Back to Homeschool Day!

School days, school days, 

Good ol' golden rule days,

Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,

All to the tune of a hickory stick!

Anyone else's mother used to sing them that little song?  Of course my mother was raised by nuns in a convent, so she may have been more familiar with the "stick" than most.

I can guarantee that none of my mom's first days of school looked remotely like the one we had here this September.  We always try to make it special and fun; I mean it's a little bit of an anticlimax to 'go back to school' in your own living room. So what's a homeschooler to do? Well...

It starts off like this:

In the bags a homeschooler this year will find some very junky breakfast food (a huge treat here), some monster erasers, colour co-ordinated notebooks, either a cool t-shirt or Pokemon cards (dependent on his/her interest), gum, soda and various other odds and ends specific to the receiver. Also stacked high on the table is a pile of general homeschool supplies: markers, paint, paper etc. 

After consuming said junk breakfast and sharing a short time of prayer, it's time for pictures!  Each student makes a mini age/grade poster to hold in the class and individual photos and we troop outside for a photo shoot, which in the interest of security I won't post. Sorry.

After photos it's online class orientation time!  Since all students are participating in some form of online class this year, everyone needs logins, passwords, tutorial videos... yeah. No one reading this blog on a computer needs to be reminded of the pitfalls of technology during an event like this. 

BUT!  We are highly rewarded : )

A mere 3 hours later we meet up with the principal for our traditional and highly anticipated ice-cream extravaganza:

The one with the shortest hair? That's me! I am also the only one with any form of chocolate ice-cream.  I don't understand people. 

Now the real work starts... but a little preview on how it's going to go?  Sure: