEFINITELY off to a good start.

Hannah... oh dear Hannah. What a kindergartner!  Like none I've had before. It is like God said, "Jami, you toughed it out through trying to get three little boys to sit still and learn crud for the past three years, now I give you---- A GIRL!" She is excited not only to be in school "like her brothers." She is very well suited for school tasks. She likes reading. She loves learning. She is fine with sitting still. The only thing is once in a GREAT while (okay FINE! three times per subject AT LEAST) I have to fight her tiny little will. We have a bit of a mother/daughter conflict going on, but with a little support from Daddy and a tiny little will   stubborn as a mule will of my own, we are making it just fine thank you.

Today was such a blessing! Our homeschooling neighbors were unable to do recess, so to make up for that we took an impromptu trip to Hartford for lunch and the park (I have REALLY got to get them to the park more often. I literally think that was the first time since we MOVED that we've been to a park! that's in TWO YEARS! yikes!) anywho a picnic lunch, playing at the park, beautiful sunshiny day... were a PERFECT way to end the first week of school.

Forward HO! We are on to next week!

The First Day of School Eve

Tonight we had a First Day of School Eve party. It was F-U-N.. FUN! We started with a "Great Things About Homeschooling" scavenger hunt which ended with a First Day of School present (pencils, erasers and sharpeners). We had cake to celebrate and ended with prayer for a great week of school. It was a fun way to build the excitement for the first day.
We spent the earlier part of the day building the excitement as well... we woke up on time to practice our morning routine. We cleaned and filled our desks. We got binders ready.
Noah... is not AT ALL excited about the start of school. Noah loves to hate school. Jeremiah, Elijah and Hannah are very excited. Elijah and Hannah have been begging me ALL day to start school today ***so cute***.
So tomorrow is the big day! And we are READY! now if I could just get them to fall asleep tonight!

SUCH a DORK!

I full well know what a dork I am... No one in their RIGHT mind should get THIS excited about school supplies, curriculum, lesson plans.... However this time of year ALWAYS takes me back.... to a time when I got paid to do what I love to do... See right now

1. I have one job where I get paid... period.
2. I have another job where I get paid to do what I like to do...
3.  and I have one job where I don't get paid to do what I love to do...

But when I was a teacher, I got to do what I LOVED to do. I got to plan lessons, impart knowledge, see that light bulb of comprehension go on above a child's head.... and I got PAID (although not very much) to do it!  AWESOME!  This time of year always takes me back a little!

Alas, I digress...

I know how dorky it is to get THIS excited about things like this:

*two weeks ago I bought expensive zipper binders for the boys. 
I searched and searched for JUST the right ones. I needed a 3-ring binder part for their dividers (can I get a WITNESS??? who was in my 6th grade class?  remember the BINDERS???? my kids do them too!!!!)  I also needed file sections for 1.) work to be completed 2.) work to be graded 3.) work to be filed. I found them... paid $10 each for them (nearly puked at the price but rationalized, "They should last more than one year, right???") this was a BIG purchase for me and I hemmed and hawed and loved EVERY minute of picking those binders!

*at least once a week ALL SUMMER LONG I visit the A Beka site...



refill my shopping cart with the books I'm gonna buy... Then hop on over to ChristianBook.com to virtually shop for our math curriculum....

Tomorrow I get to click PURCHASE on my orders.  I'm seriously so excited I'm not sure how I'll sleep tonight!

*I wait with anxious anticipation of the first day of "traditional" school then I wait a few more days... and I CHARGE to Walmart list in hand and snatch up all the clearance school supplies I can fit in my cart.  LOVE IT!  Can't wait for it!

Also, first week of school planning is under way!!!!  It's gonna be a first week of school CELEBRATION like the Kastners have never seen before!

1. Each child gets to pick a favorite meal to be consumed during the first week.
2. The first day we have a CAKE to celebrate.
3. Fireworks!  Last year we did FIREWORKS to celebrate the end of the first day of school... think we'll do those again.
4. Presents!!!!  We're having presents this year!'
(I'm sure there will be more hoopla!  I have over a week still to come up with more crazy ideas! so stay tuned)

9 MORE DAYS!!!!!!

It's coming!!!!!!

The beginning of the school year is RAPIDLY approaching!  In fact, so rapidly I haven't finished purchasing supplies!!!!  I'm so excited and ready for the year.

Here's a sneak peek:

*Hannah's in Kindergarten!!!!!
*brand new (EXPENSIVE) binder system
*History of War (Noah's social studies... he's gonna LOVE it!)
*Science by Dad (crazy MythBusters style science experiments... the MESSIER the better!)
*Psalm 27... that's our first memorization this year... good stuff. You should READ it!
*Family Reading... 1st novel: Pilgrim's Progress

and....

DRUMROLL....

*I really TRULY hope to blog BETTER about homeschooling!  This poor site is my most neglected blog.

So get to swimming Kastner kids!  the end of summer approaches!

First day of school... a Kastner holiday

Well this was our third "First Day of School" as homeschoolers.  The First Day of School has been a bit of an enigma for me.  All of my life I have gotten teary eyed when the school supply displays went up at Target.  In fact, the first year we were married was the first year EVER that I didn't have a First Day of School.  We were living in Denver, and I had NOT gotten a teaching job as we had hoped.  I remember calling John from the Back-to-School aisle at Target.  I was BAWLING because I didn't have a class to teach that year.  But try as I may, I had thus far been unsuccessful at instilling that same excitement in the Kastner Kids.  They just were NOT enthused about the First Day of School.

See it is a bit hard to get excited about "going back to school" when you homeschool.  First of all the Kastners homeschool nearly year round.  So summer break for us is only about 3 or 4 weeks long each year.  This year the kids were barely used to sleeping in and lounging around when school time returned.  Second of all, when you homeschool you don't get the excitement of getting to "see your friends again."  You live with your classmates, and their newness has LONG worn off.  There are no new school clothes or lunch boxes, and not even that many new school supplies in our homeschool.  (Now lest you start to mourn too much for the Kastners, let me assure you that there are MANY benefits to homeschooling that they take FULL advantage of... but that is for another blog.)  It is just the First Day of School can be a bit run of the mill when you're a homeschooler.

So I finally did it!  This year I figured out a way to bring a little excitement to it, and while no one was exactly doing cartwheels, there was MUCH more enthusiasm and FAR less whining than in previous years.  Wanna know what we did?

1st Day of School fireworks

We turned the First Day of School into a holiday for the Kastners.  Breakfast was a special treat:  toaster waffles; lunch too:  TV dinners.  There were prizes for good attitudes, and a special kids' choice dinner.  I baked a cake.  They even got presents!  (a brand new bag of socks each)  Finally, we ended the day with fireworks!  It was definitely a GREAT day, and this year FINALLY mom's enthusiasm was contagious.





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Five great moments in homeschooling today:
1.  Jeremiah uttering, "I can't believe I'm starting 4th grade math."  "I can't believe I'm starting 4th grade language."  "I can't believe I'm starting 4th grade (every single subject)."
2.  The sweet cadence of the rhythm of our routine.
3.  Hannah finished an ENTIRE worksheet INDEPENDENTLY!
4.  Elijah FINALLY did his click n kids.
5.  Noah did not whine once about school and only complained when writing his blog, and in his defense I told him to be HONEST about the first day of school.